Kind of a hokey idea ...

[Kessie]

I was digging through my hard drive, and unearthed this outline for a little short story I had started last year sometime. I was thinking that it'd be fun to finish, but the premise is kind of ... I don't know ... silly? Mundane? I thought I'd run it by you guys.

A space ship is headed home after a long mission. They get ambushed and boarded by hostile aliens, which infect everyone with a deadly alien virus. The humans beat back the aliens, but the virus remains.

The ship makes it home, but is put into complete quarantine, until the virus runs its course or a cure can be found. About half the crew are resistant to it.

Anyway, the ship's captain (the hero) was given a knitting kit by his wife before he left. He laughed at her for it at the time. But now, stuck with nothing to do except wonder if he's going to die next, he undertakes the intricate task of knitting a scarf for his wife.

But as various of his friends die or leave, he winds up giving them however much of his scarf he's managed to knit. By the time he gets to leave the ship and see his wife, he's only had enough yarn left to knit her a six-inch-long scarf.

The end.

...kind of silly? Should I even bother ...?

[korora]

It actually sounds quite interesting.

Eudyptula albosignata

[myrthman]

I'm wondering what the scarf is symbolizing. It seems to be a major **ahem** thread.

[Kessie]

Yeah, it does seem like a strange little yarn, doesn't it?

I think I'd need to sit and write it to figure out what the scarf represents. My brain is crammed full of this other story right now, but I'll explore this little story when I'm done.

It arose from being disappointed in Stargate: Universe, I think.

[Kristen]

As a knitter, I would love to see knitting in a science fiction story. Knitting can represent a lot of things:
A fondness for the past and old-fashioned things
Home and warmth
Patience and persistence
The interconnectedness of life (break one strand and the whole thing unravels)
Healing (we speak, for example, of broken bones knitting)
Creation (Psalm 139:13 -- you knit me together in my mother's womb)

I think this sounds like a nifty story, even without the knitting.

[firestorm78583]

My wife is a knitter. I have seen her produce some amazing stuff. I happen to know that there is a comic book that deals with superheroes and knitting. Considering most of the mainsteam knitting stories is the Debbie Macomber works, it would be great to see some Sci fi knitting stories.
I know that science fiction often deals with a lot of super-high-falootin' technology. Its good to go back to the basics and remember the ways of the past.

[almarquardt]

I admire people who knit. My grandmother, who started knitting when she was three years old, tried at least three times to teach me, but it never stuck. I simply don't have the patience for it. I would like to see a story with knitting in it though; the symbology you can add to it is almost limitless.

[Divides the Waters]

Kessie, this reminds me a bit of Demolition Man.