Wool Sweater

A Harvest Moon Fan Fiction

By Loyal Servant

Disclaimer-

I don't own any of the rights to Harvest Moon, only a copy of the home game.

Author's Note-

This is my second attempt at a HM fan fiction. This one was inspired by a line Gray says at the Sheep Festival. I'm sure it will become apparent as you read the story. Let me know what you think.

Midori was getting ready for the annual Sheep Festival at Rose Square. It was going to be her first time entering the competition and had been pampering her new sheep Wendy for the past year. The young farmer was making sure she looked presentable, when her husband Gray came out from the bathroom. He was coming with her today to give his support. Suddenly a thought hit her: Why had Gray never gone to very many of the town festivals? In fact, the Sheep Festival and the Fireworks Festival were about the only ones she'd ever seen him at. She turned from the mirror to look over at her husband who was currently rummaging in the refrigerator.

"Hey, Gray?"

"Hmm?" He was still digging through the shelves as he indicated he was at least listening to her a little bit.

"I was just wondering why you never came to any of the town festivals. I've just always seen you at the Sheep and Fireworks Festivals. Your grandpa always came, though."

Gray extracted himself from the fridge, sandwich ingredients in hand and nudged the door shut with his foot. He set the ingredients on the counter and proceeded to put turn them into lunch. "It's just that I was always working on my projects. I wanted to get better, so I usually stayed behind while Grandpa went to festivals." He shrugged as he spread some mayonnaise onto one of the sandwiches. "I never figured it was a big deal."

Midori looked thoughtful. "Well, you did miss out on some stuff. Oh! We had a really good time at the Cooking Festival last spring. Karen actually made something the Gourmet didn't deem revolting. I think Sasha was happier than Karen; she started crying and muttering something about how much her little baby was growing up."

Gray chuckled as he wrapped their meal in cellophane. "I guess I would have liked to see that."

"Oh and at the Harvest Festival, after everyone had gotten their bowls of stew, a food fight broke out."

Gray looked up from packing lunch. "Really?" He asked.

"Yep!" Midori was smiling widely now. "Ann and Doug were getting into a fight about the ingredients and all I know was something was said about a fish and then this fish went flying right at Doug. Well, Doug ducked and the fish hit the Mayor. After that he got mad and threw his bowl at Doug and it kind of escalated from there."

By the time she was finished with her story, Midori was laughing hard and so was Gray. "Well," Gray managed to gasp between laughs. "I guess I'll have to go with you to more festivals, huh?"

"You bet!" Midori reduced her laughs as she looked at the clock. "Oh! Gray, it's nine o'clock already! You still have to finish packing lunch and we have to get Diamond ready! I need to go get Wendy from the barn! I don't want to be late!"

Gray went over to her to calm her down. "You won't be late. Go get Wendy and I'll meet you outside, okay?"

"Okay." Midori rushed out of the house and Gray had to laugh at his wife's nervousness. He finished putting the sandwiches and some grape juice in a lunchbox. He picked up his daughter, Diamond, from where she was playing on the floor and strapped her into her stroller. Lastly, Gray picked up Diamond's diaper back and headed out the door. Midori was already waiting by the gate with Wendy. They quickly made their way to Rose Square.

Once they got to the Square, Midori checked in with Barley while Gray took Diamond around to look at the sheep. Midori handed Wendy over to the old farmer who led her to the end of the line of sheep. There were four entries this year and all of them were tied to posts in the Square. After making sure Wendy looked alright for judging, Midori went over to join her family.

Barley announced that he was going to start the judging and to have everyone please be patient. Midori was obviously nervous as Barley made his way down the line of sheep, making notes on a clipboard he had with him.

Gray took note of his wife's nervousness. Trying to lighten the overbearing air of tension, he leaned over and muttered: "You know, whenever I look at sheep, I really want to put on a wool sweater." For some reason, it must have worked. Midori gave a small laugh and stopped fidgeting.

Barley finished the judging and turned to announce the winner. "This year, the winner is. . . Wendy from Sunnydale Farm! Congratulations!"

Midori was so excited as she went up to Barley to collect her first place ribbon. "Wendy's wool is nice and soft and she's very well tempered. You've done a good job raising her."

"Thank you very much, Barley." Midori accepted the ribbon and put it in her rucksack.

"You know, now Wendy will probably start growing golden wool. It's very high quality and would make some nice blankets if you have a yarn maker and know how to knit." Barley informed her.

"Hmm. Maybe I could try knitting something. . ."

"Sweetie, are you hungry?" Gray had come up behind her holding their packed lunch. Now was the time where everyone sat down to eat and talk. Midori nodded and took some feed out of her rucksack. She placed it in front of Wendy and went to sit on a bench next to Gray. He handed her one of the sandwiches without mayonnaise and handed a juice cup to Diamond. She was almost a year old now and could handle drinking out of a sippy-cup.

Midori loved the way Gray handled her, but she wished he would stop feeling so helpless around Diamond. He never thought he did things well enough for his daughter, even if that wasn't true. Maybe once she got past a year old, Gray would calm down around her. Midori hoped so, at least.

They ate their lunch and talked with some of the other townspeople who had come. Midori got a lot of congratulations from everybody and she was starting to feel a little embarrassed from all the attention. After they were done with their lunch, Midori told Gray she was ready to leave. Gray nodded and started packing up their things while his wife untied Wendy. They said goodbye to everyone as they walked out of the Square and back home. Diamond fell asleep somewhere along the way.

Once they got back, Gray put the baby to sleep while Midori put Wendy back in the barn. She hung Wendy's ribbon up on a nail by the door. She then sheared her wool and put it in the yarn maker. Out came a large ball of yarn and Midori deposited it in the shipping bin for tomorrow. She then went around the farm, checking on all the animals. Once she was sure all of them had been taken care of, she went back to the house, ready for a good night's sleep.

A couple of days later, Wendy's coat had come in a beautiful shade of gold. Midori sheared her prize-winning sheep and put the wool in the yarn maker. The yarn that came out was a lovely yellow color. Midori put the ball in her rucksack instead of shipping it. Then, once she was sure Gray had gone for the day and all the animals had been taken care of, she took Diamond up to the library with her.

Mary greeted them as they walked in and asked Midori what she was looking for. The young farmer told her friend she needed a book that would teach her how to knit. Mary immediately went to one of the shelves and pulled out a book that had patterns for knitting blankets and other articles of clothing. Midori thanked the librarian and checked the book out.

Midori and Diamond then stopped at Ellen's house to borrow a set of knitting needles. Ellen gladly loaned them to her in exchange for holding Diamond. Midori sat and visited with Ellen while trying to start her knitting project. She had decided to make Gray that sweater he had mentioned. Midori caught on pretty fast, but every once in a while she had to stop and ask Ellen for help.

By the time Stu and Elli came back, Midori realized how late it was and put her knitted sleeve and collar back into her rucksack, along with the knitting needles and book. She picked up Diamond and thanked Ellen for her help. She then excused herself with the promise of bringing the baby back for another visit and quickly made her way home.

Gray was happy to see his family back home and proceeded to set out their supper. Diamond needed a bath afterwards so Midori took care of that while Gray cleaned the table. That night, after Diamond had been put to bed and the animals had been checked on, Gray went to take a bath. Midori then took out the sweater and got about half the other sleeve done before she heard the water turn off. Midori wasn't going to let Gray know about his surprise, so she quickly stuffed the sweater back into her rucksack and grabbed a book from the nightstand, making it look like she had been reading.

Gray came out of the bathroom and hung his hat in its usual spot on the bedpost. He then climbed into bed with his wife. Midori put her book down and shut off the light, snuggling up to her husband. They said goodnight and soon drifted off to sleep, ending another day.

It took Midori about a week to finish the wool sweater for Gray. She thought she did a pretty good job for her first knitting project. At least it looked somewhat like a sweater. Midori then made another trip into town. She went to the supermarket and had Jeff wrap it for her. She then returned the knitting needles to Ellen and the book to Mary. She then took the present back home. Winter had started by now and Gray's birthday was only four days away, so Midori hid his present under the bed until then.

On the sixth of winter, Midori got up and wished her husband a happy birthday. They then went about their day as usual, but Midori made sure she was done with her chores and back to the house by six. Gray made a big meal every time it was someone's birthday and today was no exception. The family sat down at the table and ate spaghetti and cake.

After supper had been eaten, the dishes done and Diamond put to bed. Midori pulled out a wrapped package from under the bed and handed it to Gray.

"What's this?" he asked.

"Silly, what do you think it is? It's your birthday present. I made it myself this year, so hopefully you like it."

"You made me something? That's so sweet." Gray teased her as he unwrapped the paper. When he saw the sweater, his eyes lit up. "You knitted me a sweater?"

"Yes. When we were at the Sheep Festival, you said you wanted a wool sweater and I knew you didn't have one. I made this with the gold wool from Wendy. Do you like it?"

Gray turned and cupped his wife's face in his hands. "I love it, Sweetie, thank you." He leaned down and kissed her, thanking her again for the present.

It had turned out to be a wonderful birthday.

Author's Note (Again)-

Hopefully this wasn't too cheesy. It was a lot harder to write than my first story 'cause it hardly follows the game at all. Let me know if it's okay, OK?