Arthur Unravels

"Arthur Unravels"
Season/Series:	14
Number in season:	8a
Original Airdate:	April 26, 2011 September 20, 2011 November 15, 2010 December 19, 2012
Credits
Written by:	Susan Kim
Storyboard by:	François Brisson
Episodes
Previous "Muffy and the Big Bad Blog"	Next "All the Rage"

"Arthur Unravels" is the first half of the eighth episode in the fourteenth season of Arthur.

Summary

Grandma Thora teaches Arthur how to knit, but he is embarrassed about anyone realizing about his hobby and tries to hide it.

Plot

The Beginning takes place in a jungle with Arthur, Buster and Binky searching for the temple of King Zut Hamado. Arthur accidentally leans on a tower rock which makes the temple of King Zut Hamado appear. King Zut Hamado appears and starts chasing them.

The trio reach a cliff and they don't understand how to get across. Buster and Binky thought that if they had a scarf they would be saved.

Arthur pulls out a scarf with a knitting needle in it, but puts it back in his backpack and says, "Yeah too bad we don't have a scarf". King Zut Hamado appears and is about to attack them.

{Title Card}

Arthur and D.W. are spending the day at Grandma Thora's house, but it is raining, so the trio are forced to stay inside. Arthur and D.W. are trying to watch a movie, but it keeps skipping back to the beginning, much to their frustration. Grandma Thora is knitting a sweater with some yarn, and when D.W. comes over to see what she is doing, Thora offers to teach D.W. how to knit. Thora also offers to teach Arthur how to knit, but he initially declines, saying that it seems kind of boring. Thora convinces him otherwise by telling him about women using knitting as a code to transmit secret messages to spies during wars. Arthur's intrigued and decides to learn how to knit.

Arthur picks up on it quickly and is still knitting even hours after the rain stopped. Thora's happy that Arthur likes knitting and asks what he's knitting. Arthur admits that he is not sure at this point, but claims that it's ultimately going to be either a scarf or some kind of hat. When looking for more yarn to continue knitting, Arthur asks his grandmother is she has anymore purple yarn. Thora checks her yarn basket and says there isn't anymore, but offers to take Arthur and D.W. to a place that will most likely have some purple yarn.

Thora takes Arthur and D. W. to the Yarn Yurt, which has all different types of yarn in all sorts of different colors. While Arthur goes to look for the yarn he wants, he ends up running into his piano instructor, Frederique Fugue, and is surprised to see him there. Dr. Fugue explains that he's looking for some yarn to knit a pair of fingerless gloves for one of his other students, as the student's hands apparently have a tendency of cramping up when playing certain piano pieces. Arthur takes a different ball of the same color that Dr. Fugue, thinking that it is pink, but his piano instructor explains that it's actually fuchsia, explaining the difference between the two colors.

After paying for the yarn, Arthur goes outside to wait for D.W. and their grandma, but then he sees Binky walking his way. At first he tries ignoring him, but when Binky notices Arthur holding a bag of stuff from the Yarn Yurt, he asks what it's for. Arthur claims he got some stuff for his grandma. When Thora and D.W. come out of the store and Thora hands Arthur some knitting needles, Arthur does his best to convince Binky that he's not into knitting. However, when Arthur leaves with his sister and their grandmother, Binky seems to suspect otherwise.

At school during recess, Arthur and Buster are knitting behind some bushes. Buster doesn't see what the big deal is, but Arthur admits that he's worried that if other people were to see them knitting, they'll get made of fun, especially since knitting is seen as kind of a "girly" hobby. While Buster's trying to make a sandwich cozy and Arthur is making a scarf (and intends to attach mittens to it), recess ends and the boys have to put their knitting away. While in class, Mr. Ratburn's giving a lesson on colonial times, during which he explains how during that time period, you could be severely punished by the community at large for things that probably wouldn't even be considered crimes in modern times. Later that night, Arthur has a nightmare where he's found out for being a knitter and gets punished by the community for it. The next day at school, Arthur tells Buster that he is going to give up knitting after being finished with his scarf.

However, while walking away to the cafeteria, a ball of yarn falls out of his backpack, and when a student steps on the string, ultimately pulling Arthur's knitting project out of his backpack (which he doesn't notice). Also, while getting his lunch, Mrs. MacGrady reveals that she heard about Arthur's new hobby and reveals that she's been knitting something that she hopes will inspire kids to eat more vegetables. Arthur tries claiming that he doesn't knit, even though it's obvious that Thora told Mrs. MacGrady about her grandson's new hobby. Brain soon comes into the cafeteria with Arthur's knitting project (not realizing who it belongs to here) and tries returning it to the original owner. Muffy notices this and offers to take it if no one ends up claiming it, seeing the fuchsia in the scarf and calling it a beautiful shade of pink. Arthur, unable to contain himself, yells out that it's fuchsia (this ultimately gives himself away as the original owner of the scarf).

As Arthur leaves the school later on, Binky's standing outside the school steps with the Tough Customers, who reveal that they know Arthur knits. However, Binky's the only one who really makes fun of Arthur for it, and Dr. Fugue soon comes to Arthur's defense about his new hobby—Dr. Fugue notes that Arthur's scarf is very well-made and offers to let Arthur join his knitting club, which meets every Wednesday evening. The music teacher also notes that his club could use more members anyway, as aside from himself, the only other members are Francine's dad, Mrs. MacGrady and Rattles (which the rest of the Tough Customers are surprised to learn). Arthur's surprised to hear that there are other boys in the club, and Dr. Fugue points out that activities like knitting aren't just strictly for girls (or boys) and that lots of people are into that sort of thing. As he's leaving, Dr. Fugue compliments Binky on his role in a production of Swan Lake the other night, leaving the kid speechless.

The episodes ends at a meeting of Dr. Fugue's knitting club, which Arthur, Buster and even Binky are shown to have joined—Arthur and Buster are knitting with Rattles and Mrs. MacGrady while Binky's sitting in an armchair next to Mr. Frensky and knitting some leg warmers for himself, explaining how his legs get really cold sometimes and asks if anyone else experiences the same problem.

Characters

Major

• Arthur Read
• D.W. Read
• Thora Read

Minor

• Binky Barnes
• Buster Baxter
• Rattles
• Molly MacDonald
• Slink
• Nigel Ratburn
• Leah MacGrady
• Alan Powers
• Muffy Crosswire
• Francine Frensky (Doesn't speak)
• Oliver Frensky (Doesn't speak)
• Frederique Fugue

Cameo

• Luke
• Fern Walters
• Alex
• Maria Pappas
• Sue Ellen Armstrong
• George Lundgren
• Jenna Morgan

Trivia

• After Thora offered to teach D.W. how to knit, D.W. decided to knit a poncho for Nadine, claiming that her birthday's coming up soon.
• Dr. Fugue's revealed to run a knitting club in addition to his job as a music instructor. Ironically, while this episode notes that knitting tends to be seen as a "girly" activity, Mrs. MacGrady is currently the only female member of Dr. Fugue's knitting club.

Cultural references

• Thora mentions Madame Defarge, a character in Charles Dickens' novel, A Tale of Two Cities.

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