"I Love You Blue Kangaroo"

Does anyone remember the book "I Love You Blue Kangaroo"? It was a book I read to my children when they were little, about a girl called Lilly who has a blue kangaroo. It was a book really about getting a new younger sibling. In the end Lilly gives all her other toys to the new baby, but not Blue Kangaroo.

I thought I would have a go at making a blue kangaroo from my new Kangaroo Family Pattern. I've decided to give everything that I make from this pattern to an Australian environmental charity. Something has happened recently that has made me think hard about why I write my rather obscure patterns. (I may write about this when it is resolved.) On one of my mornings off from my proper job I volunteer for an environmental charity, and fortunately can go on doing this from home. I am going to try and write more patterns for endangered animals, and donate any profits to charity. Last year I spent a really long time trying to knit a realistic pangolin. I couldn't quite get it right, but may return to my notes and have another go.

Watched a documentary about pangolin last Christmas.

They are such fascinating creatures - not reptiles but a mammal with scales. They are critically endangered because of the market for their scales.

So thinking about children's books, I would love it if you would like to leave a comment with your favourite children's book. Either that you read to your children or grandchildren, or perhaps from your own childhood. To get the ball rolling I am going to start off with any books by Shirley Hughes, especially the Alfie and Annie Rose stories.

Meanwhile my progress on knitting a cushion with the wool I showed you is going well. I love the way the colours look together, and will show you the finished cushion soon. I have also ordered some wool online, so now have supplies to knit socks for husband and a sweater for my daughter, so I have quite a lot to work on during this confinement.

Just a reminder that there is still plenty of time left to join in my Ginx Woolly Linx party for April. Click on the photo above or at the top of the page to find the party. I would love to see what you have been working on this month.

Kangaroo Family Pattern

I showed you a taster of my new pattern a few weeks ago, but it has taken me a while to get to the finished stage. The kangaroo is very much in the style of some of my other knits, as he is not huge. Finished kangaroo is about 4 inches tall. So not a cuddly toy, more like a little model, that you could keep in your pocket or attach to a school bag. 

I have tried really hard to make the kangaroos realistic, but am knitting a few now in brighter colours, just for fun. My starting point for this pattern was my only magazine published pattern, which is called Australian Animals, and was published in an Australian craft magazine calledd Homespun. These were really miniature animals, which could be used as pendants.

I have spent so much time looking and thinking about kangaroos in the last few weeks, so I may have another go at scaling up, to make a really cuddly kangaroo that a child could take to bed. 

I realise the news may have slightly moved on from the terrible fires in Australia, but I am going to send 100% of any sales from this, and my previous Australian Animals, to a charity called Australian Wildlife Conservancy. Please message me if you would like to use my pattern to make kangaroos to support this or other Australian wildlife charities.

This pattern uses a lot of my usual techniques. Pieces are knitted flat, there is a little icord knitting, and some short rows. A good point is it does not take a lot of wool, 9g for the whole family. The pattern will be available on ravelry, Etsy and LoveKnitting later today.

I am in the country, and most of my stash is in London, so there may not be very much knitting for a while. I did put four 100g skeins of bulky wool, 12ply, in my bag. Would love you to suggest what I could make with this. I don't think there is enough for a garment, but I would like to make something that uses all the colours, as they look so great together. I also put in my little box of embroidery threads, so that might also be an idea for some alternative crafting.

I am thinking of you, and remember crafting is a really good way to relax. I am lucky to have a garden here, and we have been very busy planting, which I will update you about in a week or two. Or if you can't get out, why not start writing that novel that you have been thinking about writing for years?  I am trying to think positive. How lucky we are to have the internet. How nature may to benefitting from us being indoors. How resourceful and adaptable mankind can be.

Just a reminder that there is still plenty of time left to join in my Ginx Woolly Linx party for March. Click on the photo above or at the top of the page to find the party. I would love to see what you have been working on this month.

Kangaroo Pattern in Progress

I'm working on a new pattern. As usual it is taking much longer than I anticipated. It was the idea of a friend on instagram. This is version number two, as the first attempt was laughable. Still a lot of work to do, but I think I am getting there. I try really hard to make my knits as realistic as I can, but with kangaroos there are a lot of types, and they do seem able to stretch themselves into different shapes. He is just posing in front of a computer screen. But there is one feature of a kangaroo that I have not even started on.

Just a reminder that there is still plenty of time left to join in my Ginx Woolly Linx party for March. Click on the photo above or at the top of the page to find the party. I would love to see what you have been working on this month.

Australian Animals

I can now release my mini Australian animals pattern. The pattern has been published in Australia in Homespun, which you can read about here. After a bit of negotiating Homespun have kindly let the copyright return to me. I have been waiting for my little animals to return, mainly because I needed to take my own photos for the pattern. Kind of chuffed that my little creatures have actually done the journey to Australia and back. (Because of some trouble with customs charges they have actually been there and back three times, which is why hubby refers to them as the jet set.)
 

These animals are really tiny. So I recommend the pattern only for those that are fans of the fiddly and little. There is quite a bit of sewing up in the attachment of legs, ears and beaks. 

The pattern contains instructions for all four mini creatures. Homespun presented them as mini pendants, though I think they are also cute as little toys.  

This Blue Kookaburra was my first try. He is native to Northern Australia and New Guinea. Homespun decided to go with the traditional brown Laughing Kookaburra, which is the one most people have heard of, though I think visually I prefer my distinctive blue one.

The wombat was the design that I worried about most. I was not sure than I could make him distinctively wombatty enough. I even toyed with the idea of replacing him with a crocodile. But in the end he turned out just fine.

Kangaroo and Koala just flew off my needles. It would have been nice to have given Kangaroo a pouch and a joey, but given the size this just wasn't possible. So I have just googled "Do male kangaroos have pouches?" and found out they do not. So I guess I can say that he is a boy.
 

I enjoyed the challenge of making these little creatures so much that I am currently working on another set from a completely different part of the world.

The pattern, which contains instructions for all four, is available on ravelry, Love Knitting and Etsy.  

Wee of the Never Never

I can finally show you a project that I have been itching to talk about for almost a year. My first published collection of patterns in a magazine. Last Spring I was commissioned by Homespun, Australia's number one craft magazine, to design some tiny knitted Aussie animals made to be worn as pendants. They would be published to coincide with Australia Day. And finally here they are: Kangaroo, Koala, Kookaburra and Wombat.
 

I am so pleased with how they have been presented. The title Wee of the Never Never confused me at first, until they explained that it refers to a book called We of The Never Never by Jeannie Gunn, and would be instantly understood by Australian readers. Homespun is packed full of articles and patterns, not just knitting but quilting, crochet and sewing. Printed on lush thick paper, and containing a removal section of pattern pieces, it is the sort of magazine that I would keep and refer to for many years. Available downunder Homespun does annual subscriptions and mails internationally.

Thank you to some of my more experienced Handmade Monday friends who gave me some valuable advice before I went ahead with this project. The staff at Homespun were really a dream to deal with. Completely friendly, fair, straightforward and efficient. (Not naming anyone in particular, but I have found the exact opposite with some UK magazines.) What I did discover is that I work much better with a deadline to aim towards. Although the patterns are only available in Homespun at present, in time the copyright will revert to me, and I will make them available online.

So there I am, looking at myself from my own coffee table. I do realise most of my friends will not recognise me. This photo took a trip to the hairdressers, make-up!!!, and then selection from about a hundred shots, before I finally felt happy with sending it and the personal profile off to the magazine.

I am linking to Planet Penny Happy Friday, and although I'm not sure that I am completely in the rules,  the arrival of my pattern did make me smile.