"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.

"Goodbye Reading Ninja Wizards"

The title of this post probably needs to be explained. I am changing jobs, and have just come home from my last day at my current school (where I work as a teaching assistant). I am moving to a new school to work in the school office. Exciting times, and I am very sad to say goodbye to a lovely school where I have made a lot of friends.

To say farewell to one group of children, with whom I read every week, I have made them a Flat Rat bookmark, from a pattern by Susan Glinert Stevens. With this group we don't just practise reading (they are all pretty good readers), but some of the skills that help comprehension and inference. So we talk about what we have read, ask questions, try to predict what might be coming next, etc. All the things that you probably do when you are reading without even realising it. When choosing a name for the group the children couldn't quite agree, which is why they became the "Reading Ninja Wizards". 

I used this pattern which is free on ravelry, although I knitted the head flat and sewed up a seam. I also slightly went my own way with the paws and ears. 

It also means I will be saying goodbye to my lunchtime knitting club, run with the lovely Joyce, which also makes me sad. But I am also excited about facing a new challenge. 

"Watch out, we may be flat, but we are coming to get you!"

Sea Foam

I love poking around charity shops, especially the book sections. But it is quite surprising how rarely I find any knitting books. I did find this brilliant Vogue book for only a few pounds. It has big sections on designing garments, and pages and pages of stitches and techniques. Happy evening reading!

I was gifted two balls of Noro Taiyo, which is Aran weight, and decided that it would make a little shoulder shawl for my mum. Sometimes wool is so beautiful that it can just speak for itself, and doesn't need a fancy pattern. She is a big fan of green and yellow shades, so it seemed perfect.

So I have just knitted a big block of Sea Foam stitch, which I learned from my new book. I am not certain if I can count this as lacey knitting, although it is close. My mum came to stay earlier in the summer, and I had hoped to photograph her wearing her new shawl. But it took longer than I had planned, so I was frantically knitting and running in ends in the back of the car on her journey home.

Dutch House Bookends

So as promised quite while ago some functional houses. ... I made these Dutch House bookends as a Christmas gift, so although they have been complete and the pattern written up for a little while, I have been keeping them secret. I also had a bit of a job getting photos, because of dark, overcast days. I'm still not completely happy with these ones, but am just having to go with it, as the houses are now with their new owner.

Although these houses are bookends, I think a single house would be very useful as a doorstop. They would also make a lovely toy. I fancy making some more so I could just have a little row of colourful houses along side an imaginary canal

The bookends are filled with rice, which make them very weighty. You could also use something like lentils or dry beans. Hubby says that they could also be cracked open in an emergency. 

They are knitted with doubleknit wool, and although there is some sewing up of seams, perhaps not as much as you would imagine. The front is a separate piece, but the back, sides and roof are all knitted in one. The pattern contains a diagram to help with the sewing up.

I have made the two houses different in roof shape and colour, but with enough similarities in style so that they look like a pair. The finished bookend are approximately 17cm by 9 cm by 9cm.

The pattern for them contains instructions for both houses. It has taken me a while to write up, as it also contains illustrations to help with the wool embroidery. I think some folk might be a bit scared by the idea of sewing on the doors and windows, but I find this the most relaxing part. You just plod away putting the needle in and out, and although it takes a while, at the end you have made something rather unique.

The pattern also contains a single pattern piece to make an inner lining from calico to contain the filling. This also caused me a bit of grief, as the pattern piece is bigger than A4 paper size, but I did not want to split it over two pages. The solution that I chose was shrink it from A3 to A4. So anyone using it will need to find a photocopier that enlarges it back to the correct size, A4 to A3. I think these are fairly readily available these days, although if anyone can't get to one I will email the shape split over two pages, and you would just need to join it together to make the pattern piece. Please contact me if you would prefer this.
 

I specially picked what I thought were my most photogenic books. What books would you put between your?

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

I forgot to show you my daughter dressed in her costume for World Book Day last week. It is her last year at primary school, so probably her last chance to dress up for World Book Day. Although I made the outfit, it was her own idea. This was her sketch of what she wanted. Once again, thanks to the lovely shop Fabricland, the outfit only cost a few pounds to make.

And here is me in my outfit for the day: The Ugly Duckling. I do love my job.

 

Tarka The Otter

This photo was taken by me at an Otter sanctuary in Suffolk.

I keep meaning to write about our Easter holiday, and post a few more pictures. I have also been trying to get to the end of reading "Tarka The Otter" by Henry Williamson, so I could write about that at the same time. But I had to wait for Frankie to finish it, before I could even start.

We were staying for a week in Skirr Cottage, in North Devon, where Henry Williamson lived while he was writing the book. As you can see it was very old and beautiful. I did think it would be rather wonderful for the whole family to sit in the evening reading this classic together in the place it was actually written (possible with me knitting an otter), but perhaps my children have got a bit old for that, and at the time I was concentrating on my shells and didn't want to start a brand new project. So Little One got her hands on the book first, and although I think she found it quite hard going at times, did get to the end (she is 10 years old).

Now I have finished reading "Tarka The Otter" as well. I had always thought it was a children's book, but in fact it was intended for adults. The descriptions of nature are beautiful, but also it doesn't pull any punches.  But I guess nature can be cruel. It reminded me a bit of Watership Down, although the animals are much less anthropomorphic (Do hope that is the right word!).

Yarn Along and Mystery Knit

Although I quite often link to the Yarn Along, I have to admit that it is not often that I have actually read a book. I don't know why, because I used to read a lot. Somehow these days as soon as I hit the bed I fall fast asleep. Perhaps I need to try to fit reading in earlier in the day.

So I am rather pleased to be able to link with an actual book, and a work in progress. The Girl at the Lion D'Or is a lovely book, set between the wars in a small town in France. The rather mysterious Anne arrives from Paris, to take up her post at the rundown local hotel, and eventually begins an affair with Hartmann, a married man. Throughout the story Anne's secret past is revealed, and I think the book is partly a tragic love story, but also about French history, life in a small town, and resilience of spirit. I would recommend it, and may now attempt to read the much more well known Birdsong. It also reminded me of being in my early twenties, as I did spend a summer working in a hotel (although disappointingly I didn't have an affair with anyone).

With a lot of patterns, I think of the basic idea, and the knitting just trips off my needles. But my current project is causing me headaches. These are just a few of my prototypes, and I have half a dozen more in my knitting bag. I am slowly getting closer to how I would like it to look. I would be very surprised if you can tell what they are meant to be. I would be delighted if you want to have a guess. (A clue might be that I think anyone in the USA on the Pacific coast or Oz might have an idea, and I wouldn't even try if you live in the UK.) Also the colour is not right, I just have a lot of spare white wool which I am using up.