Thanks very much!

Thanks very much to all those who have read my blog posts over the past year. I appreciate the feedback, comments and suggestions, in the comment section and via e-mail. I also appreciate those who read and nod or smile and move onto the next blog! Wishing you all the best in 2019.

Our internet has been off for a couple of days after a tower was struck by lightning. It's another reminder of how tenuous our connection to the world really is.

Jumpy's Mum

Phew, I had to keep at it to get Mrs Kangaroo ready in time to travel to Australia with Annika tomorrow. She's all set now. Annika was concerned that Mrs Kangaroo's tail was going to get in the way on their travels. She suggested leaving the tail off altogether. But a kangaroo without a tail would be a bit sad. This morning the solution came to me - make the tail without stuffing:

 So, the tail is there, but can easily be folded away.

In making the kangaroo, I used a technique I learnt in the scissor keeper pattern to count rows using a contrast thread:

It's simple and works well. Now to remember it.....

Christmas Greetings

Mokala

Mokala is the name of the game reserve south of Kimberley in South Africa that we visited this week. We really did see a lot of different animals in our drives around it, from rhinos to meerkats. Here are a few of them, photos that my daughter Penny took:

Four rhinoceros enjoying the shade near a waterhole.

A kudu bull. Look closely to see his magnificent horns.

Buffalo. In the middle of the day, the herd was resting underneath trees, but when we went back later in the day, they were grazing very close to the road - perfect photo opportunity!

A springbok ram, licking a salt block.

An unusual animal we saw was the quagga. A quagga was thought to be a different animal to a zebra, and had become extinct. DNA testing of quagga skins in museums showed that it was really just a zebra with a different coat pattern. So selective breeding has been used to 'resurrect' the quagga. In the photo below, you can see a 'conventional' Burchell's zebra on the left, and a quagga on the right - the quagga has fewer stripes than the zebra.

I did make a start on the body part of Annika's kangaroo, but still have a long way to go.

Jumpy

Right, we have a baby kangaroo. Annika has named her Jumpy. I've made a start on the mother kangaroo:

Black is not generally considered a kangaroo colour, I grant you, but it's easy to match disparate balls, so hopefully I will be able to assemble enough yarn for the whole creature. The most important point is that Annika likes the idea of a black kangaroo.  We're going away tomorrow for a few days. I'll take my crochet with me, but I'm not sure how much time I'll find to work on it.

Wings

The owl has wings at last. And eyebrows. When Isabel heard that the owl didn't have a home, she said it definitely had to go home with her. Which is fine. But of course, fair is fair, Annika wants something from the amigurumi book too. It's going to be a unique kangaroo because it has to be made from yarn that is here. Annika has approved the colours, so now I just have to crochet as quickly as possible!

More Keepers

Since my granddaughters are here, they could choose the colours they want for their scissor and thimble keepers. Also known as Aunty Mary's Thing - you'll have to read Dedri's post to find out where that name originates. Isabel chose white with a gold thread for sparkle; Annika chose a variegated pink. Orange is for their mum Penny. They chose which thimble they want and the button. Together the keepers make a little bouquet: