Of Mice and Snakes

You may have noticed by now that I’m not the world’s fastest crafter. A post will appear extolling the virtues of the latest project under construction, and then it goes completely off-radar for weeks, nay months. Take, for example, the bag I made for Mummykins at Christmas – that spread over a quarter of the year! To be fair, most things do get finished in the end (one notable exception being that dang Henry scarf, which peed me off no end and got ripped after a week). Indeed, only these past few days has another project finally reached completion, and has been firmly crossed off my ‘to-do’ list (and by virtue of it being a leap year, has been contained within two calendar months). So without further ado, let me introduce Marvin Mouse and Archie Anaconda!

Aren’t they wonderful? They’re made out of a fabulous pattern designed by Anna of Mochimochiland. Her patterns are fab, fun and (apparently) quick! She’s also got a lovely free pattern on Knitty that’s definitely worth consideration. Now, despite the traditional predator-prey relationship between snakes and mice, Marvin and Archie have sought to bridge the divide by being the best of friends; look, they even have matching toupees! Each night they sleep together. Sometimes Marvin likes to nestle in the warmth of Archie’s mouth.

At other times, Archie likes to suck his tail with Marvin snuggled up in the crook of his body.

I only made one modification to this pattern, and that was to place a little bell in the end of his tail. He’s a rattlesnake, d’uh! Actually, he must have mixed parentage, as surely he can’t be both and anaconda and a rattle snake?*

Apart from the snake, I have also found the time to make my Mum a Mother’s Day Pressie. Now this is not an ambitious project, but I am in the invidious position of late of being both cash-poor and time-poor. What’s a girl to do? Well, in this instance, use the nicest wool in their stash (Rowan Felted Tweed) and set to making a really pretty flower brooch, embellished with iridescent sequins and beads. There is also a practical reason for this project’s bijou dimensions. For the past 10 years I have had to mail presents to all my family, having never been close enough for a ‘pop over’ visit. Honestly, there are only so many things that travel through the post easily, and there are only so many books, CDs, DVDs etc you can send before you feel like ripping up your Amazon account and poking your eyes out. Anyway, I do hope she’ll like it

Now, onto a more pressing subject – the weather (deary me, you can tell I’m English).

First of all, I slept through the earthquake (is this ‘weather’? I apologist to a certain scientist who might berate me for my sloppy conceptualisations). This is no real surprise as I also slept through this as a child (proof indeed that capacity to sleep bears no relationship to wine consumed). Second of all, last Wednesday cast the most magical frost over where I live that I really do need to share some photos with you. Fortunately I had the day off for John’s birthday (29th!!!), so I was able to take some cracking pics before it melted away just an hour or so later.

It sure was wonderful!

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*Two reasons why he’s an anaconda. Firstly, I like alliteration. Secondly, when on holiday in Prague once I got caught in the rain with no umbrella. A kindly street seller saw my predicament and sold me one of his wares, pressing a snakeskin print design into my soggy hands. Speaking no Czech myself, and he little English, the seller just simply winked at me and said ‘A-na-con-daaaa!!!!!’ with a great big smirk on his face. God, I loved that umbrella.