The other day, I was gazing out my window and saw these odd little tracks in the snow.

Since it was a cold, blustery day, I thought the tracks looked rather fresh and decided to investigate further.

I put on my coat, my gloves, my scarf, and my hat (all hand-knit of course) and headed out into the wind.

The first thing I noticed was that I was being watched.

Who was that watching me?  Mr. Barred Owl?  Were these his tracks? Was he watching me or did he have his breakfast in sight?

As he quickly became rather intent on something nearby, I gathered it was his next meal.

Whatever had made those tracks better hurry and run for cover lest he become Mr. Barred’s feast of the day.

I walked around my house  closely following the odd little tracks in the snow. Finally, I discovered the creature  not-very-quickly making his get-a-way.  A new one for my yard — definitely a life-lister!

Mr. Penguin!?!  He must have been blown off-course during his annual migration to Florida.  Being stuck in Connecticut with the hungry barred owls doesn’t really look like his idea of a good time, does it?   Mr. Penguin appeared to be very frightened.  He was frozen in his spot and didn’t know what do to next.  I decided to rescue him and carried him inside for a nice hot cup of cocoa.

Mr. Penguin Project details:

Pattern: KnitWhits Stanley Softie by Sonya Philip

Yarn: Louet Riverstone

Needles: Kollage U.S. size 8 – square

Thoughts: I enjoyed knitting Mr. Penguin. I bought all his components at Stitches East.  The KnitWhits booth had kits, but I decided to buy the pattern and the yarn separately as the kits had purple yarn instead of black.  I found the yarn on sale at another booth so the pattern and 3 entire skeins of Louet Riverstone ended up costing about the same as just buying the kit.  I think I can probably make 2 or 3 Mr. Penquins if I so desire.  The square needles seemed to be the *new hot thing* at Stitches East so I treated myself.  They were very nice to knit with and you don’t really even notice that they are square.

The most difficult parts of making Mr. Penguin are sewing on his feet and his making his eyes.  I think his eyes came out okay though I do think he looks a bit worried. But then, who wouldn’t be worried with Mr. Barred watching your every step!

After a few rounds of hot cocoa he is back on his journey south. If you see him, add a splash of Kahlua to his drink to keep him warm — he likes it that way.