These knitted budgies, from Claire Garland's pattern, find it on Ravelry, take on a life of their own before they're finished. Still searching for something to draw with, I found the bag with the unfinished yellow budgie and the completed blue one.
So I had to settle for drawing with a ballpoint pen, while the birds clamored to be finished and then perched. They're the avian equivalent of the Dollivers. And this means I found the tools to make the second blue budgie, while I was at it. Making three budgies in all, as Bertie Wooster would probably put it.
Kate H. sends me amazing links, real mental workout, and the latest, a question arising from a BBC program, tickled me no end. In the course of looking at the listing, of In Our Time, a BBC talky program, I found a podcast on Hokusai, one of my fave woodblock print artists (you know the Wave? and many others, that's him).
So while I was listening to this solemn discussion of the picture plane and artistic interpretations and international influences, on and by a great artist, I was stuffing a budgie.
Hokusai too, however, believed that you can draw just anything that's there. I knew I got that idea from somewhere.
So today's daily drawing is of the materials and detritus left after the Stuffing of the Budgie.
And here he, the budgie, not Hokusai, is posing with his elder, Budgie Firstborn.
Before they flew up and perched in this handy tree.
Actually, come to think of it, Hokusai would probably be amused at this, given that he's the guy who set a live rooster, feet dipped in red paint, to wander about a huge watercolor he'd set up, as a demo for the Shogun. Named it Leaves in Autumn or something. He gets incongruity.
Budgie progress, now knitted, and I'm in the process of choosing interesting colors for extra feathers.
Knitted but not yet stuffed, not my favorite part
Stuffed and ready for additional feathers and overstitching to emphasize his beak.
Suddenly came to life and is taking part in the choosing, this is a bit scary!
The odd thing about making dolls, or animals, is that they start to take on personality so fast in the making. Handsome Son was visiting last evening, took a look at my budgie, compared it to the one in the pattern and commented that mine already had a different personality. So true.
This is a terrific small idea for using up yarn leftovers. And, if you stitch in the eyes rather than use beads as I did, they're nice handsize toys for little kids. Mine came out approximately lifesize.
And watch this space. This may be the first of a line of Resistance Budgies. I have an idea for coopting a Budgie Brigade in supporting local good causes, as part of the Good People Doing Something that seems more vital than ever right now. More later, once I've finished at least one budgie! It will be a participatory enterprise, blogistas to be included in it.
I have to start with a shout-out to Florence K, friend, and stitcher extraordinaire, about to be profiled in our Embroiderers' Guild newsletter, and I did the pic of her with the first piece of embroidery she ever did.
When I tell you she has great grandchildren, you will see that this was a while back! It's a lunchbag, which she constructed, learning all the stitches, and how to apply snaps, then finished with the cross stitch monogram in a design. Her work now is a far cry from this first effort, done when she was about eight. She creates heirlooms nowadays for lucky descendants.
And since another event was cancelled this afternoon, I had to make something, to deal with the sudden vacuum. So I decided to knit a budgie. Obvious, really.
Size three needles, free pattern from dotpebbles, see here and I'm using crochet cotton I had dyed in variegated blue for another project. Seemed like a natural for a blue and white feathered subject. There will be stitching after it's made, too, to add features, colors, and so on. Watch this space.This is a bi-stitchual project.
It's a Claire Garland, dotpebbles on Ravelry and Twitter, design. She's the creator of the design from which I adapted the Dollivers, and has been very encouraging about their exploits. Nice person, lovely designer, great pattern maker. Very generous with free patterns.
Anyway, this budgie, aka parakeet, just seemed to need to be knitted. I've had many parakeets, so there's an interest in this for avian reasons. And this one won't peck me when it's annoyed.
