Spring has sprung

"You alright up there, Steve?" Pippa the Pied Wagtail and Steve the Chaffinch are off exploring the spring blossom.

Let's Knit Eric and Pablo!

These two trouble makers are yours to knit if you pick up a copy of the current issue of Let's Knit magazine! (March 2018). Meet Eric the flamingo and Pablo the toucan - both easy, fun knits to cheer up a wintery day with some colourful birdie cuddles!

Long tailed tit

I've been working on knitting some long tailed tits over the weekend - hoping to get out this week and find some blossom for them to sit in so I can take some outdoors photos.

Knitted Birds for Christmas

There's still time to order a copy of my book Knitted Birds, if you're looking for the perfect Christmas present for the knitter in your life! It contains over 30 different bird knitting patterns, along with nests and eggs. Maybe if you give it as a Christmas present the lucky recipient might knit you a bird or two in the new year? 

It's available directly from my blog, or from my Etsy shop, or you can buy it in all good bookshops (although if you buy one from me, I can sign it for you, for an-extra special present idea). 

Knitted Birds book launch

I'm going to be at The Wool Bar, Worthing on Saturday 3rd October from 2-5pm, signing copies of Knitted Birds and dishing out tea and biscuits to celebrate the launch of my book.

Come along and meet me and the knitted birds, it would be lovely to see you!

Ducklings and their dad

Five little knitted ducklings, off for a swim with their dad.

Knitted blackbird

Knitted blackbird out enjoying the sunshine today. This is one of the patterns from my Knitted Birds book!

Gosling and cygnet

Knitted gosling and cygnet - the knitting pattern for these little fluffy beauties is going to be in my Knitted Birds book, and the two below are currently looking for a new home (visit my Etsy shop for details and more photos).

Two hoots

A pair of knitted snowy owls - the patterns for these are going to be in my book. One with wings up, one with wings down...

Knitted blackbird

I've decided to make a limited number of knitted birds for sale on Etsy, in the run-up to my Knitted Birds book being published by Search Press in September. So here's the first one who is currently available for adoption on Etsy - a handsome male knitted blackbird.

He's approximately 20cm long from tip of the tail to tip of the felt beak. If you'd like to knit one of your own, he will be one of the patterns in my Knitted Birds book!

Home made bird food

The birds in my garden love coconut suet feeders, so much so that I ended up with a pile of empty coconut shells. I wondered if it was possible to reuse these shells and fill them with your own suet mix. There were plenty of recipes online varying from the expensive and complicated, to the rather dubious (full of flour and filler). I wanted to make something simple, cheap and nutritious!

I ended up adapting a recipe I found on the Birds and Blooms website. It was very easy to make, worked out cheaper than buying new coconut feeders, and the birds loved it.

If you would like to make a treat for the birds in your garden, here is the recipe to make enough to fill 2 coconut shells. If you want to make more, it's easy to multiply the ingedients.

You will need:

125g lard

200g unsalted peanuts

50g bird seed mix

Melt the lard (either in a saucepan or in a baking tin in a low oven). While it is melting, blitz your peanuts in a food processor until it they are well chopped. You don't want a powder, just lots of nubbly small pieces. When the lard has melted, stir in your peanut pieces and bird seed mix, mix well, and press into your coconut shells. Leave in a cool place to set and then hang out for the birds!

This basic recipe is very adaptable - you could add raisins, or sunflower seeds. Experiment and see what your birds prefer!

Knitted woodpecker

This knitted European Green Woodpecker was hanging out in my freezing winter garden. Not a great photo, but I was in a rush because I was feeling guilty about the crowd of sparrows I had disturbed at the bird feeders while faffing around with the woodpecker. It's not nice being guilt - tripped by tiny, cold birds.

Knitted eggs and nest

Just finished a little knitted nest and eggs - the pattern will be in my knitted birds book. Both are knitted on 2 needles (I hate knitting in the round! ).

Fledglings

Fledglings tug at my heartstrings. That huge, sad beak. Those big eyes. Those little stumpy wings. A few days ago, I had a blackbird fledgling in the bush in my front garden, right outside the window. Oh, those heart-rending chirps. I couldn't concentrate and spent the afternoon looking out the window every five minutes for neighbourhood cats. Later in the day, he or she flew off, and I could get on with my life once more.

The RSPB has some excellent advice about fledglings on their website. No matter how tempting it is to pick up that helpless little ball of fluff, don't, unless it's on a busy path or in danger. Usually, the fledgling's parents will be supervising from a safe distance and what's happening is completely normal. The fledgling spends a few days on the ground, growing its final flight feathers and getting ready for takeoff.

Anyway - here's my knitted version of the little fledgling that spent the afternoon in my garden, and is hopefully now well on it's way to becoming an adult blackbird. You're allowed to pick this one up, don't worry.

Knitted barn owls

A little barn owl family, nestling in a tree, wondering if it was going to rain (it did, storms and wind five minutes later by which time the barn owls had decamped indoors).

There's an enormous differerence between the shape that people think that owls are, and the shape they actually are in real life. Lots of knitted, crocheted and sewn owls are plump and rounded, almost like a cushion with two big eyes. Real owls are actually quite long and thin, like a feathered tube (have a look at this fine specimen on my Birds board on Pinterest)

I started knitting an owl, shaping it realistically, but it ended up looking like a penguin. Too skinny. So I ended up plumping out the original shaping, to make it look more like that inner image of an owl, but I hope it's kept some of its realism.

The baby barn owl was easier - they start out as just a ball of white fluff with an adult's face looking like it's been pasted on the front. They are one of my favourite baby birds, so much character.

Knitted avocet

One of those mornings where the skies are bright blue with not a cloud in sight. The perfect day for a trip to the beach with latest addition to my knitted flock, the avocet.

This bird is the first one I've made which has a driftwood base. I will probably make some more like this in the future as the driftwood looks beautiful, and on a more practical note, it helps with stability when you're trying to get a long - legged wobbly wader to stand up!

Tufted ducks

Belated happy new year to you all - I have been working hard on new patterns for my Etsy shop, and my book of knitted birds, which is going to be published by Search Press next year. It's going to be a very exciting 2014 here at Knit for Victory.

Here's a couple of little knitted tufted ducks enjoying the new year sunshine and wondering who's going to be next off the needles. Clue: it's a bird, but not a British one.

My bird book!

Here's some rather exciting news: the knitted birds are going to have their own book! I am absolutely delighted to announce that Search Press will be publishing my very first knitting book in 2015.

I can't wait to get started working on the knitting patterns for this book, and will keep you all updated here with any news!

If you have any favourite British birds that I haven't knitted yet, let me know - you never know, they might end up in the book.

Coot

Here's a little knitted coot, out enjoying the Sussex sunshine. Do you have trouble remembering which bird is a coot and which one is a moorhen? Imagine that the "oo" in coot is two snowballs, and snowballs are white like a coot's beak. Moorhens have red beaks!

Curlew

Normally sighted on bleak winter estuaries, the curlew is the largest wader you'll spot in the UK. The smaller knitted curlew can be spotted here in the more refined environment of Worthing's Wool Bar, checking out the yarn before flying over to the window to sit with the other knitted birds. They'll be in the Wool Bar all August if you fancy visiting them. Binoculars are entirely optional.