Knitting Warm Fuzzies for Australia’s Animals

I told you last year about a story calling for people to knit marsupial pouches for animals in Australia who might need a little extra help and warmth after being injured or when babies aren’t with their mamas.

I said then that I didn’t really know how much of a need there was for such a thing, but it turns out the pouches are actually used, as seen in this story about a group of knitters who make 24 pouches and delivered them to Australia Zoo’s wildlife hospital.

The knitters said they had knit jumpers for penguins after an oil spill, and they wanted to do something to help other animals.

“The handmade pouches will be put to good use right away for the smallest, and often most threatened, native wildlife that are admitted to the wildlife hospital,” said Cynthia Thompson of the zoo.

This picture of a wee possum in a knit cozy might be just the thing to change my mind about possums, too.

[Photo from the Australia Zoo, via Brisbane Times.]

Next Pattern:

I’ve shared a lot of Christmas stocking knitting patterns over the years (see posts 1, 2, 3 for example) but what if you want to knit a stocking for a non-human member of your family. If you’re looking for Christmas stocking knitting patterns for your cats or dogs, this is the post for you.

These large paw print stockings are perfect for either dogs or cats, so they’re great to knit if you have both. They are worked in the round using DK weight yarn, and the stocking measures about 17 inches/43 cm from the top to the heel. You can get the pattern from nicolaluke.

The K4 Project has a super cute Kitty Christmas stocking pattern, which is worked in worsted weight yarn. They also have a dog version, or you can buy both and get a discount if you have both dogs and cats to knit for. Both projects have two patterns, showing how to work the stockings flat or in the round.

Put your dog into a Christmas scene with this stocking pattern from ifanhourChild. It shows a dog in a dog house in the snow, and has room for the dog’s name at the top. It’s worked flat using worsted weight yarn and the pattern includes charts for many small and medium dog breeds (there’s a separate listing for bigger dogs) so you can stitch a dog that looks like yours.

Annie’s Woolens has both dog and cat stocking knitting patterns that are worked in worsted weight yarn in the round. You can change up the colors to suit your pet if you want, and they come with an alphabet chart for personalization. Or you can stick with holiday colors and buy a kit to make the dog or cat stocking.

Waiting for Santa Paws is a pattern from Kate Agner on Ravelry that would be cute for a dog or a cat. It looks like a leg with a paw print on the bottom part of the foot and more paw prints running around the top of the leg. This is a great option if you don’t want to mess with a heel turn because it doesn’t have a heel, because dogs and cats don’t have heels so why would their stockings?

Book Review – 20 to Knit: Tiny Christmas Toys to Knit

Book Review – Knit Christmas Stockings

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