Bilbies

I have come to the conclusion that people who take photos of children for a living need a gigantic shiny, jewel encrusted medal!

I don't mean those photographers for magazines dealing with wee little Miranda Kerr's who can pout and pose way beyond their years. But those dear loves whose job it is to capture family memories.

How oh how do they do it?! Naive me thought it would be trés simple to take a few quick piccies of the little bilby slippers I made for the poppets for Easter. Ha!

And I was only focusing on their feet! Imagine trying to shoot a family portrait ensuring everyone is a) in the photo and not gallivanting off in completely different directions, b) keeping their fingers out of their noses or other orifices...mon dieu!, c) not jigging about like a jack in a box after one too many double shot espressos and d) happy!

We (meaning they) had fun at least with much wriggling and an ample dose of laughter.

I used a gorgeous nubbly Jo Sharp Aran tweed and this pattern for Bijou's slippers and kinda fudged Remy's. For his, I just cast on a few less stitches and didn't knit for as long....and hoped for the best! The toes on his are a bit wonky but he'll fit them for approximately 2 seconds so I won't fret.

For the ears: Cast on 7 stitches and then work in stocking stitch for about 3 cm ending with a purl row. Next row: ssk, k3, k2 together, Next row: Purl 2 together, p1, p2 together - 3 stitches remaining. Cast off and pull the end through the remaining stitch.

The tail was an I-cord for about 2-3 centimetres. See here for the tutorial I used to work it out. A few little sewn eyes and whiskers and these cheeky bilbies came to life. And let me tell you...they do not sit still!