Here we go!

 Are you ready for this?  It might be a long one!  Do you remember.....

.... this blanket?  I started out making a baby blanket - it grew out of control...and I was prepping it for delivery to my youngest sister.

I asked her if she would like flowers on the corners of her blanket, but she wanted critters...... so I started knitting little critters......

I went through all my critter patterns and just kept knitting.

Eventually I spread it out on Poppa's bed and started attaching animals.  When I had them all securely attached, I sent Auntie Colleen an e-mail and told her it was finished and we (Poppa and I) had left it in the front porch at her place.  The next day I got a really fun e-mail and I asked her if I could use her comments in this post.  She agreed, so here we go.  The comments in quotes are hers.

" I did not count the critters, but have examined each one.  I love how they all have their own distinct personalities.  This is the best blanket ever.  Each time I think I love one critter the best, I see the next one and decide that is the one I love the best."

"Of course, Gus is my absolute favourite."  

I should mention here that Gus is her dog and he looks kinda like the Gus that I knitted.

She wanted a bear because I have always had bears around and she thought it would be appropriate - so here is a bear!

An elephant.

A white mouse - trying to scare the elephant!

"A flamingo....fabulous legs and colours."

"How did you get the turtle's shell so high?"

Of course, as all the knitters will know - the shell is added after the body is done, and then stuffed and attached.

A very small duck/chick.

A long time ago, when we were a lot younger - I found a snail on the wall in my basement (a rented house - not the one we live in now!).  I didn't want to touch it, so I called my Dad and he brought Colleen to our house so she could remove the snail.  She was only about 10 at the time - but loved snails, bugs, etc.

A grey mouse on the other side of the elephant.

"The cat is frighteningly close to the two charming mice!"

"The little piglet following......

...... the mother warmed my heart."

I made a little penguin - because I thought it was cute.

Does anyone recognize Nessie (the Loch Ness Monster)?  I found this pattern and just HAD to make her!

A hedgehog with large eyes (reminds me of the Frozen animals).

"The giant spider should make me shudder a bit, but I like her personality."  Note: none of the animals are to proper scale in proportion to any other animal on the blanket.

A little lamb.

A porpoise.

The second bear - because I couldn't resist!

An Easter rabbit who forgot his basket of chocolate eggs!

She wanted a bear because I have always had bears around and she thought it would be appropriate - so here is a bear!  (I know, but this is a better picture!)

An alligator.

"The frog and the turtle make me smile when I see the cheeky looks on their faces."

"We really do have bumblebees almost as big as the blanket bee."

Another snail just because I liked the colour combination.

Gus again!  The "thing" at the bottom of the picture is a butterfly.  I seem to be missing a couple of pictures of the other bugs, but....

Regarding this comment - "great distinctive looking slithering snakes" -here is one of the snakes.  If I find more pics of the insects I will post them next time.  Hope you enjoyed the blanket tour!  It finished up about 50"x70" - covered the top of the queen bed.