Penguins!

Some of you may not be aware of my current penguin obsession - I love them! It probably started around the time Happy Feet came out - who can resist singing and dancing penguins? Follow that with the March of the Penguins documentary, and I was hooked. From there on, my adoration of the fluffy creatures just grew, and family and friends were helpful in adding to my collection of Penguin things.

Sarah (my sis) was the first to give me a penguin gift - a dancing penguin from the Happy Feet movie. He sings songs and quotes lines from the movie (in a voice trying to imitate Robin Williams), then breaks into a tap dance (with accompanying tap dance noises) when his motion-sensor goes off. He was cute for a while, but then we grew tired of him. For the most part, he sat in our front hallway of our house, collecting dust, sadly, with the sensor switched to off (these gimmicky toys only hold their charms for so long).  He did, however, make the move to Toronto with me, and now he sits on our television stand with a snowman to keep him company.  I still like to look at him from time to time, and when we have our niece in, she does laugh at his antics. 

The next gift was probably one of the most thoughtful gifts I had ever received, and, of course, it came from Matt himself (he has a great knack for thinking of amazing gifts...it sometimes puts me to shame, quite frankly!). For our first Christmas together, I opened a box to find a stuffed penguin (the little guy to the right), and a note telling me that he had adopted a penguin in my name (insert awwws here)! I think right then and there I knew he was a keeper. Not only did he know that I loved penguins, but now I have one of my very own running around in Antarctica somewhere (he doesn't write very often, but I know he's thinking of us...).  I like to think that my penguin (I've named him Gus - just right now...) was one of the baby penguins being born in the March of the Penguins.

Some of you might remember our painting session that Matt surprised me with on my birthday last year, in which he painted a very cute penguin. It now hangs on our wall by the bathroom, in perfect view from the couch. I guess we are slowly building quite a collection of these fuzzy guys... finding spaces for them all is a challenge in itself, though. Thankfully, Matt is ok with having these penguins placed sporadically around the house, although I'm guessing that if we ever move to a larger house, the nursery would be the perfect place to put them. Penguins are very gender neutral, after all, and I think both boys and girls can love them equally. Hence the latest addition to my Zoo of Knitted Animals...

In keeping with the theme, let me share with you my latest stuffed creation - this ADORABLE penguin. He turned out even cuter than I could imagine, and even though he took a bit or work to get here, he was well worth the trials and errors. Unlike some of the other stuffed animals I've made, which are knit in a circle (which avoids having to sew up many seams), this guy was knit back and forth. At least that's what the pattern suggested, but I thought I would be smarter and knit it in the round anyway. Well, that didn't work out so well, so I stuck with the pattern in the end and did what they suggested. Well, I have to say, to date, this guy is my favourite! But sadly, he found a new home with my girlfriend and her pending baby boy. It was a gift for the little one, which I hope he will like, and, well, I guess I'll just have to knit myself up another one to add to my collection. Even though I like the standard black and white, I'm tempting to knit up a coloured one, say a blue and white. The possibilities really are endless for this one.

I'll share with one last little gift I received came from my mother-in-law (to-be in 21 days...) at my recent wedding shower. With the theme of the party Cooking and Kitchen, she gave me my very own ice cream spoon. I tested it out last night for the first time with some raspberry gelato - works great, Diane! Don't you think everyone should have their personal ice cream spoon? Hands off Matt!