The Jungle Fever Baby Blanket is Finished!!!!

This little story blanket is to be a gift for a friend who is expecting. "There once was a little monkey who lived deep in the rainforest jungle---". The possibilities are endless---.

Placing the creatures on the blanket was the most difficult part of this project. My BFF Mary, helped me with the creation of this story---. She was in charge of the "gnarling " of the tree trunk - no easy task! We both twisted and pinned the yarns in place until we had created the tree of my visions. I wanted this tree to look like the huge tree in the wilderness reserve at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. From there - the rest of the story blanket took shape.



We had pins everywhere! and we moved each little creature several times before we declared it to be perfect! The tree was the most complicated - but the most fun! We added a sneaky snake coiled around one of the branches and a bird nest at the top of the tree.

The snake was made with my Embellish Knit I-Cord maker. This has to be the greatest knitting invention ever! I also used it to make the tree and branches. I love how the yarn just naturally make an eye for the sneaky snake. It looks like he only has one eye - but I am just pretending that his head is turned so that you only see one side of his face.

Don't you just love the little lily pads? The frog and alligator are adorable and seem to have a personality of their own!

These baby blocks that spell out the little name are made from yarn that came from my Mother's stash. After she passed away, I inherited about two bushel baskets of the old fashioned acrylic yarn - not really a favorite for knitting - but is just perfect for making these blocks. This is a wonderful way to use this stash of yarn. The little monkey is really a child's finger puppet - it is lightly tacked in place so that it can be removed later for playtime.

The birds are little plastic buttons. Note the bird nest at the top of the tree---

The vision that started it all---