knitting jumpers for penguins

There are a fair amount of animal mentions on this ol' blog: zebras, foxes, bees, giraffes, ocelots, rabbits, swans, geese, squirrels, badgers, Chilean mountain goats to name but a few.

Today is the turn of the fairy penguin, hoorah!

{pretty little penguin from Selma In The City}

Poor little pingus are suffering after the oil spill off the coast of New Zealand's north island, when a cargo ship ran aground on a reef. Reports suggest that over 1000 sea birds have already died after ingesting the oil, and crafters are being asked to help any more from perishing - particularly little penguins (also known as fairy penguins in Australia, because they are so teeny) - by knitting them woolly jumpers!

The jumpers are worn by the affected birds to protect them from swallowing the toxic oil when they try to preen their feathers, and to keep them warm while they recover.

I can think of no better reason to learn how to knit than to help some of these little lovelies:

There are patterns for penguin jumpers here and here - and information about where to send the jumpers can be found here.

Come on guys, learn to knit with me! And help me help save some fairy penguins!