Here at DTW we find it hard to resist penguin tales - as past blogs may indicate - and as a fan of knitwear too, the one that just came to my attention is, in my opinion, one of the best yet.
It seems that Skeinz, a natural yarn shop in Napier recently put out a request for help in knitting jumpers for penguins - little blues to be precise. This genuine appeal was made to assist with the ongoing relief effort being conducted to minimise the envrionmental impact of the recent oil spill around the Bay of Plenty.
Quite apart from looking amazingly cute, the idea behind the jumpers is two-fold: to keep the penguins warm where the oil may have impacted the effectiveness of the natural "wetsuit" afforded by their feathers, and also to prevent them from ingesting any toxic substance through preening. Comparisons have been drawn to the plastic head cones used on cats and dogs, if somewhat more stylish.
It seems that saturation has now been reached in terms of jumpers recieved, but you can follow ongoing developments on Skeinz's very own blog.
The number of penguins affected is so far quite small, though larger numbers of other seabirds have been caught in the spill. The situation may be serious but this is one example of finding a positive in the negative.
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