I’ve just made my mother a snake dog for her birthday.
The design comes from Miyako Kanamori’s wonderful book Sock and Glove. Miyako’s patterns use socks or gloves to create soft toys.
My mother lives in town these days but for fifty years she was a farmer’s wife. She spent many days alone in the bush with the farm dogs for company.
A snake dog was a great asset to any farming family. Our best was a red cattle dog called Cindy who came from the RSPCA.
She had a great instinct for a quick attack, grab and shake. Dogs that grab behind the head live the longest. Any snakes that came too close to the house would have to deal with Cindy.
She was only bitten once when she tackled a big brown snake under the house. My brother applied a pressure bandage, drove 35 km and paid a few hundred dollars to save her.
This birthday my mother will be 88. She has just bought a five year membership to a local football club. In his later years American comedian George Burns used to tell people he didn’t even buy green bananas.
I had great time making Barker for my Mother. I hope she likes him.
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