As there are a lot of bird spotters among my friends and family, I’ve had quite some appeals for knitted birds. So I’ve taken up the venture of cloning different species in a knitted collection.
Creating these eye-catching tanagers has been an especially thankful task in these times of social distancing: hang up these birds all over the house and go bird watching without even leaving the house!

In the tanager bird family about 240 species have been described. It is the second-largest family of birds with about 4% of all avian species and they come in a myriad of sizes and shapes with a vibrant variety of costumes in all colors of the rainbow. For this pattern book, I’ve chosen some of the most flamboyant birds, to bring some color in your knit and home, especially now a real life bird watching vacation might not be an option.

There are six birds included in this pattern: the paradise tanager, green-headed tanager, Western tanager, scarlet tanager, seven-colored tanager and the speckled tanager. Each bird is a small, easy and fun project, that can be finished in an evening or so and a great way to use up any scraps you have lying around.

The birds are knitted flat - in this case on 2.25 mm double pointed needles (UK 13, US 1) - and some intarsia color work is required. The tiny beaks were knitted on 1 mm double pointed needles, in yarn of a lace gauge, but can also be done in a heavier yarn or made out of a scrap of felt. Soft toy filling was used to stuff the tanagers.

Have a splendid knit! Viv