Advent: Christmas Eve

I had to save the best 'til last. We're finishing off the Advent Calendar with the dragon, more specifically the emblem of Wales, The Red Dragon - known in Welsh as Y Ddraig Goch. I'm sure most people are familiar with the Y Ddraig Goch as the flag of Wales with the red dragon passant …

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Advent; December 22nd & 23rd

December 22nd: Today we looked at the Will o' the Wisp. The Soundcloud clip is here. Will o' the Wisp is less a "creature" and more ethereal. They are known by many names such as ignis fatuus or foolish fire and are also known as Jack 'o' Lanterns or Marsh Lights. Or even more macabre, …

Advent; more catching up, nearly there…

The last few days I've let go by as I've had nothing extra to add and it avoid filling up inboxes with emails at this busy time of year! December 19th: Groke. The Soundcloud clip is here. The Groke is another character from Tove Jansson's Moomin tales. I always felt sorry for the Groke. I …

Advent: December 18th

Today's creature is the Bunyip. The Soundcloud clip is here. I've explained in the clip Ellaria read about how I first heard of the Bunyip and so why I chose pink as the shade to describe a legendary swamp monster. I did wonder if the spinners would find this an odd choice of colour though …

Advent: December 17th

Today's creature is the Waterhorse. The Soundcloud clip is here. The famous Loch Ness Monster - or Nessie - is a waterhorse. The photographic "evidence" above is the "surgeon's photograph" from 1934. However sightings of a monster connected to Loch Ness stem from 6th C AD when the Irish St Colomba did a bit of …

Advent – catching up!!!

I've really got behind on posting on here! It's been a busy few days... December 13th - Chimera. Soundcloud clip is here. December 14th; Haggis. Soundcloud clip is here. December 15th; Jackalope. Soundcloud clip is here. December 16th: Yeti. Soundcloud clip is here.

Advent: December 12th

Today's mythical creature is the mermaid. The Soundcloud clip is here. Mermaids - maids of the sea - are hybrid creatures with the top half being a female human and the bottom half of a fish. They are rooted deep in the myths of many cultures for thousands of years. The first known mermaid story …

Advent: December 11th

Today we have a Dropbear. The Soundcloud clip is here. The Dropbear is a killer Koala! It's an Aussie practical joke; they are said to be carnivorous marsupials who hang about in the trees just waiting to drop on unsuspecting tourists. The gullible ones, presumably nervous of the more snappy and poisonous fauna in Australia …

Advent: December 8th, 9th and 10th!

Sorry! I got behind - badly! I don't really have much to add to the following creatures but for completeness here they are in order. December 8th: Valkyrie. The Soundcloud clip is here. The fibre was a deep chocolate purple dyed on a re-design of my British BFL/Rose fibre blend, now with added llama down. …

Advent: December 7th

Today's creature is the Jabberwock - the hideous winged sauropod beast from Lewis Carroll's nonsense poem, The Jabberwocky which is part of Through the Looking Glass, the sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. The Soundcloud clip is here. The first lines must be one of the better known children's poems in English literature; Twas bryllyg, …