I’ve been busy with my crochet hook and yarn again this week and find that it’s now time to introduce you all to my new friends, the Snail Family! I have a soft spot for snails, which is why my garden always fails spectacularly. With a ratio of around 50 snails to every marigold or pansy (that’s what it seems like anyway), I think it’s a battle that I’ve resigned myself to losing. They’re just too sweet to wage a campaign against, so in the age old tradition of  ‘if you can’t beat them, join crochet them’  I made this pattern as a celebration of these terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs. (Don’t they sound grand when you put it like that!).

Please put your hands together and give a warm welcome to Shelley the Snail and her babies, Sheldon and Shelby!

A rainy day is a jolly good day as far as Shelley the Snail is concerned. When everywhere is nice and damp she tentatively emerges from her shell, rounds up Sheldon and Shelby, and off they all go for a lovely slow motion wallow in the shallow puddles. They’re often found racing each other to the end of the garden. Shelley could win easily but she lets the babies have a head start while she munches on a tasty radish or two from the vegetable plot.

I don’t mind losing out on a few radish. I can always get a fresh bunch from the supermarket any time I want if the snails are really intent in staging a garden takeover. It’s been such a wet year too, I think they have the numbers to do just that right now!

If your a bit of a snailophile like me, then you can get the pattern from my Etsy/Ravelry/Craftsy shops. And if you’re busy gardening this weekend, have a little compassion and remember, snails are people too! (?) And if you really feel that it’s either your prized herbaceous border or them, you can always throw them over the fence into next doors garden. I’m sure your neighbors won’t mind 🙂