A very special project

This fresh new year, I am starting with a very special project. I am making the pattern for a fossilised monkey. And it is not even that simple, the monkey I am making is a prosimian or a lemur monkey. The researchers are not completely sure about it. This monkey, called Ida (based on Darwin’s name), died 47 million years ago and was found in Messel, Germany.

Why am I making a fossilised monkey that lived 47 million years ago? To be honest, I’m not really a monkey fan. They just aren’t my kind of animals. I do love some lemurs and prosimians and please don’t get me wrong, I don’t dislike monkeys, but they aren’t on my list of cute and cuddly things that make me feel all happy like when I see a guinea pig, fox or squirrel.

But this Ida monkey does! This was the cutest and most beautiful monkey ever. A friend of mine, who is a wildlife and paleo artist, made the most fabulous illustrations for a book about Ida. Because Ida was so very well preserved, Esther could draw her exactly as she looked, except for the colours. They couldn’t see those from the fossil so she had to chose the most likely colours. And how she portraid Ida, I was in love with her from the start! She made the monkey look so gorgeous and exotic.

Ida is a lemur or prosimian monkey and has this specific type of body. I really like the shape of her head and flexible form. She is perfect for the monkey I like to make. The coloured illustration you see is one of the illustrations Esther made for the book. Ida is the baby monkey carried by the mother.

Esther has asked me before if I could make an Ida monkey, but I never wanted to because it doesn’t exist anymore and therefor crafters won’t recognise the crochet monkey. But lately I was thinking about making a hanging monkey and got stuck on which type. I asked Ether if she knew an extra cute one and of course she said I should make the Ida monkey. I wasn’t sure about it at first but the more I thought about it, the less unlikely it felt. Why wouldn’t I make a pattern for this type of monkey? Ida is absolutely gorgeous and If I design a hanging Ida monkey, I bet many crocheters would just love it. The colours can easily be replaced for colours of existing monkeys if one prefers so what’s the problem. It was done. I was making a fossilised monkey as first project of the year! Now to think of a suitable name…