Meet Mole, Ratty, Mr Toad and Badger… characters from The Wind in the Willows1, by Kenneth Grahame (first published in 1908) recently crocheted by Inara, Brisbane based multi-disciplinarian artist.
The 1983 stop motion animated film directed by Mark Hall and Chris Taylor2 was my first introduction to the literary classic. It was a BBC free to air movie that I watched when I was a child and re-watched obsessively thereafter. I watched it again 3 days ago.
This film was my happy place when I was a little girl. It is a beautiful childhood memory where little animals wearing waistcoats and pocket watches prioritised friendship even though each of them held different beliefs, valued different things.
I loved these little creatures because each one of them had personality traits I either had, respected or desperately wanted. It also planted in me a seed of curiosity about human nature;
Mole
/curious, kind, humble, innocent, naive, timid
Ratty
/social, practical, nostalgic, finds joy in nature, resistant to change
Toad
/optimistic, charismatic, impulsive, self-centred, energetic, generous
Badger
/dependable, protective, emotionally strong, uncompromising, reclusive
I’m grateful that I was introduced to this story in a child friendly format, in film, before I had the ability to read, before I felt like life was a bombastic iteration of feelings too confusing to understand.
I can identify the feeling now, this beautiful belief that innocence in human nature is appreciated and respected via a cinematic artistry that thoroughly appreciated and respected it too.
I also have a new founded respect for the art of crochet. Its post 19th century origins had very humble beginnings. It developed global traction during the Irish Potato Famine (1845-1852) when intricate lace-like designs crocheted by poverty stricken Irish women were valued economically and exported all across Europe and America.
In both World Wars (WWI 1914-1918/WWII 1939-1945), crochet was considered a patriotic act. Women spent hours and hours with a hook and yarn, creating something functional that would give some element of comfort to soldiers, trenched, dying at the front.
Crochet is a time-consuming skill that requires patience and focus. It isn’t a ‘convenient’ craft. It isn’t commercially cheap/available. It isn’t trend-driven. It is the opposite of fast fashion. It is personal.
Thank you Inara3 for my Wind in the Willows crochet brooches. Inara is a conceptional artist who works across different disciplines in different mediums, driven by a curiosity of technique, form and function. She patterned each character. She crocheted and beaded them.
She is also my little sister.
I may be a little bias but I think these little ‘Badge Willow’ characters are a bit awesome. They have a graphic simplicity to them that charms and delights outside the stereotype of simple ‘craft’.
The Wind in the Willows is also a story about friendship. The book, the film, little crochet brooches, are all little reminders of this. What I gleamed from the story was that being a good friend is really all about working on being a better animal/human.
- Grahame, Kenneth (1966) The Wind In The Willows, published by Grosset & Dunlap Inc, USA. ↩︎
- Hall, M & Taylor, C (1983) The Wind In The Willows, Cosgrove Hall Productions/Thames Television, ITV Network, UK.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=khtJrxqPSPM&si=hp-JFp3TK4W39XcU ↩︎ - Check out some of her work at, https://www.instagram.com/inarajaunitis?igsh=a2UwdHRpbDRjNmNh ↩︎
raincoats for penguins 
You must be logged in to post a comment.