Pinga's Balloon

Pingu and the Knitting Machine

Mother arrives home with a big package. Pingu wants to know what’s in it, so is close by when Mother reveals the contents – a knitting machine. The machine knits what Pingu thinks is a hat, and he puts it on, but Mother shows him that it’s not a hat but a tea cosy. Mother and Pingu go outside, and Mother puts a sign outside the door indicating that she’s ready to knit things. Grandfather comes by and Pingu tells him all about the new machine. He goes inside just as Robby turns up. When Grandfather comes out he has a new pair of knitted mittens and a scarf. He gives the scarf to Robby and they both go off. Pingu goes back inside. Mother is busy knitting. Pingu goes up to the machine and starts fiddling with one of the balls of wool. Mother tells him to leave it alone and to go and play. He goes away, but sidles back and has another play with the wool. Mother again tells him to stop. Mother then loads up her basket with things she’s knitted and goes out, and Pingu grabs the chance to have a go on the machine. He sits up to the machine, changes the balls of wool for different colours and sets the machine going. Pinga arrives as the machine starts to knit a scarf, which gets longer and longer. Pinga feeds in new balls of wool and the scarf gets even longer. Pingu tries to stop the machine, but it goes even faster and he and Pinga end up wrapped tightly in a roll of the scarf. Mother comes back, and is surprised at what she finds. Then Father comes in, unrolls Pingu and Pinga, and Mother tells them off. They tidy up the long scarf and then Pingu has an idea, so the machine is used to make a hat for each of the four of them using the wool from the scarf.