The crochet pattern creator writes on her blog, every word’s a purl:

Maybe I just like wayward sea creatures. Maybe I’m partial to the Gowanus Canal. Or maybe I needed something to smile about. But for some reason, the tale of Sludgie the Whale — a minke whale who ended up in Brooklyn — really captured my imagination yesterday.

To be honest, I doubted his existence at first. Surely it’s a large dog, I said to my editor, or maybe a section of sewer pipe. After all, we’re always chasing down tips of adults floating in the East River that end up being pieces of cardboard. My colleague pointed out that it was likely the bloated body of a mobster, a species more frequently spotted in the Gowanus.

But he was a whale, and he was dubbed Sludgie by an editor with fond memories of Fudgie the Whale. (We didn’t have Carvels in Western Pa. when I was growing up, so I’ve never tasted this treat. Sigh.)

So last night, I decided that the world wouldn’t be complete without a crocheted Sludgie. I think the world needs more newsworthy knits! So here he is, complete with removable water spout, if anyone is similarly captivated by him.

A pattern is included, should you be able to and be interested in making your own Sludgie.

SLUDGIE NEWS: Sludgie was a girl. AP reports: “Experts still can’t say why a baby whale died in a Brooklyn waterway this week. But they’ve learned at least one thing about the animal: it was a young female. Researchers examined the whale for seven hours yesterday. They didn’t find any signs of significant trauma. Now they plan to send tissue samples to pathologists for more tests.