Thursday, January 24, 2013

Finished Giraffe!

I finally put the finishing touches on my giraffe!


Look at that sweet face!

Isn't (s)he the sweetest thing?  It's going to be very hard to give this cutie away to Phin and my new niece (due in about 4 weeks!), or resist the urge to give it a gender, name or personality. But I suppose that I should leave all that for it's eventual owner.


I love the pompoms

It really didn't take all that long to knit and wasn't difficult. There were a few parts where I got hung up a bit, like making pompoms. Yeah. I don't know why I found pompoms difficult at first, either.

Here's my humble attempt at a time-lapse sort of photo essay on the construction of this giraffe.



Just a reminder that this pattern is from Susan B Anderson's Itty Bitty Toys book and Craftsy video, both of which I give an "A". This is an adorable baby gift. I knit it with daffodil and flamingo colored Cascade 220 Superwash yarn, which should make it easy to clean. It's stuffed with non-toxic fiberfill and a beanbag of non-toxic poly pellets in the bum to give it some weight and help it sit up.  I sewed the beanbag out of muslin so that none of the pellets can escape and be a choking hazard. The giraffe is quite large - about 14 inches tall sitting down.

Giraffe Love


It was nice to take a break from a demanding lace knitting pattern and just knit in circles, without having to worrying about fitting. The most challenging part was stitching on the face. I didn't get everything perfectly symmetrical, but I like the end result. I think the giraffe looks a bit jaunty with the horns going in slightly different directions.

There will definitely be more knit stuffies in my future!

18 comments:

Karin said...

This is adorable! So cute with the little pom poms down the neck.

K-Line said...

OMG - you can't give that away. It's the cutest thing on the planet. New babies don't know from toys. She can have a sweater from baby gap!

Clio said...

Gaahhh!! Don't say that! Phin's actually convinced me that we should let it "hang out" with my other stuffed animals until it's time to give it away... And in all honestly, I have a very strong feeling that new baby's 3yo sister is likely to claim it as her own. After I started it, I learned that giraffes are her favorite (and according to her, Old MacDonald has a safari on his farm with a mommy and baby giraffe...)

House of Pinheiro said...

Awwww I want one

Rosie said...

Delurking here ... this is the most adorable giraffe ever!! Great work!!

Kimbersew said...

Cutie cutie cute-stuff! I could fight a 3 yo for that. -not really, but I would hope to distract her with something flashier and stealthily tuck the giraffe under my arm for some quality cuddles. You may need to make a dozen or so more of these. Because the first one should get loved up the way that only very small children can do to a stuffed toy. (You can always smuggle it home again if it gets relegated to 2nd- or 3rd-tier love)

T. Sedai said...

So cute! I love the facial expression. And I am glad you got your pom-poms to work out!

trumbelinasews said...

Wow! Cutest thing ever!

Clio said...

Thank you! I'm so flattered that you delurked for this!

Clio said...

Don't think I haven't contemplated that!

Clio said...

Ha! I was a bit nervous about it when we met, wasn't I?

Cindy Allard said...

So cute! You've inspired me to sign up for the class. Where did you find the poly pellets? I love the hot pink accents!

Clio said...

I got them from amazon. I couldn't seem to find them anywhere in the Garment District or at a LYS. You may be able to find them at a craft store.

Peter said...

So cute! I love it!

Ginger said...

This is SO CUTE! I love it! What a perfect gift!

Tia DIa said...

He's darling!

Cindy Allard said...

Darn! I was afraid you'd say that! I guess I'll try Michaels waaayy up town! I would keep this one!

mimi jackson said...

That is just SO adorable, I can't take it!