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!