Finished Object Friday: My Not So Itty-Bitty Giraffe!

I'm seriously so excited about today's finished item because it has been a long time coming. I finished my giraffe!

This is the (Not So) Itty-Bitty Giraffe pattern by Susan B. Anderson. I made this using the Craftsy Class by the same name. This is my first ever knitted animal and it feels so great to have it done :)

Here is the back view. I think the back is what really makes him look like a giraffe (due to the spots).

When putting the spots on, I decided it looked better to go with a kind of grid formation, and I ended up making 10 spots to accomplish this. Those spots took so much longer to make than I think they should have lol. Also, just to let you know a neat little fact, "horns" are actually held up with pieces of plastic straws inside! Pretty cool, huh?

Here's the side view. I did end up making his first leg a little too long - the pattern says to knit the yellow until lit measures 6.5" and I went to 6.75" and I couldn't be bothered to rip back so I just made them all that length. This made me have to attach them a smidge higher than the class shows you, but I really don't think you can tell if you don't know. He is definitely "not so itty-bitty". When seated like this, he measures a little over 13" high, and if I hold him up so that the legs are extended he measures a little over 20" tall. I just love his big, huggable size. He is very squishy from the poly pellets in the nylon combined with the poly fill and wool yarn. I love how wool is so springy in the animals - I know that sounds weird, but make one and you'll see what I mean. I used the Class Yarn Kit from Craftsy to make this which included 2 skeins of Cascade 220 Superwash wool in Daffodil and 1 skein in Orange. I ended up using 1.2 skeins of the yellow and 0.4 skeins of the orange, so I have a bunch left to make other things with. The poly pellets have also contributed to his weight - this is no light giraffe. I'm sure it won't be drug around by my kids until they are a little bigger, but they will love it sitting with them :)

For his face, I just used a strand of Everyday Soft Worsted in Chocolate. I spent a good deal of time on the face just to make sure he finished off well and I am really happy with the end result. Because I made this for my future children, I wanted it to be very durable, so everything is knotted on and I hid the knots as best as I could in the bars between the stitches or under the body parts and you really don't see them, which I'm very happy with. I just love his little face :) 

It's amazing the response I got to this animal when I showed him to my family. Everyone just wanted to squish and hug him and play with his long legs. Even my nephew is a fan - he was obsessed with the pompoms :)

I am so happy to have this finished and it feels like such a big accomplishment! I started making this on July 12th, and I have been diligently working on it until August 7th so it took almost a full month! I will say, my knitting is definitely faster than it was when I began this. I am also really glad that I bought the Craftsy class to help me make it. I learned a lot of neat techniques and it really helped take the guess work out of some of the pattern. Could you make this without following the class? Sure, but for a person who has never knitted an animal before it really makes the difference between a pleasant experience and a long headache. I am so proud of my guy and I know a lot of that is thanks to Susan's instructions in the class, so I would recommend the online class to anyone - I definitely give it a full 5 star review :) Now I have knitted animal fever, lol, and I can't wait to make another (smaller) one next.

So that's my big "FO" (finished object) this week. To see the objects others have finished, check out Tami's Amis blog :)