Made for a baby boy due in April 2010 (I made his brother an Elijah, so a friendly hippo seemed like a nice alternative this time around). Overall I’m pretty pleased with him!

This is a nice pattern for people who hate sewing up seams, as the majority of it involves knitting in the round and integrating live stitches.

I used aran weight yarn with Lantern Moon 3mm rosewood dpns (smaller than the recommended needles but I like to knit stuffed toys at a tight gauge, to stop them going baggy).

This Rowan yarn is lovely - soft and clean-looking, and perfect for a baby toy, with no loose fibres wafting around.

9th Jan: Made the arms and legs and placed the live stitches on a spare needle

10th Jan: Made the head, which is an interesting seamless construction using short row shaping.

11th Jan: Started to knit down the neck and body - and joined the arms (which is done by integrating the live stitches). It’s a bit fiddly but much preferable to sewing up seams!

15th Jan: Today I finished the rest of the body and incorporated the legs. Final touches were to make the ears and sew on the face using embroidery thread.

Modificatons:

• On a whim, I made the arms and legs a little bit longer than the pattern specifies (for the arms I knit 2 extra rounds before the final decreases, for the legs I knit 4 extra rounds)
• Also, inspired by Elijah, I followed a stuff-as-you-go approach (e.g. stuffing the head before I continue to knit down the neck).