This giraffe makes a good Noah’s Ark resident and is an impressive piece to show off your dexterity. It’s fun watching the coloured skin develop as you knit. However, this pattern does require some patience and concentration.

If you’re a beginner and you find the colour-changing too daunting, try the easy version given at the end of these instructions. This is worked entirely in yellow, and you can make patches to sew on afterwards.

Difficulty: Medium. The main pattern is possible for beginners, but patience is required!

Stitches used: kfb, k2tog, p2tog, slip 1

Skills required: Patterning with two different colours of yarn; trapping the spare yarn as you go. (It’s easy to find free video tutorials online which will teach you this technique quickly.)

You will need:
• Wool in pale yellow and brown, max 50g each, plus small amount of grey-brown for hooves. I used Stylecraft Special DK. (Double Knit, 8-6 ply, “light worsted”.) Tension square: 10cm x 10cm square is 24 stitches across and 32 rows.
• Knitting needles – I used UK size 11 (3.0mm, US size 2.5). The legs need to be tightly stuffed to keep the giraffe upright. So we need to knit tight stitches which can take lots of stuffing without looking holey.
• Tapestry needle
• Small amount of black or dark brown wool for the tail, nose and eyes
• Stuffing