FO - Elmer

Yup, I finished him. Here's a little sample of his cuteness.

I knit him out of some leftover Cotton Ease that I bought when I first learned how to knit. I used it to make baby hats for my friends Jill and Bridie. This blue is almost gone. I think I have enough to use it as the accent colour on a second Elephante toy though. I still have almost half a ball of green and a full ball of "almond", a lovely cream. So now you know what the next one will look like!

I followed the pattern as written except for a few minor modifications:

* I chose to knit Elmer in a solid colour and added some plastic toy eyes.

* I created a bigger tassel than the pattern stated.

* I didn't use any polly pellets this time, just some fiber fill.

* I didn't seam his noggin on the way the pattern described either. In Susan's version the elephant is looking down with his trunk touching the floor. I wanted Elmer to see a bit more of the world and the world to see him so I positioned his head up on the body a few inches.

Finishing toys is always the tricky bit for me. I often fly through the knitting of the "bits" only to procrastinate sometimes for months on the sewing up. I'm not really sure why. Seaming once you get going has a nice flow and feel to it. A rhythm almost. Elmer took me all of a few hours to finish.

I used plastic eyes for the first time. I like them. There's something special about an embroidered face though, so I can still see plenty of those in my future, but these little black eyes give Elmer some attitude. I looked high and low to find them in the city and had no luck. Turns out I had a package hiding in my stash that I bought from a closing out sale at Stedmans last year. Rescued by the stash once again!

Thank goodness for Susan's blog! She has some great tutorials on there and the one to make the ears is the best! I had them both done in no time.

I would definitely knit another of these, in fact I've cast on for another Elephante already!