About a year ago, I started to knit a giraffe for a friend’s new baby…She was due in October, so I figured that 3-4 months was plenty of time to get the thing done. I love the toys in the Itty Bitty Toys book by Susan B Anderson, so I chose to do that one. At the time, we were phasing out of Berroco Pure Merino, so I snagged some hanks for the giraffe and set off to make him. It took only a week or two to get the body of the giraffe done. Then I probably finished the legs a few weeks after that. And then I knitted a few of the spots from time to time…and then I realized that there were still two horns, a tail, two pieces PER EAR and all those pom poms to knit. And then they all had to be sewn onto him. This was a tad overwhelming. I hate finishing. The only thing that I hate more than finishing is knitting tiny pieces of things. And so the giraffe went into hibernation. I figured I had some time before the baby’s due date in October. October came and went and the thought of knitting tiny little pieces for that giraffe was just painful. He moved from his resting place in my “work in progress” basket in the living room to the bin in the office…the bin where projects go to die. I unearthed him again during our Work in Progress retreat at the vineyard in February. I managed to get quite a bit of him done at the retreat, but he still needed a tail and his ears and all of his pom poms. (I really despise making pom poms). So when Veronica was here, she kept asking for projects to work on for me. I do love to pay Veronica to do things that I no longer want to do. It is wonderful. So I handed off the giraffe. She finished him up in an hour or so while hanging out at the shop and he was done. He literally needed an hour of someone’s time. It just couldn’t be mine. So here he is. I have no idea what he was eventually named once he got to his new home. I do know that there is little chance that his new owner will ever get to play with him. His mom seems rather attached and highly unlikely to let a small sticky child touch Mr. Giraffe. That is ok with me. As long as he gets some lovin. He was a long time in the making…
