Lillyphant

Several of my friends are pregnant (or indeed have recently had babies) and I've been struggling to keep up both with knitting gifts and with being able to empathise with a process that (right now at least) seems alien to me!

My friend Heather and her husband Sam had a baby last year and I failed to get anything turned out in time, so in an effort to make amends, I decided to make something particularly yummy, and settled on the Elijah elephant by Ysolda. I knew it was going to be a tricky project, but all the finished versions of Elijah on Ravelry looked so cute I decided I just had to give it a go.

It turns out that this project, in my opinion at least, is every bit as magical as being pregnant (and don't you dare tell me otherwise ;-), because you just can't help but marvel at your own cleverness for making something so special! And like any proud parent, I took a ridiculous amount of pictures to show off my skills!

Here is the head, in progress taken from the side so you can see her trunk. Isn't she cute? Who do you think she looks like? And this is the head from the back because I was so excited by the pinwheel that her head originates out of - despite it being a pain to cast on for. Don't you just want to sniff that darling baby (elephant) head?!

Now, this is the base of her body, because I was just as excited with the 'X' that occurs at the base ready for you to pick up and knit triangular legs into. Isn't that just the peachiest posterior ever?

So this is a picture of head and body from the side, and you can just about see the shaping that ends up in that X-shape. Ahhh, she's all dimples and curves!

And here she is with the legs added. Look at those chubby legs and perfect tiny feet!

And, drum roll please (in a slight change of colour - the pictures above are more true - because I got a new phone half-way through making her and I take all my images with the camera on my phone), here is my finished Lillyphant (named like the original Elijah Elephant after its soon-to-be owner Lillian 'Lilly' Murn), complete with French Knot eyes, in all her gorgeous glory. So, I had to learn a pinwheel cast-on, M1l and M2r (I had no idea there was any difference in M1s until this project), short rows with wraps and turns, and as if that wasn't enough for my poor brain (and fingers) embroidering French Knots! Goodness me, if that isn't a tricky labour, I don't know what is! ;-)

I have to confess that despite finishing her a few weeks ago, I have yet to manage to part with her; I had no idea the bond would be this strong! But I've written the card that goes with her and put a ribbon round her neck, so its only a matter of time before I fill in the adoption certificate - I mean customs form - and send her off to her new home in the US.

It just seems so horribly fast that babies fly the nest these days...