I. Love. Knitting. Last month I went to the Rhinebeck Sheep & Wool Festival, and was pleased to see so many knitters and crocheters from all walks of life.

Knitting is my passion, but since I don't often try to sell my knitting I haven't really talked about it here. I knit LOTS of gifts. And this time of year is when I am furiously working to finish them in time for Chanukkah and Christmas. I have such a fun time knitting, and hope to share some of what I've done with you. So for today, let us begin with a look back on my Giraffic Adventure.

This is Gerry Giraffe, my first try at a knit stuffed animal. My friends had an adorable baby boy this past year, and I wanted to make them something special for him to go with their safari-themed nursery. I was a little nervous when I started. It was a new pattern and all the pieces are so small. I used Sirdar's Noah's Ark Giraffe pattern as my starting point. They tell you to knit all the pieces flat and sew them up. You start with the body, and are supposed to embroider the dots on top. But I guess I don't like following instructions.

I volunteer with New York Cares in Manhattan, and we taught our clients how to do intarsia knitting and crochet. So I thought, why not? I made myself a little pattern that followed the size of the body and went for it. It was difficult, but it definitely worked and was less difficult than going back over it later. It was after doing the front and back that I thought this pattern would be so much easier in the round. I plan to make another giraffe in the opposite color scheme and I would definitely do the body in the round using the fair isle technique.

Thankfully I came up with a way to do the other limbs in the round which saved myself some work. Though they did end up a little bigger than the pattern's picture. I also may have overstuffed them, you can see the stuffing a bit. But it's homemade! So no complaints.

All in all I am happy with how it came out, and I hope it will last this little guy a long time.

Check out some of my other knit and crochet work on Ravelry.