This week, I am working almost exclusively on Elijah the Elephant so he’ll be ready in time for Alice’s birthday. It’s the most knitting fun I’ve had in ages. Discussions with other knitter friends have shown that many of us have avoided toy knitting for years because of the assumption that toys are fiddly, that toys must be knit in small pieces and sewn up.
Not so Elijah, or any of Ysolda Teague’s other toys. Oh no. These are damn clever. He started as a ball.
You stuff each piece as you knit it, with wadding. It means each piece comes alive as you go.
Soon, he had a trunk and was a totally complete piece.
Cleverly, you pick up stitches at the base – Ysolda’s pattern has everything shown in clear neat diagrams that leave no steps unexplained.
Next thing you know, there’s a body.
I gave him pale blue pads on his feet. Just to break up the beige.
For a moment I thought I might give him his eyes before the rest of him was complete, but Sean said no, that would mean I’d have a limbless elephant pleading with me to hurry up and finish him and we couldn’t have that.
Early this morning I rested him on the window sil in my bedroom and the morning light changed his look entirely!
As of tonight, he has a completed arm. Soon, he’ll be finished. Next time he shows up on the blog, he’ll be A Real Elephant.
They say an elephant gestates for 22 months. Not this elephant. He’s growing fast and furiously and I hope Alice will love him like I do.
Bells
