Gentle Gigi
Gigi was very much a work in progress from long before yarn touched the hook. When my niece, Erica, announced her pregnancy, we were all elated! Remember when I mentioned all the babies in the last blog post? This is the second of the group for this year. Erica has always loved hippo's and everyone knows it. She commented on one of my elephant rugs requesting a hippo rug. I prayed there would be a hippo rug on Ira Rott's website, but she did not have one yet. I didn't like any other styles I found online, so I had to get creative.
I was desperate to make this happen, but I didn't know if it was going to be possible. I let Erica know I was going to attempt something, but I couldn't make any promises. Ira did have a pattern for a hippo lovey that was so adorable. As I looked over the features, I immediately knew I would make this for her, but I still wanted to find a way to make her a rug. After all, it was kind of a trademark for me now.
I printed out the pattern and looked over the design and then it hit me. Surely, I could figure this out on my own! I glanced over all of the patterns in Ira Rott's library and decided I could modify the Eh Moose rug to create a hippopotamus rug. Easy peasy, right?!? Well.....maybe.....but I was determined, remember! My husband can attest to how many times I wasn't sure it was going to turn out right. I wanted to stop at least ten times! I stayed the course and completed her in enough time to finish both the rug and the lovey in plenty of time.
She has a quirky attitude and you can see it in her eyes. She's not perfect, but that gives her a special flair!
Now let's talk about the lovey. I have decided stuffed animals are not my specialty. But, if I stand back and look at her with the same quirkiness of the rug, I am mostly satisfied. Erica is happy, so I am happy and that's all that matters. Just don't look to close at her and you won't notice the imperfections. I know I am harder on myself than I need to be, but if I were to ever do it again, I might hope for some improvement, but I won't count on it.
Baby Genevieve will be here before we know it, she won't care if the nostrils are crooked (I mean quirky). I hope she has the same love for hippos as her momma!
For more Gigi pics, click here to see the full album.
Until next time...There is still one more creation to come this year, so keep your eyes peeled! ~RR
