There are patterns for a crocodile, elephant, giant panda, Giraffe (although I think the giraffe is kind of ugly, which says a lot because giraffes are my favorite), hippo, koala, lion, monkey, moose, penguin, rhino, snake, tiger, warthog, and zebra. The patterns are knit in pieces and then sewn together, which I'm not a fan of. I followed the instructions step-by-step while doing the hippo, which means I knit all the individual pieces and then sewed them all together at the end ... and that one time was enough for me. Too many pieces, too much sewing.
Next I made the elephant, which I knit in the round except for the base and ears. You can also add tusks, but I figured a pink ballerina elephant probably wouldn't have tusks, and left them off. The head was a little hard to convert from straight needles to dpn's, but I got it figured out. I knit in the round until I got to the decreases for the trunk, and then I knit back and forth for a few rows until I got into the repeating stitches of the trunk, where I started knitting in the round again. That left a small hole for stuffing as well, and that little 1-1.5 inch hole was completely covered when I attached the head to the body.
The book doesn't add any embellishments besides embroidering features, but I thought the little tutu's and bows really add that extra little "something".
The patterns call for DK yarn and size 3 needles ... but I used worsted and size 6 needles, which produced a very snuggly and large stuffed animal. I compared her to Scout above to show her size. Definitely a great size for cuddling with!
I'm not sure which I'll do next. Maybe the monkey. Or I might try the giraffe in some sort of self-patterning yarn and see if it's cuter like that. I'm excited to see how the other animals work up!
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