Amigurumi Lion & Giraffe for Jude (Craft Passion)

Made this lion and giraffe amigurumi for my nephew Jude for his 5th birthday, which we celebrated early today. I used the free patterns by Craft Passion: Leon the Lion pattern here, and Gem the Giraffe pattern here.

Originally, the plan was to make only 1 amigurumi toy, and I had thought of making an elephant. Then for a while, I thought of making either a lion or giraffe instead. I struggled to choose between them before deciding to make the lion because of its mane. Jude is very tactile, and loves to feel/touch textures, especially hair. In the end, crocheting the lion was so much fun, and so addictive, that I ended up making the giraffe after all.

Giraffe and Lion amigurumi birthday gift for my nephew Jude!

At first, Jude didn't seem interested in them, but my SIL said he would take some time to warm up to them. His little sister, my 1-year-old niece Claire, took an instant liking to the giraffe, and made an immediate beeline for him! She carried him around for a bit throughout their visit, only relinquishing him when she made a grab for the birthday cake, and a jar of sweets!

So, my SIL and BIL asked if I could make 1 more, so the 3 kids will have 3 of these to share among themselves.... Turns out Jude's favourite animal is the elephant, so guess that will be the 3rd amigurumi toy I'll be making. Funny how things come down to one's original instinct.

The Lion amigurumi, pattern by Craft Passion.

Worked on the lion over our recent Raffles Hotel staycation. It was a pretty relaxing experience lounging in pj's in the parlour or the super comfy bed, watching Netflix and crocheting. I finished up the lion at home though.

The poor lion looks a little askew because I screwed up the alignment of his face and legs a little.... Not the first time I've messed up the alignment, and it seems I've a slight right-hand bias.

My favourite part of the lion is the mane! Craft Passion said in her post (here) that it would take a full day just to make the mane. No kidding. The mane really took me a full day to do! But the results are really worth the time.

The Lion amigurumi, pattern by Craft Passion.

I especially like the effect when I give the lion's head a gentle shake. It also feels nice and fluffy. My nephew loves touching things. I've noticed that he particularly like to touch and play with our hair. It was a major reason why I chose to make the lion. So I very much hope he will have fun with the lion. (13 Oct 2021 Update: Unfortunately, the lion remains the least favoured of the 3.)

The Lion amigurumi, pattern by Craft Passion.

So, as mentioned above, it was so fun and addictive to crochet the lion, that I ended up making the giraffe as well.

The giraffe was more challenging to make than the lion, as it involves switching yarn colours over many rounds for the body. This was something I learnt it early on, in the amigurumi workshop with Jasmine of AppleLulu (posted here), and have practised it over the previous amigurumi and crochet items made. After a few rounds, it became quite enjoyable. The original pattern was a bit hard for me to keep track of the colour changes, so for convenience, I rejigged the instructions to incorporate the colour changes using coloured text.

The Giraffe amigurumi, pattern by Craft Passion.

Also made some minor modifications to the giraffe pattern. I added 4 more rounds at the neck: 2 full rounds, and 2 half rounds (making the body a total of 52 rounds and 2 staggered rounds); did this so the giraffe's head would be tilted forward when attached together. Also went with a 24st opening for the neck, and continued the colour change to Round 50 before completing Rounds 51-54 in the lemon yellow.

Loop stitches for the Giraffe's mane.

Because I lengthened the giraffe's neck, extra loop stitches were added to lengthen the mane. I thought I made a total of 58 loop stitches, but I wasn't really counting (a cardinal sin in crochet!), so the mane ended up extending a little past the arms. But it looked fine, so I left it as it was. No harm to a little extra "hair" for my nephew to play with!

The tails of the Lion and Giraffe amigurumi.

Also made minor changes to their tails. I made them both thicker, with 8sc stitches per round instead of 4sc. Instead of making the giraffe's in a single colour as stated in the pattern, I tried to incorporate markings in lemon/honey yellow too, but a few of them ended up looking like similarly shaped lozenges. Not a particularly successful modification. Heh heh....

As for the lion's tail, I did add another round of puff stitches (ps3 dec) to the tuft, finishing off with a picot at the tip. Kind of amusing how it looks like a gold-yellow and chocolate coloured asparagus. (*≧▽≦)ﾉｼ))

I used Tiny Rabbit Hole Puppy Yarn for this project. Haha, they all make up a safari colour scheme.

Made both of them with Puppy Yarn by Tiny Rabbit Hole, a 60% cotton 40% acrylic blend yarn. It's readily available here, and seemed a decent substitute for YarnArt Jeans. Went with an acrylic-cotton blend because I wanted the softer look that acrylic yarn has, but didn't want the pilling since the toy will likely be washed many times. It's not as fuzzy in appearance as acrylic yarn, but the Puppy Yarn feels soft and fluffy. This experience has given me an understanding of why many crochet crafters like using cotton-acrylic yarns over acrylic yarns, in spite of the extra expense.

Tools and Materials:

• Lion amigurumi pattern by Craft Passion (pattern here)
• Giraffe amigurumi pattern by Craft Passion (pattern here)
• Clover Amour Crochet Hook 2.5mm
• Yarn: 
• Lion - Puppy Yarn (Papi Yarn) in #03, #51, #56, #62, #67 (Tiny Rabbit Hole)
• Giraffe - Puppy Yarn (Papi Yarn) in #01, #51, #54, #56 (Tiny Rabbit Hole)
• Embroidery in  Puppy Yarn (Papi Yarn) in #67 (black)
• 10mm safety eyes for Lion, 11mm safety eyes for Giraffe (Snacksies Handicraft Corner: webpage, Etsy)
• Polyester fiberfill