Baby blue elephant

EARS
Using 4.5mm needles, cast on 5 sts and work 1 row moss stitch. Inc 1 st each end next row, and foll alt rows until you have 13 sts. Work a further 9 rows in moss stitch. Inc 1 st each end of next row, work 3 rows straight. Inc 1 st at beg of next row. (Mark beg of this row to denote outside edge of ear), work 1 row straight. Inc 1 st each end, of next row, work 1 row straight, 18 sts. Work 5 rows straight. Inc 1 st at beg of next row, work 1 row straight. Dec 1 st each end of next and foll alt row. Cast off 2 sts at beg of next 2 rows. Cast off 3 sts at the beg of next 2 rows. Cast off rem sts.

TAIL
Take 9 strands of yarn, divide into 3 equal pieces and make a short plait, (about 6cm (2in) in length) knot the end of the plait and leave a small fringe at the end of the plait, attach to back of elephant.

TO FINISH OFF
Work all ends in neatly on all pieces. Remember that with moss stitch there is no 'right or wrong side' of the work so just reverse the pieces when you sew them up. First join the two under-body pieces neatly along the cast off edges. Join under-body to main pieces matching legs. Join leg seams. Stitch a foot base onto the bottom of each leg.

Join head gusset to the 2 main pieces, start at the trunk end and carefully stitch one side at a time onto a main body and head piece. Run a gathering thread around the end of the trunk, shape and stitch up firmly. Continue to sew up the rest of the head and body, but leave a small space at the back seam to enable stuffing. Turn seam sides inside and begin to stuff the toy.

Before finally closing the body, finish stuffing the elephant, shape as you stuff, don't overfill the trunk, it needs shape but it also needs to be able to 'curl up' a little at the end. Insert the tail and firmly sew the last bit of the body seam. Take ears and sew a running thread around the outsides of each ear, gather very slightly to give a rounded shape, fasten off thread firmly. Now position ears onto the elephant, place shaped inside of ear onto head, pin in place first to get them level and in the same place on each side of the head. Refer to photographs for help.

For eyes, cut two ovals of felt in black, and two half ovals in white, use photograph as a guide to help you. Position the smaller pieces of black felt onto the white ones, add a touch of craft glue to keep them in place, now put them on each side of the head and using two strands of white embroidery silk, stitch each eye firmly in place. Using 6 strands of black embroidery silk, and a back-stitch, embroider eyebrows and a smiley mouth, again using the pictures as your guide.

Pattern taken from the May 2007 issue of Knitting magazine number 37. If you like this pattern, check out the award-winning Knitting magazine at www.thegmcgroup.com where you can also subscribe at fantastic rates.

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