FO: Giraffe

I can't believe I knit a giraffe in 6 days.When I randomly found Susan B. Anderson's book, Itty Bitty Toys, in a local yarn shop in... 2008?... I was instantly enthralled. The book is full of the most magical and adorable toys for children. After knitting a few toys from this book and ones by Lucinda Guy, I realized... I really don't like knitting toys. I love the finished product, and these designs are amazing, but toys inherently take a lot of finishing, and that's my least favorite part.That said, I've always wanted to make Susan's Giraffe. Then I had a baby. Then I moved to Kenya. (I know, it was a shock to me, too.) I started seeing giraffes on the side of the road. Then I got pregnant with our second, and it seemed like Giraffe's time had finally come.For someone who doesn't like finishing, this toy is a little crazy - there are 34 pieces: 1 body, 1 head, 4 legs, 1 tail, 2 horns, 4 ear pieces, 11 pompoms, and 11 spots.It calls for Cascade 220, but when I went to purchase at Looped Yarn Works in Washington, DC, I found that they carried Rowan Pure Wool Worsted as an equivalent. I got two skeins of Buttercup and one of Seville and was on my way.I used U.S. size 5 (3.75 mm) needles. Sewing together the pieces as I knit them, as instructed in the pattern, was key for me not going absolutely berserk, as I would have, had I saved it all for the end. The only modification I made was to add a belly button because my dad said it needed one. :)As I mentioned recently, while I'm waiting for this baby to arrive, I've had a lot of downtime, which means lots of knitting time, and I knocked out this sucker in 6 days. The giraffe is pretty sizable (as in, I think it'll be bigger than the baby briefly, and I have big babies), and it occurred to me after it was done that it will be perfect to show the baby's relative growth in monthly pictures. I envision starting from the beginning, so it looks like Giraffe will be accompanying me to the hospital, along with the Puerperium cardigan, the Modern Baby Bonnet, and the original blanket I designed, pattern coming soon-ish (I hope).How do you feel about knitting toys? Which are your favorite projects or toy designers?