I had a request from someone to make a hippo. I have not made one before, and while I found a few patterns (free and otherwise) none of them really were what I was looking for. However, I decided to go ahead and make a few using various patterns with the idea that I could make a few extra to add to my charity toy stash. This is the first attempt, and it is from a free pattern called Hungry, Hungry Hippo.

The pattern was very strangely written when I compare it to other amigurumi patterns I’ve followed in the past. I could go into a lot of detail about this, but I am not a pattern expert by any means. In fact, I can’t even imagine coming up with my own amigurumi patterns, so I’m not even going to go there. Let’s just say that I would not recommend this pattern to anyone who is not familiar with the technique of amigurumi. If you are, then you probably have enough skill to make it work generally speaking.

As far as the finished product, he is cute, even though his snout is too large and this makes him topple over easily if you don’t set him down correctly. I had a heck of a time getting a decent picture of him. As a result, I took a number of them, which you can find on my Ravelry project page. I think one other reason besides the odd pattern that I did not enjoy making him is because I’m so, so, so sick of using Red Heart Super Saver yarn! I want to touch something soft for a change.

I do not plan to making this pattern again and have moved onto hippo attempt #2, a free pattern I received in an e-book published by Crochet Me. It is one of 8 patterns, and this one is called Hugo the Not So Hungry Hippo. The designer is my fav, Stacey Trock. I have already started hippo #2, and while I know the pattern will be easy to follow, I’m not sure what I think about this guy’s snout. It is open and shows a few teeth. I may change that once I get to that point because I’d prefer the snout to be closed.

Along with knowing I have a pattern that make sense to me, I found two skeins of bright pink Vanna’s Choice yarn in my stash, yippy! As this finished hippo will probably go to my requester, which means it’s not a charity toy, I wanted to use some of my own yarn anyway and not yarn that was donated for the cause (all of which is RHSS…eeehhh gads!).