Finally, the Giraffe is here! What took so long?

Hello!

She is here and I am so excited to share her with you guys! It was a long time coming, and I thank you all for your patience. 

Some of you may be wondering "what took so long? You announced this pattern literal months ago" I know, I know. Okay? The anxiety on this one was REAL. There is a reason this one took so long though.

My first version of this giraffe was cute, and you guys loved it. Problem was: I didn't, the customer did though, which is what is truly important. However, when faced with the prospect of writing a pattern I couldn't put my name on it as it was. I didn't love it. I felt the neck, while long enough, stuck out way too far forward and the head was shaped funny, but I had two other patterns to write and get posted, so I made the discission to procrastinate it.

Fast forward, I wrote the two other patterns, and you guys loved them! Then, I took a break from writing because I had markets here in southeastern Missouri that I needed to plan and prep for, on top of orders I had received. Then I had a medical event which caused me to cancel my last market and reschedule all of my orders. Once I recovered, I had to play catch up. To say I was busy the last few months is an understatement, but here we are. Things haven't slowed, but I have gotten better at managing everything. I think...

Last month I finally sat down and wrote a pattern. I reshaped the head, rearranged the neck, and when I finally thought I had gotten the shape right, I called for testers. I got a great group of gals who gave me a lot of feedback, but wouldn't you know it: half of them said that the new part placement was...odd. When I thought about it, I agreed with them. By moving the neck to a different ring sitting it over the front foot rather than centered between the two front feet, I had made something quite...odd. So, in my frustration I stepped away from the project once again.

I have spent the last few weeks editing and conversing with my testers and I have come to a conclusion: I am odd, so why shouldn't my giraffe be odd too? I added height to it's legs, and made its neck skinnier and even longer, and I kept my positioning. All this is to say: keep working on your art, and do it until you love it.

I love her, and I truly hope you do too. Thank you to those sticking with me, buying my patterns, reading my blog (what? will there be more of these?) and supporting my small business. I cannot express how grateful I truly am.