‘Elefantito‘ is Spanish for ‘Little Elephant’, and this adorable, knitted pachyderm will steal your heart and demand space on your bedside table, take centre stage in your living room, or become a cuddly inspiration on your desk.

I have just finished making this gray woolen softee for the daughter of a client.  She is just shy of 2 years old, petite and cute as button and I found myself making it for her after I came across the pattern for it on Ravelry.

All told, I think it took me about 7 hours start to finish (over 4 days)…the best part? I didn’t have to purchase a single ball of yarn.  This is one of those projects that allow you to use up any leftovers from previous projects in your ‘stash’.  Of which I am guilty of having too much of, just like fabric.

To make your own elefantito, you will need one 100 gram ball of knitting worsted-weight yarn, or equivalent in different colours, some poly stuffing and a set of 4.5 mm DPN’s (Double Pointed Needles).  Click here for the pattern link.

If you opt for using different colours, give your creativity free reign and don’t be concerned with having a perfectly crafted ‘elefantito’.  Quirky is the new mod after all.

The pattern calls for crocheted ears, but seeing as I don’t crochet other than a basic chain that I could carry on for miles, I opted to create my elefantito’s ears in knitting (see pattern for ears below), basically…winging it.  They turned out pretty good too, any larger and they could qualify as a Dumbo replica.

Enjoy!

Knitted Elefantito Ears:

With  4.5 mm straight needles, cast on 10 stitches

Row 1: Knit
Row 2 (and every alternate row): Purl
Row 3: Inc 1 st in 1st stitch, K to last stitch, inc 1 st in last stitch (12 stitches on needle)
Row 5: As Row 3
Row 7: As Row 3
Row 9: As Row 3 (18 stitches now on needle)
Row 11: Knit
Row 12: Purl
Row 13: K2tog, knit to last 2 sts, SSK
Row 14: P2tog, Purl to last 2 sts, P2tog
Repeat last 2 rows twice more (6 stitches left on needle)
Bind Off Loosely.

*Note ~ There are 4 separate knitted pieces for the ears, I used gray for the outside and taupe for the inner side. With right sides together, whip stitch or graft ears together along outer edge, leaving the Cast On edge OPEN for turning. Turn right side out and whip stitch ears in place on Elefantitos head.

Glossary:

SSK = Slip, Slip, Knit (move 2 stitches from the left needle onto the right needle, knit the two together, this makes a right leaning decrease.
K2tog = Knit 2 together
P2tog = Purl 2 together
Inc = increase