June 4, 2017

I made three hexagons this weekend and I ordered the plastic eyes. This is going to be a very low priority project.

Note to self: do the motifs assembly-line-style going forward -- maybe that will make me less likely to forget that rounds 2 and 3 are the same color so I’ll stop cutting off at round 2 and ending up with extra ends to weave in.

July 13, 2017

Hexagons and octagons are done!

August 7, 2017

I did six pentagons last night in anticipation of starting the join next (the bum area). I want to try out Heidi’s join method. Plus, I want to make sure the random mill-end yarn I bought for the join is acceptable.

I just tried adding the fifth round to a motif and I’m afraid the mill-end yarn is not compatible. It appears to be cotton and doesn’t work with the DK acrylic (thinner and rougher). I will have to add a skein or two of cream to my next Wool Warehouse order. (Stylecraft just announced three new colors of Special DK, so I want to place an order anyway!)

September 27, 2017

We have hippo butt! Unfortunately, I didn’t remember there was a video for the join-as-you-go technique (and here is another that shows how three motifs come together) until after I had done the first seven motifs. The last two are done correctly -- coming down from the top when making the slip stitch, rather than from underneath, which leaves a smaller ridge. Now I have to decide whether to pull out all the Cream and redo it or just live with it. (Tails all woven in, of course! :-P )

The next part, Round 2 requires 2 pentagons and 3 hexagons.

October 28, 2017

I’ve finished through page 18 of the pattern, which means I’ve added 6 more motifs. According to the pattern, “Ok, so you’ve got nearly half way with the body. Well done! So far, you have a pair of hind legs, with two rounds of motifs added and the belly octagon in place.” Woo hoo!

March 15, 2018

Getting back to poor, neglected Happy! Joined two hexagons for round 3 of the body (Step 6, page 19), but I need to make two heptagons before I can continue.

June 28, 2018

I think I’ll finish the motifs all at once, rather than continuing to do them as I need them. (Then I can return the extra yarn to the stash and move Happy to a smaller project bag.)

• Octagons x 2
• Heptagons x 2 - need 2
• Hexagons x 11 - need to redo 4
• Pentagons x 26 - need 18
• Nose Patch x 2 - need 2

Done 22, Need 22 more. However, I’m also going to have to re-do the two eye and two ear hexagons to make them match.

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First round done on the 26 remaining motifs.

July 17, 2018

All the motifs are done, now for the rest of the joining.

Happy is now living in my Snarky Tote project bag with just a skein of cream for the join.

July 18, 2018

I just got to this statement in the pattern, “Now do a happy dance because you have finished Happypotamus’ body…” :)

July 23, 2018

Poor Happy! He has a head now but I didn’t buy nearly enough stuffing so he’s looking a little sad.

July 24, 2018

OMG, he’s done!! And he’s enormous! Happy is 27” long and 11” tall.

In some of the pictures he’s standing with the Around the Bases blanket I made last year in the same colors. I had thought they’d make a good gift together next time there’s a baby in the family. I also have a second large square (Helen Shrimpton’s Sweet Caroline) that I am planning to turn into a second baby blanket with the final half of Around the Bases that I didn’t get to with the first blanket. Maybe I’ll make another Heidi Bears animal to go with that one. The Triceratops is cute, but would also be enormous, so maybe I should do the Bluebird.