Lions, Whales, and Penguins, Oh my!

In August I splurged and bought a fantastic book: 

I already own the two previous books, Knit your own Cat and Knit your own Dog. I have since discovered that there is also Knit your own Farm! But as I have knitted nothing from the first two I think I should knit more from this latest investment before venturing forward. (Although I really want to knit the cow!) 

The first pattern I knitted was the Penguin. 

He was fun to knit. A little fussy, but He turned out fine - I think. 

The Lion? Oh boy - that was different. 

He's tricky. Not so much in the knitting but in assembling. It took me a whole day just to sew him up and stuff him right. That's other part they don't really talk about - how to stuff the animals. Where to add more stuffing etc. 

Here's Jacques babysitting both Lion and first Whale. Lion is not facing the camera as he doesn't have his face on yet. (I still had to embroider it!) 

The Whale pattern I purchased separately on Ravelry: 

https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/wasabi-7

 I've had my eye on this pattern for a while. $6 is expensive for a knitting pattern - I've paid less for a full sweater pattern! But since I kept thinking about this little guy I finally decided, well, he must be worth it! Above is my first Wasabi - he is about 5 inches long. I'm not sure I can give him up.

My second Wasabi is here:

and was knitted for little Miss Eleanor, a co worker's daughter. We had a baby shower on Monday for them and we were encouraged to bring our favorite, lesser known, children's books. I gave Hippopposites. But  I finally realized why I love this little whale, it reminds me of one of my favorite children's books: Burt Dow: Deep Water Man by Robert McClosky. I can't wait to make more - especially one each for my niece and nephew.