Today’s PlanetJune Story comes from Ann Rowley in the UK. Ann first contacted me to ask for some advice on upsizing my Orca (Killer Whale) pattern to Giant scale.

I cautioned that, in Giant scale, the Orca would take a lot of yarn and likely be over 3 feet long! Even so, Ann thought that it would make a perfect gift to give to her 12 year old great niece who loves sea animals, saying “I’ve ordered the yarn as she is very worth it. I must admit I’m now a bit worried that I won’t manage it but I’ll give it a go”.

Armed with my Orca pattern and Complete Guide to Giant Amigurumi ebook, Ann got to work, and, just a few days later, she emailed me again with photos of the result! I was so impressed, I knew you’d love to see her amazing Giant Orca too.

Over to Ann:

The Orca is 38” long nose to tail.

I used 596 grams of Bernat Blanket in black (phew just made it from 2 balls) and 94 grams in white, plus a bit of scrap aran/worsted in black and white for the eyes.

I did try to follow the pattern exactly apart from not cutting yarn on every colour change.

The Orca was gifted to my 12 year old great niece who loved it. She is now named Orla the Orca. Several names starting with O were tried, some male as well, but apparently she’s an Orla. I am very happy as this might possibly be the last year she wants a giant crocheted animal, next year as a teenager they just might not be cool.

My nephew commented how he liked the eyes! A relief as I didn’t think they showed much.

Thank you so much for such a fantastic pattern. Easy to follow and a great result. I can imagine some baby orcas coming along…

(Back to me, June, again!)

Doesn’t it look fantastic? I’m thrilled with how well it turned out – you did a great job, Ann! At 38″ (97cm) long, this truly is a GIANT Orca, and I bet your great-niece will treasure her one-of-a-kind gift forever.

Thank you so much, Ann, for sharing your story with us today 🙂

Please leave Ann a comment if you’ve enjoyed this post!

PS – If you’d like to make your own giant orca – or any other giant amigurumi! – here are the links to the PlanetJune pattern and ebook that Ann used:

• Orca (Killer Whale) crochet pattern
• The Complete Guide to Giant Amigurumi ebook (including all my techniques and advice for scaling amigurumi patterns up to giant size, plus the patterns for those crocheted eyes in three different sizes!)

Do you have a PlanetJune Story you’d like to share? I’d love to hear it! Please email your story to june@planetjune.com, together with one or more high quality photos showing what you’ve made from PlanetJune patterns. If I choose your story to feature here on the blog, I’ll send you your choice of pattern from my shop to say thank you!

Each month in 2023 I’m sharing a Temperature Snake CAL roundup with a collage of some of our snakes’ progress – even if you aren’t joining in, I think you’ll enjoy seeing all the snakes growing throughout the year!

At 5 months through the year, we’re almost halfway through our snakes now! Here’s the May collage from some of the latest photos that have been posted. These are taken from the CAL threads on Discord and Ravelry, plus some from people who’ve tagged me (@PlanetJune) on FB and IG or emailed to me:

Click to see the full-size collage

Good work, everyone! Can you spot your snake?

If you’re making a Temperature Snake too, please join us in the PlanetJune community groups, share your snake’s progress with us all, and get chatting with our friendly community!

And, if you’d like your snake to be included in the next monthly roundup, please post an up-to-date pic (or email it directly to me: june@planetjune.com) by 9am EST on July 3rd. Do remember to tag me (@planetjune) if you post on social, or I won’t see your pic.

Putting together these collages is a real challenge for me, like a strange jigsaw where I have to trim all the pieces to fit as I assemble it. But I think it’s worth it – it’s so cool to see the snakes growing with each month that passes. I try to include as many snakes as possible in each collage, so please do get your pic to me if you can – I love seeing how your snakes are progressing. 🙂