Note to my readers: This blog post first appeared on October 28, 2011 under the title “I make an amigurumi cardinal.” This cardinal and a companion squirrel, Rally, were made to celebrate the 2011 World Series. I have yet to finish the donation project but am hoping to complete it this July.

Sometime late last spring, I began work on a series of amigurumi that I intend to send to the Pediatric Infusion Center at UCDavis Medical Center. I am more than a little bit behind in this effort, but today, I made progress.

The day began with myriad household tasks that needed my attention, not the least of which was creating a little more room in my crochet empire/guest room by packing up some things that need to be sent to various places that are not my crochet empire.

As I worked my way through the assortment of things that needed my attention, I found the box that contains the amigurumi I have completed so far.

My goal is 25 amigurumi, and when I sorted through the box and counted only the amigurumi that were complete, I found that I was 19 amigurumi shy of my goal. To remedy that, I got to work on yet another amigurumi.

Using Sally V. George’s Forest Friend pattern as my reference, I adapted her pattern for a robin and made a cardinal. With Red Heart Super Saver cherry red, black, and burgundy, as well as a 3.75mm hook, I got to work.

Despite a late start and several interruptions, I got all of the pieces made just before 4:00 pm, including a body:

two wings:

a beak:

two feet:

and a tail that I didn’t photograph.

Then, with my large Clover bent-tipped needle in hand, I raced against the sunset which comes earlier each day and finished the cardinal with just enough time to get this photo:

Tomorrow I am going to focus my crochet efforts on finishing as many of the partially completed amigurumi as I can. I had wanted to get these done by the end of July, but clearly, my schedule has slipped, and if I want these amigurumi to have a home, I need to attend to the finishing details so that I can send them off, and they can serve as ambassadors of joy.