The return of Sherbet the bear

One of my favorite crochet books is Narumi Ogawa’s Mr. Funky’s Crochet Super Wonderful.

It is pretty much exactly what the title describes: it is funky, it is crochet, it is super, and it is wonderful, so I was delight to be able to pull it off the shelf and put it to use in this first of two months dedicated to the finishing of unfinished objects.

Here is what I came across the other day when I was looking for something else in my crochet empire:

crochet bear pieces
Sherbet the bear as I found him in my crochet empire

I had other projects to finish, but this had a reasonably high priority as it is part of a collection of partially completed amigurumi that I have made with the intention of donating to a pediatric cancer center. I am more than two years out from my original idea for the project, and I would like to finish it so that these little critters can get into the hands of children who might find them a comfort.

Once I had found as many of the parts as there were to find, I looked over the directions and photos in the book. My bear-to-be, worked in orange and white and named Sherbet after my favorite frozen confection, needed a few more parts and a little rehab.

On closer examination, I realized that I attached the muzzle incorrectly and had completely omitted the plastic nose piece. I undid what needed undoing, and tried again.

Here is the result:

crochet bear head
I finish work on the head of Sherbet the bear

With Sherbet’s visage much improved, I began work on the limbs.

It was clear that I had been distracted when working one of the limbs and had used the 3.25 mm hook for rounds 3-22 rather than for just round 3 as called for in the pattern.

While I worked feverishly to crochet a limb of the correct gauge, I got distracted by a call that, while not an emergency, did require immediate attention, and before I knew it what had remained of the afternoon was gone, and it was time for me to get dinner ready and head out for my son’s spring semester “meet the teachers” evening.

Here is how Sherbet looked at the end of my crochet day:

more crochet bear pieces
Sherbet the amigurumi bear in need of one more limb and stuffing

While I would have liked to have gotten Sherbet the bear done more quickly, I have learned a lot from the redoing, and I hope to put what I have learned to good use in my next amigurumi project.