Percival the Impatient - free low-sew pattern

 Angry items seem to sell well for me at craft shows... angry coffee, angry bananas, angry ducks... so I decided to try an angry bird... and Percival the Impatient came to be. He is a grumpy little fellow who works up quickly, and the only thing you have to sew on is his beak! 

Percival the Impatient

Body color: About .5 oz

Accent color: less than .25 oz

This pattern uses a double increase, where you make 3 sc in one stitch. I abbreviate it as *3sc*.

Beginning at bottom with body color:

R1: sc 9 in MR (9)

R2: (sc 2, *3sc*) x 3 (15)

R3: sc 3, (*3sc*, sc 4) x 2, *3sc*, sc (21)

R4: sc 4, (*3sc*, sc 6) x 2, *3sc*, sc 2 (27)

R5: sc 5, (*3sc*, sc 8) x 2, *3sc*, sc 3 (33)

R6: sc (33)

You should have a three-sided figure. In round 7, we will add legs in the contrast color.

Leg: change to accent color with the stitch before the leg. Chain 15. Starting in the second st from hook, sl st 3, (ch 4, sl st 3) x 2. Sl st back to the end of the chain, changing to the body color with the last sl st.

R7: Sc 11, Leg, sc 5, Leg, sc 17 (33)

Non-counting summary of round 7: legs are centered on the front side with 3 stitches between legs and the corners, and 5 stitches between the legs.

R8-10: sc (33) For Round 8, make sure Percival’s legs are on the outside of the body and work around them.

R11: sc 9, BLO sc, sc 12, BLO sc, sc 10 (33) The BLO stitches should be on the sides of the body, each one the same number of stitches from the closest leg. You can place stitch markers in the front loops you leave open, to make them easier to find later.

R12: (sc 9, dec) x 3 (30)

R13-14: sc (30)

R15: (sc 8, dec) x 3 (27)

In Round 16, we will add arms (change to the contrast color with the stitch before the arm if desired. For my cardinal, I made the arms in the body color). The bottom of the arms will be attached to the body in the front loops left in Round 11. This gives Percival his “hands on the hips impatient” look.

R16: sc 9, arm, sc 10, arm, sc 8 (27)

Arms should be on the sides.

Arm: ch 12, make 3 dc bobble in the 4^th chain from the hook. Sl st into the R11 loop, working behind the “hand” (so the hand is between the legs and the chain for the arms). Sl st into the next chain and each of the remaining chains, changing back to body color with the last chain.

R17-18: sc (27)

R19: (sc 7, dec) x 3 (24)

R20: sc (24)

R21: (sc 6, dec) x 3 (21)

R22-23: sc (21)                 

R24: (sc 5, dec) x 3 (18)

Insert eyes between rows 21 & 22, with 5 stitches visible between them. They should line up with the feet, and be centered between the arms. I used oval Kawaii safety eyes that are ¾” tall.

Stuff body and continue to stuff as you decrease.

R25: sc (18)

R26: (sc, dec) x 6 (12)

R27: dec x 6 (6).

Finish off, leaving about a 6” tail. Use the tail to gather the stitches of R27 and pull closed. Don’t cut the yarn yet… Cut two more pieces about 6” long. Latch them through at the top of Percival’s head, adding the single strand from closing the hole through the loop as you pull the yarn through.  Trim to about 2”. Separate strands of each piece of yarn, and, if desired, brush out with a pet brush.

Options: You could add more strands of hair at the top of the head, to make more of a crest (as I did with the cardinal) or you could do the hair in the accent color.

Beak

With accent color, chain 4. Sl st, sc, hdc. FO, leaving tail to sew to Percival’s face, centered between and 1-2 rows below the eyes. I left an extra-long tail and used the extra to embroider his eyebrows.

Embroider Percival’s angry eyebrows. \ /

 With black yarn, start 3 rows above one eye, centered over the eye. Insert the needle two rows down (one row above the eye, even with the inner side of the eye). Repeat with other eye.

 

Thank you to Strawberry Bonnie for helping to test my pattern.