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 4th 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. (Since the cardinal beak was black, 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.
For my bluebird, I skipped the BLO on round 11 and left this arms untethered, so he can cross his arms (also looks impatient and a bit grumpy)
How about an angry mallard?
Rounds 1-17: Brown
Round 18: white
Rounds 19-27 Green
Use orange for legs and yellow for beak
