Hi everyone! I thought it was about time I started to post things on here, and what better way to start than to introduce you to a recent make of mine, Dr Aaron Peck!
This was a project that I made for Jay’s wonderfully smart big sister who recently graduated. As her focus was on CBT, we thought the name Dr Aaron Peck (a play on Dr Aaron Beck) was a novel idea.
Jay chose the pattern. I completely overestimated my crochet speed and so I agreed to make it. I had one week to complete him if we were to deliver him on graduation day! (Spoiler alert, it took longer than that to finish!)
He’s based on the pattern “Wisdom the graduation owl” by Lisa Wears. The pattern is available for free ravelry.
For the most part I followed the pattern making just a few alterations.
In general the pattern is well written and easy to follow. There are plenty of clear photos included for the more difficult or confusing parts which saved me a couple of times! Two belly ruffle options are included in the pattern, the crocodile stitch (which I used) and a simple scallop. Lisa also kindly linked to a crocodile stitch tutorial which would be super useful for those who haven’t made use of this stitch before. It can be a pretty fiddly one until you get used to it!
I switched up the ears to make them more owl-like (in my opinion). Unfortunately I didn’t write down a pattern for this part, so if you want to make an owl like mine you’ll have to freehand it like I did! For the eyebrows It’s just lots of SC stripes, with decreases in the centre to make the point. I worked from right to left on each stripe rather than turning, this made for a bunch of loose ends to weave in, but I prefer the look and texture so it’s worth it! The ear tufts were just short pieces of yarn looped through and tied off under the eyebrows. I brushed out the ends before I attached them so he’s nice and fluffy. I think if I was to make him again I’d make his belly fluffy too!
When I first made the cap it turned out SUPER huge. Way too big for his head. I think there may be a little typo with stitch numbers around this part of the pattern, not a big deal. I decreased the stitch count for the band by around 20 stitches and found it still to be quite large, but worked well for where I was putting it!
I added a little red bow-tie as a nod to Dr Aaron Beck, who, – on my very thorough Google image search of the man – seemed to almost always be seen wearing one! I’m wondering if he could have done with a little set of glasses to really set the look. What do you think? The bowtie is just a little tube of SC, with a row of decreases followed by a row of increases in the centre. I wrapped the centre in a few strands of yarn, sealed the tube ends and all done!
All in all it was a super fun make! The pattern is very detailed, especially for a free pattern. I wouldn’t recommend it to a complete beginner, but if you’ve done a few amigurumi pieces before it’s definitely something to add to your list. The base is super versatile and could easily be altered to make different animals just by using the basic bits and pieces.
I really wish I’d given myself a little more time on it, one week was just not enough, especially with work and uni to get on with too. My poor hands and arms were aching for days after. Owls are currently in crochet time-out while I get over it!