FO: A Birthday Bee

Every year for my nephew's birthday, I like to make him a crocheted toy gift. I made a fishing game and Star Wars toys, but now that he's 3 years old he is able to have a say in the matter. About a month ago I asked him what he wanted for his birthday and he said, "a pink bee!" 

Bee is what Luke named my first ever Nelson the Owl I made for my sister the year he was born. Luke adopted the blue owl and re-christened him Bee, so now all crocheted owls are called Bee. He LOVES Bee. He sleeps with Bee every night and carries him into my sister's room if he decides to sleep with his parents.Recently I volunteered to give Bee a "special bath" since he was looking so dingy after years of love. Luke was on a Bee kick and requested a pink version since he's obsessed with all things pink lately. My sister wasn't too keen on explaining why her son carried around a pink owl to strangers, so she requested that his birthday version only have a little bit of pink, so I went with red for his body and pink for the eye circles.

I made this guy up with all stashed Vanna's Choice yarn (Scarlet, Mustard and White) along with some thrifted acrylic yarn for the pink eyes. This was a very simple project to do, and I managed to make him the day before Luke's actual birthday.

Side view - man it's hard to photograph white yarn on my white background. I employed all the tricks I learned from my other two times I made this pattern - mostly I remembered to sew the head on with the white yarn across the white section (I made a Valentine owl and it looks like it slit it's throat but stitched it on with pink yarn, lol). The pattern is really easy, just time consuming because it has so many little pieces.

I love its little tail! I didn't have the blue Bee on hand to compare, but I knew this red version came out a bit bigger. I guess my tension has really lightened up over the years.

Luke's reaction when he opened his gift did not disappoint :) Even though he technically requested this gift, I doubt very much that his toddler attention span remembered, so he was nice and surprised. He hugged him a lot for the rest of the night, and I'm told that Red Bee (as this one is called) sleeps with Luke and Blue Bee every night. 

So there you have it - a Red Bee, lol. I'm glad I was able to make Luke something that he seems to love so much. If only all my handmade gifts were so deeply enjoyed, right? I'm really happy with how this project turned out, and I'm even happier that the recipient likes it just as much.