UPDATE: She opened it Christmas morning and squealed! Big hugs, lots of love & thanks, and a TON of gratification for me. Definitely worth the time and effort invested!

Quick link: http://sukigirl74.blogspot.com/2011/03/free-hobbes-croche...

So many color changes. SO much sewing. Stuffing that ever-loving tail!

But now it’s done, and it came out as cute as I’d hoped it would. The top-of-the-head stripes and facial features are black felt stitched onto the face. I didn’t think that would come out as well as it did. Definitely glad I didn’t try embroidering them with yarn or craft thread -- it never comes out the right way on crocheted fabric.

Lots of color change jogs, but I managed to position most of them inconspicuously when I sewed him together.

Would have been helpful to have a positioning guide for assembly, like what direction to put the arms and legs, for example. I ended up putting them perpendicular to the body, straight out to the sides, in one long seam to close both sides of the appendage and attach it in one fell swoop. The legs might have looked better done differently, but I couldn’t visualize quite how.

I also think I overstuffed him a bit, but I expect that the filling will break down over time. He’s still quite squeezable.

I had my doubts about his proportions -- the legs are SO short, and the tail is sooooo long. But hey, I followed the pattern and it came out as I expected. If the kiddo doesn’t think he’s the bees’ knees, then so be it.