Cow "Kirby"

This cute cow "Kirby" is already the third animal pattern I have crocheted from Hoooked. The difficulty level for crocheting is similar to the others and this time it is even easier than the zebra "Zizi". But what is a catastrophe is the German translation of the instructions! Mistakes were made (by the way, also in English) and even entire parts (the ears) were simply forgotten! In the next section, I have noted my collected corrections, and a translation for the ears is also included.

The red heart in her arms and the black heart spot on her belly is an addition of mine and the pattern can be found here.

Reading & Understanding

As mentioned, this time the instructions were a bit challenging. Those who are experienced may not have any problems, but for beginners it could be very confusing. Don't get discouraged, with the following adjustments (and translations) it's very easy!

Hint: the corrections are based what errors I have found in the German version.

Body and Head

• I assume that the first part is the body and the second part is the head (unfortunately it's not mentioned anywhere...)
• Stuffing: I recommend stuffing the body after round 18 and the head after round 34.

Arms

• The last sentence starts with "Bind off, but leave a long thread [...]". I have no idea why or how one should bind off after sewing the arms together. Also, "bind off" is a term I associate with knitting and not crocheting.
• I only crocheted into the back loop of each stitch in round 5, which gives the hooves a bit more shape in my opinion.

Legs

• Same comments as for the arms, otherwise everything is fine.

Ears

• This part of the instructions is unfortunately missing in the German translation!
• One ear is crocheted in black, the other in white.
• To finish the ears, fold them together at the bottom edge (R8) to create a curve. As always, leave a long thread for sewing.
  (For me, it only worked okay, practice probably makes perfect because the white ear turned out better than the black one.)

Snout

• The instructions are fine.
• However, I would probably reduce the pattern by one stitch next time. I think the snout is a bit too wide.

Horns

• The instructions are fine, but the horns are not very "pointy".

Spots

On their pictures, the spots are not very round. If I were to crochet a sibling for Kirby, I would probably crochet the spots directly onto the body to prevent them from sticking out. However, for the current version, I quickly made my own versions of the spots and wrote down my instructions for you (the red dot symbolizes the starting point):

Sewing

The instructions for assembly are as sparse as always. Additionally, the note is missing that the ears and snout should be stuffed before attaching them (but not sewn together like the legs and arms!). As always, I first pinned everything together with locking stitch markers to get an overall idea of the image. Only when I was satisfied with it did I attempt to sew it together. I also try to attach the legs and arms as "flexibly" as possible, so that they are not so rigid and can sit in various poses:

Snout attached in the top left of R25 (purple) and bottom left of R21 (green) centered from the front, but I had some issues, therefore no exact measurements.   Arms Attach them at the top on R15 with 9 stitches between the arms (red). Attach them at the bottom around R11 with 15 stitches between the arms (blue).   Legs All four ends will be attached at approximately R4 (orange). The distance between the legs is about 6 stitches where the distance is the smallest.

Horns I attached them directly at the end of R35, exactly in the middle with a distance of 3 stitches (red). At the bottom edge, they are attached on R31 with a distance of about 15 stitches (blue).   Ears At the top, I attached them in the same stitch as the horns (blue). At the bottom, I gathered them together on R29 with 21 stitches in between (green). Since the ears are a little "too big", they are attached with a small curve towards the back - about one stitch wide.

I sewed on the spots afterwards, and it was more of a "I like it here," "I like it there," and "there's too much white here" than following a plan - except for the heart on the belly, which was planned. In the photos at the beginning, you can see where I sewed on spots. Additionally, a tail is not mentioned in the instructions... My Kirby got one, just like Mo and Zizi: I pulled a thread through a stitch on the butt, turned it into a cord (I usually do it with "finger crocheting"), and left a little thread hanging that I then unraveled.