A Sheep Named Ashley—No, Charlie—Wait, Yes, Ashley.

My kids’ interest in the little animals I crochet for them is close to zero. They honestly could not care less. And yet I persist.

It may be time to admit that at this point, I’m not making these for the kids anymore—I’m making them for me. I’m only a step away from getting a little glass-front curio cabinet, putting all my amigurumis in it, and forbidding the children from getting too close.

Predictably, Darcy has never cared about any of her crochet stuffed animals (she has quite a few), but she does love store-bought stuffed animals—the softer and fluffier, the better. So I thought if I crocheted an animal that was fluffy and loopy and more cuddly than the average amigurumi, maybe I could win her over.

For the record, I was wrong. When I proudly presented this sweet loopy little sheep to her after my hours of labor, she turned it around a few times to give it a good inspection, then immediately tossed it on the floor and went scooting off to get her favorite NON-HOMEMADE animal. Very insulting.

Unexpectedly, though, Forrest has been playing with it for quite a few days now, which beats his previous record of playing with a homemade toy for 2 1/2 minutes. He told me it’s a girl and her name is Ashley. Then 10 minutes later he very frantically said, “No!! Wait!! Her name is not Ashley!! Her name is Charlie,” and seemed very relieved to have gotten that sorted out for about 30 seconds until he forgot about the name change and has gone back to calling her Ashley.

The other night, when I was tucking him into bed, he requested that I also tuck Ashley (not Charlie!!) into bed next to him. I asked him why he liked her so much (thinking maybe it would give me a clue as to what sort of features he likes in a toy that I can be sure to use in the future), and he responded, “Because she is better than all my friends.”

Okay.

Whatever her name is, I think she’s awfully cute. I used the Sheldon the Sheep pattern (not Ashley or Charlie the Sheep?!?!) from Curly Girl Coop.

The loop stitch definitely takes a little getting used to (it feels very awkward to me, and even though I’ve done it quite a few times, I always have to watch a youtube how-to video to remind myself of how it’s done), but the results are worth it.

My only changes to the pattern were to use a single color for the arms and legs (the pattern calls for black feet and gray legs), and I shortened the limbs quite a bit.