Using unlabeled acrylic. Lighter than worsted… sport? DK? Not sure…

Started with a G hook, then switched down (without ripping and redoing) to an F to make sure the fabric wouldn’t be too holey.

Converted to work in a spiral to avoid a painfully visible line of slip stitch joins. Just skipped the sl st and went right on crocheting in a spiral, using a piece of scrap yarn (in a contrasting color) to keep track of the beginning of each round.

Body--
Working as pattern is written, it felt too small when I got to the point where you’re supposed to sc around. I’m adding another two rounds of increases before holding steady. (Rnd 6: 4 sc between each increase. Rnd 7: 5 sc between each increase.) I’ll need to decrease more rounds, too, of course, and probably enlarge the head (and maybe the wings also) to match the body in proportion.

Added 1 extra round of sc around before starting to decrease.

Began decrease rounds to mirror extra increases. So, started w/ “(sc in 5, decrease) around”, then “(sc in 4, decrease) around”, and finally a round of “sc around”. Then followed pattern for remaining decreases.

Head--
To make it in proportion to the body, I added two more increase rounds, one more round of “holding steady” (sc around), two more rounds of decreasing, and another round of holding steady before picking up with the decreases in the pattern.

Wings--
The wings seemed a bit small, so I’m enlarging them, too. Switching up a hook size (to G). Starting with chain 8 instead of the prescribed six. Adding another row (basically just repeating Row 3, but with the extra stitches in the middle).

Bill--
I started by following the pattern-- then ripped that out and redid it, adding an extra couple of rows before decreasing, but I wasn’t satisfied with the results either time. Ended up using some size 3 “fashion cotton” thread and a 2mm steel hook. Improvised an oval and used that instead.

Results:
She seemed to really like it! :o)