Toby's Chimp (with an assist from Bobo Cat)

Seriously-- it's birthday city around here.  Back in March, I challenged myself to crochet something for each of our playgroup buddies' birthdays, forgetting that almost all of the birthdays are clustered between March and September.  Plus, we have a bunch of little siblings who have been born during the last few years, and I am definitely not leaving any of those awesome little kids out.  The silver lining of it is that I have had the chance to test out a ton of patterns and had a lot of fun doing it.

The latest in the lineup of kids with birthdays is Toby, who is turning two years old.  He is such a sweet, mild-mannered little dude and I love watching him play with his big sister, Leah (who will be turning 4 very soon!), and the rest of the playgroup kids.  Toby's mom mentioned that he likes monkeys, and I instantly thought of this adorable free pattern for "Charlie Chimp" that Niki had pinned for me on Pinterest a while back.  Now-- I am well aware of the difference between monkeys and apes (including chimpanzees), but I think we can all agree that the general population lumps them all together.  Without further ado, here's the end product!

When I took this picture, I noticed Bobo walking over toward us.  I invited him up onto the coffee table to help show Charlie Chimp's size.

The original pattern called for the t-shirt to be removable, but there's no way a 2-year-old would be able to take the t-shirt on and off without mangling the chimp, so I just sewed the t-shirt on permanently.

Oh, Bobo.  So unimpressed with my creations.

I like how the legs are positioned so the chimp can sit up.

Fun fact: Bobo's real name is Charlie ("Bobo" is a nickname I gave him and it stuck).

The two Charlies, looking handsome.

Happy birthday, Toby!  I hope you like your chimp!