Wednesday WiPs: Bearly there

I am knitting a bear out of some brushed acrylic. It's a nice texture for a bear, and a nice way to use up the yarn. The color is a little odd, but I've recently learned about cinnamon bears, so I'm going with it.

There are problems. I am following the pattern exactly, but it is a leap of faith at this point, since I seem to be making a duck. I'm a fan of the pattern, which cleverly avoids any seaming up, something I dislike doing with mohair or brushed acrylic. But no one who has seen this object so far believes it is a bear.

Then there are the increases. When I do M1L and M1R increases, I lift the side of the stitch in the row below, like this, which Twist Collective helpfully tells me are really called lifted increases. This pattern is pretty clear about making them by lifting the bar between the two stitches, and this site taught me a lovely mnemonic for which is left and which is right so I don't have to keep looking it up. But I absolutely don't believe they make any difference in the "lean" of the increase at all.

I shall persevere, and end up with a fuzzy orange softie which may or may not be a bear.