My Work Basket

I just thought you might like to see the state of my work basket. I have been busy working on this teddy bear, and am just waiting for the toy joints to arrive and then I can put him together. I can't find anywhere locally to buy them, and mail order does seem the best option.

It has been fun returning to my own pattern. It always astonishes me that I wrote it. But then I remember the weeks of work writing and knitting, and altering and rewriting, and testing. 

I love this wool that I have used. You may have noticed it before on my blog, mainly for baby shoes. It was a jumper once, and just seems to go on and on. I may have enough left for another bear, or perhaps a different project. The colour is bit unusual for a bear, but I just like all the different shades in it.

Just a reminder that there is still a little bit of time to join in my Ginx Woolly Linx party for November. Click on the photo above or at the top of the page to find the party. I would love to see what you have been working on this month

Little Teddy Bear

After knitting my big teddy pattern, I had in mind that it might be fun to knit some much smaller teddy bears, using the same techniques. So while all the ideas were still in my head, it seemed like a good idea to crack on with a small teddy pattern. 

These teddy bears are a much quicker knit, only taking 30g of double knit wool. The finished bears are 22cm or 8.5 inches tall when standing. I have used the same methods - knitting all pieces flat, with some short rows to get curves. I have also used toy makers joints (which are easily available), but if you didn't want to do this you could just sew on the head and limbs.
 

Teddy Family Portrait

I turned away and when I looked back the teddies were doing this ....

... and then this

and finally this ...

What are they like? 

With the joints your teddy can have all sorts of fun. I did consider making them little sweat bands, or even P.E. or ballet outfits.  

Teddy bears out by the strawberry patch.

The pattern is available in all the usual places, ravelry, Etsy, and Loveknitting. I have put a new link to my Loveknitting Shop in the sidebar.

"If You Go Down to the Woods Today ..."

I have at last completed my knitting pattern for a traditional teddy bear, and it is for sale on Etsy, ravelry and Loveknitting. These are two new bears (not the original one), and if you look carefully I have made the slight amendments that I talked about. The muzzle is more pronounced and arms a bit thinner. 

I felt a bit mean leaving the original bear at home when we went off for our photoshoot picnic. I have a plan to give these two away as gifts, but will probably keep the first bear as I have grown rather fond of him despite the imperfections.

I had to beg my daughter to come to the park with me this morning to help photograph the bears. Somehow a middle-aged women on her own photographing bears having a picnic looks a bit bonkers. 

These bears are not a difficult knit. All the sections are knitted flat, so there are seams to sew. I know some knitters hate sewing up, but I wanted to get curves in certain places, and short rows is my favourite method for this. He also has a small hump at the back, and curved bottom. The head (apart from the ears) is knitted in one piece, and the lines you can see from the eyes going up, are not seams but a line of increase stitches. 

Teddy can be knitted in any doubleknit wool, and is constructed with toymakers joints. The best place I found to buy the joints in the UK was online at http://www.sewandso.co.uk, mainly because the postage was very reasonable. Joints and eyes are not expensive or heavy, so it is bit annoying to be paying more for postage than for the joints. These eyes are child safe, and when I put them on one of the bears a bit too high, I had to use cutting pliers to remove them, so I think your average baby would find it very hard to get them off. But if you were making the bear for a very young child or baby and were worried you could embroider the eyes.

Writing this pattern has been a huge learning curve for me. Though it has put in my mind some other toy animals that I think would be fun to knit. I might also make a smaller version of teddy using the same techniques, that would be a much quicker knit.  

WIP - No Teddy Bears Were Harmed in the Making of This Project ...

WARNING - Some of you may find these photos distressing. 

Poor old teddy, but he has been so helpful, as head is just the right shape. I have been working really hard on this new teddy bear pattern. I want him to be a perfect traditional old-fashioned bear.

I am probably not even half way there yet, as I have done the arms, and I am working out the shaping for the head panels using Eric the Bear as my assistant. On the final pattern his head will, I hope, be knitted in one piece. This is not the way I usually work, but the shape I need is fairly precise and unusual. Nothing is going to be knitted in the round, because I find working flat means I can use short rows to get extra curves and bulges where I need them. A teddy should have a bit of a round tum.

Teddy may take a few more weeks, and then there will be test knitting, so probably even longer before I release the pattern. He is going to be jointed, so I also need to check out where I can buy some toymakers joints. 

For me this is a fairly big project. For this first version I am rapidly getting through some wool that I unravelled from a pullover. My mum enjoyed helping me with this at Christmas, and although she can't really see well enough to knit now, she is a pretty good unraveller.

My Crochet Diary - Two

So I am still working at learning to crochet, and here is my first completed crochet project. Isn't he cute. I saw an appeal on Linda's Crafty corner for knitted/crochet bear puppets for a charity record attempt. Linda has also really helpfully published a Bear Crochet Pattern. What was reassuring was having read through it I thought I could understand the pattern. The only thing I slightly altered was making him a little circle for a muzzle. He also has a little bit of wadding in his head and muzzle. I must find out where to send him to for the record attempt in September.

I am still making a few mistakes, but I am learning as I go. The first major mistake with teddy, is that once again I have put my crochet hook under one strand, not two. (Thank you CreativeJewishMom for explaining this to me.) The book I am working from only illustrates the first row, and doesn't explain that further on you insert the needles under both strands. 

Thank you everyone who gave me tips and advice and encouragement after my last Crochet Diary post. I have found that Youtube videos are really helpful, although the UK/USA difference in stitch names is a bit annoying. The main thing you can really learn from a video is how to hold the thread and hook (another thing I have been getting wrong and doing much more like a knitter).

The other things I am finding hard is how to count how many rows I have done, and how many stitches I have. How many extra chains to make at the end of each row, and how many stitches in to start.  I can see if you get this wrong your work could start shrinking or expanding. So turning at the end of the row is always a bit scary.

My target is to eventually make a granny square blanket, or perhaps even a single granny square would be a good start. But for now I am looking at little crochet projects to learn a few more skills. More advice would be very welcome!

A Polar Work in Progress (and a Poem)

Polar Bear in there

There's a Polar Bear
In our Frigidaire-
He likes it 'cause it's cold in there.
With his seat in the meat
And his face in the fish
And his big hairy paws
In the buttery dish,
He's nibbling the noodles,
He's munching the rice,
He's slurping the soda,
He's licking the ice.
And he lets out a roar
If you open the door.
And it gives me a scare
To know he's in there--
That Polary Bear
In our Fridgitydaire.

  by Shel Silverstein 

I've been working on something new, although I am not quite there with it yet. Still something not quite right yet about the shape of the head, muzzle and nose in particular. Perhaps the back should be a bit less curved? The legs could be stronger looking? the neck wider and a bit longer, I think?

What keeps you from sleep? Sadly these little details are the things that are keeping me awake at night ....