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Bears and Bunnies and Elephants...
For years, I knitted afghans. I just liked the flow and the no
piecing together. I donated them as each was finished. But,
every summer, I had to stop. It was just too hot to hold, much
less knit, a big heavy afghan. I knitted socks for awhile but the
sock yarn is just so darned expensive and I have enough and it just
wasn't fun.
The Summer of 2005, I found this wonderful teddy bear pattern and
started my new addiction. I make about 3 a week. Each different and each a little dab of
delicious cuddly. In the winter of 2008, I found some new patterns
and the teddy bears made way for bunnies and elephants and other bears.
I take them over to the wonderful folks at the
Baby Corner
where, hopefully, they find loving homes and hugs.
I take lots of pictures. I take a picture of my knitting basket
every morning. I take a picture of every 3 or animals. And I
take a picture of each batch just before they leave for the Baby Corner.
Here is the latest from my knitting basket:
And these are the latest of my finished animals.
| In 2008 I wanted to knit a fish and
couldn't find a pattern I liked, so I created my own. Here is the
pattern for this cutie!
Feel free to use it, share it, sell it, whatever.
It is free and I think the more fish the merrier! |
The Details
My current animals are all from the patterns of
Ysolda.
The bunnies and elephants are pretty much the patterns exactly.
The bear is kind of a cobbled version of her Otto. I use size 6
needles for everything and only machine washable acrylic yarn as soft as
I can find.
Below are some details on the earlier teddy bears I made.
Pattern: Baby Bobbi Bear published by
Blue Sky Alpacas.
I followed the pattern pretty much except: I used size 6 needles,
I use sew on eyes and noses and I make neckware for each - a bow tie or
a scarf. I used machine washable acrylic yarn.
I use the wiggly eyes and nose from La Petite line (Blumenthal
Lansing buttons) - card 1181. They aren't easy to find. But
I recently lucked into a wonderful supplier!!!
PapaDens.com. It's a great online shop for those of us afflicted with crafitis. I urge you to check it out!
(Note: the eyes and nose cards are only available via email right now -
but Eva at PapaDens answers emails REALLY quickly so don't hesitate to
give her a try!)
And, after trying several different types, I am totally loyal now to
Fairfield's poly-fil
stuffing. This is the best. It's light weight, easy to
use, totally washable and it has a magical kind of springy action to it.
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