I Don't Feel Like Thinking Up A Title Today

 One was a birthday present and one was to keep.

 Present

Taken by my daughter.

Simply A Kitty And Bear

This was material I tried making bears with before but it gave me problems.

I'm loving it now though with this simple pattern.

It's so soft and silky...

and the critters turn out so cute.

I found there's just a tiny difference between a bear and a kitty.

Permanent makers make great stripes and pink ears.

What Do You Do...

when your son looks for shorts in the stores and turns around and says to you, I can make shorts myself???

You say, well the fabric store is thankfully right there let's go get fabric!

We used the pattern we used for his pajama pants and made a modified fly in the front. We took almost 2 inches off the long edges of the pattern for a trimmer fit. 

His new thing is drilling money to make buttons and I dragged out my buttonhole maker.

Yes and he actually sewed a lot of it. He's sewing the test pair here that we put together from old sweatshirts. Good job Gil!

No Nonsense Sweater Making

I started off remaking the raglan sleeve sweater I did before. After ripping it out 3 times I gave up and started looking for another pattern. My goal, to knit in the round top to bottom. I found a great pattern for this. No, I'm not finished yet, the pattern is for short sleeves but I believe I'll do long. (I'll post when finished.)

I think having a counter helps with all sweater making. I used my 16", size 11 needles that I make hats with and having my clear ruler around is helpful. Of course I have completely modified the pattern which I won't go into since it's someone else's pattern. I am only using it for a gift. I will give you the creators website she makes wonderful patterns, some are free on Ravelry.

http://www.anadiomenadesigns.com/

She Looks Happy

Using the pattern I found and making modifications to it I finished this sweater. Sizing in knitted pieces can be frustrating. You almost have to make an entire piece before you can go back and fix your mistakes. Thank goodness this bear is small, we're not talking an adult sized sweater!

Let's start again, we can make it a simple box shape instead of insetting the sleeves. We'll start with the back today.

Even Simpler Bear Sweater

worsted weight yarn
gauge 18 sts = 4"
fits 12"- 14" bear

Back
CO (21) 27 stitches- (a skinny bear like mine) above size
Row 1: K1, P1 rep
Row 2: P1, K1 rep
Row 3: K1, P1 rep
Row 4: P across (WS)
Row 5: K across (RS)
Measure your bear from the neck to just above the leg. Mine is 4 1/2".
Rep rows 4 & 5 until the back is your bears length.
Next and last row: BO (4) 6 sts, K/P (13) 15 sts and place on holder, BO (4) 6 sts

Easy so far!

Someone's Gettin a Sweater

Start small! I found this simple pattern that someone was using for their Bible study group. Besides using different aspects of the sweater for their study they also explained that if you could master this teddy bear sweater, you were on your way to making any size sweater. I like that. If all goes well I'll post a link.

I have made sweaters in the past, I just tend to avoid complicated patterns. One day, when there are no distractions, I will knit something wonderfully difficult!

What If He's a She

If he were a she, which I warned you may happen, then it might be nice to make her a dress. That's when I'd go through the fabric I have laying around to see if I had anything appropriate. I did by the way.

I'll tell you the process I used but will supply you with a pattern at the end. This bear is about 13" tall. I've laid her on my fabric, it's folded in half on her side here. I figured 1" above her shoulder and 1" longer than I'd like the dress to be.

Here that's 8" and I happen to have 20" available for the width.

The width I cut in half, each panel being 8" x 10". That pattern has directions for pressing and sewing.

I've sewn and pressed the side seams and now I'm sewing across the the tops.

I'm sewing the hem, nothing fancy.

We're almost done!

I had some ribbon around that looked great. Using a safety pin I'm taking it through the 2 top pieces. It's connected at one side and open at the other.

The top will be gathered.

Put it over your bears head with her arm going through the one side. All you have to do is tie it at her shoulder. Do you think she was a girl all along?

When you click on this pattern it should come up in full size. At least your printer should read it that way when you adjust it. The pattern itself is 8" x 10". When you download it to your desktop and go to print it, print it in landscape and scale. It will fill the page and hopefully print at the full size.