Collar

Ok, let me confuse you for a minute. Left is right and right is left. What? When you lay your sweater down in front of you and the front is up, to the left side is your right front and to your right side is your left front. Now we can begin.

On the right sweater panel, with your needle, pick up the (7)9 stitches that were cast off. Start at the front edge. Next, from the holder, transfer (13)15 stitches to the needle. Lastly on the left panel, at the shoulder, pick up the (7)9 stitches that were cast off. You should have (27)33 stitches.

Now that you have all the stitches on the needle you're ready to knit. As I knit my first row, after picking up stitches, I will fix the stitches that aren't laying right. I do this by turning them around when necessary.

Row 1: P1, K1 to end
Row 2: K1, P1 to end
Row 3: BO in rib pattern

The collar is knitted and the side seams sewed. We're almost there. Here's the rough part for me, the button band. I'll tell you about it tomorrow.

Sewing Sleeves On

Sleeves can be tricky if they aren't lined up right. To make things easier I've pinned the body of the sweater down, measured and marked where the end of the sleeves will be.

Another important mark to make is the middle of the sleeve. This will line up with the shoulder seam. Since the sleeves have a bound off edge I'll use the ladder stitch.

I always leave a long thread when finishing an piece so I can use it to sew the pieces together later. Here, even though the thread is already on this side I want to come up through the piece as though I were starting the ladder stitch.

Then come over to the other side. Find the stitches that go up in a row and sew these. That way your seam won't go back and forth but stay neat.

Time to pick up stitches for the collar.

Sleeves

Well let's make some sleeves. Again we're going to knit these 2 pieces at the same time so we end up with identical sleeves. I'm using a cast on of 19 stitches for both sizes but realize if your bear is tubbier or has thicker arms you'll need to adjust bigger anyway.

Sleeves

CO 19
Work in rib for 3 rows
Next row P
Next row K
Next row P
Next row K including 1 stitch at the beginning and end of row
Repeat the last 4 rows twice
Continue in straight stitch until the sleeves are long enough for your bear

I can easily see if the sleeve will be long enough.

And when they are just bind off all stitches.

I'll get the sleeves sewed on over the weekend using the ladder stitch and sew up the sides with an overhand stitch. Next week I'll show you the neck and front button band.

Hey, you shouldn't miss the new Avatar movie, it just came out on DVD. My kids loved it. It was such a decent film with a good message. Prepare to be swept away into another world.