Friday 5 September 2008

Beary interesting production line!

Recently I found a new pattern for knitting teddies. For the past few years, I have knitted teddies from the Trauma Teddy pattern I found at the local library. You can see some of my previous bears here [scroll down a bit]. This was the pattern I was experimenting with in a previous post. My experimental bear worked very well - I knitted him in "double knitting"; that is knitting a tube on two straight needles by casting on an even number of stitches, *K1, yf, slip 1 purlwise, yb* and repeating that to the end of the row, turning the work and keep repeating. At the arms I simply transferred the stitches to the appropriate needles and used a third needle to knit the chest and back to-and-fro. I knitted the arms as tubes too and knitted them into the bear while doing the chest/back. I then went back to double knitting for the head and closed the head with Kitchener stitch [grafting] after stuffing the bear. I think it was successful because he doesn't look too different from the bear I knitted the conventional way and spent much longer sewing up! LOL

Anyway - the new pattern was found in The Friendship Crochet and Knitting Book which can be bought from the Ku-ringai Branch of Knitters' Guild NSW. These bears are smaller and have much prettier heads! The pattern consists of two flat pieces [knitted on straight needles] then sewn together. I have tinkered with the design and am now knitting in the round on two straight needles.
And here's where the production line mentioned in the title began. I couldn't quite understand the 'making up' instructions after completing the knitting. I asked WM, who enjoys the occasional challenge of origami when we have Japanese visitors, and he worked it out for me. I knitted and he sewed up the bears! He looks very awkward but the job gets done and who am I to complain if he does the sewing for me? Then last Friday we took one step further. His mother taught him to knit when he was a child; last week he knitted a scarf for one of the teddies! It's the brown scarf on the bear in front. Admittedly, I cast on and off but he did the two rows [144 stitches] of garter stitch. He says he did not enjoy it and it won't continue but send good thoughts/prayers our way and you never know...

7 comments:

  1. Congratulations on your DD driving test. I'm going for mine on the 30th September. Did she do the test in Springwood or Penrith.
    My goal was to get my licence by the time I am 40. I just turn 33 now.
    But Im a bit scared driving on my own with my 3 children in the back.

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  2. The bears are glorious-what a nice effort!

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  3. Oh these are just as cute as can be, I love that one in the front. I can only imagine a littly would be pleased as punch to get a teddy like that. Well done.

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  4. The bears are gorgeous! Sewing up is the worst bit - well done finding someone to help!

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  5. Those are great bears, and the help sounds good, too :)

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  6. Oh I so need that pattern!

    Great catching up with you and DD.

    Congratulations on having WM sew up the bears, and even doing a scarf. Well done WM! :) Where does one find a man like him.

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