Little teddy bear

One other thing I finished over break. This is a teddy bear knit of sockyarn, using a pattern from Susan Anderson's "Itty Bitty Knitted Toys."

She has several sock-yarn toy patterns in there - a bear, a "sock" monkey, some fruit finger puppets, and a hippopotamus (in case anyone you know wants a hippopotamus for Christmas. And yes, there's probably still time to make one.)

I really like the idea of using sock yarn to make toys. For one thing, it's generally readily available and most knitters (at least, most knitters who knit socks) have a bunch of it already in their stashes. They knit up fairly quickly and are nice and soft and "squishy." And sock yarn comes in a wide range of colors, and a wide range of fiber combinations. I could see using a yarn that you feared was too quick-to-wear-out-for-socks for some kind of a small toy, especially one that might be a shelf-sitter or a mascot for an adult, instead.

Actually, I suspect most toy patterns would work adapted to sockyarn - just using a smaller set of needles (I used US size 2 for the bear; I've also seen some patterns suggesting a US size 3 - though you really do want to use a small enough needle that the fabric is tight, so stuffing won't show through). It would scale whatever it was down to a smaller size. And there's something appealing about small toys (another reason I like the idea of sock yarn toys: they tend to be small).



I was originally going to name the bear Clarence (and have him be male) but when the bear got done, I decided it had to be a "she," and her name is Latte.

The yarn is Fannie's Farmhouse in a color called "Pecan Pie." I had bought it for socks, decided at some point I didn't want to use it for socks, and then found it again when I was thinking about this bear pattern. I think it worked nicely for the bear - I wasn't expecting the striping but I like how it came out.

This is a very cute bear pattern, and it is not that complicated to do, especially if you have experience knitting small-diameter items in the round (like socks). I used double pointed needles, which are my favorite way to knit a small tube (and really, the only way I do small tubes) but you could just as easily use Magic Loop or the two-circulars method.

Another cute thing, that many bear patterns lack? There is a wee tiny tail for the bear:



I really like making toys and kind of miss it when I'm not working on one.

I have a crocheted item I'm working on right now that amuses me immensely and I am hoping to get it done during the bits and pieces of free time I will have this weekend. I hope I do get it done, at least before Christmas, so I can share a picture of it here.


(I finished the manuscript-read-through and am writing my review of it this morning. Sadly, I had to vote to reject. I also got my finals all written. So my main big push - aside from grading - is now to sort the soil-critter samples, and as I have two entirely-free (i.e.: no exams) days next week, I hope to get a lot done on them then. And I'm going to start this afternoon; my plan is to start right after lunch and do as much as I can until 3 pm or so, then come in for a couple hours tomorrow. I'm actually looking forward to working on it; there's something kind of peaceful about that kind of research; it's just you and the microscope and the identification key, and it takes a real emergency to pull me away from the work; most petty stuff I can wave my hand at the microscope and say "I really need to finish this sample up" and not be bothered by people because of that)