Wednesday, June 15, 2005

Do you believe....

....in the Curse of the Love Sweater? Well, I clearly must not, cuz look what I made!

Image hosted by Photobucket.com

Two Baby Bobbi Bears, one for baby cousin Jayson (the blue one), and one for grownup Jason (the brown one), both of whom have birthdays this month. Aren't they adorable? Cutest bear pattern ever.

I actually did ponder the Curse for a few minutes before ordering the yarn for both projects, but decided not to worry about it because a)it's a bear, not an entire sweater (please ignore the fact that I've never actually made a sweater), and b)if I'm knitting two it must dilute out the effect somewhat, right? Not to mention that c)I live a charmed life and I laugh in the face of curses. =P

Some things I learned while knitting the bears:

1) Stuffed animal patterns aren't as scary as they seem.
2) Large double pointed needles (US9) can get unwieldy.
3) And they can hurt if you accidentally poke yourself with one.
4) Blue Sky Alpacas cotton (dyed and organic) is very soft and yummy yarn.
5) How to duplicate stitch.
6) Be generous with the stuffing.
7) The only stuffing worth using is Cluster Fill. It feels like slippery little polyester balls, and it is magical. Regular polyester filling will make your stuffed thing all lumpy and gross. I now worship at the altar of Cluster Fill.

2 comments:

Karen said...

I personally don't believe in the curse either...I don't really believe in curses at all for that matter...

But, I do believe that those two bears are some of the cutest knitted items I've ever seen!! And I'm finding that Blue Sky Alpacas makes all sorts of wonderful yarns. Cluster Fill, huh? I'll have to look for that stuff around here.

Anonymous said...

I'm thrilled that the bears don't have to be a secret from the world any longer. (And I agree that they are some of the cutest items ever to come off a pair of knitting needles.)

I just remembered that mine still needs a name, and so in honor of Adrienne's belated celebration of Canada Day, I hereby name him Mulroney Bear, after the Right Honorable Brian Mulroney, Companion of the Order of Canada, who is presently recovering from a bit of pancreatitis.

Thanks Adrienne!