Henry the bear finished, more sock progress

Henry the bear
from "Unusual toys for you to knit and enjoy" by Jess Hutchison
Started: March 10, 2006
Finished: March 12, 2006
Knit Picks Wool of the Andes-- daffodil, maple syrup, blue bonnet (red for embroidery) and unknown sock yarn for face
US 7 Pony Pearl dpns





I'm calling bear "kikiriki" for one of *my* babybear's (numerous) nicknames-- its the equivalent of "cockadoodle-doo" in Puerto Rico :) I am amazed at this bear, the only seaming was adding the legs, arms and ears-- everything is done in the round. It is so cute (if I say so myself)... the duplicate stitch is weird, the seaming of arms and legs is wonky and a little bumpy, but I don't care since *my* baby bear loves him! He couldn't wait til he was finished, so I gave him the "bean" (the head/body) to play with while I finished the arms and legs last night-- I had to sneak it out of bed to finish him up so bear'd have appendages this morning :)

I wanted to knit another right away, but kikiriki sr. loves this one so much, I want to give him a few days with just this bear... so I think I'm going to start a new pair of socks for him... "Juta's stockings" from Nancy Bush's Folk Knitting in Estonia, or maybe something in Interlacements Toasty Toes (its been cold around here lately)... Kiki loves everything I knit, picking out handknit socks to wear under shoes, toddling around with this bear-- just makes my heart sing. :)

I do want to comment about the Wool of the Andes-- the daffodil (yellow) was noticably thinner than the maple syrup and the blue bonnet colorways. I'd read about the Knit Picks Merino Style varying in thickness across the color palette as well. It wasn't a big deal to me as I was "only" knitting a toy, but if I was doing colorwork or something flat where tension and evenness were expected across a yarn line, then I'd have been quite disappointed. Perhaps it was a fluke ball (I only ordered one each of several colors)... but I *don't* think its right to say, "well, its just $1.79, what do you expect?" and blow it off... I base so many purchases (online) on others' opinions so there you go. I'm happy with it though, for my bear! :)

I have a confession. I had to buy new dpns for the bear, my bamboo US 7's had disappeared into the maw of the house (prolly under a crib, in a toy chest somewhere)-- so I traipsed to Article Pract, my local yarn store for a new set. Aside from the Pony Pearls (I chose for their length, but end up liking a lot, surpisingly!) I walked out with...


Koigu premium painters palette merino, P322

Doesn't really need an explanation, does it? Okay, 3 words... Blue, orange, koigu.

And...


Susanne's ebony needles, 3.0mm (US 2.5) -- 10cm/4" glove length

I've been aching over purchasing Holz & Stein needles for a long time now, and had read that these Susanne's were comparable (both are made from recycled ebony musical instruments). I've been knitting with a set of Bryspun Bryflex US 2's in a 5" length and like them a lot (especially for smaller circumferences like baby socks, etc.) and since these were the only size they had, I went ahead and picked them up. I may ask them to special order the 7" length in ebony if I end up liking them... I'd feel better giving my LYS the business if they do compare. They had the Lantern Moons but in rosewood-- I like the look of the ebony more.

I realize that I didn't like metal dpns as much as I thought I did, especially after trying the Bryflexes and the Ponys in the past days. I don't like the grip of bamboo, but like a bit of a solid feel (just not as solid as metal)... we'll see. Kiki senior has already bent one of my Bryspuns to a 45 degree angle (it bent back, and tg for 5 in a pack...), so I don't know if I'll be staying with the bendy plastics or not. It was a bit of an epiphany for me to enjoy knitting with plastic needles though-- they weren't sticky as I thought they'd be, and to be honest the pink pony pearls brought a smile to my face when I was knitting the bear. (The ponys had less "stick" than the bryspuns, imo.) So I think I'll be trying out new needles in the future, instead of keeping just to metal (as far as dpns anyway; prolly won't switch out my addis except when I start the mohair reversible rib shawl-- who knows when).

So I already fell off of the no knitting purchase bandwagon. I've left the koigu on my desk for now to squeeze occasionally make me feel guilty... I did use my TKGA/knit and crochet show market budget for the purchases though, to make me feel a little less caddish.

I've also got quite a bit done on the baby cable rib socks...


Baby cable rib socks in "socks that rock" mediumweight, carbon colorway

I have about an inch then I can start decreasing for the toe (finally!) I actually am excited to finish and have pics done-- the color lined up oddly (in a way I like), and I think they'll look pretty rad when done.

Now, off to work on something else... :)