The Polar Bear

Okay, Bekah emailed me these pictures weeks ago. In fact, she finished the Polar Bear months ago. She even brought it in, along with her adorable baby Seth. There she was, in the shop, bear and baby in hand. It was a perfect opportunity to take a picture for a blog post.

Bekah, never shy about bossing people around (she's a teacher as well as a girl after my own heart) told me to get the camera and take a picture so I would have something to blog about.

"But my camera is way over THERE!" I whined, pointing to the office that was precisely five feet away. (And we wonder why this blog isn't updated more frequently. Hmmmm....)

Luckily, Bekah took the initiative and sent me pics of the Polar Bear herself. Here he is.



I believe she knit him out of Blue Sky Organic Cotton. And she used safety eyes, I remember, because I marveled at such technological advances (I don't get out much). No clue where she got the pattern (Was it a book? Something about knitted toys? Is it at the Louisville Public Library?) but I know for a fact that the pattern was British because this bear is constructed from no less than five hundred little pieces that must be sewn together.

Of course, it took Bekah forever to knit it. Never mind that she was pregnant and working full time, and then caring for an infant. It took her almost a year to complete this project and I'm blaming it on the pattern. So now I don't feel so bad about taking a few weeks to blog about it. This bear has been a long time coming!

Our Stuffed Animal class just started last night, so hopefully this will be the first of many stuffed animals to make its way onto the blog. If you're interested in knitting a bear, I really recommend Otto by Ysolda Teague. He is made all in one piece, in the round, so there is absolutely no finishing (except for putting his face and ears on). Ysolda is Scottish and so she is much more practical than the British designers. Except she loves crazy cast ons. It must be a UK thing.