菫 Sumire

Before 2009 comes to a close, I have to introduce you to Sumire (Sue-me-ray).



Sumire was made for my Sensei who has decided to return home to Japan. Many of us were very sad to see her leave, but we were all very grateful to her kindness and patience as a teacher. So, Sumire has a sort of a little smile...



Sumire or 菫 means 'violet (the flower)' in Japanese. She was christened by a dear friend, and fellow bear-maker El. Sumire loves classical music.



Sumire
Date of Birth: 17 Dec 2009
Height: 8.5"

菫
誕生日：２００９年１２月１７日
身長：８．５吋

Sumire is now in Japan and lives with her new owner, my Sensei. :) I hope I will get to visit them one day!

Here's the peering photo~

Flopps the Bunny

IroIro gave me this kit months ago when a few of us went to her place and she taught Ellie and I miniature bear making. I started working after that and had three bears as wip projects, this being one of them. I was no longer making bears by the week but as time passes, and as I worked on each project bit by bit, I eventually ended up with an almost finished 'bear' two weeks ago. So here is Flopps the Bunny, as dear Pat has christened, today. :)



Flopps is a sweet and gentle bunny, and I think he likes to read. He loves daydreaming as well. He likes drinking warm milk for tea and munching on crispy carrots.



I love Flopps' tail!!



Flopps the Bunny



Date of Birth: 19 July 2009
Height: 7 inches
Original Pattern: Wilbur Rabbit by Kympatti Bears


I used to think that I will only make bears... but Flopps has made me reconsider that. I think I would give different animals a chance, although bears will still be remain my faves to make. :)

Ginger

Ginger is a bear I picked out for my mum for her birthday. The first thing I looked for was a kit that would have a higher chance having the bear end up as a girl. The second thing was the size. I wanted something smaller because Mum is also getting a knitted cardigan (yes the alleged one I have not finished), and I wanted to finish ONE thing at least for her birthday. This kit was perfect!



(Her ribbon is not the right length here because I took the photo a day earlier. I wanted her to share the same birthday as Mum.)

Ginger is a vivacious little girl who wants to grow up to be a famous pop star. She embraces her unique look (so do I!) and dreams about performing on stage someday! She will be a hit, especially with her cute peering look!



Here's a candid shot just before she's off to Mum's. I can't help it but have to pun.


Ginger Beer.

Ginger is made with a beautiful and unique PawPaw mohair and is cotter-pin jointed. Ginger stands approximately 6.5" tall and is a wonderful bear to make! She is supposed to have shaded eye sockets and I even went to buy the appropriate markers to do that. But I am so apprehensive about it I left it out. I think she looks fine as she is.

Ginger



Date of Birth: 21 March 2009
Height: 6.5 inches
Original Pattern: Gina by Ruth Parsons

Well as you know I have made 8 bears to date and I'm quite certain there will be more to come. They won't be greeting you every week now though but they will be here. :) Here's a group photo with the first eight.

Little Sam

Here's Little Sam!!!



Little Sam is a baby bear and he's curious about everything. He's got a really inquisitive look! :)In a way, he kinda reminds me of Timothy but Little Sam isn't as shy. He also likes to be cradled. By pillows, by you, by yours truly.



Little Sam is 10 inches tall and is lock/nut jointed. I actually put everything together for Little Sam on my own, just like I did for Jazz. I picked out the mohair from my VERY modest stash, and picked out the thread for his nose. I wanted to try a slightly different color from the usual dark brown or black (I don't have black actually) but not go as crazy as Jazz's purple nose - so I picked this toffee brown. I also decided to try out a different nose shape this time.



Because I put everything together and used the joints I got from the local Spottie, Little Sam's birthday was very much delayed. Spots has got dumb joint sets that allow you to make 5 limbed bears with no heads. Thankfully, Alicia came to the rescue and Little Sam got his head attached. :) Little Sam's mohair fabric is also exceptionally soft. So his head was a little rounded initially and the eyes didn't pull in well enough even though we pressed them in very hard while attaching. I did some very simple needle sculpting after class the other day and it works wonders! Now I think his face is just perfect!

Little Sam



Date of Birth: 20 March 2009
Height: 10"
Original Pattern: Molly by Dee

And oh! Have I told you I hate sewing, and I especially dislike sewing on their ears. That's also one of the reason why he's birthday is delayed. Little Sam's ears has GOT to be the ones I'm most proud of though! Here's his peering look.

Briseis

Mollie wants to introduce her friend, Briseis.



Briseis is an 8.5 inch bear and is my first girl bear. Her fur is made of wool and is a beautiful rust color. She also has suede pawpads, just like Gordon. She's as unique as she can be! Briseis loves ribbons and flowers. So I made her a little tatted flower for her ribbon.



As my latest bear, Briseis has the perfect nose. I really believe it all comes with practice. And I guess as with knitting, patience works. I must admit that I'm not a patient person to begin with. I'm only patient because I knit. And here, I'm only patient because I want to create nice bears. The process of making the Timothy, Gordon, Raleigh, Jazz, Franz and Briseis is so fulfilling that I have more bearwips coming up. I only have to keep reminding myself not to rush against time, and things will be fine.

So yes, Briseis made me very proud. :)


Briseis
Date of Birth: 9 March 2009
Height: 8.5"

Sigh... Isn't she just so sweet? Here's the peering photo.



And now there are six.



I really need a shelf!! :P

Franz

Well... Here's my first mini-bear.



His name is Franz and is about 2.5 inches tall. Franz is supposed to be Santa's little helper and he's stressed out by the work load.



He is also a little sad that his hat is a bit too tight and his nose is a tad too big. :(

But Franz has cute beady eyes... see 'em beady eyes???


Franz
Date of Birth: 4 March 2009
Height: Approx. 2.5"
Original Pattern: Santa's Little Helper
(Franz is reduced to 75% from original pattern)


Being my first mini, I still like Franz a lot :) I learnt a lot from making Franz and I'm sure he won't be the only mini around here. I can't wait to make more friends for him but at the moment, he's happy with his group of bear friends and his candy cane!

Jazz

I finished Jazz awhile ago but haven't had the chance to blog about him.

Jazz is a very unique little bear, as you can see.



He's made of blue mohair, has a unique muzzle and also has a nice purple nose. The process of making Jazz is also a unique one. If you're a knitter, or a crafter in general for that matter, you might have instances when you just KEEP GOING. I'm talking about times when the project looks 'a little weird' or you just 'don't feel right' about the item in your hands. It's the time when you tell yourself, full of confidence, that it may seem weird now, but it will turn out alright in the end. And you wait to be surprised.

Unfortunately, the surprise may be more shocking than pleasing than you initially expected.

Jazz is one of these instances. I remember thinking that he will turn out fine if I put in his eyes, and that he will be alright if I do his nose properly. And then I told myself, he will look okay when I sew on his ears. AND I thought he would be perfect once he's all done.

Jazz turned out so different from the original pattern that I have no idea what went wrong. When he's all done, he looked like a totally different bear. And he looked very sad because of that.



But this wrong wasn't a bad one. He is so superbly small and I like cradling him in my palm, and he's unique look grows on me too.


Jazz



Date of Birth: 23 February 2009
Height: 5"
Original Pattern: Bottlebrush Bear by Loris Hancock



I've since stopped comparing Jazz to the original pattern. What's the point of doing that when he is who he is? I will still attempt that pattern again but for now, Jazz is Jazz and is loved by all his bear friends.



:)

In the meantime, I completed a mini last week and more bears are being made. One has just ears to sew on hehe... :) Stitches are knitted albeit a little slowly but hey, a stitch is still a stitch right?

Raleigh

Here's Raleigh.



Raleigh is sitting on a napping Millie. And he's rather good friends with her too.



Raleigh's the third bear I completed and in order to prevent this blog from an onslaught of bears, I decided to space this entry out. Didn't work much did it?



I really like his old-fashioned look. He also has this particularly forlorn face that I adore. In fact I think he's the most traditional looking bear I have made to date. I actually imagined him sitting by the window when it's pouring outside so I had to take this photo (although it wasn't pouring but anyways....)



How can you resist that face?? I think he embodies the reason why I like sad bears too... He is awfully nice and sweet really but he's just sad about having to grow up.


Raleigh
Date of Birth: 20 February 2009
Height: 9 Inches
Original Patter: Tash by Jumbuck Bears

NOTE: I know the introduction to the pattern via the link says that Tash is a loosely stuffed bear. My stuff-happy bear-making self decided to stuff him otherwise. He still is cute though. hehe


Here's a group photo with Gordon and Timothy.

Vintage Infant's Silk Socks

Yup, this pattern's from Nancy Bush's Knitting Vintage Socks. I borrowed it from Lois and then I thought I should just get a copy for myself. And I did! It's on the way to my shelf now... I really love all the vintage stuff that's in it... Recently I've been in a 'traditional' craze. I guess it just grows on you especially since I'm someone who likes to learn and make things from scratch.

ANYWAY I thought I decided to give one of the patterns a try. I've heard so much about children's socks and wondered if there's any different from the normal adult socks that I make. So I decided to pick one pattern from the book, get some 4ply yarn and work on it. At the back of my head, I also thought I need a recipient for these little socks, and MLC's adorable daughter came to my mind.

I chose to work with Rowan's Cashsoft 4 ply because there was a very beautiful vintage pink. I didn't even get a chance to take a picture of the yarn since I started the project almost immediately. But here's a picture with some leftovers.



I actually worked the sock over the CNY period - when I usually get a lot of knitting time sitting in front of the TV! The thing is these socks went slower than I thought because I was using 2mm and I started them on some Susan Bates... which are 7" ... Definitely not a length I would want to work with for kids socks anymore! (initially they were on the 1,75mm pink needles and the whole project was so pink!!! But I had to go up sizes to make slightly larger socks so they got onto the gold 2mms)



There are a few little things about children's socks though. Firstly, longer legs are better - all the more they won't pull of the socks. Secondly, they have a short gusset!! Third, definitely a fast and satisfying knit, as with all baby and children's things... :) I'm glad to finish the pair before Isabel's birthday so I had some time to send it off to her! Yayy!

And here's our beautiful and adorable model with her knitted socks!


Infant's Silk Socks by Nancy Bush from Knitting Vintage Socks
Worked with Rowan Classic Yarns on 2mm Susan Bates DPNs

I've been hijacked by bears, if you haven't noticed. But all is not lost. I had a great KO on Saturday and seeing everyone knitting away and sharing their projects has kicked off my mojo. The weather does keep me off the needles, especially since I'm working on a cardigan. But I'm happy to say that I found stuff to watch on the History Channel last night and knitted for about 2 hours!

In the meantime, I do hope to use this time I have to craft as much as I can. I won't have the luxury in about a month's time!

Gordon

Meet Gordon!



I was taking the intermediate bear-making class on the last two Sundays and Gordon's my class bear. He's fully jointed with nut/bolt joints and has pellets in his tum! Gordon also has a layer of nose gloss to give his cute nose a glossy finish.



I know he's really peeking through his furry muzzle but I kinda like it that way. I could trim it actually but thought it's nicer this way. In fact, I initially wanted to make the bear for my Dad but fell so much in love with the fur and the fuzzy snout that I had to keep him for myself. :P I also love how his fur parts at his mouth hehehe


Gordon
Date of Birth: 16 February 2009
Height: 10"

Timothy is no longer alone! :)



More photos here.

Timothy

Meet Timothy!



Timothy is my first proper teddy bear. (Well, Do you remember Oliver? He's more of a knitting FO, hee.) Thanks go to MLC for teaching me the basics of creating someone as adorable as Timothy!

Timothy is originally named Timmy but after stitching up all the parts, I had a feeling this bear of mine isn't going to have a name which could be shortened from another. So it was either Timothy or something else.

Timothy is a fully-jointed 6" bear. I used the cotter-pins and wooden washers provided in the kit for his joints.



There are still lots of areas I can improve on, but this is my very first bear after all. So I hope he's okay. Anyways, I decided to use 5mm eyes instead of the 4mm provided. I wanted Timothy to look younger. I also set his eyes wider apart and now he has this 'peering look'. While I'm not sure what to do about his ears, they sure look best this way, I thought.

I also made little mistakes. His paw pads aren't exactly equal for some reason, but the length and positioning of his limbs are okay. :) And also, I'm going to get myself some nice embroidery thread, because I didn't like the one provided. It looks cute on Timothy though.

I gave him a wee smile because he's a shy little boy.



I took a lot of pictures of him when I remembered he can pose! And while I got snap-happy, I got Momo out to take pictures with him.



He's really cute!



Timothy
Date of Birth: 19 January 2009
Original Pattern: Timmy by Lesley Stipanov

More pictures here!

Catja

Thanks everyone for the birthday wishes!~ I really appreciated them. :)

Well, my birthday isn't really the first birthday of my household in the year even though it's technically in the first week of the year. My darling cat MangMang has the credits to being the first. And yup, my first FO of the year started on 4th Jan 09 (Mang's birthday - she's now 9!). My mum has a fantasy that my dear cat needs a bare-backed outfit. (she also 'gives me ideas' about dresses and jumpers with hole so that mang's tail can go through -_-) Well, I've always had Katja in mind too and it's such a wonderful pattern to knit that I wouldn't mind making more for human recipients.

I casted on in the evening and when I put it aside to have my dinner, I left it on my sofa. Mang, who has really thick fur, usually does not sit on the sofa. But she decided to cozy up with the top I was making her that day. So while she zzzz-ed lying on the top, I decided not to wake her and didn't work on it much after dinner.

Of course I finished it the next day and my dear MangMang didn't know what's in store for her. I don't know why but the first i-cord strap took eons to finish. And since I finished it before it was dark, I quickly woke Mang from her afternoon siesta so that she could pose in it.



It was quite easy getting her to wear it but she didn't like to be held upright for long periods (she used to dislike anyone carrying her as well and will start squirming). If I let her walk on fours, then she would look like she's wearing a tube top. I think the top is also flattering on her since it flattens her poufy fur and makes her look slimmer. Don't you think so?

I changed the pattern a little so I could have some buttons put on the back of the halter. I knitted flat and included the buttonholes for the first part of the torso, and then I joined and knitted in the round thereafter. I only managed to get buttons a few days after which is why I waited until today before I could post anything. (mang is on my non-knitting blog tho.)

And here is a mosaic!


Catja (originally Katja) from knitty.com, GGH Bali on 4mm Clover Takumi Circulars. Button from DMC


So anyways now, my mum thinks that I should take MangMang to my family's reunion dinner to see my grandma (who loves my furkids as well) and let her wear this top since it's red and it's Lunar New Year... -_-