Sunday 9 March 2014

Competitive crochet (and knitting)

I am again making teddy bears for my friend's daughter's school's annual charity teddy bear collection.

Last year I made an awesome bear, Blossom. The school has a competition where the 'Best' bear is awarded. As Blossom wasn't made from the school's pattern, she got notable mention, but didn't win.

This year I've made two bears from the school's simple (and awful) pattern. It is an easy knit pattern but is very shapeless and featureless.

I converted the knit pattern to crochet and made my first bear. He's made from yarn my mom selected. He's sweet, but smaller than expected.


I then got my hand on some faux fur yarn - it is especially for making fluffy animals. You can't crochet this kind of yarn because with all the fluffy bits you can't pick up the stitches to make the next row. So I pulled out my knitting needles. Goodness, it has been a while!

As one ball of Fauxy yarn, which is all I had, wouldn't have made the whole bear, I decided to do the head and limbs in double strands of black (to get the thickness). I really struggled to give the face any real character as the knit of the face wasn't very tight (could have done with three strands of yarn). I made him a bobbly nose to add a bit of something - I'm not totally satisfied but he'll do.


Anyhoo... I found an absolutely divine bear pattern online. It's another knit pattern - I'm giving it a shot. I prefer patterns where you make up body parts and stitch them together - more personality.

Even though this one won't be eligible for the competition, I'm aiming for another 'notable mention'.

You can take the woman out of the competition but you can't take the competitiveness out of the woman - even when it comes to crocheted teddy bears and a charity collection. Hahahaha.

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