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Just Us BearsI'm sorry Shari..I did mean your great Aunt..not Grandma. I've had one too many cups of tea today...lucky I don't drink alcohol! I'm so pleased you are going to keep that bear! And I think your mum will be so touchedThe money from it would soon be swallowed up but if you keep the bear it will always remind you that your guardian angel is watching over you. I think it's a wonderful idea to make the knitted bear an angel too...and it can still be an angel even if it's a boy...just call him Gabriel!
Thanks for your sweet comments about my avatar bear...he makes me smile too...so I have kept him. There are some things that money can't match!;)
Posts: 8,574Shari
What a great idea.....I'm betting your great aunt is up there in heaven, poking her neighbors with her elbow and saying: "she's mine!"
JUDI
I agree with Eileen; could you share some pics of your old English knitties
I would love to see them as well
Dilu
LuxembearsOkay ladies, here is a website that sells this fabulous angora hand spun yarn...and wait until you see the colors you can get!!!! The pink bear,in an earlier post, that I am holding was knitted from this yarn. It is very addicting stuff!!!! Eileen, I laughed out loud when I read your post about the guinea pigs!!! hee hee:lol:
Baird'sBearsWow, Judi !! What beauuuuutiful yarns.
$8.75 US/oz. I still say it would be cheaper to raise your own, but . . . if I bring another animal into the house, I'm in big, big trouble. My husband has finally figured out that "foster" means "keep".
I wonder if it's possible to buy angora roving for (much) less. I'm going to check . . . back later
Eileen
Baird'sBearsAAAHHHrrgh. Angora roving is twice the price of the yarn. :mad:
Your site sells at bargain prices, Judi, considering that you don't have to spin the stuff yourself!
Just in case, I checked out the Toronto Humane Society. No angora rabbits up for adoption today.
Actually we used to have a beauty, named Cocoa. I spent hours brushing her fur to keep the tangles---and I DO mean tangles---from getting too bad. To think I tossed all that fur in the garbage. Double Aaargh.
Eileen
DoodlebearsHi everyone. If you would like a free pattern for a knitted teddy bear then go to
http://www.planet-teddybear.com
and the click on free patterns and go to page 4 and look for Woolly. This bear is simple to make and would look great in the new fluffy yarns that are easily found. There are loads of other sewn bear patterns that you may use too but they are for home use only.
Jane
Baird'sBearsThanks, Jane :D
What a sweet bear--and tapestry wool! Lovely stuff
The instructions look very similar to what I or anyone else does--there's a similarity in knitted pieces, just as in fur/mohair pieces.
For anyone making this little guy, I'd suggest two changes.
First, make the bottom edges of the head sides and back gusset longer by several rows to give him more neck.
Second, I'd add some curve to the arms. You can do this easily by increasing on the outside of the elbow and decreasing on the inside. This way you maintain the same number of stitches in your row, but you produce a curve in the knitted piece.
Eileen
DoodlebearsBoy, you are a clever girl Eileen and you made the instructions so easy for everyone to understand. I haven't made the pattern up but I was thinking of knitting it in thin wool as to make a small teddy for one of my gollwiggles to hold. I have been making all kinds of toys for them to hold but the obvious teddy has not yet been used. Here is Lizzie Anne with her duck.
Jane
Baird'sBearsAwwww. I do love those Gollies!! Isn't there a series of children's books that got the whole golly craze started?
Glad I could help--it's a big thrill for a novice!
With a little practice, and your experienced eye for bear patterns, you'll be shaping on your own in no time. You can lengthen the nose, widen the cheeks, add a hump, etc. by increasing and decreasing.
It's the internal increases, the ones in the middle of the row, that give you body bulges, by the way.
I had trouble finding very thin needles, so as I mentioned before somewhere, I sanded down some bamboo sticks (skewers? those little things you get for shishkebob at the dollar store) gave them points, and waxed several times over with an old candle end. They're flexible, but very very strong, and don't snag the yarn.
Eileen
DoodlebearsWow! Eileen you are so talented with the knitting. Thanks for such easy to understand descriptions, they will help anyone who wants to change thing around. I have been knitting since the age of 3. My Nana taught me and I have made countless things. When I was five years old and in a craft lesson at school a lady came in to show us how to knit. We all had pins and a small ball of wool. The lady stood at the front of the class and said that she would come round to each child and show them how to get started with ten stitches. I thought it was ok so I cast on ten stitches and started to knit. By the time she got to me I had used up the small amount of wool and was just sitting there. She was so cross with me that I got dragged out to the front of the class and was made to stand facing a corner for the rest of the double lesson for being a smarty pants. My Mum sure had something to say once I told her!
Jane.
Just Us BearsMethinks someone took that mean lady's dummy off her too soon. Bet she doesn't believe in Santa either!
Baird'sBearsWhat an old brute that teacher was. 
Seeing kids or animals bullied drives me into a rrrage. Actually, my kids never got into so much trouble as when they knew more than the teacher did, which was pretty often. We've seen so many kind, talented, altogether great teachers fired and so many old hags kept on. Nothing you can do, though that doesn't stop us from complaining.
I don't think I'm really a talented knitter. I learned most of what I know making toys for the kiddies, all of which are long gone. I've never managed to make a sweater. My only triumph in garment-making was a Beatles scarf--you know the long red and white ones they wear on one of the album covers--using circular needles.
It's a whole new thing for me, knitting artist bears. IF we ever get this stupid plumbing done so I can find all my stuff again, and IF my tutoring business slows down (two more new students this week--whatever happened to summer?) I'll be able to get back to my knittie.
The great thing about the knitties, is that you can change colors as you go, and get some really neat effects.
Eileen
Past Time BearsJane, your little Lizzie Anne/pet duck are adorable!! You knitters are amazing and so talented!! Makes me want to learn, but then I'd have less time to devote to making what I love so much. Already I have acquired the label of "jack of all trades and master of none", so guess I don't need to add another "trade". Kudos to you all! 
Posts: 8,574Judi
you know I have to buy just about everthing off the computer, how many balls does it take to make a bear....of the flash eyelash.....I want to get started as soon as I get the pattern
Yippeee
Dilu
Thanks
LuxembearsJane you golly is too cute!!!! I lover her!
Eileen you've got for sure. Youcantake one pattern and change not only the color, but the texture too. You can knit with two strands of yarn, one being a varigated colror and the other a Flash extra fine silkl yarn in whatever color and come up with some really neat bears. You can also change the whole flavor of the bear by positioning the eyes in different locations on the head. I tend to go deep and low. It gives the face a more babayish look. You can also needle sculpt for chubby cheeks. There is a lot you can do.
Dilu, 2 balls of Flash eyelash combined with a strand of DK yarn will make an 18 to 20" bear like the Kudo Picture. A littl gose a very long way with the Flash. Now, the Pervian angora does not go far AT ALL. It takes about 6 to 10 balls to make a 16" bear. $16 buck a ball....do the math...yikes...but it is fabulous stuff. I do add a strand of very fine nylon when knitting with the Peruvian because it is sooo soft it can come apart. I like my knitties to be bomb-proof (as Shelli would say;))
Happy fourth of July everyone. Dilu , and Shari, your stuff will go out tomorrow. Eileen if you want a bear pattern let me know.
Great pattern Jane! I think your gollies would look great holding a knitted bear. I agree with Eileen...I would like to see this bear's head a bit larger. Another way to make it look larger is to stuff more in the cheek area and lower the eye placement. Very nice...thanks for passing along the info! I collect knitting patterns for toys as well as designing them.
Happy knitting!!!!
Winneybears and FriendsHi Judi, Could you e-mail me a knitted bear pattern too ? I think I'd like stocking knit instead of garter stitch.
Wow, that Peruvian yarn is expensive and the Angora too. I think I will try to find some neat yarn here, we have alot of sheep and alpaca growers locally ....Winney
LuxembearsSure Winney! Just email me your address. I need yours again too Dilu. I'll be sifting through all my knitting patterns tomorrow. It will be like having a reunion for me. I have not looked at them in a while.
If anyone else wants to give a knittie a try, email me with your address. judi@luxembears.com or tbearpicnic@hotmail.com
LuxembearsHi Guys! Here is a listing on ebay for a knitted bear book full of adorable bears and there clothes. There are several on ebay for $17.95
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi … eName=WD1V
I have this book and it is really nice! Havn't made anything from it.....yet;)
Baird'sBearsThanks, Nancy :D
That looks like a jointed bear on the cover! I'm going to check some other (cheaper for me in CA) sources, but this looks like a great book!
Eileen
Posts: 8,574Jane Jane Jane
You put me to shame
You're golly's so fine
I wish she were mine
I hope that someday
When I earn enough pay
you'll send her to me
and I'll say Gollyyippeee
Gollygeewhiz and a great big huggie
Dilu 
Posts: 8,574OK girls,
Is tapestry wool the same as American 4 ply? I have never heard of it before.....Need a little help here....
In the dark Dilu
Kiprie BearsSorry I skip some previous post and just jump in now! I don't knit much so I stayed away from this topic but when I saw Judi's Knit bear I couldn't take my eyes off !! 
It is sooooooooo cute. Even I don't knit now I will love to try it
in future(maybe this winter !)
Jane, thank you for sharing free pattern info and
your golly girl is adorable :lol::lol:
My mom can knit so maybe I'll ask her to
teach me :)
Knit bear hugs/Marie
Baird'sBearsDilu,
Tapestry wool is finer than regular knitting wool, and comes in glorious colors in 4-6 ply strands. The yarn isn't wound into a skein, it's cut into lengths of about 24" and sold as a twist of about 6 oz.
At least this is the form mine was in when I bought it more than 30 years ago for needlepointing. Then the babies started coming along . . .
Eileen
Posts: 8,574Oh! Yeah, Eileen, now I remember-gollygeewhiz, the last time I did any needle point was about 145 years ago...Now I know what to look for. Boy, I wouldn't think it would go very far at all.
Thanks for the reminder and info
Dilu
Baird'sBearsYou're so right! :D
It doesn't, and it's very pricy. But since I've got some stashed, and can't see myself doing needlepoint when I could be making bears, I might go ahead and use it up . . .
Eileen
