Weeks of January 9th - February 11th

Has it really been a whole month? It's lucky that weekly blogging wasn't one of my resolutions. Joann Fabrics has had me working a lot of 6 a.m.-2 p.m. shifts, which I like just fine but they usually leave me too tired to blog. I suppose I could blog on weekends, but I'd prefer to spend the time with my husband. Priorities.

I've been busy on the design front. Last month I wrote two patterns for a local customer, both for children's clothes. Over the past week I designed and knit a superwash wool cape with Fair Isle designs; still need to type up the pattern, then photograph and list it. Right now I have a baby blanket on the needles.

As for reading, I've been working my way through the Ender's Game quartet; I'm on Xenocide at the moment. Most of my reading time comes during breaks at work, so I'm a little behind on my book-a-week quota, but the Orson Scott Card books are rather long. I finished Speaker for the Dead rather quickly, partly because it's a great book, but mostly because I got a 24-hour stomach bug a couple of weeks ago and didn't have the energy to do anything but lie down and read! I felt so icky I couldn't even knit.

And I'm pleased to be able to share some more Mother Bear Project photos featuring my bears! I found a bunch of last summer's bears with children in Botswana. Here are a few of them:



Now I'm yearning to knit more bears...

Week of September 26th - October 2nd

Fun stuff first. I spent a while going through the Mother Bear Project photo gallery and was rewarded for my efforts with three new photos of my bears with their children. These are in South Africa, Togo, and Mali:

Now the boring stuff. I was dedicated over the weekend and listed patterns for my red lace sweater (finally!) and my knitted necktie. Here's the red sweater on a real person - namely, me - and now I have to sign off and go work on a custom order. The holidays are coming!

Week of June 25th - July 1st

My big achievement of the week is a toy monkey for a baby in the family. I used the pattern "Tucker the Monkey" from Toys to Knit by Tracy Chapman. Though it's not my design, I really think I outdid myself, especially with the mattress stitch seams and the fancy endless scarf:

I set out determined to follow the pattern to the letter for once (something I never do), but at the first line I was already making adjustments. These were the critiques I put on Ravelry.com:

- The pattern called for using worsted-weight yarn doubled and US 3 needles, which seemed unnecessarily time-consuming and difficult; I used a single strand of worsted-weight yarn and US 4 needles, and the toy came out just as nicely, I thought.

- The whole pattern was designed to knit the pieces flat, then sew up the seams. That was fine, but certain parts - like the legs - could have been worked in the round just as effectively, taking less time in the process.

- The tail is made using a 7-stitch i-cord, which I find near impossible to do in a way that looks good. I had to use 3 dpns for it.

- This is really nit-picky, but it calls for the hands and feet to be knit separately and sewn on later, when you could just pick up stitches right off the arm or leg and knit them. I just hate unnecessary seams.

I don't mean to be overly critical, however. This is a pretty easy pattern that makes a very cute toy, and I'll probably knit it again someday, with the adjustments.

And it's kind of dark, but here is a picture of the five bears assembled this week:

Week of June 11th-17th

Two things to show for this week. First, my new scarf. I've gradually been knitting up some of my handspun yarn into infinity scarves for my shop, and the newest is listed here.



One-of-a-kind pieces are always kind of a leap of faith; I could probably count on one hand the number of OOAK items I've sold on Etsy. I love knitting OOAK pieces, but I'm not sure if I have the knack for making them sell. Still, it's worth it to get to work with my handspun and make something pretty and unique.

Second, my complete set of bears. I've made as many as I think I can afford to do right now (Mother Bear Project asks for a donation of $3 per bear to help with shipping costs, which adds up). Here are the new ones:


And here's the full set, eight in all:


I'll get them in the mail this week. I'm still in the mood to knit bears, so my mother and I have worked out an arrangement. I'll knit the bears, then send them to her to stuff and finish, and she'll mail them with the donation to Mother Bear Project. That should keep me going for a while longer!

Weeks of May 28th - June 10th

A few weeks ago I had our friend Rene start me a custom Doctor Who TARDIS-themed My Little Pony. I got it yesterday, and I feel like a little kid with a new toy. TARDIS Pony is just so beautiful! Rene did an AMAZING job; the coloring and designs are just perfect. Here we have the front and back view:





I chose the Pegasus body, partly because it fits with a flying time machine, and partly because the only other Pegasus pony I had was stolen by a girl in my preschool class. (I don't even remember her name, but I'm still kind of mad about that. Childhood grudges die hard.) It's a first-generation pony circa 1984, which incidentally makes it older than both my husband and me. How about that.

Anyway, knitting stuff. I'm back onto the bears, since I feel like it and since it's hard to knit wool hats when you have sweat pouring down your back because your apartment is too hot. (We really should get that AC unit.) So here's my latest batch:



Today's project is assembling and finishing two other bears I have on hand. Last week I quit my dog walking job (with a month's prior notice, I should add, so "my" dogs have the proper care with a new walker), so now I have some more room to breathe and to get things done. I really like my Joann Fabrics job, but I usually work evenings and get very tired, so the extra work-at-home time is helpful.

Week of March26th - April 1st

It was a nice and productive week. I made and listed a new sari silk necklace, plus some sari silk bracelets. Three very fine bears have been completed, as you can see here; I might still do some more before I send these off. I'm in the middle of a significant crochet design project at the moment, which is why I put off blogging till this late and why I'm going to quit now and go work some more. We'll see if it's presentable by next week, and if so, I'll write about it then. Design time now.

Week of March 19th-25th

It was kind of a rough week; I realized that if I want to make it through the summer, I'm going to have to get a second part-time job. (Or give it my best try, at least.) It's funny how even a slight alteration of your future plans can throw you so off-balance. Job searching is such a mess; I can't remember what it was like before the recession, but it sure isn't fun now! Still, I've had good luck in the past.

I photographed and listed a bunch of new items - some men's gloves and mittens for next winter, a handspun infinity scarf, and some new sari silk jewelry. I've been wanting to get into textile jewelry for a while now, and spring is the time to do it! The infinity scarf was a test run for one of my favorite handspun yarns, and it was so lovely I decided I'd try listing it. It was a lot of fun to make, and I love the finished look.

Otherwise, I'm back on my Mother Bear Project bears - knit two this week, no pictures yet. I finished reading The Overlord Rising: Dragon Touched and loved it; you can see my Amazon.com review here. (I'm Anne, obviously.) Started The Novice: A Story of True Love by Thich Nhat Hanh, one of my favorite Dharma teachers.

Busy week ahead of me. Let's hope that by the end of it, I'll have gotten some results from my job search. Fingers crossed.

Week of February 26th - March 3rd

Since Filene's Basement went under for good in late December, I've been down to one part-time day job. That has enabled me to throw myself more fully into my textiles, as well as reclaim my social life and joie de vivre. (That's not to say I didn't like my cashier job, because I did, and I'm sorry the company went under; it's just that shuffling between two day jobs while trying to be an entrepreneur and a human being on the side can be exhausting on a profound level.) I've increased my focus on designing, joined Twitter, Artfire, and Pinterest, and now it's time to reboot my blog.

So, this week. While the husband has been engrossed in grad school, I've been busily designing and knitting a vest in his size. I'm lazy with the camera and therefore don't have any pictures yet, but it's a marled light gray with a double moss stitch design. Finished the front (v-neck), and now I'm toiling away at the back. It's attractive but not too thrilling to knit, so thank goodness for Netflix.

Finished and listed some new men's hats, knit in Peruvian wool ordered from KnitPicks. I know it's only March, but I'm already stocking up for next fall and winter.

Went to a talk at Case Western given by Robyn Ochs on gender and sexuality. She's a great speaker, and I think I can safely say that it was the most fun two-hour lecture I've ever been to.

And, perhaps best of all, I found some more of my teddy bears on the Mother Bear Project site! There's one from Mali and the rest are from South Africa.

8 new teddy bears!

Another slow month for sales, but I haven't been lazy. Between my other two jobs I've knit eight new bears, some headbands and some more wool hats, while adding Avatar: The Last Airbender to my list of favorite TV shows ever. There's something particularly sweet about knitting for children while watching a really good kid's show. (The all-blue ones were inspired by Waterbenders, fyi. If I can dig up the right colors from my bins of donated yarn, I think it would be really fun to make Airbender, Earthbender and Firebender bears as well.) These bears will be off to Minneapolis as soon as I make it over to the post office.

More bears!

What's even better than getting sales? Finding pics of my knitted bears in the hands of their kids! These are in South Africa (the pastel bear) and Namibia (the one with the "mittens").

Another bear in South Africa, plus a new hat

Here's a bear I knit on my trip to New York a year ago - now in the hands of its child! I especially liked that one, because I knit up its "sweater" in colors that reminded me of the cornfields in Indiana, where I went to college. It's nice sometimes to see how interconnectedness plays out. :)
And, of course, here's the newest addition to my line of men's winter hats: burnt orange with navy Fair Isle design. I'll probably make a reversed version with orange on a navy background, for the guys who find orange too bright!

Another bear in Namibia!

Here's another one of my bears from Mother Bear Project, shown with its child in Namibia. Just wanted to share the warm fuzzies. :)

My bears in South Africa!

I found two more of my bears on the Mother Bear Project website! I recognized them because of the funny jumpsuits I was making for a while. These two are in South Africa, adding to the two bears I've seen in Namibia, one in Zimbabwe, and fifty or sixty more that haven't shown up in pictures (yet).

My bears in Namibia and Zimbabwe!

I was thrilled to find these photos of my bears on the Mother Bear Project site. I especially love the picture of the child in Namibia holding my bear - it is just the most amazing feeling to see that smile, and know it was because of me.