Bobbi bear? anyone made one? UPDATE! *w/ pic!*

#1

so cute, this great knit teddy bear pattern using blue sky alpaca (i love). but! the pattern is unclear. it is for “beginners with some experience” -ha! the elderly woman at not just yarn in brattleboro vermont was like “humph! i like to think i’m a little more than a beginner!” truly though, i just think the pattern is a little unclear.

so after knitting 40 sts in the round and then dividing them and kniting back and forth, decreasing to make what is the front and back of the bear it says:

butt
turn work upside down. with mc, circular needle and RS facing, working back and forth in rows on the bears back as foll:

row 1 sl first 3 sts to empty st holder, pick up and knit next 14 sts, sl rem 3 sts to empty st holder [14 sts]

row 2 purl to end

row 3 (inc row): knit to end, k 1 from st holder [15 sts]

row 4 (inc row): purl to end, p1 from st holder [16 sts]

and do that till all 20 are on the needle

so, i’m assuming that i am picking up sts from the cast on edge (turn work upside down), but i’m not clear about the rest here. why am i slipping stitches to a st holder when i could just pick them up on subsequent rows? and then that makes holes in my work. no, i am definitely doing something wrong.

amy, if you read this i know northhampton woolens has a couple of these bears made down there (that’s where i bought the pattern). if you go there very often maybe you can peak at the pattern and tell me where i am going wrong? ha!

i’m already like $80 into this silly bear!

#2

Hi Amigarabita!

I do go to Noho all the time, but I don’t go to that store anymore, because I don’t think they like me. :cry: I think they thought I was a show-off with all my obscure technical questions while researching this site. I think they’re a great store, and I always thought they were nice people; it broke my heart when they started acting coldly to me. I should probably try to work it out with them, but I’m afraid I’ll get all emotional and just make a fool out of myself. (There’s my little local saga for you! :roll: LOL)

From the sounds of it, I’m wondering if the cast-on the pattern called for (or meant to call for) was a “provisional” cast-on of some sort: one you can easily undo to expose live stitches. This would explain why you need to slip existing live stitches onto the needle. This would make a nice, invisible seam around the waist, and would make a lot of sense to use. If you’re already this far along, and not at the cast-on point, you can do one of two things:

–Undo the cast-on edge, just picking it apart the hard way, to expose live stitches. May be a bit tricky, but definitely possible. Or you can just cut the strand of the row adjacent to the cast-on, and pull out that strand, exposing the stitches.
–If you don’t mind a visible seam at this point, you can indeed just pick up stitches. You probably want to pick up stitches all the way around, and then work from there. (I assume you’ll eventually be working the other side, and will need live stitches on that side as well.)

To avoid holes, you can use the “short row with wrap” technique in the advanced technique section.

If you’re still confused about the pattern, you should call Northampton Wools and ask! They really do know their stuff there, and if they sold you the pattern, they can certainly help you with it. And I’m sure they’ll be nice to you! (If you don’t tell them who sent you! LOL!)

Let us know how it goes!
Amy

#3

awe, thanks for taking the time amy! i might end up calling them even though what you are saying starts to make it look clear.

sorry you’re on the outs with those gals at the store there. thats tough if its one of your lys. if it is any consolation, last time i was there i left kind of grumbly b/c the ladies who run it were totally standing in front of the yarn i was looking at and chatting. granted, it is tight quarters, but i ended up just getting the pattern and buying the yarn elsewhere.

#4

It’s not as big a deal as it could be: the country’s largest yarn store (Webs) is 1/4 mile away from there! :lol: Plus I have another LYS, and a couple craft stores near me. If I didn’t have these other options, I’d probably suck it up and go there anyway; but I prefer minimal drama in my life! It’s nice to SNB about it though. (Or, just B. te-he) :slight_smile:

#5

so amy, guess what! i finally just googled the bobbi bear and came upon a blog by this girl in chicago who made one (like in a night, grumble). so i ended up e-mailing her out of semi-desperation/need to finish world’s most expensive bear asap.

AND GET THIS! her pattern is different! i am not crazy! i think i am going to call the sheepy yarn shoppe and ask when they revised the pattern. anyway, just sharing the latest development. if you haven’t seen a pic of this yet, check it out.

http://www.blueskyalpacas.com/patternsandbooks/images/pattern-bobbi-lg.jpg

#6

You clever gal, you! Great!

:slight_smile:
Amy

PS
Cute bear!

#7

Do you have a copy of the pattern posted (or in that chicks blog?)
it is adorable and I would love to try it!

#8

you can get the pattern through the blue sky alpacas site. it is not a free pattern, so i can’t post it. but it only cost me like $4. i just finished him though --finally after all my set backs. i’ll try to figure out how to post a pic up here to show you mine.

oh-and mine measures exactly what the pattern indicates it will, but i used like just over half of the yarn they called for. there are a couple other things i would change about the pattern if i were authoring it, but all in all it was a fun and quick little project!

#9

ok. i figured out how to post a pic. here is my completed bobbi bear. now my sister can have that baby!

oh, and here is a link to the pattern solsken: bobbi bear

#10

That is a nice bear that actually looks SAFE for baby and toddler. There are so many bears out there that just have safety hazards all over them. When my son was born we got so many bears for him and out of about 20, only one was safe.

Well done on the bear for choice and looks!