…Joining Ginny’s YarnAlong, sharing what I’m knitting and reading…

I finally finished that knitted bear for Bracken! Remember when I wrote about the Brambles Bear pattern here? In that post, besides sharing how adorable I thought the pattern was, I also mentioned the “bear story” that Jeff created and started telling Bracken when he was little. The character in the story is a bear named Blueberry Bear, who goes on lots of adventures with Bracken. So I gave this little knitted bear the same name, bringing the story to life in a way. Bracken got to be a part of the process, helping me stuff his bear with wool and lavender. The yarn I used is Berroco Ultra Alpaca from a local yarn shop, super soft and a beautiful shade of brown with a reddish tinge to it. I decided to knit Blueberry Bear a scarf to suit his name. I used some leftover yarn I had from another project, wool yarn from our friends at Timberwolf Farm, naturally dyed blue with indigo. (I write about their yarn here a lot because I love it so much.) Then Jeff made me some WoolyMossRoots Buttons to complete the project: two buttons for eyes in reclaimed, black ebony wood and a heart button in reclaimed birdseye maple burl wood.

I made a few bloopers in the creation of this bear. For one, I messed up on one of the ears so it came out smaller and less rounded than the other one. I talked about reknitting it, but Jeff said to me: “that’s what gives it character.” He had a good point, so I kept it as it was. I attempted to create an embroidered nose and felt like I had no idea what I was doing, doing my best to make it look like the picture. I loved the way the bear’s face looked in the pattern, but when I tried to place the eyes the same way on this one it just didn’t seem to work. So I went with it and this bear came out with a personality all it’s own. When I talked about moving the eyes, Bracken said strongly: “no mama!” He liked them just where they were and he didn’t want me to change a thing. These guys of mine help keep me balanced when I’m too much of a perfectionist! (The first picture was taken at our Rainbow Bridge class yesterday, it’s my favorite.) We took Blueberry Bear outside today to snap some pictures, but usually he lives on Bracken’s bed where he gets snuggled every night.

P.S. Ravelry notes here.