Like everything else in my life, Bears have rules. As they emerge from their acrylic gene pool they demand from me a certain amount of repetitive tasks, a good deal of imagination, and as much positive karma and happy energy as I can muster.
On this 16th day of my Mandela Day pledge to knit 67 minutes a day for 67 days, I sit in front of an almost finished Bear from the "Gelato" group.
Yes, Rule Number 1: Bears need a theme before they can be imagined into life. "Gelato" is my theme for the summer. I imagine a bunch of young girls giggling, licking their lips, talking fast, eating gelato while their parents tour museums and churches in Europe. There might even be a couple of boys joining later on.
Two of the group are already finished, Bear 260 (Arabella) and Bear 261 (Bastienne). Rule Number 2: think of names while knitting. What goes with Italian thoughts, with Piazza Navona in Rome, gondolas in Venice, la Scala in Milan? Music! And lately I have been thinking about the alphabet. Ever since I heard a German comic ask the question: "Who decided the order of letters in the alphabet?" I have been preoccupied with this question. I think that nobody really knows, but everybody speculates on the reasons (shape of letter?) and explanations, such as the following, only to confuse me.
Www.straightdope.com
The roots of ABC order are found in the cuneiform script of Ugaritic, the Semitic language of an ancient city in Syria. The letter shapes of this script aren't obviously related to our alphabet's direct ancestors, but the alphabetic order from a 14th-century BC inscription is virtually identical to later Hebrew and Phoenician letter lists, and the letter names are related.
While the ABC swirls around in my mind I decide that these Bears will be named in alphabetical order of their appearance. I pick their names by skipping through a little book "The A to Z of Opera." I have done the ABC before so I must be careful not to repeat.
Arabella - name of and character in a lyrical comedy by Richard Strauss
Bastienne - character in a musical play by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Who will Bear 262 be? Carmen? Caterina? Now I wish she were a boy - I would definitely call him Candide. Don't laugh. Decisions have to be made. Old minds must be stimulated! :)
I have no particular rules for knitting, except to follow the basic Motherbear pattern. Sometimes I knit a bunch of heads first, especially when I travel. This way I avoid carrying five balls of yarn and still not having the color I NEED. Besides, the head does not require much thought. Twenty stitches. Fifty rows. I can keep up a conversation on a train, knit in a movie theatre, knit while walking, or watch a TV show without paying attention to my fingers. I wrote about this earlier in one of my blogs and added a picture of a bunch of heads. Later I pick up the stitches once for the front and once for the back. Color combinations just happen, as long as I keep a few balls of yarn on the table
I use a definite order for sewing and finishing. After the whole long main piece of Bear is finished I weave in the ends on the upper part of the body, except for the long ends on each side of the bottom of the head. They are used for sewing together the head, then they are woven along the top of the head - about five stitches in. Later they are used to sew the ears.
With the head sewn, I knit the arms. Then I sew the rest except for leaving an opening for stuffing on the inside of the legs
Rule Number 3: stuff the head with the kind of polyester stuffing that allows the big, blunt needle to penetrate easily. I hate it when the tip of the needle pushes out a blob of stuffing.
After I shape head and arms I weave a double strand of yarn through the neck, starting at the middle of the back side. I pull the ends very tight, then guide them toward the inside and tie, knotting three or four times. I think that a nice neck helps with the looks.
Which brings me to Rule Number 4: never close the Bear up before the neck has been tied. Don't want to have ugly neck string knots on the outside.
Rule Number 5: hold Bear by his stuffed head and pinch ear area flat. Sew across with yarn from side seam. Sew down, then up again and weave in at the back. Ears are important.
My Rule Number 6 is simple. I have to do the face the way I wrote it up a couple of years ago. It works. When I change it I screw up. I start at the back of the neck and end there, tie and weave in the ends. The knot is barely visible and will be covered by the scarf.
Well, Carmen (she wants to be called Carmen) reminds me about Rule Number 7: (she has found out that I get excited over embellishments) purses go on the right side. The left side is for the Motherbear sewers and the lovely hearts that get added in Minneapolis.
Rule Number 8: pictures please. Nobody leaves this house without having posed endlessly.
Rule Number 9: talk to the Bear. She needs stories to tell the child who will adopt her.
"What?"
"I look pale. Too much pink grapefruit in my outfit."
"What do you want me to do?"
"Make a flower with raspberry sherbet. I want a bright flower on my ear."
Rule Number 10: listen!
"Thank you Carmen. I think you are ready to fly."
Location:Campbell
2 comments:
This is super helpful! I a always having problems with the ears. :)
Halcyon, it isn't failsafe, some ears get bigger than others, but I think that Bears, like people, have their own personalities. Maybe a big ear means that he will listen well. Maybe a crooked ear means she will listen to a different drummer.
Gisela
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