After knitting six hats for the art bear project I was asked if I would post the patterns. Here are two basic hat patterns, one for boy bears and one for girl bears. My bears seem to be on the large side so you might want to adjust the number of stitches. There are many ways to embellish these hats. A ribbon. A flower. Striping. A pompom.
Beanie for Mother Bear (boy)
I use #6 DPNs and Worsted weight yarn
Cast on 35. Join
(I sometimes knit one, purl one, for a few rounds)
Rounds 1 to 17 - knit
Round 18 - Knit 3, knit 2 together. Repeat all the way around. (28)
Rounds 19, 20, 21 - knit
Round 22 - Knit 2, knit 2 together. Repeat all the way around, (21)
Rounds 23 and 24 - Knit
Round 25 - Knit 1, knit 2 together. Repeat all the way around. (14)
Round 26 - knit
Round 27 - Knit 2 together all the way around. (7)
Gather the remaining stitches with an embroidery needle and pull thread tight and secure
If I make a pompom I tie it to the loose end very tightly with several knots - from the inside.
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Brimmed Hat for Mother Bear (girl)
(this is more rounded than the boy’s beanie at the top)
Cast on 35 - Join
Rounds 1 to 17 - knit
Round 18 - Knit 3, knit 2 together. Repeat all the way around. (28)
Rounds 19 - knit
Round 20 - Knit 2, knit 2 together. Repeat all the way around, (21)
Rounds 21 - Knit
Round 22- Knit 1, knit 2 together. Repeat all the way around. (14)
Round 23 - knit
Round 24 - Knit 2 together all the way around. (7)
Gather the remaining stitches with an embroidery needle and pull thread tight and secure.
Crochet Brim
Round 1 - Single crochet into 35 stitches around edge of knitted hat. Place marker.
Round 2 - Single crochet in first two single crochet. Two single crochet in next single crochet. Repeat all around.
Round 3 – Single crochet in each single crochet all around.
Round 4 = Single crochet in first three single crochet. Two single crochet in next single crochet. Repeat all around.
Round 5 – Single crochet in each single crochet all the way around.
For a rolled edge (no brim) I knit 20 rounds instead of 17 and roll the first three rounds up.
Friday, February 27, 2015
Ekphrasis
Art is seen - Art is experienced - Art is recreated in a different form
I woke up with the word ekphrasis stamped onto my mind. Once I was fully awake I realized that the upcoming challenge fits nicely with this word. In March the Mother Bear Project group will knit and crochet "art bears," bears that are somehow connected to art. Muses, maybe? Artists? Interpretations of paintings? Sculptures? Music?
For days I have been gazing at online paintings, have scanned books about some of my favorite painters, Gauguin, van Gogh, Franz Marc, Walter (and Margaret) Keane, Chagall, Picasso, Anselm Kiefer, Friedensreich Hundertwasser, Monet, Manet, Degas, Georgia O'Keeffe, Frida Kahlo. I have looked at colors, lines, shapes, and themes. I have selected the first six paintings to be used in the project. And I have knitted six little hats that demonstrate how I see them.
It is easy to interpret Paul Gauguin; his colors are pure; his subjects are females, they look secure in their environment. It seems a bear could just wear a bright, hot pink dress to make Gauguin happy.
It gets more difficult with Pollock. His paintings strike me as loose ends spilled on a canvas, stirred and frozen in time. Well, clearly, a bear cannot be imagined consisting of loose ends. He needs to be knitted into a coherent pattern and he needs to be molded into the formula that made Pollock successful. And the lines must be more than the straight lines of knit and purl.
What about Franz Marc? His colors are as bright as Gauguin’s. He painted animals. He painted the Blue Horse. Maybe all I have to do is to twist primary colors into shape. But then I remember how short his time on earth was, how war took him away and confined him to greys and lingering darkness spreading across the sky. I suddenly see the snowy winter morning that brought me to Kochel and the graveyard where Franz Marc and his wife lie side by side.
Then there is Marc Chagall! A canvas dipped in shades of blue. A red sun with a white halo. But, the soul is, as it usually is, in the detail - little spots of color, bunched together like tiny spring flowers - faces peeking in from the blue universe – a looming torso – and the city of Paris below.
Of course Anselm Kiefer is muted in his colors, a vast streamlined mass of brown, little pink and light blue flecks of life and light, red accents, dullish cream, long, narrow converging lines. I didn’t know Anselm Kiefer in my early life, though he lived close to my home town. He is still a stranger to me, even after I have stood in a museum in front of his larger than life paintings for long periods of time.
My favorite for this project, at this moment, is Monet. He has already been recreated in a little girl's mind. I am speaking of the book "Linnea in Monet's Garden." I have, once before, dressed a doll like Linnea and think I will use her image again, except that I will add Monet's watery greens and blues by giving her some of his flowers. It is a delight to knit her brimmed hat – it is more colorful than the original - and to add a few strands of black hair. Linnea takes away my need to speak to Monet. Speak about him. She seems to know him well enough.
If I find time I will have to interpret Vincent. I really think my project would not be complete without Vincent van Gogh. It was only two years ago that I got lost in his starry night. That I romped through his wheat fields and sang "Sur le pont d'Avignon. There must be at least one sunflower left in my repertoire.
And if I explore van Gogh I must not forget Friedensreich Hundertwasser. Simply because he was ahead of his time. Or because I met his art in Vienna? Or, maybe, because he was a wild man? I wonder what Regentag would look like in bear format. Would it be Dunkelbunt?
If there is time I should also knit bears to honor my favorite ladies, Georgia O'Keefe and Frida Kahlo. Georgia, forever stamped into the red earth of the Ghost Ranch in Abiquiu, New Mexico. And Diego's woman, Frida, the bearer of too many crosses.
Am I getting carried away again in my fantasies? In reality there will probably not be time for more than six art bears in March. I should make a list of things I can cancel to allow for more knitting time. Things like vacuum cleaning. Pulling weeds. Folding laundry.
I woke up with the word ekphrasis stamped onto my mind. Once I was fully awake I realized that the upcoming challenge fits nicely with this word. In March the Mother Bear Project group will knit and crochet "art bears," bears that are somehow connected to art. Muses, maybe? Artists? Interpretations of paintings? Sculptures? Music?
For days I have been gazing at online paintings, have scanned books about some of my favorite painters, Gauguin, van Gogh, Franz Marc, Walter (and Margaret) Keane, Chagall, Picasso, Anselm Kiefer, Friedensreich Hundertwasser, Monet, Manet, Degas, Georgia O'Keeffe, Frida Kahlo. I have looked at colors, lines, shapes, and themes. I have selected the first six paintings to be used in the project. And I have knitted six little hats that demonstrate how I see them.
It is easy to interpret Paul Gauguin; his colors are pure; his subjects are females, they look secure in their environment. It seems a bear could just wear a bright, hot pink dress to make Gauguin happy.
It gets more difficult with Pollock. His paintings strike me as loose ends spilled on a canvas, stirred and frozen in time. Well, clearly, a bear cannot be imagined consisting of loose ends. He needs to be knitted into a coherent pattern and he needs to be molded into the formula that made Pollock successful. And the lines must be more than the straight lines of knit and purl.
What about Franz Marc? His colors are as bright as Gauguin’s. He painted animals. He painted the Blue Horse. Maybe all I have to do is to twist primary colors into shape. But then I remember how short his time on earth was, how war took him away and confined him to greys and lingering darkness spreading across the sky. I suddenly see the snowy winter morning that brought me to Kochel and the graveyard where Franz Marc and his wife lie side by side.
Then there is Marc Chagall! A canvas dipped in shades of blue. A red sun with a white halo. But, the soul is, as it usually is, in the detail - little spots of color, bunched together like tiny spring flowers - faces peeking in from the blue universe – a looming torso – and the city of Paris below.
Of course Anselm Kiefer is muted in his colors, a vast streamlined mass of brown, little pink and light blue flecks of life and light, red accents, dullish cream, long, narrow converging lines. I didn’t know Anselm Kiefer in my early life, though he lived close to my home town. He is still a stranger to me, even after I have stood in a museum in front of his larger than life paintings for long periods of time.
My favorite for this project, at this moment, is Monet. He has already been recreated in a little girl's mind. I am speaking of the book "Linnea in Monet's Garden." I have, once before, dressed a doll like Linnea and think I will use her image again, except that I will add Monet's watery greens and blues by giving her some of his flowers. It is a delight to knit her brimmed hat – it is more colorful than the original - and to add a few strands of black hair. Linnea takes away my need to speak to Monet. Speak about him. She seems to know him well enough.
If I find time I will have to interpret Vincent. I really think my project would not be complete without Vincent van Gogh. It was only two years ago that I got lost in his starry night. That I romped through his wheat fields and sang "Sur le pont d'Avignon. There must be at least one sunflower left in my repertoire.
And if I explore van Gogh I must not forget Friedensreich Hundertwasser. Simply because he was ahead of his time. Or because I met his art in Vienna? Or, maybe, because he was a wild man? I wonder what Regentag would look like in bear format. Would it be Dunkelbunt?
If there is time I should also knit bears to honor my favorite ladies, Georgia O'Keefe and Frida Kahlo. Georgia, forever stamped into the red earth of the Ghost Ranch in Abiquiu, New Mexico. And Diego's woman, Frida, the bearer of too many crosses.
Am I getting carried away again in my fantasies? In reality there will probably not be time for more than six art bears in March. I should make a list of things I can cancel to allow for more knitting time. Things like vacuum cleaning. Pulling weeds. Folding laundry.
Friday, February 13, 2015
Tschüss Pine Tree on the Hill Behind My House!
Next Tuesday they will come
With spikes and chains and saws,
And corporate authority.
They will behead you,
Slice away your shriveled limbs,
Guide your trunk
Into the empty spot
Between my house and shed.
They will shred your branches
Into new, sustainable adventures,
Sweep and blow away from me
Your familiar, scented needles.
You were a seedling when I saw you first,
Almost thirty years ago.
You grew bold and tall and spread your wings.
You shaded friends and teddy bears,
Entertained feral cats, raccoons, and skunks,
Allowed squirrels to roam freely,
In joyful leaps and calculated chase.
Your crown was the kingdom of the mockingbird.
And when all was quiet
On sunny Sunday afternoons,
I watched my mother floating past you.
She wore a purple gown.
But in recent months
You turned sullen - pale and brittle;
You missed the rain.
Or, maybe, you were just done with tree life.
I am afraid of you,
The way one is afraid of lovers
Whose souls refuse us harmony.
I no longer seek my bed
When dry winds storm.
They make you sway in desperation.
Tschüss dear pine tree on the hill behind my house;
I hope they chip you into happy little pieces.
Saturday, February 7, 2015
Updating the Bear Count
Lately I have been too busy to write details about the Bears, but I have knitted almost every day. So here are the pictures, from Bear 333 on....
In January of 2015 I began another alphabetical group of Bears, all to be named after African American writers.
I also received a Box of Beautiful Bear Yarn from a dear friend and will probably be able to knit around 50 Bears with it. That should keep me busy. I have named this the BoBBY Project.
Bear 333 Incognita
Bear 334 Two-Tone
Bear 335 Amiri
Bear 336 Booker
Bear 337
Bear 338 Charlotte
Bear 339 Dorothy
Bear 340 Era
Bear 341 Frances
Bears 342 and 343 Gwendolyn and Martin
Bears 344 and 345 Huey and Ida
In January of 2015 I began another alphabetical group of Bears, all to be named after African American writers.
I also received a Box of Beautiful Bear Yarn from a dear friend and will probably be able to knit around 50 Bears with it. That should keep me busy. I have named this the BoBBY Project.
Bear 333 Incognita
Bear 334 Two-Tone
Bear 335 Amiri
Bear 336 Booker
Bear 337
Bear 338 Charlotte
Bear 339 Dorothy
Bear 340 Era
Bear 341 Frances
Bears 342 and 343 Gwendolyn and Martin
Bears 344 and 345 Huey and Ida
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