Vincent, here we come.

A long time in the making, and finally finished today. The four bears that make up the theme "Heaven above Arles" - Aurore, Midi, Soir, and Minuit - represent images of the sky as I interpret early morning with its pink stripes, midday with white clouds, evening with the ripe sunflower, and midnight's starry night.

Ready to post in the NOW and about Mandela Day Project

There are two more bears who were actually finished, just needed a few stitches here and there. They have not been sent out yet. I knitted Bear 254 in honor of all the ladies who knitted and crocheted pink bears when I was sick with breast cancer. I counted more than 50 pink bears on Ravelry during that awful time when I felt sick from chemo and radiation. Thanks again to all of you who stepped in and  supported me with knitting, emailing, posting, calling.

 I'll just call her Pinky. She was created during tiny spurts of energy and yesterday I sewed the pinned-on flower securely to her ear.

And there is Bear 255, the Red Christmas Bear, almost finished (I sewed the headband on today)  around Christmas 2012. I named her after my first Great-Grandchild - Talia.

And with this I should be up to date with my bears. 

I have a picture, taken two days ago, of bears in progress. And I will post this progress regularly, I hope, since I committed myself to knitting 67 minutes a day for 67 days as part of the Mandela Day Project. 

Four bears spent a lot of time in a big bag with the yarn that is supposed to make them into "Heaven Above Arles" a van Gogh tribute. The two dangling from the top of the photo have no theme (my imagination took a leave of absence after I recuperated) but I am working on a title right now.

Updating

I posted the last teddy bear photo on May 9, 2011. On May 23, 2011 I had surgery. Since then the blog has not been updated. Before I went into the hospital I sent the last finished bears to the Mother Bear project. I had only posted to Bear 248 but had actually finished the series "Primary Challenge." From my Ravelry pages I see that they were Bears 249 to 253. Neither one of these received a poem, but eventually I will get around to that. For today I will only post their pictures.

Bear 249 - Oriana - an Unimportant Woman from Venice, Italy



Bear 250 - Eveline - an Unimportant Woman from San Francisco, USA



Bear 251 - Angelique - an Unimportant Woman from Paris




Bear 252 - Hope - an Unimportant Woman from Haltwhistle, England



Bear 253 - the Mystery Woman from Soweto, South Africa. Since she is the final element in the puzzle, an exclamation mark - I named her ILANA - where the i comes closest to an exclamation mark, just turn it upside down.



This series of teddy bears was my birthday tribute to Nelson Mandela in 2011

Putting them next to each other in a certain order, the first letters of their names spell

PEACE ON EARTH!

Bear 248

Meet Emily, knitted in honor of an Unimportant Woman in Victoria, Canada

An Unimportant Woman - Emily, Victoria, Canada

She walks along the waterfront, a temporary shelter

For Emily and her group of aimless artisans,

The girl stands strong in body and in soul,

But fate is not in favor of acceptance.

Emily was once a man,

Now she roams the busy streets around Victoria's harbor,

singing songs of love and everlasting peace,

Resisting stabs and punches with determined hope.

"It gets better" is her daily slogan.

As teatime draws the crowds away

She pulls needles from her backpack, sits quietly and smiles.

"They wage wars and I knit teddy bears."

Bear 247

Meet Rahil, knitted in honor of an Unimportant Woman in Marrakesh, Morocco

An Unimportant Woman - Rahil, Marrakesh, Morocco

She moves her veil to kiss the boy,

Blessing him with motherly devotion.

The medina's narrow alleyways

Echo with a call to prayer.

Ensha'llah - all will be well with father.

Rahil must stay and sell their wares

Enshrined in white from head to toe

She offers rings and bracelets, barters with admirers.

They do not know about the old man's bravery;

He rescued strangers from the rubble of Argana

When terrorists destroyed the famous Marrakesh Café.

The boy is sleeping now; midday heat has slowed the tourists' greed for souvenirs.

Rahil picks up silken yarn and bamboo needles.

"They wage wars and I knit teddy bears."

Bear 246

Meet Eleesh, knitted in honor of an Unimportant Woman in Nine Mile, Jamaica

An Unimportant Woman - Eleesh, Nine Mile, Jamaica

Eleesh stands by the wayside,

Waiting, waiting, waiting,

Waiting for a bus to Nine Mile.

Insufficient funds, gang wars, sleepy drivers, robberies,

Her ride depends on luck, good will, and promises.

Mother waits for her arrival,

A man had mutilated her

When she was young and bold and desperate,

And sold herself for daily bread and minor favors.

Eleesh can't remember singing songs

Or dancing in the moonlight;

She must bathe her mother, feed her sisters, pay the bills.

But when raindrops pelt the metal roof

Eleesh becomes an artist with her needles.

She cables, purls, makes toys from snips and snatches,

Ignores the outside world's discord.

"They wage wars and I knit teddy bears."

Bear 245

Meet Alexandra, dedicated to an "Unimportant Woman" in Weimar, Germany

“Education, Tolerance, Acceptance

Are key ingredients for a peaceful coexistence.”

So teachers preach in Germany’s historic Weimar.

Alexandra shields her bruised and swollen face

From parents who celebrate their racial difference.

But skinhead bullies who attacked her in the schoolyard

Knew no restraint and had no patience for the girl with darker skin.

Alexandra slips into the privacy of blue and sunshine yellow linen.

Hides her pain between the sweetly scented pillows on her bed.

Cries into the furry safety of a childhood bunny friend.

When all the tears have left her tender body,

She finds a skein of unbleached cotton and winds a giant ball.

A cautious smile attends the fast, ambitious circles of her hand.

“They wage wars and I knit teddy bears.”