Thursday 24 October 2013

The Bare Bear


My poor ole bear is still bare. It's not that I haven't been working on his winter jumper, honestly. It's just very time consuming and I have lots on. Trying to sort out house projects and reorganising the studio, keeping on top of the garden, you know how it is.
He hasn't had a new bit of clothing for years and years so this little Fair Isle number is long overdue.
The pattern is from a 1990 nursery knitting book that one of my friends kindly gave to me a wee while ago. It's full of beautiful traditional knitwear. When I eventually have some grand children, a very long way off yet I hope, it will be be very useful. For now though the bear will be getting the benefit.







The pattern isn't difficult but you do have to concentrate as it's fiddly. I have attached a small length of the different coloured yarns to the page so that I can check more easily when I need to change colours.

I've used alternative colours to those in the book to give the garment a more vintage look and the front will be one V necked piece instead of two.

Close up of Fair isle.



This is the finished unblocked back which has taken me the longest time to complete. I'm gonna be much faster with the front, you wait and see.


3 comments:

  1. The colours will really suit him, lucky old bear!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Takes a lot of patience to knit a pattern like that! This will be one fine looking bear when he's dressed out in his little sweater. In the early 80's, there was a series of bears (similar to yours) on the market on our side of the pond, they were dressed as various celebrities--such as "Scarlett O'Beara" and "Humphrey Beargart." I bought the bear for my daughter that was simply named "Bare Bear" because it wore no clothes. He was a beautiful color of purple and wound up wearing one of my daughter's newborn sized nighties, which, as I recall, was white with little pink flowers on it. So maybe we should refer to Bare Bear as a she. :-) Will look forward to seeing your bear in the finished sweater.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hello Judy, Those 80s bears sound fabulous, what great names too. My bare bear is very old, he was given to me when I was a very small child by a teenage neighbour who obviously felt she had out grown him. I loved him from the moment I clapped eyes on him and would not be parted from him for a king's ransom. He was 'born' in the 1930s so a fair isle jumper is just the ticket for him. Lovely to hear from you by the way.

    love

    jean x

    ReplyDelete

My Journey To Health - A Morning Walk

Up early this morning, bedlinen on the line, yes the weather is holding. Booked my Zumba class for Monday week, you have to get up early to ...