June 1981 - The Crocheted Bear - Finished

I originally planned to make two of these in different sizes but I got distracted by this:

She still needs a tiny tote bag though.
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And here’s the finished bear:

About the pattern:
The pattern has 8 parts (body-head, 4 legs, 2 ears and a face) plus the nose.  The body and head are done as one piece then the face part is done as anther and sewn on.  The legs are all the same and the ears are just circles. 
It uses a G hook for all but the nose.  The nose uses an E hook.

About the materials:
Big Twist Premium Value yarn is on the heavy end of worsted.  It worked ok for this project but it’s a little stiffer than I would use for a typical toy.   I started a second one in the Sensations Cuddle yarn but that was on the light side of DK and it seemed pretty small so I frogged it.   Here's a size comparison between the two versions.

The pattern has “small amount of glue” in the materials list but I didn’t see it used anywhere specific in the pattern.

How it went:
Making the parts was pretty easy.  The assembly instructions are fairly vague but the picture is good enough to see where things go.    Sewing them on went well until I got to the face.  I tried to figure out from the photo where that went but when I sewed it on it looked more like the muzzle of the bear.   In the photo the eyes are on the face piece but on mine I ended up putting them on the head.  
The eyes didn’t work out very well.  Directions say, “cut ½ inch circles of light colored felt, sew in place.  Embroider pupils in darker yarn.”    I really like using safety eyes because they don’t require extra sewing or embroidery.   With safety eyes you really need to know where they go before you start stuffing the toy and I wasn’t sure on this project. 

How it turned out:
This turned out ok.  The eyes make him look a little scared.  I'm not sure I'd make this again but it was fun to try.

What I learned:
I don’t like cutting small pieces of felt and sewing them on.  If I do this again I’ll try to use safety eyes.  It was also a good reminder that even though a yarn weight might be the same for different yarns they can still work up at different sizes.  
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Next month we’re going back in time to the 60’s.   I’ll have the choices posted next week!