Now With Actual Knitting Content!

Yes, Frank the Bear finally makes his belated debut on my blog, complete with Fu Manchu. I didn't intend to put any facial topiary on the little guy, but because of some row gauge issues I could either embroider his mouth above his nose and have it look weird from the side, or embroider it on his nose and have him look deformed from the front. The 'Fu does a good job of camouflaging this, and gives him that rugged, Brut-wearing, Camaro-driving, je ne sais quoi. I think he turned out pretty well, and he makes me giggle every time I look at his pictures.

Pattern: Blue Sky Alpaca's Baby Bobbi Bear
Yarn: Manos Del Uruguay Wool in Turquoise (you'll need more than 1 skein if you're subbing Manos at a dense gauge)
Needles: Clover 5.00 mm dpns
Notes: The pattern is fairly easy to follow if you have some knitting experience, but if you're a relative newbie who is comfortable with double-pointed needles, I'd suggest looking for the clarifications page Blue Sky has posted. Make sure to buy lots of stuffing, and mold as you stuff. Don't be concerned if it looks a little odd as you go along- with out ears and facial details Frank looked like a Smurf. The embroidery is the key to adding personality, and I'm glad I went with the red instead of a more staid black or brown. Gives him a bit of punch.

The Manos was gorgeous to work with, as always. It has to be one of my top 5 desert island yarns. I have a whole stash of Manos that needs to be knitted, including a really lovely, smoky lavender, which I think will become those fingerless gloves from AlterKnits.

These pictures were taken with my new cell phone on the drive back to Montreal. "Vive le Québec!", dit François l'Ours!