Teddybear sweaters

So yesterday we used my allowed amount of vertical time to go to Hobby Lobby to pick up buttons for the white baby dress. While we were there, I was remembering that our church was doing a Teddybear Sunday, asking people to donate new bears for the Alliance for Children. I thought it'd be nice if Maggie and Jamie could take bears. We managed to find simple jointed bears, nothing fancy. They were kinda plain, though. There were teddybear clothes there, but many of them were pricey, and I was looking at the little sweaters thinking oh surely I can do that.

So we came home and I did. I looked at various patterns and settled on this one, from Cubs for Kids, a program that dresses bears to give to children in shelters. I grabbed some stash yarn, starting with the leftover red from the Christmas Hat, and went at it.
( Picture behind the cut )

The first one, the red sweater, came out a little loose on the bear, I think these were slightly smaller than the ones Cubs for Kids uses. See the strand of red across his leg? That's how much was left over. Never have I come that close before. Actually, one sleeve is a row shorter than the other, before the ribbing, because I had to go back and do that to be able to bind off. I wish I'd realized that I was going to be that close, I'd have done the ribbing in a contrasting color, and that would have worked fine.

I went ahead and did the contrasting ribbing on the 2nd one, not because I was short on yarn, but just because I thought it'd be nice. It is, I think, but man a lot more ends to weave in. The white yarn is slightly lighter than the green and red, but I think it worked out okay. I adjusted the pattern slightly, and I think it fits the bear better. But there was NO time to do another iteration.

They're not the fanciest sweaters I've ever done, but they were certainly the fastest. selenite made sure to take them to church this morning, and he reports the kids took them up to the pile of bears very nicely.

I think having the sweaters on them just makes them nicer, not such a generic bear, but cuter and more cuddly. Some poor kid in a rough place is going to get each of those bears, and I hope it cheers them up. There's lots of times in life I can't do a whole lot to help the rest of the world, but here was a way I could do something kind without spending much money at all, just using up some leftover yarn.

I may do some more bear sweaters later and send them to the Cubs for Kids program, especially if I find a pretty variegated worsted weight I like.

ebook reader

I *NEED* a good ebook reader. Really really really.

I've been reading stuff from one of my Baen CDs - the ones that come in the back of new hardbacks and will have the whole previous SERIES in them, and more - on the computer, and enjoying it. Transferring another one to the computer now. And yes, right now I'm in the recliner mostly horizontal anyway, so it's not much harder to crane my neck to the monitor than it would be to use an ebook, and sure, I can knit easier that way (I need a way to page down that doesn't require hands, darn it) - but I WANT these on ebook, and it'll be way more convenient in the long run.

These guys are working on it, yes. But I want it SOOOOON - going to drop them another email and ask what's up with the news.

(And why does LJ not have an "impatient" mood icon? Don't they know me at all?)

Yardage frustration

Last night's yardage shortage on the bear sweater is apparently NOT the only case of it I get this weekend.

Today I went back to work on the tank top I'm doing for Maggie.

Now, I've carefully read and reread the directions. For the size I'm making her, it says I should need one skein each of the main color and contrasting color.

I had a mostly-full skein of the pink tea rose left over from her Crumpets dress, for the main color, and another untouched skein I could have gotten into if I needed it - but I seem to have had just enough from the partial skein.

I had an untouched full skein of "cotton ball" white that had been given to me that I'm using as the contrasting color. I am doing the ruffle in the round, both sides at once. I should be doing 3" of it, then the reduction that makes it a ruffle, then attaching it to the top of the tank, doing a few more rounds, and doing the shoulder straps, all in that contrasting color.

I've run out at about 2.5". Grrrr.

I do know one yarn store in town that carries that kind of yarn. I can call them and see if they have that color, although of course it's almost certainly not going to be the same dye lot if they do. And I can't call them until Tuesday, as all the yarn shops are closed tomorrow.

Bleagh.