Introducing...Baby Bobbi Bear!

He's done and he's a cutie! I took the second half of my class today, and Savannah's Christmas present est fini. Vital stats:

Pattern: Baby Bobbi Bear from Blue Sky Alpacas
Yarn: Plymouth Encore Worsted for body and Blue Sky 100% Alpaca for eyes and nose
Ribbon: Embellishments (from the Grove)
Started: 12/4/05
Completed: 12/11/05

Overall, I'd say this is a great pattern. It was a lot more work than it looks, but it's OK, because there's virtually no seaming. It's a cleverly designed pattern, and I understand that there are similar patterns (probably designed by the same person) in Last Minute Knitted Gifts that also don't involve seaming.

The class was really fun because everybody was using different yarn. Some people were using Blue Sky Alpacas Worsted, some the 100% alpaca, some acrylic. One woman was using yarn given to her by her aunt who had recently passed away. The bear was sort of a tribute to her. Everybody's bear was a different color and everybody was using different ribbon. I wish I'd thought before everybody went their separate ways to arrange to get a photo of each bear to post on this blog, but sadly, I didn't. Most of my work on the bear was done during the class, which was a total of 8 hours. By the end, all of the students felt a little like war buddies, and when somebody would reach a milestone on the bear, i.e. duplicate stitching the neck, adding the ears, etc., everybody would ooh and aah. It was really fun!

I also made minor progress on Birch and Chill, but nothing photo-worthy. I was kind of busy this weekend, actually. On Saturday, I drove to Encinitas to go to Common Threads and Black Sheep just because I FINALLY had the time. I didn't need yarn and don't have any money, but there was something refreshing about not having anywhere to be or anything to do. I found a great new book, Luxury Knits. Most of the patterns in there are lovely, so I'll have to buy it eventually. On Saturday night, I got together with a high school friend and we went to a really great restaurant in Poway called Miami Grille. They had the BEST black bean soup, and everything else I had was great, too. Afterwards, we looked through our old yearbooks at the photos and the things people wrote. It was hilarious to see what geeks we were. I always find nostalgia to be fun.

Anyway, another week is here. I hope everybody has a great one!