My friend Ellen welcomed her 3rd grandchild in the past couple of months — a boy! We've known the family a long time, as Ali and Ellen's daughter Abbey have been BFFs since high school. I've taken many photos of the family over the years, including Abbey & Kevin's (surprise!) engagement, her brother & sister-in-law Alex & Carrie's wedding photos, and some newborn/child/family photos.

A few weeks ago, Ellen asked if I'd be able to replicate a "favorite" hat of Kevin's for the baby. Kevin had a birthday coming up and she thought it would be a fun gift… "beard optional," she said.

Hahahaha… Typing "BEARD" into the Ravelry pattern search field returns more than 350 patterns!

I used Two by One, a pattern by Mandy Powers, as a guide for the hat. Details on Ravelry.

And Baby Beard by Poststitch for the beard. Details on Ravelry.

I'm being a little lazy today. We had a STELLAR Auntie Camp, but I am pooped, back at work, and was waylaid near the end by allergies or a cold. Allergy meds seem to help, so I'm going with that.

Given that it's taken until Mother's Day to finally finish what were intended to be Christmas presents, you'd think that perhaps there was a real big snafu or difficulty with the pattern.

• Ravelry Project Pages:
  • Jun's (after) Christmas Surprise
  • Gin's (after) Christmas Surprise
• Pattern: Knitted Polar Bear by Louise Walker in Mollie Makes, Issue #72
•  Yarn:
  • Plymouth Yarn Encore Mega – Ecru, Natural, Black
  • A bit of leftover fingering yarn for eyes
• Needles:  US 13
• Start to Finish:  October 26/November 7 - May 14, 2017
• Mods:
  • Embroidered eyes rather than safety eyes.
  • Rather than knitting 12 individual 3-stitch claws for each bear (I'd rather stick a needle in my eye), I cast on 9 stitches for each paw and used it as a base from which to knit them. It was still fiddly knitting, but I think it was easier to position and sew in the end.
  • Ooops! I just remembered that I knit collars for each bear. The head of each bear is filled with polyfil and I couldn't imagine that it would stay there with playing/cuddling/wrestling, so I "sewed" them closed at the neck… and knit a collar for each bear to a) distinguish one (Jun's) from another (Gin's) and b) hide the sewing.
  • Whatever. I'm still calling them FOs!!

The were very quick and quite fascinating to knit. The sewing up… well, that's never my favorite thing, but the finished pieces are so adorable, it's definitely worth it! The fact is, I've already "finished" once but that was quite short-lived as Junah dislodged a "safety eye" in all of three minutes while absent-mindedly cuddling/fiddling with his bear!

Ho-hum. I dithered over that situation for a while. I really loved the way those big fat round safety eyes looked, but they were obviously not so safe when used on a gauge this big and a toy intended to be played with.

They hung around my house for a while — quite comfortably on my footstool, actually — and in the course of the kids coming over, Gin eventually worked out another couple of eyes! They were so big that they weren't really a choking hazard, but still… ARRRGGGHHHH!

The wisdom of blog readers led me to embrace the embroidered eye… I was a little reluctant, but my other solutions involved a lot of un-doing & re-doing, and I hate that, plus I wasn't certain it would solve the problem.

So finally the other day, I sewed a rough outline of the eyes.

They were sitting on a side table by my chair when Junah saw them yesterday and lit up… They have EYES!! He grabbed them and cuddled up on the couch, hugging one in each arm, and I decided that it was TIME!! (How terrible a grandmother can I be??)

I finally located some leftover black yarn and set to work.

They're not perfectly smooth & round, but they are EYES and the job is done… so perfect.

And also loved!

I don't know why it takes so long to get around to things like this sometimes. My mom would say that I get that from my grandmother!

Speaking of mothers, I had such a wonderful weekend full of so many good things — sewing, crafting, gardening, building, celebrating — not to mention cooking, eating, and drinking! A couple of projects are underway… details to follow!

I hope you had a great weekend, too.

Obviously, sewing buttons on a handknit baby sweater is way more fun than working on taxes. No foolin'!

• Ravelry Project Page: In Threes: a baby cardigan
• Pattern: in threes: a baby cardigan by Kelly Herdrich
• Yarn:
  • Madelinetosh Tosh Vintage (from Kim)
• Needles:  US 8
• Start to Finish:  March 21 – April 1, 2017
• Mismatched vintage buttons from Grandma's button box

I made this because of March Madness and Kay!! I was all set to finish in three nights, too, except that the third night was Wisconsin vs. Florida and there was no way!!

The finished sweater weighs 175 grams, so two hanks of yarn with plenty left over. I think I had four altogether, and will likely make another in a larger size — though may overdye the yarn. I'm actually thinking INDIGO!