And Still the Bear...

No, I didn't go back to the Sheep and Wool Festival. Common sense won out. Maybe next year I'll get me some of that Orenburg goodness. In the meantime, there are more than enough projects to keep me busy.

The August rains seemed to break the spell of summer, and the definitely cooler weather this week just underscores that summer is over. This is always a nice time of year, except for the specter of what will come after.

And this teddy bear thing continues to get bigger and uglier. Now I've learned that the bears will be on display and people will VOTE for their favorites. My least favorite thing--a popularity contest. And rumor has it that some other bears are elaborate--one is said to be dressed like a hunter complete with deer stand.

So it seemed we needed some more accessorizing. One of my co-workers told me I should pay a visit to Build-a-Bear, which of course was at a mall 30 miles away. I hit that mall last night and found the perfect stuff, and at decent prices.

OK, here is the teddy completed.

Pretty cute, hey? He's wearing a very detailed little backpack, which doesn't show in the photo. But the glasses--aren't they great? Wish I'd thought to buy a couple more pairs for my sock monkeys. Next time.

Now, I hope this bear passes muster with the deer stand bear and his redneck ilk.

For the record, my bear is liberal and vegetarian.

And here is the next dropped-in-my-lap project--a Baby Surprise Jacket.

Daughter Caroline bought the yarn and started this sweater but got bogged down and handed it off to me. The sweater project may be stalled but the little recipient will be arriving on schedule, so it's time to get the sweater finished. It's an Elizabeth Zimmerman pattern, written in her trademark cryptic style. Not too surprised Caroline had trouble. But I went hunting and found a BSJ wiki. Between that and pictures of 494 in-progress BSJs on Ravelry, my job was easier.

This sweater has stitch counts that have to be kept accurate and numbers have always been kind of slippery and oily for me. So it's enough of a challenge. About halfway done--I'll be glad to be finished with this and on to other things.

BTW, didn't this used to be a quilting blog?