Introduction and a recent red FO

Hi! I'm Bear Knits and I love red!

I finished a red hoodie for my 4yo Little Man in April.

My boys

Cabo Hoodie
Pattern: Wendy Bernard of Knit and Tonic
Yarn: 4 skeins Lion Cotton-Ease in Cherry Red for size 6
Needles: Addi Circulars in US #7 and #8
(04/06/07 - 04/18/07)
Modifications: I made the neckline bigger by deepening the V. I lengthened the hood using one of his hoodies as a comparison.

Technique Learned: Grafting garter stitches.


The pocket was the first piece knitted up but as you can see a month later I haven't sewn it on yet.

and yet another one!

I have finished the medallion cardigan from Meg Swansens knitting book.
Love it!
I had a lot of fun knitting it and taught myself to knit with two hands in the process.
More details in my blog

Red, red, red

I eventually could log to blogger and can post again. As said in my previous post, this time some bright red sweater. The original is yellow (mustard) and taken from a Rebecca magazine. It's knitted 2 years ago in a synthetic fiber, but has a soft smooth touch...I love it. The back is same as front but less deeper. I still have enough of that yarn to knit something else...lucky,lucky.

I didn't intend to post about my big red jacket today, but as I also have issues uploading images (pop-up window gets blocked) as I could get it done, I post everything now.

This jacket is so bright that I had to set my camera very dark to make it appear normal. The original design is from another german magazine: Verena. It used to be blue and using a special astrakan pattern. I used a regular knit pattern, but with 3 yarns held together(bright red, burgundy and a multi-colors). The trims are also using some sort of hairy yarn and knit in a brioche pattern.

I hope next post will be about a summer sweater or tank that I will knit

From out of nowhere

This sweater knit up so quickly that I didn't get around to posting any progress photos at all! This was started as a project to use up 4 100g skeins of DK acrylic that I bought a couple of years ago and had never gotten around to using. I was looking for a casual top that I would wear often and be happy to throw in the washer.


Pattern: Lola, free pattern from Berocco
Yarn: James Brett Marble, Berries colourway
Modifications: omitted the novelty yarn trim, made the sleeves top-down, and much shorter than the pattern, added keyhole slit to the neck, and changed neck edging to one row of single crochet.

As you can see, I modified the pattern quite a bit, mainly because I didn't have enough yarn for the original long sleeves. I guess the slip-stitch ribbing ate up a lot more yarn than I had anticipated. I had one ball of yarn left by the time the front and back were done, so I divided it evenly by weight, started the sleeves from the top, and stopped when I ran out.

The result is a soft, cozy top that is perfect for lounging on chilly spring days. It was different to go back to acrylic, which I haven't touched in a while, but I have to say this is a nice soft acrylic, affordable, and easy to care for. And I'm a sucker for self-striping yarn! It would be great for kids clothes.

First Post and First Sweater

I started my red sweater a couple years ago. Its mostly stocking stitch and I got bored real fast. So it became a lovely UFO. Id spy it hiding in a drawer now and then but never really felt like pickign it up. THen I found this KAL and thought, hey, I can finish that thing. The yarn (Homepsun stuff from Lion Brand) is soft and cozy, so Im looking forward to wearing it!

When I got all the peices out, I discovered I had some how knit two backs. UHG!! I did have one arm pretty much done, though, so I was enthused. I got to work on the other arm. It went pretty fast and it helped alot to read here and see how everyone else was doing.

I finally got the front,back and arms sewn all together only to see that I had made the arms a couple inches too long and the body wasnt long enough! Poop! But, hey, its still lookin ok fer my first sweater :)

I added a few inches of double crochet to the body hem. And after looking at the arms for a bit, I decided I didnt mind them a little long. Cozier that way!

So now Im working on the hood. It calls for circulars but the only size I have was one a little too small. Its taking ages to knit! The stitches are smaller so I have to do more, you know? But it will be fine once Im done. Then I was going to crochet around the front of the hood instead of knit and then make a souped up pocket for the front.

Here she is so far!Thats one of my tooties, Weem, lovin up my sweater. She adores anything knitted!

A red Wallaby

I have just finished a red version of Cottage Creation's "Wonderful Wallaby" using Mission Falls 1824 wool (color #29, "Raspberry").


This is the second of two Wallabies, knit as gifts for a friend's boy/girl twins. It is the first time that I have used 1824 wool for anything more than a hat or mittens, and I loved it. I will definately be using this yarn again.