Bookish Thursday: Knitting for Your Teddy Bear!

I love today’s book, for a very specific reason: It teaches you something! Yep.. and darn it all, it involves MATH! Yikes.. yep who knew I would like a book that teaches math!  Hey as a former teacher, home schooling mom, and sometimes knitting instructor yes this book appeals to me for that reason!

Knits for Bears to Wear: More than 20 Fun, Knit-to-Fit Fashions for All Teddies and Toys Including 18-Inch Dolls  by Amy O’Neill Houck, is a great little book! For anyone with a teddy bear collection, or with 18 inch dolls this book is a great find. Or, if you are like me and have a little guy who has a favourite stuffed dog who could use a sweater, this book is for you!

Like I said above this book teaches you something. Each pattern is customized for the size of your stuffed friend or doll by you! Yes. You! Amy provides a little “customizing sidebar’ for each of the projects. You knit up a swatch, pop in the measurements of your toy, and the gauge of your swatch and off you go to a custom fit item for your toy! So rather than blindly following a pattern you learn a bit about customizing! Done in a small way, you can then apply these nice skills to bigger projects down the road! Nothing wrong with that!

Over all the designs are adorable, so if you do choose to simply follow the patterns as written you can’t go wrong.

I might just get ambitious and try to make a matching hoodie for my little guy and his little stuffed doggie. We shall see.. I have a few projects in the works so it’ll have to wait till at least May..

And coming soon (out May 5th) is also The Best-Dressed Knitted Bear: Dozens of Patterns for Teddy Bears, Bear Costumes, and Accessories by Emma King, It looks good too, I’ll let ya know!