FO: A Teddy for Teddy

Back in April, my sister had a baby :) When I was about to leave for the hospital while she was in labor, I grabbed all the stuff to make this adorable bear. When my first nephew was born, we had several hours of waiting around for him to make his appearance, and I was able to make this bib for him while I waited. This time I wanted to make a bear for my little buddy and grabbed my pattern and yarn and hit the road. But I had only been at the hospital for about 15 minutes when my new nephew was born. Wouldn't you know? Because I was actually prepared to sit and wait, lol. Anyway, my nephew's name is Teddy, so I thought it was a great opportunity to make him his own first teddy.

I used the Teddy Bear Bookends pattern from Stacey Trock's Modern Baby Crochet book. I've always wanted to make this pattern up, so this felt like the perfect opportunity. Interestingly, the bear turned out much smaller than I anticipated - I'm used to Stacey's animals being about 10 to 12 inches tall and this guy is about 8 inches - but that's only because I didn't read the pattern description since it's clearly noted in the book. It works out great though because he's the perfect baby size as he is.

I used stash yarn for this since I was grabbing in a hurry (plus I have soooo much yarn). The brown is Caron Simply Soft in chocolate and the cream is Red Heart Soft Solids in off white. I was able to make this bear the night after my little buddy was born in just a few hours - it was much faster because it was so small.

Just look at that cute little face :) I think he will serve my nephew well by the time he is big enough to appreciate him.

Here he is at about a week old - unsure of my gift.

Clearly he appreciates my offering, lol.

It was so nice to make a toy again and to know it was going to a very special little person. I hope he enjoys it for years to come! Welcome to the world, Teddy!