Category: Toys
Now that I have more free time (it’s a long story which I will not go into), I started knitting again. I finished up an old loop scarf and now I’m making a few teddy bear sweaters. I was never really a fan of teddy bears, but suddenly, I can’t help myself. It started with Build-a-Bear. I took out my old CamoBear when I started thinking about our move next year, and what I will do with some unloved plushies. I already started clearing out some small unwanted stuff. Anyway, back to topic, I took the teddy out, and I instantly dressed him in what clothes he had. I even checked out the German Build-a-Bear website and found some cute outfits, including the German national football team outfit. Want!
Within a week, I had bought 3 teddy bears (!!) They were from varying brands: One pre-loved purple Build-a-Bear, one white Aurora teddy and another all the way from Australia by Minkplush, called Norman. Here he is:
I really wanted to clothe them, especially the ones from other brands. I straight away knitted a sweater following a pattern from Craftbits.com. It’s meant for a 14” bear, but I only have 13” or 16” bears. Nevertheless, the sweater still more or less fits 13″ Norman bear. I used 4.0 mm needles for the rib stitch and 4.5 mm needles for the stockinette stitch. I followed the pattern exactly, except for the neck band, where I picked up all the live stitches and did one round of stockinette, though I should not have, and then I knitted only 5 rows of rib stitch instead of 6. I used Jeny’s surprisingly stretchy bind-off. This stretchy bind-off is the best I’ve ever tried. It is a bit bulky, but the benefits outweigh that small negative point.
The pink knitted portions look quite uneven, because I unravelled the yarn from another project, and I suppose the kinks are to blame. I’m already starting the next sweater in finer yarn, so maybe someone else in my menagerie of plushies will be clothed soon.
Plush toys with clothes are all the rage right now — at least to me! This Nici Jolly Gustav is wearing a set of pyjamas with bedroom slippers from the Nici Dress Your Friends range. I’m hopeless at sewing when I need to make my own patterns. Perhaps I’ll try it one day.
The month of May is going to be really busy. German class has started again, but this time it’s intensive. The worst part is getting up early. Every night I have Spätzli to tend to, and by the time I get to bed, it’s nearly 1am. It’s a real struggle to not have dark puffy eyes every morning. Why couldn’t they have afternoon intensive classes as well? I would pounce on those in a heartbeat.
I ended up taking a Perlsacktier friend to class with me one day. His name is Herzig, the Swiss word for “cute” and “hearty”! He is a raccoon with purple stripes.
The entire week since class started, Michael was away at a conference in Paris. I was so lonely, and I must say that I hardly looked after myself when it came to meals. I was so relieved when he returned. We had a fun time out on Saturday. The above photo was taken at our bus stop in Affoltern. The tree is so beautiful with its pink flowers. So many other trees had red leaves; they reminded me of autumn.
I took another Perlsacktier out with us, this one called Hubert, the spotted goat. We found a new large white Furby plush at Manor. It’s surprising how much cheaper some toys are at Manor (department store) compared to Franz Carl Weber (specialist toy store). I couldn’t resist.
Finally, we had a short break sitting on a bench and watching people go by. Later that day, we watched Iron Man at Kitag (cinema). Yes, we love action movies. They are worth the money spent, if only for their loud sounds and visual effects.
Now to study for Monday’s German test. Argh!
I feel obliged to make a new year’s post, for some reason! Let’s start it off with a new year dolly photo: 😀
I didn’t attend the fireworks display or watch it on TV. I just sat back and listened to one of my Agatha Raisin audio books. That Agatha character really makes me laugh. I need to get my hands on the latest book, Hiss and Hers by MC Beaton.
This morning, I picked up my sister from the airport — she had been in Malaysia for the past three weeks. It’s nice to have someone in the house again. She brought back a few goodies for me, some of them were from Hong Kong too. One of them is the doll’s shoes (shown above). It smells like fresh leather. The other things included a set of lucky figures, the Fook Luk Sau, empty red envelopes for Chinese New Year and some Chinese doll clothes. Why I have an obsession with Chinese things right now, I don’t know.
I hope 2013 will be a good year. My goals were already listed in 13 Goals for 2013, and I think I’ll take them quite seriously. Oh, except for ‘going swimming once a month’. I doubt I will stick to it. My cozzie will just be unused. I will stick to the ‘no pets’ goal like glue. We probably won’t afford vet bills with my bad spending habits any how. 😀