Update: Baby Bobbi Bear

MATERIALS
• Blue Sky Sport Weight: 4 hanks; Organic Cotton or Worsted Hand Dyes: 2 hanks

CORRECTIONS AND HELPFUL HINTS FOR BOBBI BEAR AND BABY BOBBI BEAR
by Susan Huxley, Katherine O. Riess, and the staff of Blue Sky Alpacas

Abbreviation
Sk = skip

Visualizing the Assembly
Work begins at the bear's butt, by casting on sts onto circular needles. As you work the rounds, you are working up the body. Soon, you'll be splitting the work into two sections: one group of sts for the front and another for the back. The front and back are worked separately, back-and-forth, in rows.

When the back and front are finished, the sts are put on holders so that you can make the lower portion of the bear.

Turn the work upside down so that you'll start working at the butt. Working in short rows that start at the center of the back, you pick up stitches as you work the rows. This gives the bear a rounded behind.

Several people have asked where they actually start and if they're only working half of the cast-on edge. You work on the back portion only. When I make one of these cute little fellas, on the right side of the bear, I put my thumbnail at the side, where the front and back split. Then I trace down the side, to the cast on edge. I place a stitch marker at my thumbnail, and make this the location where I start counting sts. (Remember, you're skipping the first 5.) Yes, you are working on only one-half (30 sts) of the cast-on edge.

When the butt is finished, only then do you pick up the cast-on sts that are on the front portion of the bear. Some of the sts are almost immediately put onto another st holder, so that you can make a leg.

The leg construction is cool. You're using the first 15 and last 15 sts of the round. These sts are worked in the round, on double-pointed needles.

After you make both legs, you turn the bear right side up, and start making the head. At that part of the bear, you've already stitched the body with the separate front and back at the top. To make the neck--and create an armhole at each side of the bear--you put the front and back sts onto a circular needle. Working in rounds, you're going to stitch the neck, and immediately start increasing for the head. The head increases are done at center front, each side, and center back. You want to make the increases exactly in the manner described (see the Abbreviations in the instructions), so that you end up with the increase stitches slanting attractively. You'll love the effect.

After stuffing the body, you pick up sts around each armhole, to make each arm.
The ears are made separately, and then sewn onto the head.

Ear
Are you having trouble matching the end-of-row stitch counts for the ear?

This is not a correction, but customers have asked about this part of the instructions, so we're offering this helpful guidance

Check out the explanation for “inc 1” in the “Special Abbreviations” section, earlier on the pattern sheet. The increase is made by working into the back—and then the front—of an existing stitch.