Last night I broke out the yarn for the knit-a-bear-for-a-poor-Jamaican-child project. Unfortunately, I had neglected to print out a copy of the pattern beforehand.

No matter, I thought. I remember the pattern. It said to cast on (some stitches), knit for (some rows), switch colors, knit for (some more rows), and so forth. How hard could it be?

This is possibly the most disturbing item I have ever knit. It was supposed to be a bear, people! It is not a bear. It is some kind of menacing cat robot, wearing a yellow sweater.

Some notes on the finer points:

1. Arms twist upwards into a menacing posture all on their own. My attempts to block them straight - or even hanging downwards - were in vain.

2. Constipated expression.

3. Pantaloons effect created thanks to knitting the body in bulky yarn, and the sweater in worsted weight, without adjusting the number of stitches accordingly. (n.b.: bad idea.)

I realized that there were serious issues about 2/3rds of the way through. But the results were so peculiar that I had to finish it. I may even seam and stuff it, now that it’s been blocked. Think of it as the anti-teddy bear.

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Got Gauge has posted a call to knitters, and a contest!

Knit a bear for the Peace Corps to distribute to an underprivileged child in Jamaica. Then send her a picture, she’ll add it to her gallery, and enter you into a drawing for a fabulous prize of Noro Silk Garden!

Link via Wendy

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For sale, best offer: four skeins of Red Heart acrylic yarn and a plastic tote, all permanently infused with the smell of cat food.

Here is my (futile) attempt to “air out” the yarn and tote.

I used this plastic tote to store cat food for about a year. Then it sat empty for about six months. Yesterday I washed it out and thought, “Hey, perfect, a project tote for the Jayne hats.” I gave it a good sniffing beforehand, but the cat food smell was obviously lurking in the background, waiting to make its move. A smell ninja, if you will.

After spending the night shut up in the tote, the yarn has picked up an indelible cat food smell. I can think of many possible solutions, but considering that it’s only $2.15 a skein, I think the cheapest solution will be “throw it out and buy more.”

Of course, now that I have experienced 24 hours with a separate project tote just for the Jayne hats, I can’t go back to the way things were. Time was, I would cram the Red Heart into my regular yarn tote - and a) it wouldn’t fit, and b) got all tangled up with my other knitting “notions,” and c) I kind of worried that it would taint my “real” knitting with some kind of Red Heart cooties. So now I have to buy a new tote, as well.

FYI, there was a lot of discussion going around about a month back, regarding the new cedar-suffused totes from Rubbermaid. (I posted about it, too.) Last time I was at the store, I saw a big display of these, and I have to tell you that no matter how far inside I stuck my head, it did not smell like cedar. I suspect that the smell fades quickly if you leave it open. (P.S. you get some pretty strange looks if you start smelling Rubbermaid containers.)

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