Monster Bear

I've wanted to try knitting little stuffed animals out of my leftover yarn or whatever I had on hand for a long time. Yesterday I finally gathered up what I needed yarn-wise and started the Monster Bear pattern out of 101 Designer One-Skein Wonders book. Some 100% wool yarn, size 10 needles and soon the bear was complete. I think it took all of 1.5 to 2 hours to knit. Today I went to Michaels for the polyfill and some eyes. I spent about same amount of time to sew and stuff the bear. It didn't help that I had to redo the leg placement about 3 times otherwise the bear would be seriously deformed.

Here he is after being assembled. See, he is sausage-like with limbs. Not too bad left like this but wait, there's more!

I throw bear into a pillowcase, tie a knot and wash him in the hot water cycle of the washing machine with an old towel. Agitation along with the hot water causes the 100% wool to shrink or felt obscuring the stitches and shrinking it.

Once I have him felted to my liking, I fast forward to the spin cycle to get most of the water out and voila! My Monster Bear!

Isn't he cute? He is more egg shaped now but still adorable.