If you remember, I spent my holiday season knitting up a bunch of teddy bears for the Mother Bear Project (an amazing organization that sends hand-made teddy bears to children in emerging nations whose lives have been affected by HIV/AIDS).

I ended up with seven bears, made from super soft leftover yarn, that I sent of to Mother Bear Headquarters in Minnesota.Then, a few weeks after the holidays, I received a beautiful hand-written thank-you note from the Mother Bear herself.  And, included in the note was a stack of little tags to be tied onto more bears.

And you know I can’t say no to a challenge (especially when it’s for such a good cause).

So, in-between design work, sweater knitting, and breaking my keyboard, I’ve made a little time to start up my bear-making machine again.  They’re perfect “in-between projects.”  Small and simple enough to be a pretty quick knit, but interesting enough (with all their color changes), to hold your attention.

I’ve collected all the little half-skeins of yarn of the same type (in this case, I’ve found a bunch of KnitPick’s Wool of the Andes Worsted, leftover from a few sweater projects), and put it in a bag with the right size needles and the pattern.  That way, everything I need will be ready for me whenever I feel the urge to get a little bear-y.

I’ve already made one-and-a-half more bears!  I wonder how many bears I’ll be able to knit like this before the end of the year.

Is anyone else still working on Mother Bears? (If not, you should!  You can get a copy of the pattern here!)