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One of my favorite Christmas traditions is making small teddy bears for the Women’s Shelter.
photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright
This year,
I decided
to have fun
with my
vintage Mattel knitter.
I love this funky
old gadget!
It’s a little finicky,
but still, oh, so much fun!
I wanted to design an
amigurumi pocket teddy bear
photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright
that I could make
using the knitted tube made
with sport weight yarn
and the Mattel knitter.
(Note: It has 16 pegs, and
makes a tube that’s a couple of
inches wide, so any spool knitter
that has 15 to 20 pegs would work,
if you don’t have a Mattel knitter.)
If you have a Mattel Knitter, or
a similar round crank style knitter,
knit up a few feet of cord with it,
to be able to make a bunch of bears.
photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright
BODY AND HEAD:
You will need to separate a section of
knitted tube that is 5 inches/12.5 cm long.
To cut off a length from the
cord, snip a stitch from a row or 2
above the desired length.
If you want a taller bear,
cut a longer piece.
Pull up hard on one end of the cut yarn.
Keep pulling until the yarn
photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright
tightens up, and it gathers in.
Now, look closely at the
pulled in stitches, and snip
the horizontal yarn,
close to the original
snipped stitch.
When you tug on it,
a length of yarn will be
released,
by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright
and the 2 pieces of knitting
will come apart.
Thread the end
of the cut off piece
of yarn into a
craft needle,
and take it through all the
stitches on one end of the
Body/Head piece of knitting.
photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright
Pull up to gather the end,
and tie the ends in a tight knot.
Stuff with polyester stuffing &
gather the other end.
Tie it off and knot tightly.
Wrap yarn around the neck 2 times.
Tie and knot tightly.
Pinch an ear at each side of the head
and stitch across the base of
each ear, stitching in place
to anchor.
To shape the legs,
stitch vertically
half way up the body.
Mattel-knitter-teddy- photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright
Stitch the leg line several times
to make it really secure.
For the first few bears that
I made, I spool knitted
cords to use as the arms
and legs and ears.
I wasn’t happy with this,
as I wanted the entire bear
to be made from the tube.
So, I twigged to pinching the ears,
and doing the stitched legs.
photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright
The arms were more of a challenge.
I solved this dilemma by
cutting short lengths of tube (approx. 5 rows)
for the arms.
I picked up the stitches on the top
of the short length of
tube, and gathered them.
Then, I picked up the stitches on
the other end of the tube,
and gathered them, too.
This makes a poofy little piece,
which I then folded in half
photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright
and stitched lengthwise.
Because it is now 4 layers
of knitting,
the arm does not
need to be stuffed.
And, because this tutorial is
getting to be so long,
I am going to
finish it up tomorrow,
so come back tomorrow
for the rest of the tutorial…..
(Please remember that this tutorial was a HUGE amount of work to create, so please DO NOT copy or post it to another blog or website, but please do feel free to share the link far and wide! Thanks so much! Original design by Noreen Crone-Findlay, copyright)
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Hi Chloe
What a great idea! I’d love that. Now… to figure out how to do that…. LOL!
888 days ago
[...] Hankering for yarn One of my fave Christmas traditions is to make little comfort bears for the women’s shelter or other charities. This year, I designed little bears to be made on the vintage Mattel knitter (or other crank machines). Here’s the link to part one of the tutorial: mattel-knitter-amigurumi-teddy-1/ [...]
Hi Eileen
Thank you so much!
The Mattel Knitters aren’t made anymore, but there are other really fun crank machines available.
I am very lucky, as I have a large studio, with a wall of south facing windows and a wood burning stove. I do post pics of the studio on Hankering for Yarn… but tend to be selective, as some parts of the studio are an amazing mess! LOL
My sister had one of those and yes, they really are fun. Wonder why they don’t make them anymore …
The bears are adorable and your generosity is really inspiring, Noreen.
I would love to see photos of your workroom someday. Or maybe it’s a work”house”. You seem to have every knitting/weaving tool/machine ever invented. LOL.
Hmm… I wonder if you could do some testing on the modern versions? There are at least two different ones out there that I’ve seen – now to get the companies to send them to you :-)
Hi Cyndi
Thanks!
Crank knitting machines are great fun. The Mattel Knitter isn’t made anymore, but there are lots of other versions still available.
:)
Those are just darling! I can’t believe that I’ve never heard of the Mattel knitter!
890 days ago
[...] I posted the first half of a tute on how to make an adorable amigurumi teddy bear on the vintage Mattel Knitter, or other similar crank style knitter. photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay [...]