Today I finished the bear

Today is a momentous day because the bear, my nemesis, is finally complete.

A little background on the bear...
In 2003 upon the joyous news of my pregnancy, I swung into 'knit for baby' mode. Not wanting to knit things that would be too big for baby at the wrong time (big thick jumpers that fall to his feet in the winter and fit him perfectly in the summer are not very practical...) I decided to embark on making a bear. Now being that I have never knitted toys before it was a fairly ambitious project, but never one to shy away from a challenge I armed myself with Patons Feathers in a browny/orange shade and set to work.
The knitting was not hard, just a simple garter stitch and shaping. It was the finishing that was my undoing.

Ah finishing.

I despise finishing.

With a passion.

My hatred of finishing begun at an early age; I recall being taught to knit by my nana and when I knitted my first jumper (just to clarify here - a jumper in Australia is what Americans call a sweater) I proudly gazed upon my creation... Then smiled sweetly to my nana 'I love you nana!'... These words soon became code for 'nana help! Fix it!' But I digress, back to the saga of the bear.

So it was all knitted, all stuffed and ready to be sewn up. But how does one sew up a bear? I consulted my online knitting group - ah if only I could show you in person they replied, it's so much easier. Hmmm, yes thanks.

So I threaded some elastic thru the body and attached the arms and legs. I sewed on the ears, the eyes, made a nose and a mouth. And I attempted to sew on the arms. About 3 times. How the heck do I do this? And so it went into a bag, sat by the side of the couch, moved house, got put into another bag full of UFO's. Today I decided enough is enough, stop being a big procastinator and sew the damn thing up!
So I did, I didn't think I just did it. And it's not too bad, the left arm is very wrong looking, but my 17 month old won't notice that, he just sees a 'beaaar' and when I gave it to him this afternoon when he had woken from his nap, he gave me a big smile and cuddled bear tightly. And that is reward enough for all the blood, sweat and tears :)