Woodland Animals: Bear and Baby-Safe Eyes

Today's FO Friday is a continuation of my first review for the Woodland Animals class on Craftsy, but it's also an FO Friday post! Two, two mints in one!

The next project from Stacey Trock's Woodland Animals class, the Amigurumi Teddy Bear uses the same techniques we learned in the first lessons, but includes a larger emphasis on seaming due to its many pieces. This lesson probably could have been shorter (its just under an hour), but it's worth watching all the way through as Stacey reviews the skills learned from making the bird. Stacey's running commentary also makes it worthwhile - it's sort of like sitting down to a stitch n' bitch session with her! However, if you are feeling confident in your crochet skills (or just pressed for time because you have a BEAR EMERGENCY), you can probably go it alone and make all of your pieces, skipping the first 30 or so minutes of this lesson and getting right to the good stuff: bear assembly.

Again, I've made countless knitted stuffed animals, but I still took away many good ideas from watching Stacey put together the bear. Besides the logistics of how to position limbs and features, she also demonstrates the many different ways you could arrange these elements to create a different style of bear. Since this is the first gift for my nephew who's due in the new year, I wanted to be sure it was 100% baby-proof, so I skipped ahead to the bonus lesson on crocheting your own baby-safe eyes. This handy lesson is also good if you find yourself with nary a safety eye at hand!

Finally, I love the way she encourages her students to think outside the box. Now that I've completed several lessons in this course, I feel as though I can make any amigurumi my heart desires - no more hesitation, I'll just grab my hook and go crazy!

You can sign up for this super-awesome workshop on Craftsy by clicking here. I hope you'll join me in the classroom!

As always, if you're looking for more FO Friday inspiration, jump over to the Tami's Amis blog.

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