Last weekend I was in a strong need for some comforting crochet work. I had this idea to make my Benji the bear crochet pattern out of wool for quite a while and it was just the right thing at the right time for me. I picked up my crochet hook and started my new WIP.

It was one of those weekends when I missed my mom and needed her badly. After publishing my Smitten Border Pattern and Yarn Pack, I wanted to call her, to tell her about all your love and comments. I felt so grateful and I wanted to share it with her. It was strange not to have her around on this pattern release. After all she was here while I crocheted my Smitten Blanket and she admired it. She loved the border I picked, she enjoyed watching my border research.

Life’s going so fast forward

We are getting closer to ‘end of school year’ here in Israel. Our eldest, Maya, will be finishing high school this summer which makes all ‘end of year’ things even more special. Last weekend we had the Scouts farewell party when we (parents) prepared a special song for our grown ups. It was so funny and so emotional all at the same time. Every year I had my mom sitting right next to me at the Scouts events, we used to laugh together watching the kids during their shows, she enjoyed it so much. She loved everything to do with my kids and I could hardly keep my tears away. A few days later, we had the high school graduation ceremony… one event followed the other.

My Wooly Benji

So, as you could tell I was in a strong need of some comforting hooky time. I picked up my hook and started making a wooly Benji. The idea of making my Benji the bear crochet pattern, out of wool jumped into my busy head a few months ago. As my wool stash starts to grow and after my visit to Edin Yarn Fest last March, there were a few wooly Benji options. The one I picked was a beautiful La Bien Aimee X Mondim that I brought back with me from Edinburgh. I started on Friday afternoon and it progressed very fast. By the evening I had it almost done. If we didn’t have the Scouts event preparations it could have been ready by Saturday morning.

Notes

I followed my Benji crochet pattern avoiding the stripes special instructions. There’s no need to sl st for a jogless stripe while making Benji without his striped T- shirt. Which made me think that this plain (no stripes) version makes it even much a more suitable for beginners.

After winding my skien, I made a small ball of about 14 gr’ and put it aside, so I would be able to start crocheting the legs and hands while the main yarn is still connected to the body. Each leg came out about 3 gr’. It took about 50 gr’ of the skien to make the whole bear. I still made the centre of his nose using Granny Kit cotton in Walnut colour  but any other yarn in Brown or Black colour would work.

On Sunday morning this woolly friend was sitting next to me on our living room sofa. He asked me to tell you he feels very much at home here… and in case you feel inspired he wanted me to share the following info with you….

To make the woolly Benji you will need

Crochet Pattern: Beni The Bear
Yarn: 50 gr’ La Bien Aimee X Mondim colour Grellow
Hook size: 2.5mm

Mondim is a Fingering weight so woolly Benji is pretty much the same size as Granny kit cotton Benji. I really think that any yarn you have in stash will make a super cute Benji freind. I’m so looking forward to seeing your Benji WIP’s. Tag your work with #benjithebear #crochetobjet, I’ll check these hashtags every few days.

Vacation note

I’ll be off for a week starting next Sunday, so only patterns will be available in my Etsy shop June 9th – 16th. So, you can still place your orders till I’m off. All orders placed before the 9th will be sent on Monday the 10th when I’ll be already in Cyprus on a yoga retreat. I’ll be going there with my teacher Lili and (almost) the same group of people from last year’s retreat. Most of them are Yoga teachers, so wish me luck with this…. yes a full week of yoga. But don’t worry I’m planning on converting this retreat into a Yoga & Knit retreat.

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POSTS IN THIS SERIES: [Favorite it on Ravelry] / Benji fun crochet kit / Benji the bear crochet pattern