Sunrise Side Bear

“Sunrise Side” is the nickname for the northeast section of Michigan’s lower peninsula, the Lake Huron side. That’s where this bear originated: in Montmorency County where there are real bears aplenty. I’ve never seen one, actually. But I did hear one on a dark summer night when we’d left some bird seed out. Montmorency County bears don’t wear cute mistake rib scarves, though again not having seen one yet I suppose I don’t know that for sure. For sure they like to raid bird feeders though.

Sunrise Side Bear is an easy knit. I (ahem) designed it and it’s available for download free on Ravelry. It’s suitable for a beginner knitter including because the directions for the four short row sections are set out in detail. It’s easy to knit and easy to sew up.

Sunrise Side Bear needs to be knit on needles 2-3 sizes smaller than typical for the yarn weight because this bear is shy about having his stuffing show. Knit to gauge, with Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride Worsted, and stuffed firmly, the bear is about 9 inches tall and 6 inches from arm-to-arm.

Sunrise Side Bear is knit flat. All you need to know is set out in the pattern including how to work the short rows and pick up the wraps to avoid holes in the bear’s skin. Here’s a look at the gang of five, fully knit and waiting for sewing.

Here’s the same gang folded in half ready for sewing up.

The sewing is very easy because the front and the back sections match up exactly. These bears are sewn and waiting for their stuffing.

Here’s the bears fully stuffed and wondering when they’ll get their eyeballs, noses, and mouths.

And as my granddaughter Evelyn says when she’s finished with something and feeling kind of proud: “Ta da!”

I like this colorful gang quite a bit. But natural-colored Sunrise Side Bear work out well too. I wasn’t going to give this one a scarf, but he begged for one.

All the bears so far were knit with worsted weight on size 5 needles. But this next guy is knit with fingering weight Yarn Hollow Squish that I had left over from some bedsocks I finished recently. I used size 1.5 (US) needles. The bear turned out to be 6 inches tall and 4.5 inches across the arms.

I knit this next pair on size 1 needles using leftover fingering weight Malabrigo Mechita. They turned out even smaller than the Squish Sunrise Side Bear. The Mechita pair is 5.5 inches tall and 3.5 inches across the arms. I had some other fingering weight leftovers, MadTosh Light and Rhichard Devrieze Peppino. The pair looked so bare naked, that I knitted them some duds.

If you decide to knit Sunrise Side Bear, I’d love to see how they turn out. I’ll find them if you post a photo on your Ravelry project page and link to the pattern. And feel free to post here or on Ravelry if you have any questions as you knit the pattern.

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