ursine making and mending

i have managed to make my first bear with articulate joints. I decided that as my confusion over 2D drawn diagrams of parts and 3D stuffed animal toys was so great that it threatened to paralyse the entire Anderson Articulated Animal empire before it was off the drawing board, i would find a good pattern and follow it from start to finish and see what happened.
 

The Gibbs' book is gorgeous and perfectly easy to understand. The bear i made does not really look like the pattern i followed but it does look like a teddy bear so i'm celebrating a Good Start. 

The original body was far too small so i made larger and longer templates. However i went too far - his body is a little too long and i had to make a tummy tuck. I think his legs should be longer. Also i have plans to make changes to future bears' front paws.

The bald patches on his forehead are where i had to move the eyes. Twice. I'll patch him up. The less said about his chin seam, the better.

Before i embarked on the jointed bear, i took some time to mend poor Pinky, a bear i was given as a baby in 1969, which i found in January, spread over one of the eaves in the attic, a victim of the dog.

Pinky was in a coma in plastic bag intensive care for 10 months.

Linen skin-grafts from the work box.

I had to completely re-build the muzzle.

Once that was accomplished, re-making his face was  pretty quick to do.

Although Pinky's own eyes and nose were eventually found at the crime-scene, they were too badly chewed to be used so he has new eyes and nose from the Fred Aldous surgical supplies department.

bears and squares

I am toying (sorry) with the idea of going into mass stuffed animal production for the craft-site market to see if i can earn a few quid. It's about time i stood on my own two feet again.
I seem to have problems with 2D to 3D visualisation. I struggled all of last week, looking at patterns on the web, studying bears (real beautiful brown ones) and teddy versions of my own. Eventually i came up with this creature - only the head so far, more canine than ursine:

I shall have to be careful about the inevitable cat hairs when i go into business.

Also, i've begun another knitted bear. It's a pattern i used before for a bear for my friend's baby. This one is bigger as i have used bigger wool and bigger needles - just wanted to see if it grew larger proportionately. 'Real' eyes, noses and, most excitingly, cotter-pin joints are on order! I have a lot of strong opinions on teddy bears and one of them is that they must be articulated if they are to do their job properly.

Presumably there would be copyright issues if i used somebody else's pattern? I'm keen to make my own modifications anyway.

....and finally, 4 more pieces for the blanket: