I have finally finished my little nephew's christmas present, I am soooooo pleased with it!! This is big teddy "Spencer":

I have used my favourite wool fibers for him - Brown pure British Bluefaced Leicester and an extrasoft Australian Merino blend of black and white fibers to achieve this wonderful grey shade for Spencer's jumper :o) I first handspun the fibers into a doubleknit size 2-ply yarn and then knitted it on 3.0mm stocking needles for a dense result. Spencer's filling is a pure wool mix that is suitable for stuffing - he has even got a chime inside his big tummy!! I forgot to take a photo from his behind, there you could have seen where I let the string come out of his back. It plays a German lullaby "La Le Lu" - I love it!  Now, I'm really not an expert when it comes to knitting by patterns, but this teddy was really easy to make. I have used one of the free online knitting patterns. Here is the web address if you would like to give it a go : http://www.knittingpatterncentral.com/patterns/country_bear.php bear on the website is a girl-bear, but I thought I should make a boy-bear for my nephew, so I ignored the hat, apron and bloomers. It was great great fun to make him - I hope he will last a while, and if one of his arms happen to get ripped off (which sooner or later WILL happen...) it will be sewn back on, no problem. Let's see how long the chime will last! :o)