TurboTax Inspired Teddy Bear

Hey, all! As most of you probably know, I don't usually take custom orders unless they're really special. I prefer to focus on developing new patterns and then selling those finished animals that I have as a result of testing my own patterns. But every once in awhile I'll get a custom request that I just can't refuse! A couple weeks ago I received one of those requests and I just had to take it on! The customer requested a TurboTax inspired teddy bear for his girlfriend's birthday since she loves the little teddy bear from their commercial so much. I'm all for romantic surprises, so I said yes right away! First a little background in case you have no idea what the TurboTax teddy bear is, go ahead and watch this short commercial HERE. Or just take a look at him in the picture below. I knew I could make my teddy bear look almost exactly like the one in the ad, but I also knew it was going to be a bit of a challenge. Especially since I wouldn't be creating in my exact style. (Also, the teddy bear in the commercial is knitted, and I would be crocheting.) The first thing I did was pick the colors! For his main color, I decided to go with Red Heart Super Saver yarn in the color "Buff". You can find the exact color HERE. When I posted this bear on Instagram everyone loved his green sweater! I used Hobby Lobby's brand "I Love This Yarn" in the colors "Forest Green" and "Mid Green". This little bear required a lot of shaping, especially on his head. On the TurboTax bear, his little nose is sticking out a bit and I definitely wanted to replicate that on my bear. I decided to go with a little optical illusion and instead of increasing to create the slope, I decreased and then on the next round, added those stitches back with some increases. This kept the head from getting too big. On his eyes, I indented them so that they were nestled further back in his face, also helping with the optical illusion of his nose being further out. Indenting eyes is a whole tutorial in and of itself so I will write up a blog post about that in the future! I made sure to stuff the head very lightly because I wanted to retain the shaping and I also wanted him to look squishy and huggable like the TurboTax one. The TurboTax bear has a plump little tummy, so of course, I wanted to make mine like that as well. Because I didn't want his body to get too big with a cluster of increases, I used the same principle that I used for the head and decreased on one round of the body, then on the next round, added those stitches back in with increases on top of the decreases. No stitches lost, no stitches gained. But it made it look like his stomach was pooching out and his legs were further back. The sweater was crocheted into the body (i.e. I didn't make the sweater separately), except for the collar. The collar actually has a knit look, doesn't it? I achieved this by crocheting in rows using half double crochets and only crocheting into the back loops. The arms and ears were easy peasy compared to the rest of the bear and in no time my little teddy was finished! One of the greatest joys of doing custom orders is hearing back from the customer after they receive their order and I was thrilled to hear that they were both very happy with the bear! So is there a pattern coming for this little bear? Yes! It probably won't be available for a few more months, but keep an eye out (and keep bugging me), and I'll publish it eventually! (Also, I won't be marketing him as a TurboTax teddy bear, so don't worry.)

What do you think of my teddy bear? Would you be interested in making one yourself?

~Holly :) Follow my blog with Bloglovin or subscribe via email! The post “ TurboTax Inspired Teddy Bear” first appeared on Storyland Amis