One of the reasons I have paper and pen with me nearly all the time is that I never know when inspiration will strike. For this dishcloth, it happened in a most unlikely place: the middle of a meeting about upcoming graphics for our next launch. For whatever reason, I was talking about bears, and I realized that a bear dishcloth would be simple to make but exceptionally cute, and a nice departure from all of the square designs I’d been doing. I scribbled a quick sketch and finished the meeting. A few weeks later, and I was looking at some photos of grizzlies, learning how to knit a flat circle, and then faster than a bear scooping up salmon for dinner, I had this whimsical little guy, knit out of Dishie!

It’s just as easy and adorable as I’d hoped it would be, and it’s pretty versatile, too. You could knit several different bears: an all-white polar bear with a black nose and eyes, a black bear with a light tan muzzle and black or dark brown eyes, or even a panda with white fur, black nose and ears, and use duplicate stitch to make a bigger patch of black around the eyes. But no matter what kind it is, this bear will be there, making dish duty more bear-able! (Sorry, couldn’t help myself!) Download the pattern here.