Who Can Resist a Crocheted Bear?

 I just adore crocheted bears. I have made them in all types of shapes, colors, and sizes.  While I had previously crocheted bears from about 10 to 14 inches  tall, I knew that I needed a smaller amigurumi for my donation project.  If you search Pinterest you will find Crochet Teddy Bear With Heart Free Pattern that yields a bear with overalls that is about 7 inches tall when I use Bernat Velvet  yarn with a 5.0mm H hook. Initially, I decided to made the bears without the hearts, but I will probably try one or two. The step-step pattern starts you out with making the separate pieces first:  2 arms, 2 ears, one, muzzle, and one tail.  You begin the main body construction starting with the legs and joining to make the body.  Then you sew on the arms before crocheting the head. Directions with photos are given for each step as you stuff the amigurumi, created the face and sewn the ears. Finally you complete the overalls and sew on the tail.  .

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One of my favorite bear patterns is part of composite group that uses a base construction that can be adapted to crochet a monkey, a baby, a giraffe, and an owl.  While I previously made the bear with regular worsted #4 yarn, with a 4.0,mm, G hook, i decided to follow the same steps with the Bernat Velvet yarn with a 5.0mm, H hook which yielded a somewhat larger, 11 inch tall bear.  While I was able to secure the pattern free online several years ago, it can now be found as a paid pattern on Etsy, Ravelry, and Amazon.  If you do a Google search for Amigurumi Crochet Patterns:Baby and Animal Friends by Veronica Kay, you will find many alternatives.  The directions are written clearly, step-by-step.  However, there are no picture tutorials.

Crocheted Bears and Other Animals:25 Toys to Crochet by Emma Brown for Cico books provides an excellent selection of crocheted bears. The bears are more of a British style, but the details and faces are intriguing. The book calls for worsted weight yarn, but I wanted to try the softer textures of the Bernat Velvet.  The Missy Bear was a great success that you can see in the picture of my granddaughter cuddling her newest amigurumi.

Although a koala is not actually biologically bear, I am including this cutie in the collection based on appearance. Kiko, The Koala Free Amigurumi Pattern can be found at https://amigurumi.space/kiko-the-free-amiogurumi-pattern.  I chose to make my amigurumi in dark grey with pink accents.The legs and body of the koala are crocheted in one piece with the head attached separatelty. Using Bernat Velvet, the finished piece measured about 11 inches.

My panda is my last in this collection.  Unfortunately, I was unable to find the exact pattern that I used  to make the expect bear.  However, if you search on Pinterest there are many pandas to chose from.  

Any of the bears featured in this article would joy to a child or anyone who is young at heart.  I welcome you to join me in my amigurumi explorations.  Thank you for your feedback and reflections.