Little Crochet Bear Ears

Happy 2019! I’m attempting to resurrect my little blog after a few years, in the which I 1) gave birth to two (more) babies, 2) moved countless times to 4 separate countries, and 3) finally have access to my entire yarn collection for the first time since 2015. I’ve been meaning to blog throughout most of 2018, but hey, January 2019 is a good time to start new resolutions, yes?

I’d had many plans for what I wanted to post. Then, in December 2018, my long-time dear friend (and my very first yarning buddy) passed away of cancer. She was an avid crocheter of beautiful baby hats that she would donate to hospitals, hundreds of them over the years in boxes, with gorgeous colors and creative patterns. In her memory I am starting off the new year with a little donation box of my own, and with one of my most enduring go-tos, the good old teddy bear hat.

I’ve been making this hat from my very first hat crocheting days over ten years ago. This oft-requested ear pattern started out as a simple circle for frog ears, and evolved to my standby today. I like making my bear hats out of Lion Brand Jiffy Yarn – it’s soft and fluffy, but 100% acrylic so you can machine wash and dry it (and it comes out even softer!) without any wool allergies for sensitive babies. I have an entire bin of various shades of brown dedicated solely to bears. On the rare occasion I visit the U.S. and hit up a craft store, I’m always surprised to see Jiffy comes in a huge variety of colors. 🙂

*Note: Jiffy has been discontinued, but gauge and yarn are not important for this pattern… use whatever you like to make your hat ears awesome!

PATTERN

You can use whatever size yarn and hook for this.

*Note: my dc are 2 chains high. If yours are 3, start with 4 chains

Ch 3, 10 dc into first ch. Do not join in the round. 

Connect second color (or continue with first color).

Ch1, *2hdc, 1hdc*, repeat to end of row, ending with 2hdc. Turn work.

Ch1, hdc into each st in row. The ear will naturally curl up to form a cup/ear shape. If you feel so inclined, you can hdc into the “third loop” that the hdc creates, it’s a loop behind the V-shape at the top of the hdc stitch. It makes a more defined brim, but it won’t make or break your ear.

Fasten off, leaving a long tail to sew ear onto hat. Weave in ends. Make 2. Or more!

When I sew my ears to my hats, the bottoms of the ears make a bit of a V-shape, which I try to keep so they stand up better. I also like to sew one of the ears along the seam of the hat – this way you don’t have a random seam running down the front (or back) when it’s being worn.

That’s it! Hope you enjoy making your ears and wonderful hats!