Little Bear Hugs

Mohair Bear Pattern  

Isn’t this about the cutest bear you’ve ever seen? I LOVE it! I’m not a huge fan of stuffed animals or dolls, but every now and then I see one that just SPEAKS to me! This is one like that. I gotta’ make it. Wonder who I’ll give it to?………Maybe I’ll keep it for me.

So, how much of our crochet work do we keep for ourselves? I have discovered that I keep very little of what I crochet. Ok, I know going in that I’ll make a baby afghan for every mom-to-be I know – and for some grandmoms-to-be, too. Baby afghans fall into that category of (almost) instant gratification that I appreciate so much. Also, I feel like I can experiment more with stitches in a baby afghan since I won’t have to use the same stitch for weeks and weeks as I would when making a larger, ‘adult’ afghan.

My husband asked me several years ago to stockpile 9 baby afghans. Why? He was afraid that my crochet would go the way of my quilting. That I would lose interest and go on to other things. No Way! But, I am generally trying to comply with that request. So, every time I make a ‘generic’ babyghan, I go into the covered tub that contains my stockpiled babyghans, I decide which to keep and which to give away. I keep the ‘best’ for our future grandchildren. Who knows when they’ll arrive – if ever! LOL. Our eldest child is 28, just out of law school. The others are 22 and 21 – older one just out of college with his B.A. and his sister still having another year of college to go (before law school, she insists). So, none of them seems to be on the ‘family track’ anytime soon. That’s okay – but I’m likely to be 80 years old before we get a grandchild!

So, every time I see a cute babyghan pattern, I buy the yarn to make it. Sometimes, I follow thru. Other times, it just goes into my stash. I think I have 7 babyghans on hand. So, I’m somewhat prepared!

Back to the teddy bear. There are lots of stuffed animal and teddy bear patterns available online. This is my favorite – but there are plenty of others (not even counting the numerous Amigurumi):

Crochet Teddy Bear – several good ones here

Hope you enjoy making some of these. These are just a FEW of the hundreds (maybe thousands) of free patterns online.