If you want to purchase an ad-free printable PDF version of this super fluffy bear lovey crochet pattern, you can find it HERE on etsy.
I’ve always loved little crochet loveys. I’m too impatient to make an entire blanket – so loveys are the perfect project to dabble in blanket making without having to commit to making a huge project!
They also make wonderful baby shower gifts. At my first baby shower, I was gifted a little elephant lovey for my son and he has loved it! It’s soft and cuddly but not too heavy to take on the go.
I was also very intrigued by fur yarn about 8 months ago and wanted to try working with it. I found that while it can be tricky to work with the final result is absolutely worth it!
I’ve also got some tips for working with fur yarn in this post and in the purchasable pattern so don’t forget to check those out!
And now, on to the pattern!
NOTE: If you want to sell finished products from this free simple crochet bear lovey pattern you’re welcome to, just make sure you link back to my pattern here and credit me with the design. Thank you!
Abbreviations
- MR – magic ring
- sc – single crochet
- ch – chain
- inc – increase
- dec – decrease
- sl st – slip stitch
- FO – Finish off
- rnd – round
- sts – stitches
Materials
Polar Bear yarn
- Yarn Bee Fur the Love in the color Ivory (6 weight super bulky fur yarn)
- Big Twist Value in the color Soft Grey
Teddy Bear yarn
- Yarn Bee Fur the Love in the color Caracal (6 weight super bulky fur yarn)
- Yarn Bee Easygoing in the color frosting
Both Versions
- An F (3.75 mm) crochet hook
- A K (6.50 mm) crochet hook
- An M (9.00 mm) crochet hook
- 5-6 yards Black yarn
- A stitch marker
- Stuffing (I use polyester fiberfill)
- Tapestry/yarn needle
- Scissors
Tips for Working with Fur Yarn
Crocheting with fur yarn can be pretty difficult since you lose pretty much all stitch definition. It’s almost impossible to see where the next stitch you’re working in is (see the photos below), which makes crocheting difficult.
But it’s not impossible! There are a few tricks you can use to ensure you work into the proper stitches.
The first is to use your thumb to locate the next stitch. Run your thumb just under the edge of the area where you think your next stitch is. Then gently push your thumb into the fur until you see the fur yarn running across the top of your thumb and you’ve found your next stitch!
The second is to use your ring finger on your non-dominant hand to push through the back and locate the next stitch.
Feel for it the same way as mentioned previously, then insert your hook into the space where your ring finger is while slowly removing your ring finger. This will ensure you are always placing the next stitch in the proper space.
The third is to trust your gut and where your hook is heading. Even though you can’t easily see where your hook should go, your muscle memory will help guide your hook. Don’t stress about it too much and you’ll find the experience easier and much more enjoyable!
Crochet Bear Lovey Pattern
The head, eyes, and snout are worked in the round while the ears, arms, and blanket are worked flat. The pieces are all sewn together.
Since there are two different color schemes for this pattern, I’ll indicate which yarn to use for each portion by referring to the Fur the Love yarn as “fur” yarn and the other yarn being used as the “worsted weight” yarn.
Ears (make 2)
Using the M (9.00mm) crochet hook and the fur yarn, leave about a 6 inch tail and ch 4 (photo A).
Make 1 sl st into the first ch, creating a rounded shape (photo B).
Cut the yarn, leaving about a 6 inch tail, and pull it through.
You should now have a rounded ear with two tails hanging down from the bottom of the ear. (photo C shows both ears completed)
Eyes (make 2)
Begin with the K (6.50mm) crochet hook and your small amount of black yarn.
Rnd 1: sc 6 in a MR
Cut the yarn and pull through leaving a 6-8 inch tail for sewing on later.
Snout
Begin with the K (6.50mm) crochet hook and the worsted weight yarn.
Rnd 1: sc 8 in a MR
Rnd 2: *sc, inc, inc, sc* 2 times (12)
Rnd 3: *sc 2, inc, inc, sc 2* 2 times (12)
Rnd 4: sc 16
Cut the yarn and pull through to finish off, leaving an 8-10 inch tail for sewing the snout on later.
Embroider Nose
Cut a piece of black yarn about a yard long and thread it onto a yarn needle.
Hold your snout so that the tail you left after finishing off is at the bottom right, then insert the needle from the inside of the snout through to the front between rnds 2 and 3 one stitch to the left of the center (photo D).
Pull your needle through, then insert it back into the snout 3 stitches over to the right with your needle coming back out of the snout where you started (photo E) and pull it tight.
Make another stitch in the same place by inserting the needle into the snout 3 stitches over to the right again (photo F) and pull it tight. Insert the needle from the back to the front one stitch to the left of where your top stitch began (photo G).
Pull the needle through then insert it into the snout one stitch to the right of the opposite end of the first nose stitch (photo H). Pull it tight. This should create a second line parallel to the first line you created. To make this line thicker, repeat stitching this line 3 more times, ending with your needle on the inside of the snout (photo I).
Insert the needle into the snout from back to front on the left edge of the bottom line you’ve created (photo J). Pull it through and insert it into the snout on the right edge of the top line we created earlier (photo K) and pull it tight. This will help fill in the gap between your top and bottom lines.
Next insert the needle into the snout from back to front on the right edge of the bottom line you’ve created (photo L). Pull it through and insert it into the snout on the left edge of the top line we created earlier (photo M) and pull tight. This will further fill in the gap.
Next insert the needle into the snout from back to front at the top right edge of rnd 1 where it meets rnd 2 (photo N). Pull it through, then insert the needle into the snout at the top left edge of rnd 1 where it meets rnd 2 (photo O). Then pull it tight.
Make a second stitch over the first one in exactly the same way (photo P shows where you start the stitch). Once the second stitch is done it should look like photo Q.
And your nose is embroidered on (photos R, S)! Knot the ends of your black yarn on the inside of the snout and trim the ends so they fit inside the snout.
Head
Make using the M (9.00mm) crochet hook and the fur yarn.
Rnd 1: sc 6 in a MR
Rnd 2: *inc* 6 times (12)
Ends 3 – 4: sc 12 each rnd
Now is the time to sew on the snout, eyes, and ears before closing up your bear’s head.
With your live yarn on the back side of the bear’s face, place your bear’s snout so that the bottom edge of it hits around the middle of rnd 4 (photo T). Then use the yarn tail you left on the snout, stitch it down to the face (photos U, V), pausing to stuff the snout once you’ve gotten ⅔ of the way around the snout.
Once you’ve finished stitching down the snout, knot your yarn on the inside of the head (photo W). Your finished head and snout should look like photo X.
Grab one of your eyes and place it on your bear’s face so that it is flush with the top right corner of your bear’s snout (photo Y). Then begin stitching around the eye (photo Z).
Stitch all the way around the eye, making sure you pull tight with each stitch so that the eye maintains its round shape (photos a, b).
Once you’ve finished sewing down the eye you may notice that the fur around it has become flattened or tangled in the yarn (photo c). If this bothers you then you can use your yarn needle to tug on any folded pieces of fur and brush them up away from the eye (photo d).
Grab your bear’s second eye and place it on your bear’s face so that it is flush with the top left corner of your bear’s snout (photo e) and sew it on the same way you did the first one. Then knot the tails from both of your eyes together to secure them inside the head. If the fur around your bear’s eyes looks too long, use some scissors to trim it down (photo f).
Your finished eyes should look like photos g, h.
Next you’ll tie on the ears. Begin by grabbing one ear and placing it on the right side of the bear’s head where photos i, j indicate. Photo i has a red dotted line showing where the bottom of your ear should be touching the head.
Next you’ll thread the tail from the lower side of your ear onto a needle and insert that into the head right at the bottom edge where you want your ear to be (photo k see the black arrow). Pull it tight and leave the tail on the inside.
Now thread the tail from the upper side of your ear onto a needle and insert that into the head right at the inside edge where you want your ear to be (photo l see the black arrow). Pull it tight and leave the tail on the inside.
Your ear should look like (photos m, n, o) at this point. Grab the two tails you left inside the head and tie them into a very tight knot on the inside of the head to secure your ear in place (photo p shows the beginning of tying the tails together).
Repeat with the other ear on the other side of the head, and your bear’s head should now look like photos q, r.
Make sure all the tails you knotted inside the head are tucked inside it. Then stuff it.
Rnd 5: *dec* 6 times (6)
If you need any more stuffing, add it now.
You should now have 6 sts left. Cut the yarn leaving a tail about 6 inches long. Use a yarn/embroidery needle to thread the tail through the remaining loops. Pull tight to close the hole, similar to closing a drawstring bag. Then weave the tail in back through the head. Your finished head should look like photos s, t.
Arms (make 2)
Using the N (9.00mm) crochet hook and the fur yarn, leave about a 6 inch tail and ch 7 (photo u). Turn.
Starting in the 2nd ch from hook, sl st 6 (photos v, w).
Cut the yarn so the tail is about 6 inches long and pull it through (photo x).
Both of your yarn tails should be on the same side of your arm now. This is going to be the shoulder area where you’ll attach it to the blanket.
Take both of the yarn tails and tie them in a very tight double knot as close to the top of the arm as you can get (photo y), then trim the yarn ends so that it doesn’t look like there are weird yarn ends coming off of the arms (photo z the one on the left is where you cut, the one on the right shows what it should look like after being cut).
Your bear’s arm is now complete.
Blanket
The blanket for this bear lovey crochet pattern is a linen stitch square. If you are unfamiliar with the linen stitch it’s done by making a sc into a ch 1 space instead of a sc as you usually would, and then you ch 1.
When making this blanket there are times where you work in a ch 2 space – this is how the corners of your square blanket are created. Hopefully this all helps keep the instructions clearer!
Begin with the K (6.50mm) crochet hook and the worsted weight yarn.
Rnd 1: Working in a MR with an 18 inch tail (you’ll need this to sew on the bear’s head later), ch 1, then *sc, ch, sc, ch 2* 4 times. Each ch 2 space will create a corner on your blanket. Pull the tail tight to close your MR. Sl st in the first sc of your round to join, turn.
Rnd 2: ch 1, then in the next ch 2 space work the following (sc, ch 2, sc). Ch 1, sc in the next ch 1 space, ch 1. *In the next ch 2 space work the following (sc, ch 2, sc), ch 1, sc in next ch 1 space, ch 1* 3 times. Sl st into the first sc of the round to join, turn.
Rnd 3: ch 1, *(sc in next ch 1 sp, ch 1) until you reach the next ch 2 space, in that space work (sc, ch 2, sc), ch 1* repeat until you reach the beginning of the rnd. Sl st in the first sc of the round to join, turn.
Rnds 4 – 23: ch 1, *(sc in next ch 1 sp, ch 1) until you reach the next ch 2 space, in that space work (sc, ch 2, sc), ch 1* 4 times, then *sc in next ch 1 sp, ch 1* until you reach the beginning of the round. Sl st in the first sc of the round to join, turn.
Cut your yarn and pull through, then weave in the yarn tail.
Assembly
Begin by laying down your blanket piece so that it looks like a diamond instead of a square. Then place your arms on top so that they begin on the edge of your magic circle and point out towards opposing corners of the blanket (photo .A). Cut a piece of the worsted weight yarn about 18 inches long and thread it on a yarn needle. Use this to begin sewing one arm onto the blanket (photo .B).
You should only need 4-5 stitches at the top ½ inch of the arm to get it secured down to the blanket. Make sure to pull these stitches tight so that the worsted weight yarn isn’t peeking out through the fur.
Then knot your two yarn ends on the back side of the blanket (photos .C, .D) and weave them in.
Repeat this same process with the other arm (photo .E shows the before and photo .F shows how the tops of the arms should look after both are stitched down).
Thread the tail you left from your MR onto a needle and poke it up through the blanket so that your yarn tail is coming out of the magic circle on the same side as the arms (photo .G). Then insert your needle through the bottom of the bear’s head as close as you can to the center (photo .H). Pull it through and insert the needle back down into the blanket (photo .I).
Pull the stitch you just tight. This should pull the bear’s head down against the body. If it’s tilted off-center, maneuver it until it lines up well and then continue to stitch through the blanket and the head to secure the head in place (photos .J, .K).
Once you’ve stitched your bear’s head down completely, make sure your yarn you’ve been sewing with is on the underside of the blanket. Secure it with a knot and weave in the end.
And your bear lovey is complete!
If you made a little guy from this bear lovey crochet pattern, feel free to post a picture on social media with #lifewithbubbins or tag me on instagram @lifewithbubbins so I can see your lovely creations!
And if you liked this bear lovey crochet pattern, check out some related free patterns of mine below.
Thanks for following along!
