Growly Prowly Bear

Using one lonely (and ancient) skein of Bernat Velour in chocolate brown I set out to try to use the same general pattern I used for the elephant to make a puppy dog. About the time I started on the second set of legs, however, I realized that what I was making looked much more like a bearskin rug for a Barbie doll (she didn’t fool me for a second claiming that all of those babies were her “little sisters”). So, I decided to use the wrong side of the knitting (the purl side of the stockinette stitch) to make a bear instead.

Using size 10.5 straight needles:

CO 1 stitch

Row 1: K front & back (2sts)

Row 2: P across

Row 3: K f/b, K f/b (4sts)

Row 4: P across

Row 5: K f/b, K2, K f/b (6sts)

Row 6: P across

Row 7: CO 15 sts, K across (21sts)

Row 8: CO 15 sts P across (36sts)

Row 9: K17, K f/b, K f/b, K17 (38sts)

Row 10: P across

Row 11: K across

Row 12: P across

Row 13: BO 10 sts, K across (28sts)

Row 14: BO 10 sts, P across (18sts)

Rows 15-20: Work in Stockinette stitch

Row 21: CO 10 sts, K across (28sts)

Row 22: CO 15 sts P across (38sts)

Rows 23-26: Work in Stockinette stitch

Row 27: BO 12 sts, K across (26sts)

Row 28: BO 12 sts, P across (14sts)

Row 29: BO 2 sts, K across (12sts)

Row 30: BO 2 sts, P across (10sts)

Rows 31-33: Work in Stockinette stitch

Row 34: P2tog, P6, P2tog (8sts)

Row 35: K2tog, K4, K2tog (6sts)

Row 36: P across

Row 37: BO all sts. Leave at least a 24” tail on the yarn.

Fold the piece in half, with the surfaces you want to be the “right-side” together. Starting at the nose where you bound off, stitch the sides together down to the front legs. Fold each leg in half so that they meet at the bottom of the chest. Stitch down each leg, stitch “bottoms” the leg pieces together where the meet, and stitch down the side of each leg. Close belly and hind legs in the same manner leaving rear flap open for turning and stuffing. Turn right-side out. Using a 4 inch strand of yard, tie a double knot on each side of the head for ears, so that the knots stick up on the outside and the tails remain on the inside. Stuff. To close up rear attach the point of the rear flap (first stitch) to the point where the hind legs meet. Stitch up one side of the triangle, then the other.