Embellished Loom Knit Hats: Baby Bears

-Supplies used in this post provided by Darice, this post contains affiliate links-

A year or two ago I shared some pictures of some adorable little fruit hats that my little sister had made using a hat loom and adding a few crocheted elements, like leaves and stems, to make them extra cute. I have had quite a few people ask me about how to make those hats so I decided it was time to make a series of posts on how to embellish loom knit hats with crochet. Although, to be honest, you can use the same ideas and patterns I share here to embellish any plain hat. I have a pattern for a basic crocheted hat in a variety of size from preemie-adult, and you could add these embellishments to those hats as well.

When I originally decided to share patterns for these hats I had the idea to do two blog posts, one with some ideas of how to turn a plain hat into a fruit hat, sharing patterns for leaves, stems, and vines; and one with ideas to turn the hats into animals, sharing ears, eyes, noses, and beaks. When it came time to make the hats I decided to start with a little bear hat and I wanted to make a few different options. I realized it was going to be a long post if I shared 3 different versions of a bear hat,  and a couple owls, foxes, dogs, etc. So instead I am going to do a series of posts with this being the first one. I am hoping to get a new version out once a week, and I will do my best to make that happen but there may be some weeks that it doesn't.

In this post I am only going to share the pattern for the crocheted additions but I did make a video showing how to make the loom knit hat so if you need instructions for that part check out the video below. If you would prefer to crochet your hats then check out my Basic Hat Pattern in Preemie-Adult sizes.

How to Make Bear Embellishments for a Hat

You will need:

• A finished baby size hat, loom knit  (I used the smallest loom in this set) or crocheted
• Extra yarn to match your hat for ears (blue yarn: All Thing You Essential Acrylic in Clear Blue, light brown yarn: All things You Essential Acrylic in Taupe, tan speckled yarn: Darice Candy Drops in Caramel)
• black and white yarn (optional) for eyes, muzzle, mouth, and nose)
• contrasting yarn (optional) for bow
• H crochet hook
• yarn needle
• scissors

Instructions:

I made several different pieces that you can mix and match to make different styles of bear hats, including 2 different types of ears. I will share which pieces I used on which hat so you can make them the same but if you want to make the tan hat but like the blue ears better, feel free to mix and match. Add a bow to the sleepy eyes or just the ears and a bow. I just wanted to give a few different ideas that you could take to make your own versions.

*Although the loom knit hats are made with two strands of yarn, all crocheted pieces are made with only one strand of yarn and an H hook

Hat #1

The first hat I made I used the All Things you Taupe yarn and I made a simple rolled brim hat and added only ears. I love the look of a little baby bear hat with just the ears and no face. This is the first style of ear I made, it is worked in the round, pressed flat, and sewn on the hat

Ears- 

(make 2)

Begin with a magic ring

Round 1: in mr, ch1, 6 sc (6 sc)

Round 2: 2 sc in each stitch (12 sc)

Round 3: [2 sc in first stitch, 1 sc in next] repeat around (18 sc)

Round 4-6: 1 sc in each stitch (18 sc)

Finish off, cut yarn leaving long tail for sewing

Flatten the ears and sew on the side of the hat close to the top.

Hat #2

The second hat I made is a little girl bear. I used Darice Candy Drops yarn in Carmel, it was my first time using this yarn and I really liked it, it was soft and pretty to work with. I also used a rolled brim loom knit hat for this one. I added crocheted eyes, a muzzle with embroidered nose and mouth, as well as a bow. The ears were the the same as the ones above.

Ears- 

make 2 following the pattern above

Eyes- 

with black yarn

in mr, ch 1, 4 sc, join to first sc and cut yarn leaving a tail for sewing

stitch eyes in place and add eyelashes if desired, a little stitch of white yarn to add a highlight would also be cute

Muzzle- 

with white yarn begin with a magic ring

Round 1: in mr, ch1, 6 sc (6 sc)

Round 2: [3 sc in first stitch, 2 sc in next, 1 sc in next] repeat (12 sc)

Round 3: 1 sc in first stitch, 2 sc in each of next 3 stitches, 1 sc in each of next 3 stitches, 2 sc in each of next 3 stitches, 1 sc in each of next 2 stitches, sl st to first stitch of round and cut yarn leaving long tail for sewing (18 sc)

with black yarn, stitch a triangular nose and lines for mouth

Stitch the muzzle to the hat under the eyes

Bow- 

Using pink yarn (or desired color, I used Darice Silky Soft) make the bow, it is made as a rectangle and cinched in the middle and wrapped with yarn

ch 10

Row 1: sc in second ch from hook and each ch to the end (9 sc)

Row 2-5: ch 1, turn, sc in blo of each stitch (9 sc)

cut yarn leaving a very long tail for wrapping center and stitching in place

weave in starting tail, then weave end tail from the corner to the center of your rectangle

wrap the yarn several times around the center of the bow, pinching the center of the bow as you wrap stitch in place to hold the wrapping and the stitch the bow to the hat just below the ear

Hat #3

For this hat I also used a loom knit hat but this time I used the folded brim version with All Thing You yarn in Clear Blue. I mad a different version of the ears for this hat, these ones are just a single layer, flat, semicircle shape.  I added the muzzle, nose, and mouth in the same way I did for the last hat, but instead of crocheting eyes and sewing them on I just embroidered sleepy eyes. 

Ears-

(make 2)

begin with a magic ring

Round 1: in mr, ch 2, 6 dc (6 dc)

Round 2: ch1, turn, 2 sc in each stitch (12 sc)

finish off and cut yarn leaving long tail for sewing

stitch ears in place along the bottom flat edge of the ear

Eyes-

stitch eyes with black yarn (or embroidery floss if you want thinner stitches), a curved line for the eye and a couple of eyelashes on the outside end

Muzzle-

make the same as above (hat #2 instructions)