New Year Bear

Free New Year Bear crochet tutorial by Emily Friman @emily_friman.

With this pattern, you can crochet a New Year bear with a gift. This toy makes an original New Year present because it is handmade with love. Any cotton yarn or cotton blend yarn and a suitable hook will work for this amigurumi project. The bear can be hung as a Christmas tree ornament.

Finished toy size is about 11 cm.

Materials and Tools

• Anabel Alpina and Lily Vita Cotton yarn in beige, red, and white
• Alize Softy (for pom-pom)
• Lily Alpina yarn (for muzzle)
• 2.5 mm and 3 mm crochet hooks
• 8 mm safety eyes
• Dry pastels or blush
• Glue
• Needle for sewing parts
• Scissors

Abbreviations

• MR - magic ring
• sl st - slip stitch or single crochet slip
• ch - chain stitch
• sc - single crochet
• inc - increase (two sc in one stitch)
• dec - decrease
• (...) x n - repeat n times

Amigurumi Bear with a Gift Crochet Pattern

Head

1: 6 sc in MR (6)
2: 6 inc (12)
3: (inc, 1 sc) x 6 (18)
4: (inc, 2 sc) x 6 (24)
5: (inc, 3 sc) x 6 (30)
6: (inc, 4 sc) x 6 (36)
7-14: 36 sc each round
15: (dec, 4 sc) x 6 (30)
16: (dec, 3 sc) x 6 (24)
17: (dec, 2 sc) x 6 (18)

Finish with sl st, cut yarn, weave in ends, and stuff firmly.

Body

1: 6 sc in MR (6)
2: 6 inc (12)
3: (inc, 1 sc) x 6 (18)
4: (inc, 2 sc) x 6 (24)
5-12: 24 sc each round
13: (dec, 2 sc) x 6 (18)
14: 18 sc

Finish with sl st, cut yarn leaving a long tail. Stuff the piece. Align the body with the head and sew all 18 stitches around the edge, adding stuffing if needed.

If you want, you can crochet the body and head as one piece, but I prefer having a magic ring on both sides.

Hat

1: 6 sc in MR (6)
2: 6 inc (12)
3: (inc, 1 sc) x 6 (18)
4: (inc, 2 sc) x 6 (24)
5: (inc, 3 sc) x 6 (30)
6: (inc, 4 sc) x 6 (36)
7: (inc, 5 sc) x 6 (42)
8-15: 42 sc each round
16: switch to white and edge with reverse single crochet (crab stitch).

Finish with sl st, cut yarn, weave in ends.

Pom-pom (fluffy yarn)

1: 6 sc in MR (6)
2: 6 inc (12)
3-4: 12 sc each round

Finish with sl st, cut yarn leaving a long tail. Stuff and sew to the hat.

Ears (2 pieces)

1: 6 sc in MR (6)
2: 6 inc (12)
3-5: 12 sc each round

Finish with sl st, cut yarn leaving a long tail.

Lower Paws

1: 6 sc in MR (6)
2: (inc, 2 sc) x 2 (8)
3-8: 8 sc each round

Finish with sl st, cut yarn leaving a long tail. Stuff the piece.

Upper Paws

1: 7 sc in MR (7)
2-7: 7 sc each round

Finish with sl st, cut yarn leaving a long tail. Stuff the piece. Flatten paws (fold edge in half). Sew the edge with the remaining tail, but do not cut the yarn after that.

Tail

1: 5 sc in MR (5)
2: 5 inc (10)
3-4: 10 sc each round

Finish with sl st, cut yarn leaving a long tail. Stuff the piece.

Scarf

Chain the required length (I used 50 ch) and crochet one row of sc (1 stitch in each ch). Cut yarn and weave in ends.

Muzzle

1: 6 sc in MR (6)
2: 6 inc (12)
3: (inc, 1 sc) x 6 (18)

If needed, continue working in circle pattern to desired size. Finish with sl st, cut yarn leaving a long tail. Embroider nose and smile with black sewing thread.

Gift

Box

1: chain 8 ch, insert hook into 2nd chain and crochet a row of 7 sc, turn work
2-6: 7 sc each row in back-and-forth rows, like when crocheting a bow
7: 7 sc in back loop only
8-12: 7 sc each round through both loops
13: 7 sc in back loop only
14-18: 7 sc each round through both loops
19: 7 sc in back loop only
20-24: 7 sc each round through both loops

Cut yarn leaving a long tail, sew first and last rows together through back loops, imitating one more "rib". Hide yarn ends.

Crochet a square of 6 rows x 6 sc (starting chain 7 ch), leave a long tail, and sew the bottom to the first piece. Cut 5 cardboard squares and reinforce the bottom and walls of the gift box so it is straighter and sturdier. Add stuffing or leftover yarn scraps inside.

Lid

1-8: crochet a square of 8 rows x 8 sc (starting chain 9 ch)
9: without cutting yarn, edge around the square (crochet around perimeter; you get 8 sc on each side, total 32 sc around edge)
10: (dec, 6 sc) x 4 (28)

Cut yarn and hide ends. Put the lid on the box; if you want, tie it with ribbon or yarn. Here is another bear version (Begonia yarn, 10 cm ornament ball).

Assembling the Amigurumi Bear Toy

Put the hat on the piece so it covers most of the head. Try placement of muzzle, eyes, and ears, then sew/glue them where you like. In the photo, eyes are between rounds 11 and 14, and nose between 10 and 15 if counting from top, i.e. without hat, the forehead is very high (so the hat is fixed, not removable).

After finishing the head, position paws and tail, pin them, check that the bear can sit on its own (tail adds rear stability), and sew all parts to the body. You can sew the gift to the paws if you want.

Add blush with dry pastels or blush/eyeshadow, tie a scarf around the neck - done.