Christmas Bear & Cat Baubles.

The last silly little pattern of the year, I promise! A bit close to Christmas I know, but I've been busy finishing gifts & all the other "mum" stuff one needs to do before Christmas.

I used to make these in fabric as a smaller version of my  Message Bears.The bears I would make from flanelette, reindeers from homespun, but these are so much easier to knit. No turning seams & you can use a furry yarn for the bears if you wish.
At 10cm tall they are a large decoration for the tree, but a good size if you want to write a name in glitter on the bauble. You can make them smaller by using smaller needles & finer yarn.
Of course you don't have to glue them to a bauble, you can make tiny ones for the tree, or put two together for a friend like the message bears.
To save time writing the pattern, the body is in chart form Here.
Errata : rows in hat instructions with * have been altered - 19/12/2011.
Materials :
50gm 8ply / DK for the body.
Small amount 8ply / DK in 2 colours for hat.
3.25mm knitting needles for body
4.00mm knitting needles for hat.
fibre filling
black embroidery cotton & black, pink yarn for features.
2 beads for bear eyes
Christmas Bauble - the ones I used were aprox 19cm circumference.
Hot Glue gun.

 Instructions.
For Bear Body
Make a front & back.
Using 3.25mm needles & bear colour cast on 38sts.
Working in garter stitch, follow chart starting at the bottom right hand corner, read from right to left, first row, left to right for second row etc.
Stitch the bear pieces together on the outside (don't do a seam then turn right side out)  leaving a gap at the bottom for stuffing.
Stuff the head fairly firmly, but only stuff the body, arms & legs very very lightly & sew up open seam. Because the bear wraps around the bauble & is hot glued, you only need a small amount of stuffing.
Even here in this photo, I've stuffed the body too much & had to squish it flat a bit, so stuff less.

                                                      
Sew a gathering thread around the neck & tighten to define the head from the body a bit more.
Ears - With 3.25mm needles cast on 8sts.
Garter St 4 rows.
Decrease each end of every row until 4 sts remain.
Cast Off.
 Hat - The hat is quite large & slouchy to go over one ear.
With 4mm needles & brim colour cast on 24sts.
Garter st 3 rows.
Change to hat colour & St st 8 rows.
Next row - K2, (k2 tog, k4) to last 2 sts, k2.
St st 3 rows.
*Next row - K2, (k2tog, k3) to last 3sts, k2tog, k1.
St st 3 rows.
Next row - (K2 k2tog) to end.
St st 3 rows.
Next row - (K2, k2tog) to end.
St st 3 rows.
Next row - (K1, k2 tog) to end.
P 1 row.
*Next row -K2 tog to end.
*P2 tog, P1.
Cast off.
Join seam.

Make up
Gather in the base of the ears a little then sew to bear head.
Sew hat on at an angle over ear & then down around back of head, add a bell.
Using 3 strands of black embroidery cotton sew in paws. Sew on beads for eyes & sew on nose & mouth.

To glue to bauble
I use gold thread through the top of the head to hang them, instead of  using the hanger on the bauble. If you want to hang it from the bauble make sure you glue the hanger on the bauble as close to the bear body as you can, or else the weight of the bear will make them hang "back heavy" (if that makes sense).
Check first the bear is not over stuffed. You need to be able to bend it around & glue the paws in place without much resistance. See photo, glue bauble on an angle so the hanger is to the side of the face. Put glue on the bear, not the bauble. Start by putting a little on the tummy to hold the bauble in place. Glue the paws into place, but make sure you put the glue at least 1cm back from the edge of the paw as it will spread when pressed. Hold each paw a few moments while the glue sets, before doing the next one.

Cat
Same as the bear but with the whole back done in 4row stripes. The front is striped until you get to the head, then all white from there.
Ears
With 3.25mm needles & orange cast on 8sts.
Garter st 2 rows.
Decrease each end of every row until 2 stitches remain
K2 tog fasten off.
All done.
                                                                     © Jennifer Stacey 2011

                                                         For personal use, not to be sold for profit.

As always please let me know of any mistakes, hope you enjoy making them,
love Jen.