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How to Knit a Teddy Bear

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How to Knit a 
Teddy Bear 
For Intermediate
Learning Level 3

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February 2006

© Copyright 2006 by AOK Corral Craft and Gift Bazaar.  All rights reserved.
These projects are for your personal use only and may not be reprinted or copied.

Never learned how to knit? 

If you have never learned how to knit, you might want to start with, "How to Knit a Scarf" which is our simplest project for learning how to knit.  "How to Knit a Hat" is still simple enough for a beginner but involves learning additional knitting basics such as: purl, and ribbing. "How to Knit Slippers" is also simple enough for a beginner. "How to Knit a Teddy Bear" requires all of the skills learned in these previous projects, once you have learned them, you should be ready for this project.

How to Knit for Beginners - Learning Level 1: How to Knit a Scarf
How to Cast On
How to Knit
How to Bind Off

How to Knit for Beginners - Learning Level 2: How to Knit a Hat
How to Purl
How to do Ribbing

How to Knit for Beginners - Learning Level 2: How to Knit Slippers
(No New Stitches)

How to Knit - Intermediate - Learning Level 3: How to Knit a Teddy Bear
How to Increase Stitches
Stockinette Stitch: Knit one row, purl one row, continue to repeat. 
You will always knit on the same side and purl on the same side.
 



 

How to Knit a Teddy Bear

Materials Needed:
  • 1 Skein of Black Yarn or any color you want for body. 
  • A small amount of tan yarn for the muzzle, white and black for eyes.
  • US#10 Knitting Needles
  • Yarn Needle with large eye
  • Scissors
  • Polyfil Stuffing
  • 4 Large Wood Buttons ( 1" or less in diameter)
  • Needle with eye that is thin enough to fit through the button holes but large enough to get a piece of yarn threaded through it.

Knit the Teddy Bear Pieces Using the following instructions:

Head:

  • Cast on 10 stitches. 
  • Knit increasing 1 stitch in each stitch across row, (now 20 stitches)
  • Purl
  • Knit
  • Purl
  • Knit increasing 1 stitch in each stitch across row, (now 40 stitches)
  • Starting and Ending with a Purl row, Continue with *Stockinette Stitch for 15 more rows. (*Stockinette Stitch: Knit one row, purl one row, continue to repeat. You will always knit on the same side and purl on the same side.)
  • Knit 2 stitches together, 20 times. (now 20 stitches)
  • Purl
  • Knit
  • Purl
  • Knit 2 stitches together, 10 times. (now 10 stitches)
  • Cut yarn about 12 inches from finished knitting and thread the end of the yarn with the yarn needle. 
  • Remove the knitting needle from the remaining stitches and send the yarn needle through all the stitch loops. Pull tight. This will bring the ending edge together and start to create the top of the head.
  • Turn the head so the knit side is inside and do a running stitch along the edge until there is just a small hole at the bottom. Tie off with a knot and trim off extra yarn.
  • Turn the head right side out so the knit side is outside and fill with polyfil stuffing.
Body:
  • Cast on 15 stitches. 
  • Knit, increasing 1 stitch in each stitch across row, (now 30 stitches)
  • Purl
  • Knit
  • Purl
  • Knit, increasing 1 stitch in every other stitch across the row, (now 45 stitches)
  • Starting and Ending with a Purl row, Continue with Stockinette Stitch for 27 more rows.
  • *Knit 2 stitches together, then knit 1 stitch; repeat from* 15 times. (now 30 stitches)
  • Purl
  • Knit 2 stitches together, 15 times. (now 15 stitches)
  • Purl
  • Knit 3 stitches together, 5 times. (now 5 stitches)
  • Cut yarn about 12 inches from finished knitting and thread the end of the yarn with the yarn needle. 
  • Remove the knitting needle from the remaining stitches and send the yarn needle through all the stitch loops. Pull tight. This will bring the ending edge together and start to create the bottom of the body.
  • Turn the body so the knit side is inside and do a running stitch along the edge until there is just a small hole at the top. Tie off with a knot and trim off extra yarn.
  • Turn the body right side out so the knit side is outside and fill with polyfil stuffing.
Arms (Make 2):
  • Cast on 10 stitches
  • Knit
  • Purl
  • Knit, increasing 1 stitch in each stitch across row, (now 20 stitches)
  • Starting and Ending with a Purl row, Continue with Stockinette Stitch for 21 rows.
  • Knit 2 stitches together, 10 times. (now 10 stitches)
  • Purl
  • Knit 2 stitches together, 5 times. (now 5 stitches)
  • Cut yarn about 10 inches from finished knitting and thread the end of the yarn with the yarn needle. 
  • Remove the knitting needle from the remaining stitches and send the yarn needle through all the stitch loops. Pull tight. This will bring the ending edge together and start to create one end of the arm.
  • Turn the arm so the knit side is inside and do a running stitch along the edge until there is just a small hole at the other end. 
  • Turn the arm right side out so the knit side is outside and fill with polyfil stuffing.
  • Finish sewing up the opening at the end of the arm. Tie off with a knot and trim off extra yarn.
Legs (Make 2):
  • Cast on 28 stitches
  • Knit
  • Purl
  • Knit
  • Purl
  • Knit 2 together once, knit 24 stitches, then knit the last 2 stitches together
  • Purl 2 together once, purl 22 stitches, then purl the last 2 stitches together
  • Knit 2 together, 2 times, knit 16 stitches, then knit 2 stitches together, 2 times again. (now 20 stitches)
  • Starting and Ending with a Purl row, Continue with Stockinette Stitch for 21 rows.
  • Knit 2 stitches together, 10 times. (now 10 stitches)
  • Purl
  • Knit 2 stitches together, 5 times. (now 5 stitches)
  • Cut yarn about 10 inches from finished knitting and thread the end of the yarn with the yarn needle. 
  • Remove the knitting needle from the remaining stitches and send the yarn needle through all the stitch loops. Pull tight. This will bring the ending edge together and start to create the top end of the leg.
  • Turn the leg so the knit side is inside and do a running stitch along the edge until there is only a hole at the bottom of the foot. 
  • Turn the leg right side out so the knit side is outside and fill with polyfil stuffing.
  • Finish sewing up the opening at the end of the foot.  Tie off with a knot and trim off extra yarn.
Muzzle:
  • Cast on 3 stitches
  • Knit
  • Knit, increasing 1 stitch in each stitch across row, (now 6 stitches)
  • Knit
  • Knit, increasing 1 stitch in each stitch across row, (now 12 stitches)
  • Knit next 3 rows
  • Knit 2 stitches together, 6 times. (now 6 stitches)
  • Knit
  • Knit 2 stitches together, 3 times. (now 3 stitches)
  • Cast off in Knit
Ears (Make 2):
  • Cast on 4 stitches
  • Knit
  • Knit, increasing 1 stitch in each stitch across row, (now 8 stitches)
  • Knit next 5 rows
  • Knit 2 stitches together, 4 times. (now 4 stitches)
  • Knit
  • Cast off in Knit (This end will be sewn to the head)
Assemble Parts:
  • Details for the Head:
    • Find the side of the head that is opposite the seam and stitch the muzzle onto the head with the tan color yarn.
    • With black yarn sew a nose onto the muzzle using a satin stitch and then add a mouth if desired.
    • Sew the ears into place and as you sew, try to curve the edges of the ear forward to create the look of a curved inside.
    • To sew on eyes we used white yarn first and did a horizontal satin stitch in the shape of a half oval just above the muzzle. Then we used black yarn and did a lazy daisy stitch on top of the white stitching.  (You can also use buttons for the eyes or buy doll eyes for the bear if you want.)
  • Attach to head and body:
    • Line up the seams in the head and the body so that they will both be the back of the bear.
    • Sew together the head and the body around the neck making sure to add more polyfil stuffing into the neck as needed to make sure the head will sit up securely and not flop down.
  • Attach the jointed arms:
    • Thread the needle that will fit through the buttonholes with about 15-20 inches of black yarn.
    • Lay one arm in its place against the teddy bears body and place a button on the arm at the shoulder.
    • Send the needle through the button, the arm and the teddy bear's body all at once and pull the yarn through stopping when there is still about 4 inches of yarn left outside the button.
    • Take the other arm and locate its placement on the teddy bear's body.
    • Send the needle through that arm and then a button at the shoulder as well.
    • Turn your needle and thread around preparing to send them back through all the pieces but leave a loop of yarn that is about 4 inches long on this side of the bear.
    • Now send the needle and thread back the other way through a different hole in the button, the arm, the body, the other arm and a different hole in the other button. (Hint: You may have to send the needle through one part at a time so you do not loose the needle in the stuffed piece. That is ok, you will tighten back up in the next steps.)
    • When your needle and thread come back out on the other side, you should have at least 4 inches of yarn sticking out of each side of the bear's arms.
    • On the side with the loop of yarn, cut the loop so that you have two piece of yarn you can tie together, then tie them together against the button in a secure knot making sure to tighten just enough so that the bear's arm is snuggled against the body. Trim the ends about 1 inch from the button.
    • On the other side, tie the piece of yarn together in the same way also tightening them just enough to make the arm fit snuggly against the body. Trim the ends to about 1 inch from the button.
  • Attach the jointed legs:
    • Follow the instructions for attaching the arms and do the same for the legs. The only difference is that you may want to check the placement of the legs so that when you move the legs into a sitting position, the back side of his legs are level with the bottom of the bear.


Done!
A cute and fun project to do in any color.  Enjoy!

© Copyright 2006 by AOK Corral Craft and Gift Bazaar.  All rights reserved.
These projects are for your personal use only and may not be reprinted or copied without written permission from AOK Corral.

(Parts of this project were inspired by slippers in a flyer done by "Coats & Clark" www.coatsandclark.com)

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