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Having the knowledge that I am a crocheter, my friends will often send me free crochet patterns for cute little hats, a nice shawl or an afghan with some complicated crochet stitch. I usually look at the picture, see if it’s something I can figure out by winging it and then will either attempt it or send the crochet pattern to the recycling bin. However truth be told it’s because I am intimidated by the pattern, I have never learned how to properly read a crochet pattern, let alone execute it out of yarn and have it look anything like the picture and that’s because crochet patterns can be confusing.
The crochet patterns I am used to seeing are the ones that my grandma or my aunt would use to make complicated textiles, these crochet patterns seemed to be just a series of numbers and letters and I felt like someone is trying to decipher Morse code. Recently however I had a crochet pattern come across my desktop that was worth spending a little extra time on. It’s the Boxy Bear by Erica Dietz.
Boxy Bear is one of 3 free woodland critter crochet patterns she offers through Fairfield world site and I have to say it was this Boxy Bear’s cute little face and simple shape that made me take a second look, when I looked at the crochet pattern at first, it looked like a foreign language with english mixed in and then I started to realize all those numbers and letters are crochet stitches for example ch1 is chain 1 or the number following and 7sc is single crochet meaning the hook goes into the chain, yarn over, pull the yarn through the chain, yarn over again, pull through itself to finish the stitch, and the seven tells me to do this crochet stitch 7 times, and because this crochet pattern works the stitches “in the round” meaning you crochet your stitches around and around, there is less worry about turning the project to start and new row and ending up putting an arm or a leg in the wrong spot…the light bulb just came on, it actually seems pretty simple if you have the basics down because Erica Dietz has made this crochet pattern less confusing by telling you how many stitches you should have in each round and she uses plain English. For this Boxy Bear crochet pattern you only need to know the basic stitches and have some knowledge of joining and simple hand sewing.
The tools you will need for this crochet project are:
- Worsted weight yarn in your colours of choice, a regular size ball for the main parts and a small amount of a lighter colour for the muzzle
- Size G crochet hook (size 6 or 4.00mm)
- 2- 15mm safety eyes or buttons
- 21 mm safety nose or a button (it depends on the age of the person receiving it, if the recipient is old enough to not have to worry about choking hazards, I think a button would suffice)
- 5×7 scrap of fabric (for the weighted pouch in the bottom to help the bear sit up)
- Yarn needle
- Scissors
- Threaded sewing machine or needle and thread (to sew the pouch)
- Fiber fill for stuffing
- Weighted stuffing beads (I use the plastic floral beads from the dollar store, they are similar to that used in beanie babies)
Expansion ideas for this project are: a messenger bag- no stuffing or weighted pouch and by extending the back side of the top to become the flap and then adding the facial features to the over flap and adding a strap, still all using basic crochet stitches and skills
Making the project big enough to be a snuggle pillow instead of just a small stuffed animal, there are many possibilities with this pattern and that of the other two critters.
“Happy Hooking” fellow friends. You can find the full instructions here (Link).
