Bearmuffs – Bear Earmuffs – Free Crochet Pattern

My Bearmuffs pattern is my newest free crochet pattern! It’s a super fluffy earmuffs pattern that uses a simple headband as a base.

Read on to learn more about my design process and inspiration, or scroll to the end to get the free pattern. If you’re in a hurry and need to take this pattern offline, grab the beautifully formatted, ad-free, PDF pattern from Etsy here.

The cutest earmuffs ever!

Earmuffs are an essential accessory in the wintertime, but that doesn’t mean you can’t make them cute or fun!

I designed this pair of earmuffs in the teeth of a New England winter, and I loved how they turned out and wore them all the time — so I think you’ll love them too!

I was pleasantly surprised by how warm the faux fur yarn I used was and how effective the whole project was as a pair of ear warmers.

I chose to use Lion Brand Go for Faux, but I’ve also had good experiences with WeCrochet’s Fable Fur if you’re looking for an alternative. All faux fur yarns will likely work, so you can take your pick of your stash!

Tips for working with faux fur yarn!

If you’ve never worked with faux fur yarn before, here are a few tips to get you going on your way. Faux fur is the trickiest of all yarns to work with, but it also hides mistakes the best.

  • Faux fur yarn sheds very easily when frogged. Because faux fur yarn generally is made up of a lot of tiny bristles stuck onto a central string, if you frog it, the friction can easily lead to a lot of shedding and stray yarn pieces.
    • The best solution to this is to try to avoid frogging, and also working in a place that can be easily cleaned.
  • It’s impossible to count stitches to see where the loops are when working with fluffy yarn, so adjust to this difference by feeling for the loops with your fingers.
    • If you try pinching the crochet fabric near your hook, you can identify the stitches by the places where your index finger and thumb can touch.
    • If there’s a hole, it must be created by a stitch! It’s must easier to skip stitches than to work too many, so if in doubt err on the side of more stitches than less.
  • Because it’s impossible to count stitches worked in fluffy yarn, it might be helpful to place a stitch marker every five or six stitches that you work in a round.
    • That way, you can keep track in a more systematic way of how many stitches you’re crocheting in a round.
    • It can be really frustrating to not know whether you’re on the right track or not!
  • For all the difficulties that fluffy yarn comes with, it also comes with this major plus. That is, since you can’t see the stitches, no one can see your mistakes!
    • If you end up having trouble counting exactly how many stitches there were so far, or you know you’re off by one but can’t tell where you went wrong, don’t worry. I
    • It happens to me, and as long as you make sure you’re in the right ballpark and approximately on track with the increases, then you should be fine.

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The Pattern

  • If you want to take this pattern offline, grab the beautifully formatted, ad-free, PDF pattern from Etsy here!

Description

This bearmuffs pattern is a fun DIY project for the winter! It’s super cute and the faux fur yarn makes wearing them feel like two tiny bear hugs on your head. This project is very quick, but requires using hot glue and also a little experience working with fluffy yarn.

Yarn

Confused about materials? For all my personal recommendations of my most-used tools, yarns, and supplies, check out my favorites in this complete guide!

  • Lion Brand Go for Faux (super bulky)
    • (2 skeins) Pomeranian (light brown)
  • Lion Brand Wool-ease (worsted)
    • (<1 skein) Fisherman (white)

Notions

  • Size M 9.0mm Clover Amour hook
  • Size G 4.0mm Clover Amour hook
  • 6.0mm safety eyes
  • black embroidery thread
  • tapestry needle
  • stitch markers
  • hot glue gun
  • brown headband that fits your head

Abbreviations

CC: contrast color

dec: decrease

dc: double crochet

inc: increase (work two single crochets in one stitch)

MC: main color

MR: magic ring

rnd: round

sc: single crochet

x sc: work x number of single crochets

sl st: slip stitch

st(s): stitch(es)

(x sts): total number of stitches for the round

(…) x: work all steps within parentheses x number of times

Technical Notes

  1. Crochet in continuous spiral rounds, unless specified otherwise. Use a stitch marker or piece of yarn to keep track of the last stitch in each round.
  2. It’s impossible to count stitches to see where the loops are when working with fluffy yarn, so adjust to this difference by feeling for the loops with your fingers.
    • If you try pinching the crochet fabric near your hook, you can identify the stitches by the places where your index finger and thumb can touch.
    • If there’s a hole, it must be created by a stitch! It’s must easier to skip stitches than to work too many, so if in doubt err on the side of more stitches than less.
  3. Because it’s impossible to count stitches worked in fluffy yarn, it might be helpful to place a stitch marker every five or six stitches that you work in a round.
    • That way, you can keep track in a more systematic way of how many stitches you’re crocheting in a round.
    • It can be really frustrating to not know whether you’re on the right track or not!
  4. For all the difficulties that fluffy yarn comes with, it also comes with this major plus. That is, since you can’t see the stitches, no one can see your mistakes!
    • If you end up having trouble counting exactly how many stitches there were so far, or you know you’re off by one but can’t tell where you went wrong, don’t worry. I
    • It happens to me, and as long as you make sure you’re in the right ballpark and approximately on track with the increases, then you should be fine.

Color Coding

For this pattern, the MC is the faux fur in light brown, and the CC is the worsted weight yarn in white.

Special Stitches

  • How to embroider a nose: see this tutorial

Final Size

Earmuff: 4″ x 3″

Band: however wide the headband you use is

EARMUFF CIRCLE (in MC, using larger hook, make 4 total)

  • Round 1: 6 sc in MR (6 sts)
  • Round 2: inc x6 (12 sts)
  • Round 3: (sc, inc) x6 (18 sts)
  • Finish off and make 3 more identically.

MUZZLE (in CC, using a 4.0mm hook, make 2 total)

  • Round 1: 6 sc in MR (6 sts)
  • Round 2: inc x6 (12 sts)
  • Round 3: (sc, inc) x6 (18 sts)
  • Round 4: (2 sc, inc) x6 (24 sts)

Finish off, leaving a tail for sewing. Using black embroidery thread, embroider a triangle shaped nose on the muzzle.

Sew the muzzle to the bottom half of one of the earmuff circles, and place two 6.0mm safety eyes just above the muzzle, about an inch (2.5 cm) apart.

Secure the back of the safety eyes both with the plastic backing as well as hot glue, since the gaps between the faux fur yarn are relatively large.

Make another muzzle and repeat these steps on another earmuff circle. If needed, trim some of the yarn fluff around the eyes to make the eyes stand out more. Two of the circles should have faces, and two should not.

HEADBAND (in MC, using a 9mm hook)

(This next step is optional: Wrapping the yarn around the headband can make it slip on your head, so if you prefer your headband to be grippy then skip this step.)

Wrap the yarn around the headband from end to end. Using a hot glue gun, glue the ends of the headband and then wrap the ends of the yarn over the glued headband to secure the ends.

ASSEMBLY

The next instructions involve the assembly as well as forming the bear ears. Since you’ll need to use hot glue which dries fast, please read all the rest of the instructions carefully and use the diagram to help visualize where all the pieces will come together.

Hold together one circle with a face and one without a face. Attach yarn at the bottom of the circle (where the red dot is), and slip stitch 6 from the bottom along the right side, following the arrow.

Then, work 2 dcs and 2 more slip stitches. We have just finished the slip stitch section for the right ear and will now be placing the headband.

Get your headband, and hot glue the bottom 1-2 inches of the headband, and sandwich it between the circles and secure.

The headband should be just aligned with where your crochet hook is.

The bottom of the headband should be securely in the middle of the two circles, around where the muzzle is.

At this point, the headband will be blocking your path, so skip 4 stitches and move the crochet hook to the left side of the headband (where the other slip stitch section is marked on the photo above).

Continue crocheting around the headband: 2 slst, 2 dc, then 6 slst back down to where the red dot is. Finish off.

Repeat on the other side of the headband with the remaining two circles of yarn, adjusting to make sure that the headband fits.

Your Bearmuffs are all done! I hope you enjoyed crocheting them and found the pattern helpful. I would love to see your finished amigurumi, so share a picture on Instagram with me by using the #littleworldofwhimsy and tagging me @littleworldofwhimsy. Happy crocheting!

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