A Cute Knitted Teddy Bear with Melissa Langer

Melissa Langer lives in Louisville, Colorado with her husband, Fred, her parrotlet, Gilbert and her pug, Emmitt.

Melissa loves to paint pugs and other dog breeds she lovingly calls Pug Pals.

Her joy in life is to share her art with others.

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Now, Melissa’s tutorial taken from her blog!!!

*Please treat this tutorial as a jumping off point for your own creations and creativity. There is no right or wrong, just fun! Use your favorite techniques to create your own creatures and please share them with me! I would love to see and learn from you too. :)

Supply List:
All you need is:

• 4 double pointed knitting needles - (I used) US Size 5
• a stitch marker
• a yarn needle
• US - Size G - crochet hook
• scissors
• polyfill (not shown)
• Your favorite worsted weight yarn of any kind.

For this project, I used two Lion Brand Yarns knit together :

Fishermen's Wool in Oak Tweed and Sock-Ease in Lemon Drop.

Step 1: Cast on a total of 24 stitches (8 on each of your 3 dp needles).

Step 2: Knit around until your tube is approx 4" long.

Step 3: Bind off your knitting leaving a long tail to sew up the seam.

Step 4: Use the long tail to sew up one end of your tube with your yarn needle.

Step 5: Stuff your knit tube with polyfill and sew up the other side to create a small pillow.

* Note: To finish off all of your ends, just poke them through the bear so that it goes through the opposite side and clip the end of the yarn close to the bear so that it will pull into your project and disappear. The polyfill will keep the end safe inside and invisible. :)

Step 6: To form the neck: Use a long strand of yarn to run a gathering stitch about 1/3 down from the top. Pull strands to gather and tie a square knot to secure. Weave in ends.

Step 7: To form the ears: Pinch the top corners of the head and use a strand of yarn and your yarn needle to sew the pinched area into a ear like shape that you like on both corners of the head. Weave in ends.

Ta da! The head and ears are complete! :)

Step 8: To form the legs, do the exact same thing as in step 7 to form the ears, but gather a larger area. Weave in ends.

Step 9: Making the arms: Feel free to make the arms in any way you like to make little tubes about 1 1/8 inches long. I crochet mine and I will explain now how I do that...

(Make 2) - To form the arms: Make a slip knot leaving a 4 or 5" tail and Chain 2.

Using your G hook, Single Crochet 2 stitches into the second chain from hook. Then keep single crocheting in the stitch below the one you just worked in until you have a 1 1/8" long form as seen above.

End and leave a long tail.

You will use the tails on both ends of your arm for sewing into the body and forming the hand.

To form the hand: Thread the tail that you started your slip knot with and sew it in a few times into the top of the stitches to form a ball like shape at the end of the arm to make a hand.

Weave in end.

Attach the arm to the bear at shoulder distance with your remaining tail. Weave in end and repeat on the other side.

How exciting!

Your teddy bear form is complete!

Now we are ready to make his collar and embroider his face.

We are almost done!

Step 10: To make the collar: Grab a ball or scrap of your favorite yarn and finger crochet about 20 loops. The exact length will depend upon the width of the neck you created. Before you end it, just size it around your teddy bear to see if the ends meet. Tie a square knot and snip the ends.

Here is a picture of all the stages your bear will take!

Step 11: Embroider the face: Snip about 18 -20" of a worsted weight black yarn and thread your yarn needle.

I started at the nose and made 3 horizontal stitches. I then made a diagonal stitch from the nose to the mouth area and made one stitch to form the smile.

I then traveled up to the eye area and made one or two stitches on each side to form the eyes.

Weave in ends.

You are done! :)

You can see that each little bear and face has its own personality.

Have fun with this project and please feel free to contact me with any questions.

Remember, this is just a jumping off place for your own creations. I cannot wait to see what you make!

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Now a little more about Melissa in her own words!

My pug and dog paintings embody the toothy grins and wagging tails that happily greet us throughout our lives.

I know I have succeeded when my artwork lights up the viewer's eye with a spark of recognition of an old friend.  Whether the connection is from childhood or current day, that kind of smile is always contagious.

My passion is working with acrylics on wood.  I love how the paint glides across the wood, often revealing a subtle natural grain of the surface below.

Capturing the spirit of each dog for people to deeply connect to and enjoy is the true focus of my efforts.

Check out Melissa’s websites at:

www.pugnotes.blogspot.com and www.pugnotes.com 

You’ve got to see her adorable pug paintings.  She also has many other dog breeds available!!

I hope you have fun with this tutorial!  It’s a great one, don’t you agree!!!

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I hope you enjoyed this week’s tutorial.  I’ve got another great tutorial lined up for next week, so stay tuned!!!

Remember, if you have a tutorial that you would like us to feature, please click on the “Get Featured” tab above.

Blessings,

Christine