As most of you know, I've been knitting hats for my local hospital for quite some time, so I'm always on the lookout for a new pattern to add to the ones I already use. I happened across this adorable little bear cub hat on Ravelry and immediately sat down and knit one.
Carolyn, who goes by
Carolyni on Ravelry, is the designer. She hasn't written the pattern up as a separate design, but has shared all the instructions on her
project page. Not only that, but she graciously wrote them in two different sizes! Her pattern uses sport weight yarn and U.S. 3 and 4 needles. The hat that I made used worsted weight yarn with U.S. 6 needles. My cast on was for 64 stitches.
Here's a picture of Carolyn's hats, which she gave me permission to share with you:
Aren't they the cutest things?
Now, I realize that there are plenty of hats with bear ears out there. Goodness knows that I've even knit one or two of them myself, however, I love the unique way that Carolyn knit the ears so they match the rolled brim.
Carolyn says: "I picked up my stitches counterclockwise, which I find most comfortable, so I knit the ears ‘inside out’ which was more to my liking as I wanted the outside of the ear to be in reverse SS and I don’t particularly like to purl in the round on dpns."
I had never tried this before, but it works great and is very easy to do. I magic looped the ears on my hat.
I've been trying to convince her to publish the pattern to make it available to more knitters and I think she is thinking about it! Her solution was for me to post it here and to share it with all of you. I've done my part, now we just have to work on her! I hope if you like it, you'll drop Carolyn a note and let her know. Carolyn is a new grandma to two adorable twin boys. Be sure to check out their picture on her project page. Hopefully, they'll serve as an inspiration to her to create more fun patterns for all of us!!
