Finbar Classic Bear

Welcome to Finbar’s world. I am REALLY proud of this pattern.

I have always loved classic teddy bears. I wanted a pattern for an artful, detailed, full-size crocheted classic bear and I couldn’t find one, so I set about coming up with my own. I spent over a year working out the subtle shapes in this bear. The whole bear is done in single crochet, with increases and decreases. I made Finbar out of millspun sportweight alpaca yarn, but you can use ANY yarn. I have started one in handspun white bunny angora, and I am really enchanted by it. The thicker the yarn, the bigger the finished bear. You can make a whole family of bears with this one pattern. If you use different yarns, they’ll all look different.

This pattern is more detailed than any of the bear patterns out there. The head, at its largest, is 68 single crochet stitches around, compared with about half that number in even the most detailed thread-crochet bear patterns I have seen. This is not a very fast project, fo