Little Bear - Hooded Cowl Pattern

 

Winter is coming... if anyone haven't noticed. And where is winter there is the opportunity to make crochet goodies like hats, scarfs, gloves and cowls. I decided to make a little bear cowl for my little bear :). I don't have much experience in doing crochet accessories but I have to say this came out great. People are actually turning heads on the street and saying how cute he looks. Today we were at the pool, and my son was wearing his cowl and a group of 6-8 years old girls stopped to stare and was saying what a cute bear he is. It was hilarious, my husband couldn't stop laughing and said that I will find him a wife soon at this rate cause he is irresistible to the opposite sex now. Does it make me a bad Mommy to say he will never get married I will not let him cause all of the girls are not good enough (Kidding! Probably :)


(A bit of private interest) This pattern would not be so beautifully presented if not for a photos of my little model. Maybe in some time he will be reading it himself, so to my son: Thank You my beautiful, wonderful boy for being such a talented and patient model. You are great I love You soooo much.
I hope when You will see those pictures, in a couple of years, You want say: "Mommy what did You made me wear, it's so embarrassing, please delete those photos, I look so stupid" :D:D "What were You thinking..." :D
OMG That will happen won't it?!

After making this crochet baby bear cowl I am wondering about making one for myself. There is one thing You need to know about me: I hate hats, no that's not true - I hate wearing hats! They are to tight and ruin your hair. So I thought, maybe a hooded cowl is a perfect winter head protector for me :) But there comes the question Should I make myself the one with ears as well or am I too old for that? :D

Materials:

• two colors of yarn, mine are as You can see dark brown and light blue. When going to the store I was thinking about other colors but seeing this two together made me rethinking the color palette. I am a fan of dark- natural colored hats and cowls, I would love to see this cowl in grey, lighter brown or black but You can always use color You like most, but try to choose two: the base color of the cowl and additional color for boarders.  ( My yarn's gauge is 17 to 13 sts = 4 inches/10 cm)
• 7 mm hook

Additional notes before starting:

I write this notes because I know the pattern is not perfect it works for me, well for my son actually but If You would like to modify the pattern to fit Your child or You better please read the following notes, they might be helpful:

• My son is now 1 year 8 months old and I was designing the pattern for him, I was trying it on when making the cowl and I was certain it's long enough but now that we are using it I can see the back/hood could be longer. It's ok now but every now and then when he is pulling the ear or turning on making crazy moves his neck is peeking out. So to fix that I would add a few rounds around row 18-22
• The circle in which the head comes out is not tight enough for the baby. I actually made that on purpose my son hates everything that is tight. But if You are doing the cowl for yourself, your husband or older baby it is perfect - both me and my husband tried it on ( Maybe that's why it's not as tight now :P )
• If You are making the cowl for yourself just make more rounds, cause my cowl fits me perfectly only if it would be long enough
• On the back of the cowl You can see the diagonal line (see the photo below ) I think that's where the rows are starting. You can't really see it when wearing it but for all the perfectionists I am writing these information. 

Pattern:

Cowl:

Start with the additional color - light blue for me


R1: 80 ch, ss in 1-st ch You made, creating a circle (80)








R2: 2 ch (I'm counting this as first hdc) , hdc around 78, ss into 2-nd ch (80)












Change yarn for the base color - brown for me



R3: 2 ch, * hdc 14, dec hdc* X4, hdc 13, dec hdc, ss into 2-nd ch (75)

R4: 2 ch, hdc 73, ss into 2-nd ch (75)

R5 - R15: 2 ch, hdc 73, ss into 2-nd ch (75)

R16: hdc 36, ss (37)
- make half a circle (not exactly half approximately) and stop.

 From this point we will be making 2 times more rows on the back to create a hood. So every other row will be half a row.

R17: TURN ss in 2-nd from hook, hdc around, ss last one (75)

R18:  hdc 33, ss  (34)



R19: TURN sc, hdc 13, dec hdc (70)

R20: hdc 33, ss (34)



R21: TURN hdc 70 (70)

R22: hdc 33, ss (34)



R23: TURN *hdc 8, dec hdc* X7 (64)

R24: hdc 28,ss (29)






R25: TURN hdc around, ss last one (64)

Change yarn to additional color - light blue








R26: * hdc 6, dec hdc * X8 (56)

R27: 2 ch, * hdc 6, dec hdc * X7, ss in 2-nd ch (49) FO







Finished cowl without ears

Ear - make 2

Start with the additional color - light blue for me


R1: 6 sc in MR (6)

R2: inc around (12)

R3: * sc, inc * X6 (18)







Change to base color - brown in my case

R4: * sc 2, inc * X6 (24)

R5: sc around (24)

R6: * sc 2, dec * X6 (18)













R7:  * sc, dec * X6 (12)

R8: dec around (6)

R9: dec, dec sc in 2-nd from hook FO

Finished ears

Sew or glue ears to Your cowl. You may want to try the cowl on first to see where they would look best.
I sewed my ears very tightly to make sure my son will not rip them. I don't trust glue that much but maybe my glue gun is not the best one on the market ( It's actually the cheapest one with the shortest cable You can imagine).