Sweet Nothings Crochet: POLAR BEAR GRANNY SQUARE

POLAR BEAR GRANNY SQUARE

IN THE ROUND - 15

If you have been following my blogs, you’ll know that we’re creating some really cute 9” x 9” squares for toddler blankets. These squares are going to Project Chemo Crochet and will be joined together to make a blanket for a little one battling cancer.

Read all about the PCC project at https://www.facebook.com/projectchemocrochet/ and see how you can help too.

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Materials used : Today I’ve used a 4-ply acrylic baby soft yarn with a 4 mm crochet hook ; embroidery needle ; fabric glue to seal ends

This yarn is not specific for this project.

You can use any yarn with a suitable hook to make this project to any size.

For this project (squares for Project Chemo Crochet), the squares need to be 9” x 9” squares.

For Indians : You could use Anchor , Red ros e ; Red rose metallic or unbranded knitting cotton as well as Oswal or Vardhaman acrylic yarns

International yarns : Among the international yarns I have used, I’d suggest Aunt Lydia Cotton 10, Aunt Lydia Bamboo-Viscose 10, DMC Petra, Sullivans knitting cotton (Australia), Milford Soft, Hilaza Rustica Eclat , Alize cotton yarn and Alize bamboo yarn.

Abbreviations used : Using U.S. terminology

sc : single crochet dc : Double crochet

ch : chain ch-sp : chain space

sp : space hk : hook

sl-st : slip stitch yo : yarn over

rep : Repeat

trc : Treble / triple crochet

dtrc : Double triple crochet

Stitches used :

Starting slip knot : https://youtu.be/lJcqsVcs8cw

Starting slip knot 1 or the Sloppy Slip knot : https://youtu.be/YfC7KmGpifs

What is a slip stitch : https://youtu.be/weB3QNbA8Iw

What is a chain stitch ? https://youtu.be/pXx5ukBjKkY

Magic circle : https://youtu.be/ISC39yOqWro

Foundation Single Crochet : fsc : To refresh your skill on the fsc, please view this video https://youtu.be/mcT85fwh4mA

Half Double Crochet : Hdc : yo, insert hk into st ; yo (3 lps on hk) ;

yo, draw through all 3 lps. One hdc made.

Check out the video at https://youtu.be/sDiELJdB2Dg

Chainless start for Half Double Crochet : I dislike the ch-2 start, and this is what I do to start my row of hdc. Check out the video at https://youtu.be/lWXpl1KdbZ8

Double Crochet : dc : yo, insert hk into st ; yo (3 lps on hk);

[yo, draw through 2 lps] twice. One dc made.

Check out the video at https://youtu.be/xdnjB27zpYo

Chainless start for Double Crochet : I dislike the ch-2 / ch – 3 start, and this is what I do to start my row of dc.

Check out the video at https://youtu.be/wskv3iTjRx0

Double Triple Crochet : dtrc : wrap yarn three times around hook, insert hk into st ; yo (4 lps on hk); [yo, draw through 2 lps] three times. One trc made.

Check out the video at https://youtu.be/XyPrnAtOs3U

Whipstitch to join : https://youtu.be/wZ-9LNzftMA

Invisible join : https://youtu.be/a6XZQ6VzJFM

Single crochet to join : https://youtu.be/6FXoW_47_dI

Instructions : Using U.S terminology

close up of the photo of the really cute polar bear 9" granny square by Sweet Nothings Crochet

This is my 15^th pattern in this series.

I started my first cute kitty cat pattern, using the crochet granny square by Ashleigh.

Free pattern at http://www.sewrella.com/kitty-cat-crochet-granny-square/

As I need to make a 9” x 9” square for Project Chemo Cancer, I needed to work in some small changes.

Now in case you just want to make a polar bear motif, stop after creating the face in Round 5, and then go straight to make the features (nose, eyes and mouth).

So here are the basic ideas of what I’ve done.

I have used the general idea from Ashleigh – the centre that you start with will be the face colour of the animal / character you are working on.

Once you are done with Rounds 1 – 5 for creating the face of the animal / character, you will start creating the (border) granny square, still working in rounds.

Keeping this in mind, here are my tweaks.

Oh, in my 1^st blog for this cute kitty cat, I just followed what Ashleigh had done and have written my tweaks there.. so check that out too and see which pattern works for you. Cheers.

Tweaks that I’ve done :

1. I started with a centre (face colour – white today for our polar bear) circle and then worked the blue as my border.

2. In Round 5 (face rounds) we work in the polar bear ears. Work 23 hdc ; sc in the next st ; sk next 2 sts , (3 dc + 2 trc all in the next st ; 2 trc + 3 dc all in the next st) ; sk next 2 sts, sc in the next st ; hdc in the next 9 sts ; sc in the next st ; sk next 2 sts, rep (to) once ; sk next 2 sts, sc in the next st ; hdc in each st till end. Two ears done.

3. We will now work a round of ch-5 sps just like the designer Ashleigh has. I’ve used blue for my border.

4. When starting on the square instructions, remember there should be one corner space each behind the ears (ie the 3 dc , ch 3, 3 dc bit) ; and two 5-dc sets in between the ears. You need a total of 12 ch-5 sps all around.

5. So sc in the 1^st st ; *ch 5, sk next 4 sts and sc in the next st* ; rep *to* all around.

6. In the following round, work 5 dc in each ch-5 sp of Round 2 that you’ve just worked, and (3 dc ; ch 3, 3 dc) for each corner ch-5 sp.

7. I then worked 1 dc in each dc, and then the (3 dc ; ch 3, 3 dc) in each corner ch-3 sp. I just continued till I had a 9” x 9” square. Easy enough, right?

In case the ears are slightly off centre (as they are in my project), it just looks like the polar bear is cocking his head at you.. and he looks devastatingly cute anyway. I could have gone back and reworked the ch-sps to get it dead centre – I just think this works too.

So in case your little fella is not bang centre, doesn’t matter – just as long as you have two ch-5 sps between the ears, you’re good!

Right then.. let’s get the face features put in now, shall we?

For the polar bear nose :

Start : with 4 fsc. Turn.

In the following row, we will work down the row and then at the end, we will turn around the last st and work along the bottom of the same fsc chain.

So while we start with a row, we will end working in a round.

Row / Round 1 : 3 sc in the 1^st fsc ;

sc in the next 2 fsc ; 3 sc in the next fsc ;

Turn and work along the bottom of the same 4 fsc ;

dc in the same corner st ;

2 dc in each of the next 2 fsc ;

dc in the last fsc.

Join with a sl-st to the 1^st st.

You should have a semicircular little black patch that makes our pert little polar bear nose.

I attached this just off the centre of your Polar bear face.

Then using your tapestry / embroidery needle, embroider in a small mouth from the nose.

For the eyes : I used a pair of 0.75 cm black buttons.

Attach them on either side of the nose.

In case you want to crochet these in, work a magic circle with 8 hdc.

Pull tight and fasten off leaving a tail for attachment.

Isn’t this a really cute polar bear – he’s cocking his head to one side and agreeing with you too ;)

How do I make this into a blanket ?

So all you do is make enough squares to get the size you need.

This is my 15th blog in this series, so you have 14 other blogs to check out (and some have more than one pattern) and in the links below, I have created squares for PCC before, so take a dekho there too.. lots and lots of kiddie squares done before this.

Make all your squares and using one of the joining techniques given above, join them up to create your own unique blanket / afghan for your lil one. Enjoy crafting and spread smiles.

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Here are some of my older creations.

https://shyamanivas.blogspot.com/2019/02/b-is-for-crochet-motif.html

https://shyamanivas.blogspot.com/2019/02/a-is-for-crochet-motifs.html