This Benjamin the Bear free crochet pattern is affectionately named after my son, Benjamin. My mom gave Benjamin the nickname of “Benji Bear” when he was still in the womb and he’s gone by “Bear” ever since. Obviously my bear amigurumi design had to be named appropriately as such, right!?

This one is a special one for me because I taught myself how to crochet when Benjamin was 3 years old, so I could make sustainable toys for him. So, to have this teddy bear named after him kind of brings it all full circle for me. I’m excited to share this free pattern with you – I hope he is just as special to you!

Jump into the pattern now, or PIN it for later here:

Years back, my husband and I lived for several months in the beautiful Calgary, British Columbia, Canada. During our time there we backpacked over 100 miles in the Canadian Rocky Mountain backcountry just west of Calgary. And I’m telling you first-hand, “lions and tigers and BEARS, OH MY” is REAL…at least the BEARS part. I have never seen so many bears in my life. There was ONE day I counted no less than 8 bears.

But one bear in-particular stands out in my memory – a HUGE male grizzly bear. He was at least 7 feet long. He was the exact color of Cinnamon. And he was gorgeous. Here’s an actual photo of him that we took:

I designed Benjamin the Bear in honor of that big grizz. This amigurumi crochet bear is 1 of 4 characters in my woodland animal collection (Benjamin the Bear, Barnaby the Rabbit, TBD named Deer & TBD named Fox).

This free bear pattern is supported by ads on my blog. You can find the 10-page PDF printable, ad-free pattern of Benjamin the Bear on my Etsy shop here.

Bear Free Crochet Pattern Notes & Tips:

This bear free crochet pattern is written in US terms. If needed, you can find a handy term conversion chart right here in my Resource Library. I recommend giving the pattern a read-through before you begin so you can visualize the big picture and consider any specific notes for help along the way! The printable pattern in my Etsy shop comes with LOTS of in-the-making photos for each step of the way as well.

Furthermore, I have a video tutorial which covers all the trickier bits. You can find the video tutorial for this pattern further down in this post.

Size & Gauge:

Size: Benjamin the Bear will end up being 9.5″ tall.

Gauge: 4”x4” of single crochet = 28 stitches x 30 rows. Ultimately with toys, gauge doesn’t matter. It won’t have to fit someone’s body or a specific space. My patterns will include the size of the finished toy based on the yarn and hook I use. But if you want it smaller or bigger, just use a bigger yarn and hook! Just remember, when crocheting toys, crochet tightly and choose a hook one size smaller than the yarn size recommends in order to avoid holes between each stitch where the stuffing will show through.

Yarn & Stuffing:

Yarn: Take your choice of yarn! Choose colors that bring you joy and fibers that feel good between your fingers. I use 100% organic cotton yarn because I make these toys for my kids and need them to be functional. Cotton is natural, washable, soft, and relatively inflexible so the toys don’t stretch and sag – even after being thrown across the house, down the stairs and adventured through every part of the garden!

Stuffing: Stuff more than you think you should. Not enough for the stitches to stretch and show holes, but enough to make the toy stiff and able to withstand the rough trials of toy life. The filling will compress a bit over time. I encourage you to use an alternative to poly-fill (unless it’s recycled!). Try using leftover yarn scraps and snippets or old non-donate-able clothes and materials cut into strips.

Policies & Disclaimers:

This pattern is for PERSONAL USE ONLY. This pattern or parts of it may not be reproduced, resold, distributed, published, altered, translated, posted or shared without authorization. You can sell your finished items provided that you credit Off the Beaten Hook as the designer using this verbiage, “This pattern was designed by Lindsey Roe and Off the Beaten Hook.” Thank you for your respectfulness!

This post contains affiliate links for materials I use and love. If you purchase something using one of these links I may earn a small commission which in no way affects the cost to you. These partnerships help me support my small business which allows me to provide you with free crochet patterns. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your support!

What makes this pattern eco -friendly and sustainable?

THE YARN: I use only sustainable and eco-friendly yarn that has been ethically grown/raised and processed, putting the people and the planet first. This is why I chose Rowan’s Summerlite DK yarn for this pattern. The Rowan cotton yarn I use in this pattern isn’t organic, but Rowan as a company places a high emphasis on sustainable sourcing from ethical companies and implements environmentally sustainable practices throughout. You can read more about their brand values and sourcing policies on their website.

THE STUFFING: I used Hoooked 100% Recycled Fluffy Cotton Filling to stuff this toy. You can also use left over yarn snippets (save them all – they add up fast!) or old fiber you’ve cut into strips.

THE SLOW YARN MOVEMENT: I’m participating in the Slow Yarn Movement. There’s far too much to talk about here, but please take a few minutes to learn about what this means by reading the article I wrote about the Slow Yarn Movement as part of my 6-part Sustainable Crochet Series.

I’M MAKING SUSTAINABLE TOYS FOR MY KIDS: This is the reason I learned how to crochet to begin with! I wanted my son to have mostly sustainable toys to play with as I eliminated a huge amount of non-renewable plastics from our house. I replaced his plastic food and veg toys with crochet ones instead!

If you’re interested in learning more about sustainable crochet you can read all about it in the 6-part series I did covering everything about Sustainable Crochet and how to implement it into your own crafting starting today!

Materials you will need:

YARN:

Rowan Summerlite DK | 100% Cotton | Weight: 3/DK/Light Worsted | 142 yards per ball
Colors:

• Mocha 451 (brown body) x1 ball
• Giggle 479 (shirt) x1 ball
• Pickles 475 (fish basket) x1 ball (or use leftovers of something else – you don’t need much)
• Silver Blue 468 (fish) x1 ball (or use leftovers of something else – you don’t need much)
• Black (nose and fish eyes): leftovers – you won’t use much at all!

YARN SUBSTITUTION OPTIONS:

If you can’t access the recommended yarn, want to explore other colors, or would just prefer to use a different yarn, here are some others that will work well! All of these are DK weight:

100% Cotton Options:

• Deramores Studio Organic Cotton DK
• Stylecraft Naturals Organic Cotton
• Rico Essentials Organic Cotton DK
• Paintbox Yarns Cotton DK
• Rowan Handknit Cotton
• Debbie Bliss Cotton DK

Cotton Blend & Other Fiber Options:

• Scheepjes Linen Soft (Cotton/Linen/Acrylic)
• Paintbox Yarns Simply DK (Acrylic)
• Stylecraft Bamboo & Cotton Blend
• Sirdar Stories DK (Cotton/Acrylic)
• Valley Yarns Haydenville DK (Wool/Acrylic)

OTHER TOOLS & MATERIALS:

• Crochet Hook: 2.75mm / US C
• Safety Eyes: 6.00mm
• Tapestry Needle
• Stitch Markers
• Measuring Tape
• Scissors
• Stuffing (here’s a great chance to use all those tiny yarn snippets you’ve been saving for stuffing!)

Abbreviations used in the bear free crochet pattern:

ch – chain
st – stitch
hk – hook
sl st – slip stitch
sc – single crochet
dc – double crochet
crab st* – crab stitch
inc – increase
dec – decrease
(…) x – repeat instructions indicated number of times
[…] – number of stitches in row/round

*crab st: single crochet around in the opposite/backwards direction

The Pattern

Snout:

NOTES:

• The snout, ears and tail are worked in continuous rounds – do not join after each round
• I cover the making of the snout in it’s entirety in the video tutorial

Start with black yarn

Rnd 1: st 5 sc in a magic circle [5]

Rnd 2: inc in each st around, sl st in next st to close circle [10]

Rnd 3: BLO sc around [10]

Switch to brown yarn

Rnd 4: sc 4, inc 2, sc 4 [12]

Rnd 5: sc 5, inc 2, sc 5 [14]

Rnd 6: sc 6, inc 2, sc 6 [16]

Rnd 7: sc 7, inc 2, sc 7 [18]

Rnd 8: sc 8, inc 2, sc 8 [20]

Sl st to next st. Snip leaving a long tail for sewing on.

Ears – make 2:

Rnd 1: st 6 in a magic circle [6]

Rnd 2: inc in each st around [12]

Rnd 3-6: sc in each st around [12]

Fasten with a sl st. Snip, leaving a long tail for sewing on.

TAIL:

Rnd 1: st 6 in a magic circle [6]

Rnd 2: inc in each st around [12]

Rnd 3-5: sc in each st around [12]

Fasten with a sl st, leaving a long tail for sewing on.

HEAD:

NOTES:

• The head is worked in continuous rounds – do not join after each round

Use the brown yarn.

Rnd 1: st 6 sc in a magic circle [6]

Rnd 2: inc in each st around [12]

Rnd 3: (sc, inc) x6 [18]

Rnd 4: (sc 2 st, inc) x6 [24]

Rnd 5: (sc 3 st, inc) x6 [30]

Rnd 6: (sc 4 st, inc) x6 [36]

Rnd 7: (sc 5 st, inc) x6 [42]

Rnd 8: (sc 6 st, inc) x6 [48]

Rnd 9: (sc 7 st, inc) x6 [54]

Rnd 10-20: sc around [54]

Rnd 21: (sc 7 st, dec) x6 [48]

Rnd 22: (sc 6 st, dec) x6 [42]

Rnd 23: (sc 5 st, dec) x6 [36]

Rnd 24: (sc 4, dec) x6 [30]

Rnd 25: (sc 4, inc) x6 [36]

Stop for a moment and apply the facial features – refer to the video tutorial for help with all of these!

• Stuff the snout and sew it to the head over rounds 14-22
• Insert the safety eyes to the left and right of the snout between rounds 16 & 17, spaced 4 inches away from the snout on either side
• Flatten the ears and sew to the head over rounds 4-9 centered over the top of the head, using the snout as your guide for the center of the head

BODY:

NOTES:

• The body is worked in continuous rounds – do not join after each round
• Pick up straight away where you left off on the head, but change to the shirt color
• Rnds 38 and 39 of the body are covered in detail in the video tutorial

Switch to shirt color

Rnd 26-27: sc around [36]

Rnd 28: (sc 5, inc) x6 [42]

Rnd 29-30: sc around [42]

Rnd 31: (sc 6, inc) x6 [48]

Rnd 32-33: sc around[48]

Rnd 34: (sc 7, inc) x6 [54]

Rnd 35-37: sc around [54]

Rnd 38: sl st around [54]

Bring yarn to the inside. Also, this part is also covered in the video tutorial): Take your hk off the loop and insert the hk from back to front under the next st. Grab your loop and bring it to the inside. Now, switch to brown by picking up the brown yarn and bringing it through the loop. Tighten. Continue on to Round 39.

Rnd 39: through both loops of Rnd 37 (the loops directly behind the row of slip stitches from Rnd 38), sc around [54]

Rnd 40: (sc 8, inc) x6 [60]

Rnd 41-52: sc around [60]

Rnd 53: (sc 8, dec) x6 [54]

Rnd 54: sc around [54]

Rnd 55: (sc 7, dec) x6 [48]

Rnd 56: sc around [48]

LEGS:

Split round 56 for the legs: There will be 16 st for each leg and 10 st for the gap in between – 5 from the front and 5 from the back.

It should be close already, but give or take a few stitches to position your hook at the back of the bear at the stitch just before the gap in the legs.

You now have your hook positioned for closing the gap between the legs. Holding the front and back together, sl st closed with 5 sl st. Then, continue straight away to the first leg…

Rnd 57-58: sc around [16]

Rnd 59: (sc 2, dec) x4 [12]

Rnd 60-61: sc around [12]

Rnd 62: (sc, dec) x4 [8]

Sl st in the next st and snip, leaving a long tail. Pull the tail through the final 2 loops. Using the yarn end and a tapestry needle, thread the yarn through the front loop only of the remaining 8 stitches and pull tightly to close. Bring the yarn to the inside and back out one of the side walls. Snip cleanly with the surface. Then, slip knot onto your hk and rejoin yarn on the inner back side of the second leg and repeat Rnd 57-62 for leg #2.

ARMS – make 2:

Begin with brown yarn.

Rnd 1: st 4 sc in a magic circle [4]

Rnd 2: inc in each st around [8]

Rnd 3-14: sc around [8]

Switch to shirt colored yarn.

Rnd 15-22: sc around [8]

Fasten off and sew closed. (I don’t stuff the arms because I like them to be flexible, but feel free to stuff!) Sew the arms to the sides of the body at Rnd 27. Lastly, sew the tail to the bum over rounds 47-51.

BEAR FREE CROCHET PATTERN VIDEO TUTORIAL:

FISH – make 3:

NOTES:

• The fish are worked in continuous rounds – do not join after each round
• Use the gray colored yarn

Rnd 1: st 4 sc in a magic circle [4]

Rnd 2: inc in each st around [8]

Rnd 3-6: sc around [8]

Rnd 7: dec around [4]

Rnd 8: make 3 sc in each st around [12]

Fasten off and weave in end. Embroider black eyes on each side.

BASKET:

NOTES:

• The basket begins with a chain and is worked around both sides of the chain. The strap is worked last.
• Use ochre colored yarn

Begin by chaining 9

Rnd 1: sc in 2nd back bump from hk and next 6 st, inc in next st. Continue on the other side of the chain: sc in next 7 st, inc in next st [18]

Rnd 2: inc, sc 7, inc 2, sc 7, inc [22]

Rnd 3: BLO dc around [22]

Rnd 4: sc around [22]

Rnd 5: crab st around [22]

Basket Strap:

Right from where you left off on your last crab st, ch 45 for the strap. Sl st to opposite side of basket, Fasten off and weave in end.

You did it! Well done!

I would love to see your completed bears. Please post pictures on instagram and tag me @offthebeatenhook and use #offthebeatenhook. Cheers!

PIN THIS BEAR FREE CROCHET PATTERN FOR LATER!

Did you love this bear free crochet pattern? Want more free amigurumi crochet patterns? Check these out!

• Barnaby the Rabbit Free Crochet Pattern
• Jag the Jellyfish Free Crochet Pattern
• Ingrid the Octopus Free Crochet Pattern