When my daughter was a baby I was obsessed with dressing her in hats and sleep suits with ears on. Her going home from hospital outfit was a furry leopard print suit with teeny little ears and she looked so cute that I could explode now even thinking about it!

I did of course knit her several hats, however none of them had ears on. Why not? Well, because I don’t like knitting ears. Always found them a bit of a faff on and generally not a pleasure to create.

However, I recently discovered a really easy way to knit ears to sew onto bear and other animal hats. It is actually fun to make them and I can feel a whole new bear hat with ears craze coming on!

This article will explain how to knit these easy ears and there is also a free knitting pattern for a cute baby bear beanie hat, with ears attached of course!

Read on to find out how to knit the easy ears and to get the free knitting pattern.

An easy way to knit ears for bear hats

The ears shown here were knit with chunky yarn. They are just the right size to add to a child or baby bear hat. If your hat is knit with double knitting yarn, you can use that to make the ears. Simply knit with two strands held together.

These ears will work for adult bear hats too. You could use super chunky yarn for a larger ear, or where your hat is knit in a bulkier yarn.

Here are the instructions to make the easy knit ears. You will need a small amount of chunky yarn to make them – choose something that works with 6mm needles.

On 6mm needles, cast on 21 stitches loosely. Knit 3 rows. Pass all stitches, 1 at a time, over first stitch.

EDIT: there has been some difficulty to understand the part about passing over the stitches for which I apologize. I do not mean pass over as in PSSO. Looking at the stitches on the left hand needle, lift up the second stitch with your right needle, and lift it/pass it over the first stitch and drop it. Then do the same with the 3rd stich, and so on. I will make a video asap I’m a bit overwhelmed with life at the moment and can’t think. I hope this edit helps to clarify how to make a ear a little better. If in doubt, add some little pompoms instead of the ears 😊.

Cut yarn, leaving a long tail. Thread tail through remaining stitch, pull the yarn end, and the cast on yarn end, to tighten and finally sew the ears onto the hat.

That is all there is to it. Really fast and fuss free ears to make a million bear hats.

Below is a knitting pattern for a simple little newborn beanie hat which looks really cute with these ears sewn on.

Free knitting pattern for newborn hat with ears

 This little bear hat with ears is so incredibly cute!  You can knit it in a plain yarn or in something with some fuzz and texture as shown here.  There are many soft and squishy yarns out there to choose from.  Something like James C Brett Flutterby would look really nice knit into a little bear hat. The yarn used for the hat shown here is an unbranded fleecy yarn picked up in a discount store.

You can knit the hat with a plain yarn brim and ears or with a fur type yarn all over.

Materials needed to knit the baby bear hat

Approx 50g chunky yarn – approx 20g for the ribbed brim and ears, and 30g for the main part of the hat (referred to as main yarn in pattern).

Pair each of 5 and 6mm knitting needles.

Scissors and needle for sewing up.

Pattern

On 5mm needles and with the rib and ear yarn, cast on 40 stitches.

Work 6 rows of 1 x 1 rib (k1, p1) across each row).  You can knit 4 rows of rib if you prefer a more subtle brim.

Switch to main yarn and 6mm needles.

Starting with a k row, work stocking stitch (k right side rows, purl wrong side rows) until piece measures 12cm from the cast on edge, ending on a wrong side row.

Now shape the crown as follows:

1. (K3, k2tog) to end of row
2. P
3. (K2, k2tog) across row
4. P
5. (K1, k2tog across row)
6. P
7. (K2tog) across row

Cut yarn, leaving a long enough yarn tail to sew up back seam.  Thread this through the remaining stitches.  Pull to gather the top of the hat and then sew up the back seam.  Sew in all loose ends.

Ears (make two)

With ear yarn on 6mm needles, cast on 21 stitches loosely. Knit 3 rows. Pass all stitches, 1 at a time, over first stitch. Cut yarn, leaving a long tail. Thread tail through remaining stitch, pull both ends of yarn to tighten and sew onto hat, tidying up loose ends.

Please see the edit in the paragraph about ears about for some clarification about how to make the ears for the little hat.

And voilà, a cuter than cute little beanie hat with ears! You could add the ears to hats to make a variety of animals. Little bear bonnets with ears attached are really super sweet too.

I hope you enjoyed this article thanks very much for visiting us today.