Billy Bears

A friend of a friend is expecting very precious twin baby boys later this year so I offered to make some little gifts for her. Although I've crocheted a fair few blankets, my experience of toy making - aka amigurumi crochet - is pretty limited. My Stylecraft Blogstar friend Emma Varnam just happens to be a whizz at creating super cute crocheted toys, so I asked her for her recommendations and she suggested that I tried making Billy Bear. She very generously sent me a kit to make them from which was so lovely of her. It was nowhere near as difficult as I'd imagined it would be and I loved how there was so little sewing to be done - the legs get joined as you start the body and you crochet in the tail and arms as you go along too. This makes them nice and secure for little fingers. The only things I had to sew on were the ears and facial features. It's not advisable to use safety eyes for under threes so I stitched the eyes, nose and mouth on at the end. 

I also knitted two little hats to go with the bears using Stylecraft Bambino Prints yarn. I really like how it knits up with the stripes and speckles. The pattern is the Rialto Baby Beanie and it's a free Ravelry download. You can find it here. If you'd like to make your own Billy Bear or try your hand at another of Emma's darling creations, check out her shop. She sells the pdf patterns or you can buy yourself a kit which includes pretty much everything you'll need. Here's a link to her shop. Which animal is your favourite? xxx