Bear-y Sweet Hat

I am awarding myself the luxury of blogging before work, with the hopes that it will help wake me up this morning.  The coffee is doing its part as well.  This soft and lofty bear hat is the result of reading several hat patterns on the internet, trying a few and then coming up with my own.

To give credit where it's due, I used the instructions for Alli Craft's fuzzy bear hat for the idea of how to make the ears and the mini flower is a very simple pattern from Attic 24.

Yarn and Hooks Used:
-Bernat "Harmony" & "I" hook to make the hat
-a scrap of Loops & Threads "Impeccable" and an "H" hook to make the flower
-you'll also need a safety pin and a yarn needle to work in the ends

To Make the Hat:

1: make a "magic ring," ch 1, 12 hdc in ring and pull it tight.  Join with sl to the first hdc
2: ch 2, hdc in same stich as sl.  2 hdc in each remaining stitch around.  Join with sl to top of ch 2.
3: ch 2, hdc in same stich as sl.  *2 hdc in next stitch, 1 hdc in next stitch,* repeat pattern around the circle and join with sl in top of ch 2
4: ch 2, 1 hdc in each stitch around.  Join with sl.
Rows 5 - 9 are a repeat of row 4.

Fasten off yarn and weave in ends.  (Tip: When using any kind of bulky yarn, I find it easier to use a safety pin as a yarn needle, since the eye of my yarn needle is just too small to thread thicker yarns.  I'll try to add a picture soon to show what I mean.)

To Make the Ears:  (You'll need two, of course!)
(Thank you to Alli of Alli Crafts for your clear instructions on how to make bear ears!  I think big ears look cute on babies, so I made big ears for the hat, too.  If you're a fan of smaller ears, follow the steps on her blog to make a slightly smaller pair.)
1.  Make a "magic ring" and work 6 sc.  Hold the stitches and pull so it makes a half-circle of stitches instead of a regular full circle.
2.  ch 1, Turn. Work 2 sc in each sc from previous row.
3.  ch 1, Turn.  Work *2sc in 1st stitch, 1sc in next stich* (repeat this pattern across the row)
Fasten off, leaving a long tail for sewing the ear to the hat.

Sew the ears to the hat, using the tails from fastening off.  (Again, I threaded the yarn on to a safety pin.)

Embellishments:
Make a flower, following the instructions at Attic 24.  FYI, the instructions at this site use British terms, which vary from American terms.  (Basically, it's just 10 sc in a magic ring, followed by a round of *dc+hdc in next stitch, sl in next stich* to create a 5-petal flower.)  When you fasten off, there's no need to weave in the ends.  Use the tail to sew the flower to the bear hat.