The little bunny that stole my heart....
Have you guys seen this wonderful toy pattern by Julie from “Little Cotton Rabbits”?
She wrote the most wonderful pattern to knit your very own bunny-friend with lots of detailed instructions and great pictures to illustrate every step.
It’s really lots of fun to decide on colours and texture and to see your little rabbit come to life with every stitch you make!
I did very few modifications (notably the little ankle socks with the crocheted frilly mohair lace) but followed the pattern mostly for everything else…
Because my little bunny girl seemed a little bit lonely and sad I decided to make her a little toy of her own. Julie has a lovely pattern for the teeny tiny bunny on her blog (and she even has a post for the itty bitty dress it wears).
My little bunny was very happy with it’s little doll but there were technical problems involved, since the bunny hands have less than perfect motor skills and it could not really carry it’s new friend around…
so we found two solutions to this problem: one was to add press studs to both the bunny and the tiny toy hand (with a little bit imagination it even looks like a pacifier) and the other was to knit up a bag to help the bunny carry around it’s little friend… when it’s otherwise occupied!
The bag was quickly done:
I casted on 10 sts of fingering weight yarn with the provisional method on 2mm/US 0 DPNs and worked in 1 row stripes for 8 rows (in red & white), then I did 2 rows of garter sts and bound off in red.
With the green coloured yarn I picked up 6 sts on the side (needle1), undid the prov. co and knitted it (needle2) and then picked up another 6 sts on the other side (needle3).
Then I just worked in stocking stitch back and forth for 4 rows and increased on both “corners” at the bottom on every RS:
Needle1: K to end, M1R.
Needle2: K1, M1L, knit to last st, M1R, k1.
Needle3: M1L, knit to end of row.
After another 3 rows of stocking stitch I did the back side of the bag with a method that is often used in the heels of socks:
On the next RS I knitted the sts of needle1 and 2 - then, I slipped the first stitch from needle3 over the last knitted stitch of needle2, turned the work, slipped the first stitch again and purled back to the end of needle2. There I slipped the next st of needle1 over the last purled st of needle2. Again I turned and slipped the first st before knitting back.
I repeated this process until all of the stitches from both needle 1 and 3 were worked up this way and bound off.
Then I just crocheted around with a simple ds and the red yarn: I started on the left side of my little garter top and stopped right next to it on the other side.
The long strap is also crocheted with a simple chain stitch. Mine is 20cm/8” long, but you should adjust it to your bunny’s size…. I find that it looks cute when it just reaches the hem of the dress.
OK.. now that is a very quick and simple description of the bunny-bag and I hope that you’ll still find it useful if you want to make one for your own little bunny girl!!!!
