First off I want to wish my mom a happy birthday! I blame my mom entirely for getting both Alice and me interested in crafting at an early age, and I know where I get my fabric and yarn hoarding genes from! Thanks mom for all your help and love through out my life, and I am sorry that I can't be there to celebrate your birthday with you in person. Happy birthday Mom!!
Now onto some knitting content…
Project Specs
Pattern: Bunny Fun (203x) designed by Bev Galeskas
Pattern Source: Fiber Trends
Yarn: Yarns and pattern were both included in a kit from Fiber Trends. About 240 yards each of Lorna's Lace's Glory and a sport weight wool, both in the Aslan colorway.
Needles: US 11 Denise circular needles
Date Started: 8/2/07
Date Finished: 8/17/07
Modifications: Used both yarns held together through out. Did not switch to contrasting color for bottom of feet and inner ears.
Well I can't believe it took me this long to get this bunny finished! I guess I haven't really been working on it this whole time. I knit it pretty quickly but just kept on putting off the final finishing. Now he's done and I need to find a good place to display him, because I am seriously running out of room with all these toys! I still haven't decided what to name him, so if you have any suggestions please tell me! I want a name that will reflect his extreme fluffiness as well as his rather clueless nature.
This pattern was pretty typical of the Fiber Trends toy patterns. The bunny is knit in four pieces, the front of the body, the back of the body, and the feet. There is lots of shaping using increases and short rows, and although the knitting isn't particularly difficult it does require you to pay attention. I swear the seaming took almost as long as it did to knit an entire side of the bunny! I had a really hard time figuring out how to attach the feet to the body. I thought the instructions were confusing so I had to rip out the seams and redo them a few times until it looked about right. Sorry I don't have any tip for attaching them, and I am not even sure if mine are on there correctly.
I am not really impressed with how the wool felted, and I don't know if I would have used a variegated yarn if it wasn't in the kit. The colors didn't blend as much as I wanted with felting, and you can still see the individual stitches. However I really do love using mohair when making felted toys because they turn out so fuzzy! Lorna's Laces Glory is really expensive though, so I'd recommend using Toaga instead. I used it on my fuzzy alpaca, and it provided the same effect while being a lot more affordable, plus I still have a ton left over. The fuzziness does make him hard to photograph though!
His eyes are 18 mm black plastic safety eyes. I purchased them from CR's Crafts. They have a huge selection of animal eyes listed under "Bear Supplies". They even had pink/red eyes which would be perfect for bunnies, but I have always found red-eyed bunnies to be rather creepy. The nose and mouth are embroidered with black embroidery floss. The fuzziness made it a little difficult to embroidery and work around. But I am really happy with how it turned out! I doubt I will make this pattern again, I'd rather make an alpaca or llama instead, but I am glad I made at least one!
