Flopsy Charity Bunny

Every year where I work has a fundraising auction raising money for Centraide/United Way. People bring in movies/cds and clothes to sell. But the more interesting items are services by coworkers, such as making your morning coffee for a month, or an afternoon of golf lessons. For a couple years now, I've volunteered my services as a knitter in the form of a smallish custom knit item like an accessory.

The first year there was quite a fight over it and it became kind of messy. In the end it went to my coworker Maria who asked me to knit a scarf for her daughter. So I made the Jelly Bean Scarf


I was on holiday when the auction happened this year. But it turned out that Maria won my knitting again. And again she asked for something for her daughter but left it up to me what I wanted to make. I had originally planned on making bunny slippers and had settled on the Fluffy Bunny Slippers from Stitch 'n' Bitch Crochet: the Happy Hooker but I had issues with the pattern, adapting it for a smaller size and couldn't really find accurate measurements by shoe size.

Then it occurred to me. I could knit a bunny toy instead of slippers. I cast on friday night and by Saturday morning had all the pieces knit and was putting them together using the batting leftover from my Hawaiian Appliqué pillow kit from the class I took in Maui. I had enough for all parts but one leg and so had to pause until I could get some more from Mr. Peabody. I put together all the pieces I could while waiting for the extra supplies.

I also borrowed some green yarn from him to make the dress. The dress ended up being knit two and a half times. The first time, I knit it as written in the pattern. The resulting dress had almost an inch of overlap in the back. I contemplated just going with it and making it work but it was just too bulky and the rest of the bunny turned out so perfect. So I took it all out and cast on a second time with 15 less stitches in the body.

I tried it on the bunny when I got to the bib and found it was still a bit loose. But instead of taking out the entire dress and reknitting it again, I chose to take it back to the decrease round and worked 2 stitches in between decreases instead of 6 as stated in the pattern. I'm actually quite happy with this small design change as it makes the dress a little poofier.

This is only my second time knitting a toy. I made a dog way back when and stuffed it with scrappy red acrylic yarn. I tried my best to get everything on straight. The head is a little bit cockeyed and one ear is a little floppier than the other. But I figure it gives the bunny more character. The best part is the yarn I used, Tongue River Sock Yarn, really has a great feel. Like it's actual animal fibre, which to be fair, it is.

Thus far the bunny has been very well received by my coworker. Currently she has her on display on her desk waiting for an appropriate time to give it to her. I'm excited to find out what her daughter thinks and ends up naming her though Maria has said she wants to convince her to name the rabbit after me so that she'll remember who made it for her. I'm flattered, but I think toy names are too important to be influenced.