Peter Rabbit

I love sending gifts that combine children's books with toys. For the Easter box The Tale of Peter Rabbit seemed a good choice.

Prior to the pandemic I used to go to Barnes and Noble in pursuit of the UK crochet magazines. On one of my last trips before the shut down I picked up not a magazine but a kit from Simply Crochet sold in the magazine section to make Peter Rabbit and Jemema Puddle Duck.

These patterns along with two others were originally published in Simply Crochet's Issue 95's Supplement Amigurumi The Cutest Toys To Crochet and I'm going to try to pick up a digital copy of the magazine through Ravelry which is supposed to include the supplement so I can complete the Beatrix Potter set for a fall birthday or perhaps Christmas depeding on time. You can find the link here for the magazine.

I am getting better at working with UK crochet terms. In the past I've had to write the US terms on top of the UK terms to keep them straight. It is a bit easier with ami's as they tend to only use sc so unlike clothing I'm rarely switching between stitches. Once my brain starts working I know I'm making sc and it is only the number and location that matters regardless of what they are being called. In this case even the clothing didn't change stitches so it was much easier working with the different terms.

The materials in the kit were good quality and I'd buy another kit if I see another themed one I'm interested in again. I ended up getting a subscription to Simply Crochet when the pandemic hit because the magazine was no longer available here for purchase. It used to be one of my occasional treats.

I love the way the legs are formed to help the bunny stand. The buttons in the kit are so small and reminded me if I do get back into making Barbie's I need to find a new source for buttons. Yes, I did post a while back that I didn't see it happening, but then I started working with thread and new hooks and I pulled out and started organizing my Barbie patterns. I'm looking into picking up some modern dolls as the last kids I made clothing for are in high school and college so I suspect the sizes have changed some. I'm used to having to fit patterns to dolls so this shouldn't be a huge issue, but I need the dolls to fit the items to or I risk sending clothes off with the dolls that don't fit. We'll see how this works out. Barbie might make the 2021 donation or she may be pushed of until 2022. It all depends on what I can complete for the other dolls first.

One adjustment I did make is I used a crochet pom pom technique I learned years ago making an 18" doll Santa Hat for the tail. I have never been good making pom pom's and this technique works for me. It is oddly one of the only changes I made to this pattern. I didn't really make any other adaptations as I went along. The pattern was easy to follow as written.