Bunny Garland

I originally thought about making the bunnies to go over the fire place and then realized I already had egg garland for there. So the bunnies moved. In between my holiday boxes and my donation projects I've been making some projects to cheer up the house while we are spending more time here during the shut down. So I decided bunny garland why not.

I made my bunnies large and bright. To make them this large I needed a K hook. Since they were large I needed fewer and I was good with that. I used the tail pattern from the Mary Maxim bunny pattern I wrote about earlier to avoid making pom pom's. I am just not a huge fan of making them I'd rather crochet tails.

I'm always happy to share links for free patterns and you can find it here. Those of you like scrap yarn projects will find this is a great way to use those little left over balls of yarn. My bunnies are products of previous afghan and doll projects. I am always looking for ways to finish off those left over bits and this project brings a little joy to what will be a much quieter Easter.

Lots to Love 8 Inch Bunny Suit

I've always loved the little 5 Inch Lots to Love dolls that people knit and crochet holiday outfits to add to their holiday decorations. Sadly, I've never been very great making doll clothes that small. I've been fortunate to have family and friends who have made some for me over the years and I happily display them for the various holidays.

When I discovered Annie Potter's collection of 8 inch doll clothes leaflets I included her holiday book in my order, not for donations, but for myself. I wanted to make some of my own doll decorations and this is my first. The print edition is available for purchase here. This pattern set is also available for purchase in digital format at Etsy here.

This was a great project to use the sport yarn I had picked up at AC Moore prior to their closing. I look forward to making more clothes from my stock for the 8 and 10 inch Lots to Love dolls. Then of course I'll have to find a new supply of sport weight that has that range of colors and is the right weight for these clothes.

Notes:

This pattern worked up with an e hook and sport weight yarn. Getting the feet to fit was the biggest challenge. I think when I make the next footed outfit I would have the outfit on the doll as I finished off the feet to try to make the footed pj's fit better. I changed the ears from the pattern. The pattern has the ears droop down the side of the bunnies head. I sewed two ears together to get the ears to stand up. I just liked the look better. I had carrot buttons on hand so I used one on the front. The picture has heart buttons. I did not add the ties to the feet as they already had challenges fitting to the doll.

I've decided this doll will be dedicated to this outfit and I'll pick up others for the different holiday dolls as I've done with the 5" dolls. It may not be necessary with all the dolls but the fitted nature of this outfit will create some damage to it if I try to put it on and off too many times. The doll dresses might be better suited to removing and storing with the holiday decorations and changing the doll to a new outfit for the next holiday.

A friend suggested I try making some of the 5" doll outfits with sport yarn for the 8" dolls. Once I've worked through this pattern set I may try that. I think I have the Holiday Itty Bitties book. If not it is regularly on sale at e-patterns central so I could pick it up if I can't find my print leaflet. That would give me some variety for my holiday outfit choices.

Updated to add:

Since I made this outfit I discovered FreePatterns.com has just one pattern from the House of White Birches Crochet Holiday Baby Dolls 101102 and it is the Easter Bunny doll. You can find the free pattern here. It is different from this one, but I've had great success in adapting the patterns from this series to the 8" Lots to Love dolls. Since it is a free pattern it is a good chance to try it out. You will need to give them your email to access the site's patterns. If this link doesn't bring you directly to the pattern it is called Easter Bunny Baby Doll Costume.

Cinderella with Dragon Egg

I'm always looking for new ideas for Easter Eggs. I never do candy anymore and when possible I'm trying to make more eggs to give away. This year I came across a dragon egg pattern I thought I'd try for a different kind of Easter Egg. You can find the free Pattern here. I've never used much metallic yarn and it was interesting to learn a new stitch and try a different type of yarn.

I'd picked up the Disney Princess Crochet Kitand been waiting for a good chance to start making some of them. Fillers for Easter Eggs seemed like a good choice.

There is a series of You Tube videos that help with the unique style of hair the designer creates for Cinderella. I still found the "wig" a little large for the head so I had to work around that when I sewed the hair to the head.

I like the themed patterns of these kits and I've bought several for the patterns. However, I wish they would sell the books without the kits. I would prefer to buy them that way. I was not terribly impressed with the yarn and I didn't need the hook or extra supplies. I actually found the eyes were too large. When I make the rest of the princesses I'll use smaller safety eyes. I used these because they came with the kit.

Bunny with Carrot Dress

I found the bunny for the Easter Project and finally finished the first one. The bunny pattern is called Dress Me Bunny and is free and found here. The blog has several different free patterns you can use to dress the bunny once you make it. I chose the Carrot Dress found here. The outfits do include overalls if you don't want a dress for your bunny.

As I was working my way through the pattern I decided I didn't want to have floppy legs so I reworked the pattern to split the legs and add on the feet.

When I make the second one my plan is to make the two legs and crochet them together to the abdomen level and then crochet the head and torso and join that way. It is a better solution than the one I made for this bunny. The gloppy legs of this pattern are a great option, I just wanted my bunnies to have the ability to stand.

I used an e hook with worsted weight yarn to get a smaller bunny. The bunny is by no means tiny, but had I used a g hook it would have been larger. I still had to use an I hook to get the dress to fit on the top. When I make the dress again I'm thinking about reducing to a smaller hook once I get past the dress fitting the tummy so it doesn't flair out quite so much. I do like the pockets on this dress. I'm on the fence about whether I'll add the collar to the next dress. I didn't think I'd like it with the orange dress, but it did look nice in the maroon version so I'm considering what I want for the second bunny.

The carrot purse and carrots worked out according to directions and I used an e hook for the purse and a D for the carrots.

I added extra rows at the 30 stitches to help the shoes fit the feet. I suspect this has to do with how I constructed and stuffed the feet. I then reduced stitch count and finished as described.

Easter is fast approaching and I need to finish off my projects.

Bonnie Bunny

Bonnie is the second bunny I made from the Cottontails Pattern I received when I purchased the kit from Mary Maxim here. Bonnie is made from worsted weight yarn and a g hook and as you can see from the picture below came out significantly bigger than Robbie.

I chose to continue in similar branded yarns for the clothes. I had to go up to an I hook to get the dress to fit in the back. However the shoes fit with a g hook. I also used a g for the bow. The eyes came with the kit and the nose from CRC Crafts.

I shortened the neck line and altered the body to avoid the bobble head issue I had with Robbie.

Robbie Bunny

I ordered the Cottontails kit from Mary Maxim which you can purchase here after seeing it in the catalog. When you click on the kit details it tells you that the yarn for this kit is Ultra Mellospun but the white yarn is actually Mary Maxim Baby Value Yarn. Only the yarn for the clothing is Mellospun. According to the website the Baby Yarn is a 4 weight but it is more like a sport or DK weight and it while soft I had 2 issues with it.

First, with a g hook I found the stitches were too big not to show stuffing so I went down to an e hook to get the right look. Secondly, it was not a great yarn to use when you want tight stitches like one uses with amigurumi because I found it difficult to frog the stitches after making the tight, like when I realized I needed to move from a g hook to a smaller hook to keep the stuffing from showing.

I made the second bunny using worsted weight yarn on hand and found I had fewer issues with the yarn.

I have much to learn about sculpting so I will take the blame for that part of the pattern challenge. I found however, that I remade the body the second time when I made the girl doll because the neck on this doll was not solid enough to hold the head up until I did some reworking when I followed the original pattern. It had a bit of a bobble headed look to it. I am sure the fault could easily be mine but directions sometimes can help avoid these challenges, too.

The shoes were adorable. I often find patterns for girl amigurumis with shoes, but sneakers for the boys are also cute. I chose to sew the buttons over the holes as I liked the look better and wasn't planning on removing the clothing after the fact. I made the bow tie but chose not to add it after making it. I liked the way he looked in his overalls. The tail was a cute addition.

I am not a huge fan of having to embroider facial features. The kit comes with eyes and I added a nose that I purchased from CRC Crafts.

With all that is going on in the world I am happy to have some new Easter decorations. I decided to keep this pair and work on a different pattern to send out in the Easter box.

Spring Finger Puppets

As you may have noticed if you drop by here and read about my holiday package posts, I've become intrigued with finger puppets to add to the packages. I found a free Spring Finger puppets pattern here. While great for Easter, I should have dug this out for the farm puppet project. These would have been great additions. However, I'm sure these little creatures can find their way to the already established farm puppet colony.

These patterns work up really quick. I had the three worked up in a couple of hours. I made my bag slightly larger than the egg sized suggested as I have plans to stuff some other items in there.

There are some unique features to the construction of these finger puppets which I would like to visit again. The bunny's ears are made as one piece. For someone like myself who finds sewing the pieces together to be a huge chore this was a wonderful gift. It also meant the ears weren't at different heights which can happen to me when I'm sewing them on separately. The sheep's fleece has texture due to the stitch chose made which is different from the other two characters.

Notes for me.

I sewed in the ends as I went along to avoid trying to have to turn the very small puppets inside out later. I added a beak to the chick that isn't in the pattern.. I am coming to like grey bunnies. The pattern had brown which I knew I wasn't going to use, but I didn't want a white sheep and I white bunny.

Baby Doll Easter Bunny

January definitely was the month for holiday baby doll clothing. I actually finished this outfit before the Leprechaun but seasonally it seemed better for it to go after the Leprechaun.

There was a time when the local craft stores used to sell craft bears that were a little over a foot long and people would buy them and dress them. I've run across various patterns in old crochet magazines I collect and I've put aside ones that I thought might at some point prove useful.

For the most part due to the size differences and shape of the bears most would have been better suited to the days when I dressed the 12" baby dolls. However, every so often you find something you can't resist trying to adapt.

I came across a pattern in my binder from the Mar/April 1993 issue of Hooked on Crochet titled Playing Dress Up. The pattern was designed for a 13" Teddy Bear like the ones I'd seen in craft stores years ago. Looking at it I could see the possibilities for adapting this to the larger 16" doll as there were no clothes to be fitted. The challenge would be to get the hat and shoes to fit. The bib was easy enough to make.

The original pattern called for an H hook I had to use a K to get the hat large enough to fit. I used an I for the pink trim or it was way to bulky. The ears were also done with an I hook or the chenille stems would have poked right through.

The feet proved to be more tricky. Bear feet are large so I needed to go down to a D hook to get them to fit and then play with the rows to get the fit I wanted. I used sport weight yarn for the paw pads or the pads wouldn't have fitted on to the smaller feet.

While I loved the overall look of the outfit I wasn't a fan of the carrot when I started crocheting it. I dug into my button collection for a carrot for the bib.