Rabbits!

Some of the things I've been doing with my hands recently

1 - Rabbits!

Gunner Bunny - rear view

When my new cousin was on the way [first cousin twice removed, for those who are particular about such things ... my first cousin's grandchild] I decided to make a knitted toy. I knew he was going to be a boy ... at least, I knew that's what the scan said - more on this later - so as his father is an Arsenal fan, and I had some suitable stash, Gunner Bunny was born.

Gunner is, as befits a footballer, a fairly tough character - if you tackle him you'll know about it ...

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Gunner - from the front

I knitted the main part of his shirt in red, then crocheted the white parts and embroidered the various logos. Then the shorts were crocheted in white with red embroidery, and the boots/socks were done as per the pattern for the legs but on larger needles, and changing to white and stocking stitch for the socks.

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When a work colleague had a little girl, I thought I'd make a more feminine version - Bella Bunny. Now the original pattern was for a 'ballerina bunny' and it had a little dress included.

Bella Bunny

... So when I made Bella, I thought I'd just do the dress as per pattern ... Mistake. What I missed in my haste to get her done, was that the [very slightly] larger needle size shown at the head of the pattern was only meant to be used for the dress; I'd used it for the rabbit. So of course when I came to make the dress, it was immediately apparent that it wasn't going to fit. I'm sure some people would have just kept trying with larger needles until theirs did fit, but I tried one size up, and again it was obviously not going to be large enough, so I got out a crochet hook. made a chain long enough to go round her waist, worked upwards in half-trebles to make a bodice, then went back to the chain foundation and worked downwards in trebles, increasing on some rows to make a ruffled skirt.

Then I added an Irish crochet flower. 

Belinda Bunny

Now I was well away, and when a cousin on the other side of the family said her son was expecting a little girl, I knew exactly what I was going to do.

I made the rabbit on the right size needles as per pattern, but decided do do another crochet dress, as the 'official' one was garter stitch [same as the rabbit] and looked decided UN-pretty! I couldn't get on with the proper pattern for the ballet shoes either, though they had converted well into football socks and boots so both Bella and Belinda have crocheted shoes, and crochet cross-ties too, rather than the ribbons the pattern specified.


I took Belinda to the Sherborne book fair about a month before the baby was due. She was much admired, and I found myself agreeing to make another one 'exactly the same' for the grandchild of another exhibitor.

My cousin, who lives in Yeovil, came to meet me, and we caught up on various family matters. A month later she rang me.
'The baby has arrived safely ... but it's a boy!'

Despite the scan saying all along it was a girl, something vital had been missed. This was not the first time I had known that to happen. Two previous 'boys' I had heard about turned out to be girls, so I wasn't unduly surprised.

All the knitted pieces awaiting assembly

'Don't worry,' I said. 'Just send me back Belinda - I know where she'll have a good home!'

I had already started making the pieces for the rabbit 'exactly the same' as Belinda, so I was able to send Belinda herself to the exhibitor's grandchild, and start putting the pieces together for a boy bunny.

Robin Rabbit - front view

It's all in the stuffing. You can make muscles and bulges in the right place to make the rabbits more masculine-looking, and to get the set of the arms to look as if they are ready for action.

Robin - rear view

So Robin Rabbit emerged - the new baby's dad was a Notts Forest fan, their mascot is Robin Hood, and after a bit of research I was able to make something that looks enough like their kit to be recognisable, whilst, as with Arsenal, not [I hope] breaking any copyright or sponsorship rules.






Next time, Elephants ...