Led astray by the Easter Bunny

What I should have been doing this week, when not working, is finishing my blue socks or making a start on the bike transportation bags we need for our summer holiday. But instead I have been seduced by a rabbit toy in a recent Simply Knitting magazine. Well, it’s Easter, who doesn’t need a cute bunny at this time of year?

The rabbit in question (who rejoices in the name of Bertie Bunkins in the magazine) is knitted flat. I didn’t much fancy that – I’m not a fan of sewing up – so I’m knitting him in the round and with a few modifications, like no separate nose. I’ve made his snout a little slimmer too, I think it will be more rabbitty that way. If I could have found a way of knitting the ears all in one with the head as well, I would have. But I will be keeping the limbs separate from the body to make them mobile, like a rag doll.

Soft toys normally go very wrong for me once I embroider a face on them, so I’m taking a great deal of care with this one. I think I’ve got the positions of ears, eyes and nose about right, although I have to admit that there is a certain donkey-like quality to this rabbit. Must be the ears. I’m not going to sew them on just yet, I’d like to find some pink ink or fabric paint that I can paint onto the insides first, but it needs to withstand washing. I’m experimenting with lengths of yarn, but so far they are all too red except for one that has been coloured with a pink felt pen.

Unfortunately, it’s not colourfast. I know I have some silk paints and other fabric paints somewhere, I just need to find them.

2.25mm needles – yikes!

The yarn I’m using is 100% cotton in a natural, ecru shade. It’s probably meant for crocheting because it’s only about 3-ply weight and I’m having to use 2.25mm needles. I bought it to knit a boyfriend a moss stitch tie. (When were knitted ties fashionable? Must be getting on for 40 years ago.) The boyfriend was an ex-boyfriend before the tie was finished, so I pulled it out and the yarn has been waiting to become an Easter bunny ever since. There isn’t a great deal of it, almost certainly not enough for a complete bunny body, which means I’m going to have to be creative. I’ll make her into a girl bunny, that way she can have stripy stockinged legs knitted in oddments of cotton 4-ply. Similarly, her torso may need to be in other colours to represent undergarments, then she can wear a dress on top.

Hey ho. It somehow feels right to be knitting something frivolous on Easter Day, especially as it’s also April Fool’s day.