Little Cotton Rabbit from Willow Hill Yarn Company — Day 5

Bunny body...

I’m so pleased.  My little rabbit looks just like I wanted her to.  Right down to the adorable little tail—which I opted to make tan like the rest of her body rather than white (half rebellion, half not wanting to haul myself upstairs to my yarn stash and hunt for white yarn).

The body proportions feel right to me, and the level of cuteness is perfect.  So satisfying. And Julie Williams—as well as Emily from Willow Hill—is correct in identifying my new urge to give this adorable critter a wardrobe.  I keep looking at her thinking, “what about a white dress?  Or light blue?  If I lived in Salt Lake, I would definitely join the knitting group at Willow Hill that will be making sets of clothes for Little Cotton Rabbits.  If I had grandchildren or young nieces, this could easily become an addiction.

I did discover, upon review, that I’d made the dress with the wrong size needles.  As such, it’s just a touch larger than it ought to be.  My bunny has a maxi dress rather than just a Sunday jumper.  But I think once I block it, it will still suit her just fine.

I admit, the stuff-and-construct aspects of projects like this aren’t my favorite thing.  All that poking, seaming, sewing, and fretting—I’d really rather just knit. But the payoff for this project is superb. I love it.

Little Cotton Rabbit from Willow Hill Yarn Company — Day 4

Lucky rabbit's foot...

I wasn’t at all sure this would work. Stitches didn’t match up the way they were supposed to, and I was working on such a tiny scale. Like any cookbook or Pinterest page, the pressure of living up to the helpful-yet-slightly-intimidating photos runs deep.  Williams’ bunnies look classic and charming, as if they walked off a Beatrix Potter page.  I’m living in fear mine will look as if it walked off the page of a neurological disorders manual.

Fortunately, as my mother used to say, “If they’re staring at your shoes, you’ve already done something wrong.” As such, I place slightly less quality emphasis on bunny feet than a bunny face.  Remembering that the dress is finished and downright adorable (what a tactical advantage that decision was!), I worked my way through the complicated process of constructing the shoes, straps, and legs that make up our rabbit’s lower appendages.

I don’t think it turned out too badly.  The shoe straps are a bit clunky—had I to do it over again, I’d use a backwards-loop cast-on rather than a bulkier long-tail cast-on.  And I was sure the shoes would never curve into the blobby little feet they needed to be, but they did.  A chopstick proved truly useful to get the bits of batting where they needed to go. I think perhaps one foot is a tad larger than the other, but no one should really notice.

Truth be told, the proportions don’t look out of whack. And I am proud to say that all this assembling has enabled me to finally master the mattress stitch!  Adding the head and arms will tell the true tale, but I think we’re on the right track.  Or is that rabbit trail?

Little Cotton Rabbit from Willow Hill Yarn Company — Day 3

Build-a-bunny...

Now we get down to the nitty gritty of bunny architecture.  This feels more like science than art, but I have to admit it’s cute science.  I’m glad to take this in small sections, because knitting small items with tiny needles is hard on my hands.  

The body is relatively easy—a rounded rectangle that you seam up the back, but the legs get tricky.  You’ve got to pay seriously close attention. The feet are downright complicated, but Williams does provide both clear instructions and lots of useful photos.

I have to say, this Little Cotton Rabbit is smaller than I thought it would be.  A part of me wants to try this again with a larger gauge yarn to make a bigger bunny.  Having not yet even gotten through it the first small time, I know better than to trust that instinct.  

I’m nervous that the proportions will be all out of whack on this, but there’s no way to know until it’s finished.

So, I press on, building a bunny, part by bitty knitted part. 

Little Cotton Rabbit from Willow Hill Yarn Company — Day 2

Heading into face the challenge…

This is where the rabbit hits the….um, perhaps I ought to use a different cliché.

The head and face are this project’s crucial steps, in my opinion.  They absolutely determine the cute factor.  The body can be technically perfect, but if the head looks odd, the whole rabbit is going to look odd.  I was nervous.

Fortunately for me, Julie  Williams gives lots of supportive, helpful instructions.  Of course, like every Pinterest Fail you’ve ever giggled over, my own personal results fail in charm when compared with the photos she provides.  Her bunnies look quaint and lovely.  Mine is assuredly going to end up looking “homemade.”

Still, come on.  It’s a bunny.  In springtime.  In a pink polkda-dotted dress.  Really, how wrong can I go?  

Wait, don’t answer that.

The most helpful of Julie’s comments was that it takes two or three tries to get the face right.  This proved true.  Since she handles the nose and mouth with a single threat embroidered in a clever sequence, you can take it out and start again with minimal fuss.  It did, in fact, take me four tries to get something I felt was close to pleasing. After that, the eyes were easier to align.

Phew!  My rabbit’s not totally adorable, but she can hold her own.  She can hold her little stuffed head up high (eventually).  And I can live with that.

Little Cotton Rabbit from Willow Hill Yarn Company — Day 1

The looming danger of non-cutenes...

I find it daunting to knit a stuffed animal. 

Those of you who remember the legendary “Sheepmantis" know I haven't had the best luck with such projects. 

I believe it’s because while you can follow directions perfectly and produce the exact casing required, stuffing it wrong can still land you with lumpy and disfigured results.  Let’s face it:  nobody wants to hug a lumpy sheep.  Or teddy bear.  Or, in this case, Little Cotton Rabbit.

The looming danger of non-cuteness starts you second-guessing your work, knowing your competency can fall flat at the hands of a handful of plush filling.  It’s not like I can take my bunny to Build a Bear and have them bail me out.

I decided, therefore, to start with a piece of this project that most closely resembles regular knitting. In this case, it’s the dress the bunny would wear.  I was also traveling at the time, and as such couldn’t really pack stuffing, nor would I be in many situations where I could pay the close attention that the bunny’s individual body pieces would require. 

This turned out to be an excellent strategy. I got a nice surge of accomplishment at creating a cute little polkadot bunny dress. This gave me confidence to start next on the piece requiring the most art talent in my opinion, that being the head. 

We’ll see if my choice was a good one. A cute dress won't do much for a homely bunny.