Small Bunny – Big Bunny

I was thinking about Easter…I know, I know, but when you work on designs the seasons are always out of kilter. I have a huge collection of soft toys I have designed over the years and I was looking at some chunky yarn in my stash and it occurred to me, wouldn’t it be fun to see quite how large my Harris Hare pattern would become worked in chunky yarn? When we have children around at Easter, we love an egg hunt and for added fun it is quite delightful to find an Easter Bunny in the hedgerow. This bunny is a perfect cuddly companion for any young treasure hunter.

I created 4 Woodland Animal toy designs for Stylecraft yarns last year. The designs use Life DK and are published in the leaflet format, (pattern 9666) The original Harris Hare has beautiful mottled fur using, Stone Nepp. You need just 2 x 100g balls. You will also need a little cream dk yarn from your stash for his pom-pom tail. He measures 46 cm (18 in) tall.

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I have got to admit to you – Harris is a bit of favourite. I really couldn’t part with him. Unlike some of my other designs he has a round base at his bottom, which means he sits rather nicely and his legs dangle down.

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Sometimes people who see my patterns feel they must use the specified yarn in the original design. I totally understand that, I can be very much the same. But don’t be afraid to create something new by using the pattern but with a much finer yarn or a chunky wool. The only thing you must remember is to choose a hook or a needle which suits the gauge of your yarn. If you are looking for pointers, just have a quick look at the ball band and there is always a suggestion of the ideal hook/needle size for that yarn.

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For my very large Hare – I used 4 x balls of Stylecraft Bellissima Chunky in Paper Parchment.

I chose to use a 5mm hook and our cute bunny is now a mahoosive….66cm (26in) – his tail alone is 10cm (4in) wide. I have to be honest he is joyful to cuddle. I also designed him a little neckerchief if Bellissima Chunky Double Denim. I am thinking of making my godson a version – to be honest this bunny is much larger than my baby godson so it would fit.

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Why not look through your yarn collection and see which yarns you could use for different purposes – don’t be scared – just have fun and scale things up or down.

My plan is to send Chunky Bunny off to my pal Helen Kurtz for her Fibres for Fibres Fundraiser. She is raising money to support research into Myositis – it is a rare muscles disease which is very debilitating and causes muscle inflammation and weakness. I’ll keep you updated of when the Bunny will be available and perhaps you can give him a good home.

4 thoughts on “Small Bunny – Big Bunny”

  1. They are absolutely delightful! I hope my skills will be up to the challenge of making one before Easter. I’d like to make one for a sweet little girl. Fingers crossed. And thank you.

  2. Donna Frandsen

    I love your crocheted animals! These bunnies are so charming! I wonder if you could help me with a problem I encountered making Jack the Rabbit’s yellow coat from your Cute Crochet Animals book. I can’t get the hood’s first row count (18) to match the neckline count (30). What have I done wrong? Or is there a chance that the pattern is incorrect? I am making Jack and Emily for my twin grandchildren (boy and girl) for their birthday and am so excited to gift them!

  3. WOW,I Love your Bunnies especially Big Bunny,what a lot of stuffing.I am currently making the bear in your Cute Crocheted Animal book.I’m finding the arm attaching a little tricky but will persevere.Happy Hooking

  4. Both of these bunnies are so charming in their own way! Now that I saw this, I think I’ll have to make a large crocheted animal like this sometimes in the future, perhaps this bunny. 🙂

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