Tutorial: Cabbage Rabbit/The Easter Bunny

The Tween managed to finish her Easter Bunny in record time!  Wow I am impressed, her Cabbage Rabbit (the colour of the yarn reminds her of purple cabbage) is absolutely stunning.  She is all of 12 years old and I am a super duper proud mama!

Her love affair with bunnies started when she was 2 and a half years old. I was 5 months preggers with the Dude Tween and trying on bikinis for a fab holiday in a very busy shop in a very busy mall.  The Tween wasn't going to be patient at that challenging age and came close to throwing a full fledged tantrum . . .  Suddenly she spotted a white bunny and decided to manipulate me into buying her something in return to allowing me a few moments to find THE BIKINI. Uhm I don't easily fall for these moments but that day I did and Easter Bunny was born, has her own passport and has since traveled the world with us. A staunch, fiercely looking "I am going to give you a hard time" type of immigration official at Charles de Gaulle once cracked a massive smile when Easter Bunny's passport was handed over to receive a French stamp, a very memorable moment for us since we travel with not so globally friendly and warmly accepted South African issued passports and are used to getting The Look.  

How to hook a bunny ;-) according to The Tween.

Eyes:

Chain a 4 stitch circle

Row 1: 7sc in ring but do not join, work in a spiral
Row 2: 2sc in each stitch around (14sc)
Row 3: 1sc in first stitch, 2sc in next stitch. Repeat this all around (21sc)

Change colour, keep on working in spiral. See  "How to change colour" below.

Row 4: 1sc in first 2 stitches, 2sc in next stitch.  Repeat this all around (28sc)

Row 5: 1sc in first 3 stitches, 2sc in next stitch.  Repeat this all around (35sc) 

Change colour, keep on working in spiral.

Row  6:  1sc in first 4 stitches, 2sc in next stitch.  Repeat this all around (42sc)  

Fasten off and weave in ends. 

How to change colour:

Join original colour with a slip in the back loop only. Finish it off. Change colour: Join with a sc in the front loop (not a slip/ch1 as it will leave a bump) and then sc around. Joining this way only works for patterns where the front is shown, back disguised such as eyes. 

PS: off topic but for future reference - Check out the tutorial on NeedleNoodles on how to hook jogless stripes for stripey amigurumi projects.

Head:

Follow the tutorial as per Youtube for an amigurumi crochet ball but once you reached the 4th decrease stitch near the end, start to increase again in order to form the body. The head consists of 15 rows and the body consists of 12 rows - she wanted the head bigger.  The Tween says you will need to follow your own head and improvise. Gotto love Tweens! 

Arms and Legs:

The Tween: "Now that you have learned how to do the head and body, improvise and make the arms and legs in a similar way through increases and decreases and stuff".

Ears: 

Crochet first 4 rows as per head tutorial.

Row 5: Decrease in every second stitch and then keep on spiraling without increasing or decreasing to form a tube. do not stuff in order to keep ears sturdy and floppy, strong and soft all at the same time.  "Improvise as per arms and legs"

Face: 

Sew eyes on face. Then sew on nose and mouth. Give your bunny a hug and enjoy her.

Easter Bunny a.k.a. Cabbage Rabbit

Aha, aha the postman has finally arrived with new bamboo hooks for The Tween and I, and a ball of "Thickish" (as described on the website she ordered it from) yarn for The Tween. She is in hooky heaven and set out straight away with her planned Easter Bunny named "Cabbage Rabbit". Oh boy, we have forgotten what thick yarn really looks and feels like since we have been hooking with "thinnish", errr very thinnish yarn until now, meaning we hook and hook and hook . . . forever to complete something of a decent size. Nearly 10 years of living first in the desert and now in the tropics also mean that we don't really touch woolly things either so are not on the ball so to say with regards to balls of yarn. The Tween designed her own pattern and if I keep on asking her, I have a sneaky suspicion she will write and illustrate the pattern for sharing. I will give you a sneak peek so long:

In true Easter weekend style we also popped over to a nearby cafe for some afternoon tea, or rather afternoon coffee for the parents and chocolate melting pots for The Tweens. It was strangely rather empty, we are used to elbowing the crowds for a table at this wonderful cafe. We tucked into nibbles and was well sated by the time we were finished with the last crumb of cake. Will you believe it, as soon as we got back home the Dude Tween asked me to prepare Tom Kha Gai, one of his favourite Thai dishes. I didn't think he had space in his small tummy for any more food after the cake feast but alas the two of us then prepared this fantastic Thai "soup" made of chicken in coconut milk infused with galangal, lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves and served it on a fragrant steamed rice. See SheSimmers for a great and easy recipe.