Birthday Bunny

I met one of my bestest buddies in the whole world at University and while it's been a year or two (perhaps even more?!) since we graduated and we don't get to see each other as often as I would like, I know she's always there for me.
Last year she and her husband had their first baby, William, who is just incredibly adorable and turns one today!

I wanted to make him something hand-crafted as part of his birthday present. I did this as part of his Christmas persent too, and if I'm honest, it did not go so well. 

I decided to make a themed hat for him- a Christmas pud hat and just made it up as I went along starting from the top. 

 As usual with me, it was a little last minute (I was organising a Christmas Eve wedding to be fair) so by the time I realised it was going to be a bit, i.e. a lot, on the large size I didn't have time to make another so sent it to him anyway. I did feel bad but on the positive side he can now grow into it and can still be wearing it on Christmas 2025. Here's the gorgeous little man himself, modelling said hat!

For his birthday I decided to steer away from clothing and go for a safer option of a toy- a crocheted rabbit. 

I thought to make things a little easier I would use a pattern but not wanting things to be too simple I altered the pattern as I went along.

Lion Brand Yarns (LBY) are a fabulous yarn manufacturer in the US and happily their yarns are easy to get hold of in the UK thanks to the internet, such as from LoveKnitting.com
Having said that, there's nothing like buying yarn in person so last time I was in the US I made a trip to a Micheal's (a nice big tick on my wish list) and bought a few different balls.

The LBY site has a really wonderful selection of patterns, a huge amount of which are completely free when you join up to the LBY Community for free!! 

The best part is the search function as you can filter by craft, wool type, recipient, skill level and more- it's fantastic and definitely worth having a look! Of course being an American company the crochet patterns uses US terminology, something to keep in mind if you're the other side of the Atlantic.

Well for William I found this cute fellow, Boudreaux The Bear, by selecting- "crochet", "for babies/infants", "toys".

The LBY pattern section does have rabbit patterns but for some reason they didn't appeal to me the same way Boudreaux did and I thought with a few adjustments he'd make a nice bunny.
He is crocheted in the round with a stitch marker indicating the start of each round and Martha Stewart Crafts Roving Wool in Fence Post. The instructions say a 6mm hook but I used a 5mm by accident, thankfully gauge isn't important and by the time I realised he was done!

I followed the body instructions almost exactly except I added an extra round of single crochet (US, double crochet in British terms) just to make him ever so slightly longer and leaner.
I added quite a few extra rounds to the head because I thought a rabbit's head needs to be longer than a bears.

For the limbs I used Boudreaux's arm instructions for both the arms and legs but I added 2 rounds of sc before the final 2 round of decreases. 
I had to make up the ears and the tail. 

The tail was simple and made up using only 3 rounds:
Rnd1- I worked 8 sc (sticking with the US terms) into a magic circle.
Rnd2- 2 sc in each sc around
Rnd3- sc2tog around

For the ears I followed the first 4 rounds of the arms.
Rnds 5-8 1 sc in each sc around
Rnd9- sc2tog around
Rnd10- 1 sc2tog and fasten off. This gave the end a point, I flattened each ear and sewed the two sides together as I was sew the end of wool in.
I then attached all the sections together using a plastic needle and the ends of the wool.

All that was left was to sew a little face on. For this I used embroidery cotton, pink for the nose and black for the eyes and mouth.

He ended up being about 30cm tall, the same as Boudreaux. I didn't add a ribbon though as I was worried it may come loose even if sewn on.
Hopefully William likes his new little buddy!

Until next time, craft in earnest! Craftin' Ernest x

Birthday Presents

Another reason I love September is that my birthday is in September and who doesn't love a birthday?
This year I was totally spoilt thanks to great family and friends! I received some gorgeous and thoughtful gifts and some lovely handmade items. Good old "Not On The High Street" came up trumps, I just love that site and the fact you're supporting talented people.
I got lots of chocolates as my friends know me so well and lots of my cards had owls or tortoises on- perfect.
As we are thrill-seekers my sister brought us to Thorpe Park with an overnight stay in a nearby hotel but she said she couldn't resist a couple of beautifully made items she thought I'd like, for me to unwrap in the morning. Well I didn't like them, I loved them! A stunning pair of wooden owl earrings from Ginger Pickles, how could I not adore them?? And the best tea towel ever by Dear Colleen....

My friends and family gave me lots of wonderful goodies including a tin for buttons, you can never have too much storage for buttons (if you have as many buttons as me), a fab notebook to sketch the items I plan to make next.
I received some wonderful homemade gifts, one of my friends got all creative with her Hama Beads and made my some magnets including this cutie.

Another friend made me the sweetest little Victoria Sponge as a token to go with a voucher for Afternoon Tea at the Celtic Manor Resort (home of the 2011 Ryder Cup, if you don't mind), I can't wait for us to put on our finery and have a wonderful afternoon together!
I was also delighted with a beautiful brooch a friend bought at a local craft fair- so pretty. She knows me so well as I certainly have a thing for brooches as you will see in a future post.

My wonderful hubby bought me something he knew I would love and I have wanted to do for ages... a one day course in making resin jewellery. I'm so excited and happily it's this Saturday coming!
I will of course let you know how I get on.

I'm so blessed to have such amazing family and friends!

Until next time, craft in earnest, Craftin' Ernest