Betsy Bunny - my Little Cotton Rabbit - DONE!

Meet Betsy. She is just about to be packaged up and sent off to Durham to be cared for by my nearly 4 year old niece as it's her birthday next weekend.

Betsy is my first attempt at knitting any kind of toy, Nellie the elephant was crocheted! Most of the pieces are knitted flat so there is quite a bit of sewing up but I decided to half do the body, the legs and her dress in the round on dpns. Now I know how to do  magic loop I think I would use that to knit another bunny, easier and neater. The body is knitted in Rowan Felted Tweed in camel and Kidsilk Haze in pearl worked together and the dress, tights and shoes in Drops Baby Merino 4 ply, the colour range is just beautiful.

Julie's pattern is very precise and gives a great result, even for a beginner bunny maker. Lots of tips on sewing up and the all important stuffing and facial features. I made the dress a bit longer to cover up dodgy workmanship on Betsy's legs.

I even managed to be organised and knit Betsy in plenty of time for the birthday girl. I went to find her to package up and post and spent the whole weekend getting more and more desperate as she had run off. Eventually I found her on Monday night really buried in my yarn box under the bed. Phew, I didn't have time to knit another. Yes I had already looked in there several times! Betsy is having a breath of fresh air in the sunshine before a few days under wraps until being released into the wild in her new home next Sunday.

Next I will have to knit Betsy a brother, I think his name will be Bert!

Betsy Bunny finished 2nd February 2014 (knitted in a couple of weeks)

YARN: 
Body: Rowan Felted Tweed DK (157) in Camel 50% merino wool, 25% alpaca, 25% viscose and Rowan Kidsilk Haze in Pearl (590) 70% super kid mohair, 30% silk  Purchased from the ever wonderful Get Knitted in Bristol. 

Dress, tights and shoes: Drops Baby Merino 4 ply fingering 100% merino wool. Dress in Blue (30) and Light Sky Blue (24) Tights in Light Sky Blue (24) and White (01)  Shoes in Red (16) Purchased from Wool Warehouse

NEEDLES: KnitPro Symfonie 2.5mm 2.75mm and 3mm dpns

PATTERN: Little Cotton Rabbits' Bunny Girl in a Dotty Dress

HAPPY KNITTY INDEX: 8/10 (next one will be 9.5/10 as I know what I am doing now)

One a Day Project - Tuesday's Tallies - Week 5 - Not Just Another Granny Square Blanket

It has been a bit of a topsy turvy week of potential change, but also there has been some knotting time. I almost don't want to "show and tell" yet as my Cath Kidston-y granny is so very very very very nearly finished.

So here is a teaser...I am on the last round of the border and will finish tonight whilst watching The Great British Bake Off or GBBO, the best programme on TV by a mile.

I got home with the smallest one after quite a long day of driving and hanging around, to two parcels on my doorstep. Happy dance.

Please forgive me because I have done something very very naughty and ordered Garnstudio Drops Merino Extra Fine,100% squishy double knitting merino yarn which is extra soft and super-washable and hopefully hypo-allergenic! I have been very happy working with acrylic but I really really wanted to try a posh yarn, and it may be a very long time before a sale comes round again. Now I have what I desire, I will share the fabulous prices and even more fabulous service from The Wool Shed all the way up in Aberdeenshire.

I phoned on Sunday afternoon and Irene was very very helpful and found more colours than were showing online. I emailed my order through on Sunday night, they phoned Monday morning for card details and confirmed that it was fine to split my order into 2 parcels so the total post was £5. I paid just £2.35 per 50g ball, the yarn is on a 25% Drops sale at present, even at full price it is a very reasonable £3.10. The very next day my order arrives from the other end of the country, all present and correct and packed with love by Barbara and/or Anne. Enough yarn for a throw still adds up to a lot, but this is my present for that occasion  at the end of December...too early to mention the "C" word!! it will be for our bed and all I have decided upon are the colours. Now I have to plot and plan the design and muse whilst finishing the "Not Just Another Granny Square Granny Blanket" and the Blackberry stitch cushion (I have said nothing about that yet), and the planned One A Day throw in more Stylecraft for my mum and dad for that event in December we do not talk about until November ;) I seem to have broken my rule of not more than one project at a time.

Any guesses as to the colour scheme?

Inspiration from other wonderful One a Day projects are on Carole's blog.