"Bea" is for Bunny

Easter Bunny by Barbara Prime
knitted in Cascade 220 wool, dark brown, chambray, soft pink, and hot pink; Nashua Handknits cotton dk, white
knitted on US 3 Crystal Palace 8" DPN's
Ravelers find Bea here.

The Easter bunny came by our house this year and delivered Annabelle a new little friend.  Meet "Bea," short for Beatrice, and named in honor of Aunt Bea from the Andy Griffith Show.  Aunt Bea is currently Annabelle's favorite TV personality, and she spends most days quoting Andy and Opie's favorite aunt.  So when it came time to name Annabelle's new bunny, it was a no brainer.

This is my second toy I've knitted from one of Barbara's patterns, and they are such a joy to knit.  I just started Bea yesterday, and even with all the added touches Annabelle and I came up with, I was still finished before the kids got up this morning.  For this bunny, we decided to embellish her quite a bit, but at the same time, keep those embellishments simple.  We decided on little blue shoes with white lacey socks and a pink and blue striped dress to match.  And of course, Bea had to be a chocolate bunny! 

Adding extras on to one of these little patterns is pretty easy.  The trick is in the finishing.  To really make for a clean bunny, anywhere I picked up stitches I came back later and added a single chain of crochet along the edge to clean it up.  And for me, picking up stitches off of the body of the bunny is much easier in dress making than making a separate dress. 

As for the lacey socks, before seaming and stuffing, I picked up stitches along the edge of Bea's shoe in a smaller dk weight yarn, making sure I had an even number of stitches.  Then I knitted in stockinette for four rows.  After that I used a two-stitch picot edge bind off*.  That's it!

Annabelle is beside me right now asking if I want to watch Bea do her happy dance.  So I guess I'm off to a dance recital!  Knitting these little toys is so much fun.  But to hear your little girl in her room, playing with all her knitted toys... why, that's just Bea...utiful!

*Two-Stitch Picot Edge Bind Off:

At the beginning of your work, on the left needle, cast on 2 stitches using the backward-loop.
*Bind off 4 stitches, and place last stitch cast off back onto left needle.
Cast on 2 stitches and repeat from * until all stitches have been bound off.  Weave in any ends.

----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Jackie  DATE: 03/24/2008 12:27:57 PM Love it! SOOO cute
----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Denise  DATE: 03/24/2008 01:55:21 PM How cute, and just priceless to hear your daughter playing with those toys knit with love :-)
----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Myriam DATE: 03/24/2008 05:15:56 PM You WIN!!She is adorable!! I love her! will you make me one too lol :)
----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Jennifer  DATE: 03/24/2008 09:04:26 PM Thanks guys! Annabelle loves her bunny. She's been carrying Sheldon the lamb and Bea around all day. Too sweet! Myriam I'm looking forward to your fuzzy lamb. Aren't these patterns a blast?
----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Amy  DATE: 03/25/2008 02:53:53 PM Just too cute, love it!
----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Ulla V. DATE: 03/25/2008 04:07:03 PM What a pleasure to read about your newly knitted Bea - You get so many wonderful ideas...lucky Annabelle :0) My grandmother used to make such adoring knitted and crocheted dolls and animals for her 9 grandchildren....I still have the ones she made for me, and I can definitely remember making dance recitals with some of them ;0)
----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Jennifer in KS DATE: 03/27/2008 08:58:35 AM Ah-dorable. Ain't it good to have somebunny to love?