Have you ever knit with angora yarn? It's ever so lovely and soft as it passes through your fingers. Since embarking on "The Naturals" kitty cat gang and knitting one of the cats from my gray angora hand-spun yarn, I've been a bit obsessed with angora and can't stop knitting and spinning with it. My fiber comes from a lovely woman named Mary Lou who runs Angora Gardens along with her daughters. I met her this past Spring at Yarnover, the annual knitting/spinning/all things fiber conference here in Minnesota, and the moment I touched the fibers she had for sale I was hooked. I purchased her grey cloud roving, which is a blend of 60% sheep's wool with 40% angora fiber, that day to spin my own yarn.
I had plans for the freshly spun angora yarn to line mittens and hats
for some extra soft warmth, but my plans took a turn to toys instead.
What better fiber to knit stuffed bunnies with but with bunny fur
itself! So, now that I knew what I wanted to knit with my yarn I
embarked on finding the perfect bunny rabbit pattern. The two I liked
best was this one where the bunny is made from a simple square of stockinette knitting and this one
which is knit in the round using double pointed needles. Neither was
quite right until I combined them and gave the ears of one to the body
of another, thus making, in my eyes, the perfect bunny. This bunny,
along with it's predecessors, are in my shop now for purchase. But, you can also win one in a giveaway over at Linda's blog Natural Suburbia where I am a new sponsor. Head on over to Natural Suburbia tomorrow to learn some more about me and my business Simply Playing and of course see how you can win the sweet angora bunny pictured in the third photo below!
Good luck everyone and have a joyous weekend!
Bunny number one I thought the ears were too floppy.
Bunny number two I missed having any back legs and found the pattern a little too fussy for my taste.
Bunny number three I just love! All four legs, simple pattern and ears that stand up - perfect!
This reminds me of the Velveteen Rabbit. At first, he didn't have hind legs. But then, when he became real, he got hind legs and could dance and play with the other rabbits. :)
ReplyDeleteGreat literary comment Denise! Totally made me smile even though I can't make it through that book without crying.
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