Hi there!

Great of you to take a look at my first Instructable, which features my first ever made pattern! I hope you like it as much as I do.

Why?
I just had to make something to bring me in the Spring-mood. Bunnies were a perfect solution! They aren't too Easter-y, so they can stay till Summer.

What?
A bunny was my solution, but finding the perfect bunny was kind of hard. I saw ones with big ears, big feet, weird bodies and so on. None of them really made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, till I saw these sweet (literally) Sugar Bunnies by Carolyne on The Party Artisan. I just had to crochet them!

How?
Since the bunnies made by Carolyne were made out of fondant, I had to make my own pattern. I did this with a lot of trial-and-error and a small bit of cheating (weaving in holes and stuff), but I think the end result is cute, that's what matters.

While reading this Instructable, keep in mind that I'm kind of new to amigurumi.. This is the second
project I've ever amigurumi-ed. This is my first time creating a pattern. So if something is unclear, wrong or could have been better, please, do not hesitate to let me know!

Have fun creating and treasuring these sweet little creatures, all Spring long ;)

Greetings,
Cindy

Step 1: Materials

Yarn:
- Yarn for your bunny,
- Pink yarn for the ears, nose and feet,
- Black yarn for the eyes,
- (White yarn for the eyes),
- Acrylic yarn for the fluffy tail,
Polyester stuffing,
Crochet hook,
Scissors,
Embroidery Needle.

Step 2: Abbreviations

sc: single crochet
st: stitch
\/: increase
\|/: increase two times in the same st
/\: Invisible Decrease (Tutorial by Planet June)

(I like to use this symbols, you can count the 'top' to know how many stitches you have to have when you're done and you can count the 'bottom' to see how much you had to have when you started)

Step 3: The Head

Row 1: [5] make a magic circle with 5 st

Row 2: [11] \/ \/ \/ \/ \|/

Row 3: [15] \/ 2sc \/ 2sc \/ 2sc \/ 1sc

Row 4: [17] 4sc \/ 7sc \/ 2sc

Row 5: [17] 17sc

Row 6: [17] 17sc

Row 7: [15] 1sc /\ 6sc /\ 6sc

Row 8: [10] 1sc /\ 1sc /\ 1sc /\ 1sc /\ 1sc /\

Fill head with stuffing.

Row 9: [7] 1sc /\ 1sc /\ 1sc /\ 1sc

Row 10: fasten the head with the thread.

Don't add the eyes just yet if you are going to embroider them on.. Do this when you know where her ears are going to be.

If you have safety eyes, you should put them on while making the head.

Step 4: The Body

Row 1: [5] Make a magic circle with 5 st

Row 2: [11] \/ \/ \/ \/ \|/

Row 3: [15] \/ 2sc \/ 2sc \/ 2sc \/ 1sc

Row 4: [18] 3sc \/ 4sc \/ 4sc \/ 1sc

Row 5: [20] 7sc \/ 8sc \/ 1sc

Row 6: [20] 20sc

Row 7: [20] 20sc

Row 8: [18] 3sc /\ 8sc /\ 5sc

Row 9: [18] 18 sc

Row 10: [12] 1sc /\ 1sc /\ 1sc /\ 1sc /\ 1sc /\ 1sc /\

Fill body with stuffing.

Row 11: [7] 1sc /\ 1sc /\ 1sc /\ 2sc

Now you're done, you don't have to close up the body. This will make a nicer neck when you'll sew everything together.

Step 5: The Ears (2x)

Pink part:

1. chain 6.

2. skip the last stitch and make 5 sc in the back loop of the chain.

3. finish with a slip stitch on the bottom. Knot the beginning and the end together and cut them (not too far) off. This makes a nice and horizontal finish for the bottom of the pink part.

Back part of the ear:

1. chain 7 with the colour of your bunny.

2. skip the last stitch and make 6 sc in the back loop of the chain.

3. increase in the first stitch of your chain and continue making stitches till you reach the end.

4. Don't cut your yarn (yet!)

Combining pink and backside:

Place the pink part on top of the ear part.

Make sc through the front loop of the pink part and the normal way through the back part Do this all the way around and finish at the top part of the ear.

Don't worry if something is a bit too tight, just try to wiggle your way through. And don't mind to cheat sometimes, this way you´ll be able to make all stitches.

Now you can cut your yarn, make sure you have a long tail left, you can use this to connect the ears to the head.

Step 6: The Hands (2x)

1. Chain 3.

2. skip the last stitch and increase through the back loop of the chain. Do this with every stitch of the chain till you finish where you started increasing. Eventually you'll end up with 7 stitches.

3. 7st

4. 7st

5. 7st

5. skip one stitch and sc in the other one. Do this till you reach 4 stitches.

6. make 4 sc till you reach the desired length. I try to make 6 stitches in the remaining stitches. This will take some effort, because you are working in the length.

Step 7: The Feet (2x 2)

Part 1:

1. make a magic circle with 5 stitches, fasten the first and last stitch with a slip stitch.

2. chain 6

3. skip the last stitch and make 5 sc through the back loop on the chain.

4a. skip the first stitch on your magic circle and 1 sc through the second stitch on the magic circle,

4b. increase the next two stitches

4c. make 2 more sc.

5. make sc around the other end of the chain using the front loops only.

6. close it using a slip stitch.

You'll see gaps between the stitches you've made in the back/front loops.. I'm not an expert, I haven't found a way to make my stitches without these. (If you know how to fix it, please let me know!) If you really don't want them showing, you can use the beginning thread to weave through the gaps.

Cut off tail if you made part 1.

Part 2:

Make part 1, but don't cut off the tail (you'll thank me later, it is a real pain to have too many tails and to have to add an other just to combine the two parts..)

To make a foot:

Combine the two parts using sc through both halves. This will make a clear border made of stitches on one halve. This halve will make the bottom part of the foot. You can fold the foot a bit inwards to make it more foot-like.

To make the sweet toes you'll have to sew some on using the pink yarn you used for the ears.

I try to make the top part of the toes just below the border you've made connecting the two parts of the foot.

Step 8: The Fluffy Tail

Use white acrylic yarn for the fluffy tail.

Row 1: [5] make a magic circle with 5 stitches

Row 2: [9] 1st \/ 1st \/ 1st \/

Row 3 [9] 9st

Fill tail with stuffing.

If you want to you can fasten the tail here. This will make a smaller tail.

(Row 4 [5] 1st /\ 1st /\ 1st /\)

(Fasten the tail. Leave a longer thread.)

Use some sort of small brush or cleaning thing to rub the tail with. This will loosen the yarn to make it fluffy.

Step 9: Sewing Everything Together

You can place them in any position you'd like! To do this, you can pin the parts, so you can see what they will look like when you sew them on.

In the first picture you can see a bunny relaxing in the sun ;)

You can use wire if you really want to have something staying in a certain way, but most of the time sewing the parts on right and folding and moulding them works just fine.

To sew them on, use small stitches around the parts.

You can see some other examples of bunny-positions in the next photo's.

Step 10: Adding Details

Now you can sew on the details.

Nose:

I like to make some sort of a triangle nose, which is wider on the top and starts/finishes in one point at the bottom.

Eyes:

You can make any kind of eye you like.

I like to make triangle eyes, where I make the bottom horizontal, the end to the nose vertical and connect the two with a diagonal line. Fill in the rest and maybe leave/add some white for an extra cute eye.

Step 11: Enjoy

Place your bunny somewhere you can enjoy it and make you feel all warm and Spring-y ;)

I hope you like this Instructable.
If you have any questions or remarks, just let me know!

Introduction: Cute Little Spring Bunnies (Crochet)