George!

we have returned from vacation! Cape Cod is beautiful as always, and I wish yet again that we had more time up there, and that Massachusetts was magically an hour and a half from New Jersey instead of minimum five hours (when driving with only grown ups who can suck it up and not pee already . . . oh and blessed by the traffic gods) to seven or nine hours (when driving with small, awake, children who are not easily placated by the magical technology of DVD players in the car and just want to GO GO GO GO NOW NOW NOW  at the top of their tiny little lungs). And speaking of small squirmy children . . . 

The littlest little enjoyed his time at the Cape, and furthered his obsession with bunnies (and Paw Patrol. Ugh.). His attempts at hopping are hilarious, and really just turn out to be stomping, or stomping REALLY FAST. And he alternates between shooting "BUN!" and "JOR!" when he spys a rabbit, either in real life or as a picture. The JOR is short for George. You see, for whatever reason, my family has always called the many many bunnies hanging out by the house on the cape, "George". Don't ask, even we don't know. Sometimes he's looking for the mama bunny, so it's "BUN! Mama? BUN!" As one does. 

A few years ago we picked up a great close up photo of a George from a local Cape photographer, and hung it up in the house in the room where the kids sleep.  But now that we are back home, there's only the picture of a bunny on the littlest little's favorite cup and man is he bummed by that.  

And last night he requested a bunny of his very own, by trying to snuggle the cup and take it to bed. I asked him if he missed the Georges, and got a very enthusastic "YEAH."  I asked if he wanted to snuggle the bunny: "YEAH!"  I asked if he wanted me to make him a bunny of his very own to snuggle, and the kiddo practically bounced off my lap with a big "YEAH! BUN! YEAH!"

So bunny softie it shall be.  Keep in mind this kid already has a collection of about fifteen animals in his crib--most of them cast offs from the biggest little who really could care less about stuffed animals.  The little one though?  Carries his baby doll around snuggling her, and gathers up as many animals as he can hold like Navin Johnson with the thermos.  "All I need is baby Boo.  Baby Boo and this kitty.  Baby Boo and this kitty and this hedgehog.  And this Plex.  And this chair. . . " 

I've flipped through my knitting books, including the EXCELLENT Susan B. Anderson's Itty Bitty Toys (affiliate link), for bunny patterns.  I've made her Elefante (ravelry pattern link) for the biggest little a while back, to great success.  And she has a great pattern sense. 

I like her sock yarn bunny a lot, probably the larger version, but would probably make the arms a bit shorter. I also like Ysolda Teague's bunny--very cute face.  Bunnies are weird for softies, I feel like a bunch of them skew a bit too pointy and lean for my tastes--I think it's the shape of the snout.  I want something short, stubby, and cute--amigurumi-esque but also still recognizable as a bunny. But as I learned with Elefante and Grumpasaurus, placement of the eyes is crucial--too close and they look evil; too far apart or too big and they're too old school "cute."  The big cuddly bunny from Purl Soho is almost too stylized for me, but damn it's cute. This bunny in a blue dress (aka Miffy) is pretty cute, but I'd ditch the dress and go straight up nakey bunny.

And then we get into yarn choice and color.  Grey and white? Grey and pink? Brown?  My default yarn for this type of thing is a Cascade 220-esque (sturdy, worsted weight wool with good stitch definition and soft but pleasantly wooly), but maybe a furry/chenille type of thing would work well?  But would it drive me batshit?  (hint: YES IT WOULD)

Or do I go full on "creative" and avoid the realistic colors?  Stripeys? Tell me interwebs what to choose!