Easter Basket and Bunny

 Now that my children are a bit older (3 and 1) I am looking forward to Easter, since they will both be able to participate in a good Easter egg hunt.  I know that the shops sell tons of Easter baskets for putting in your eggs, but that is not anywhere near as fun as making them, which is what I have been doing over the past couple of weeks.  I wanted the baskets to hold their shape and having watched a lot of videos recently about crocheting over led tube lights I thought a similar thing might work with washing line.   So I bought a huge washing line cheaply and along with some of the blanket wool I have left from when Aldi sold it earlier in the year, I decided to see what I could come up with.

I initially made the rainbow Easter basket out of a chunky wool, but decided that it wasn't quite what I wanted.  I really like it but its quite delicate as it lacks the thickness the blanket wool gives.   I also tried crocheting with just 1 strand of blanket wool, but it was quite wobbly and didn't hold its shape very well.  I definitely prefer the shape and robustness of the 2 stranded blanket wool baskets, particularly as these are going to toddlers!   I also added a decorative flower or star to the front of the baskets as they just looked like they were lacking without.   I tried two stitches for the baskets, using just standard single crochet and one using moss stitch, which gave it more of the traditional basket weave look.

Any Easter Basket needs filling and I wanted something the children would be able to keep in their baskets after all the chocolate had gone.  My initial thought was chicks or bunnies, but since I couldn't find a fluffy yellow wool to work with for the chicks, I decided to go with bunnies.   Maybe I can work on chicks for next Easter!   I spent quite a bit of time fiddling around with the pattern for the bunny.  I edited almost every part from the initial first design to the final version which I was finally happy with.   Although the white and black bunnies are cute they don't have ears that hold up very well or are large enough, plus the limbs just seem too small for their body.  After adjusting those I came up with the grey and brown bunnies, and each has a slightly different nose.  I am still not sure which I prefer but they both look cute.

After finishing the baskets and the bunnies to go in them all was needed was a trip to the shops for eggs, and although I could have made them, they wouldn't be a substitute for chocolate ones.   They each have a small bundle of mini chocolate eggs in them, plus kinder eggs and chocolate chicks.   I have made enough for both my nieces to have as well as my children and I am sure once that chocolate is eaten there will be more eggs to add in them from any hunting they may do!

I have written down the patterns for the Easter Baskets and Bunnies below.  There are still a couple weeks left until Easter so if you haven't made or purchased anything yet then I hope you can use this pattern and that you will love them as much as I do.   I am looking forward to seeing the children receiving their baskets and bunnies on Easter morning, I am hoping to make bunny foot prints from their bedroom for them to follow to the baskets at the end.

I hope you have enjoyed reading this weeks post, and if you do decide to make some baskets and bunnies, I would love to see pictures of them through either the comments here or any of my social media channels.   See you next time.

Vicky x

Easter Basket & Bunny Pattern

There are two Easter Basket patterns, plus a choice of basket decoration and a pattern for the bunny to put in it.

  

1.  Materials and Resources

Below is a list of everything you will need to make 1 basket and 1 bunny

·        Blanket Yarn - you will need to ball as they are double stranded, I used less than 100g from each ball in any colours you like

·        Washing line or something similar - this is to keep the baskets shape

·        Needle for sewing in ends

·        About 20g of DK wool for the bunny, in any colour

·        10mm eyes in any colour for bunny

·        a small amount of stuffing

·        a small amount of black wool for the bunny's mouth

·        Stitch marker

·        8mm hook for baskets/ 4mm hook for bunnys

2.  Stitch List

Below is a list of all the stitches (and their abbreviations) featured in this series of patterns.  All terms used are American.

• Sc - single crochet
• Ch - chain
• sl st - slip stitch
• sc inc - Single crochet increase
• sc dec - Single crochet decrease
• trc - treble crochet
• dc - double crochet
• hdc - half double crochet
• moss stitch - sc, ch, sc
• b/l - back loops
• popcorn stitch - 5 double crochet in same stitch, pull up a loop, remove hook and insert through first dc, then back through loop and ch1.

 

3.  Pattern

 Easter Basket A - You will be crocheting around the wire from the second row.  Do not join each round with a sl st - use a stitch marker to show where your row ends and begins.

Row	Instruction	Stitches
1	6 Sc in magic circle	6
2	Working sc around the washing line (sc inc) x 6	12
3	(sc inc, sc) x6	18
4	(sc inc, 2sc) x6	24
5	(sc inc, 3sc) x6	30
6	Sc in b/l	30
7-11	sc around	30
12	make 30 sc around the wire (not into the basket) this will form the handle, sk 14sc and sc into the 15th sc, ch1 turn	30
13	sc in each of the 30 sc across the handle and sc in the next sc on the basket, then cut the wire leaving a small tail.	30
14	*(sc ch sc, in next st, 2 sc) rep until you get to the handle and sl st through the two stitches in the handle.*  Rep from * to * You will work the wire tail into this row
	Sl st and cast off then sew in the ends.

 

Easter Basket B - You will be crocheting around the wire from the second row.  Do not join each round with a sl st - use a stitch marker to show where your row ends and begins.

Row	Instruction	Stitches
1	6 Sc in magic circle	6
2	Working sc around the washing line (sc inc) x 6	12
3	(sc inc, sc) x6	18
4	(sc inc, 2sc) x6	24
5	(sc inc, 3sc) x6	30
6	Sc in b/l	30
7	moss stitch around (sc, ch1, sc, ch1 etc)	30
8	moss stitch around (sc in ch1 gap, sc) rep to end	30
9-11	Moss stitch around	30
12	make 30 sc around the wire (not into the basket) this will form the handle, sk 14sc and sc into the 15thsc, ch1 turn	30
13	sc in each of the 30 sc across the handle and sc in the next sc on the basket, then cut the wire leaving a small tail.
14	*(sc ch sc, in next st, 2 sc) rep until you get to the handle and sl st through the two stitches in the handle.*  Rep from * to * You will work the wire tail into this row
	Sl st and cast off then sew in the ends

 

Flower Decoration

Row	Instruction	Stitches
1	Ch 4, sl st to form a ring
2	(ch3, 2trc, ch3, sl st) x 5 into the ring
3	(ch 1, 3 HDC in ch3 sp, 2 dc in between the 2 trc, 2HDC in ch3 sp, ch1, sl st into previous slst) x5
	Sl st, cast off and Sew to basket

 

Star Decoration

Row	Instruction	Stitches
1	5 sc in magic ring	5
2	(sc inc) x5	10
3	(sc hdc dc trc ch1 in sc then trc dc hdc sc in next sc) x5
	Sl st, cast off and Sew to basket

  

Bunny Pattern

Make the limbs and ears first as these will be attached as you go.

 

Arms make 2

Row	Instruction	Stitches
1	6 sc in magic circle	6
2	(sc inc) x6	12
3-9	Sc around	12
	sl st, cast off and stuff arm with wool tails and additional stuffing if required

 

Legs make 2

Row	Instruction	Stitches
1	6 sc in magic circle	6
2	(sc inc) x6	12
3	(sc inc, sc) x6	18
4	Sc in b/l	18
5-10	Sc around	18
	sl st cast off and stuff legs with wool tail and additional stuffing if required

 

Ears make 4

Row	Instruction	Stitches
1	ch 6, 2 sc in 2nd ch from hk, 3 sc, 3sc in last ch, 3 sc in the back of the chs, sc in started ch	6
2	2sc in 1st st, 2 sc in next st, 3sc, 2sc in next 3 st, 2sc in last st, sl st and cast off	12
3	take 2 bunny ears and hold them wrong sides together. sc around the edge of the ears to hold them together, sl st and cast off.   sew in any ends	18

 

Head

Row	Instruction	Stitches
1	6 sc in magic	6
2	(sc inc) x6	12
3	(sc inc, sc)	18
4	sc inc, 2sc, holding ear upside down with the right side facing the bunny, you will attach it with the next 3 stitches, insert hook through both loops of the ear and both loops of the head and sc through all loops, then sc through next st on ear and through the same stitch on the head to make as sc inc, then sc through 1 more st on ear and 1 more stitch on head to complete attaching the ear, sc, sc inc through just the head, then attach second ear as above using 2 sc and the 2st stitch of sc inc then add second stitch of sc inc in the head only, 2 sc (sc inc, 2sc) x 3	24
5	(sc inc, 3sc) x6	30
6	Sc around	30
7	27sc then popcorn stitch with 3hdc to create the nose, 2sc	30
8-3	Sc around	30
10	(sc dec, 3sc)	24
11	(sc dec, 2sc) x6	18
12	(sc dec sc) x6	12
13	sc around	12
	At this point insert eyes between rows 5 and 6 equally distant from the nose and roughly inline with the outer edges of the ears.   Stuff the head
14	(sc inc, sc) x 6	18
15	(sc inc, 2sc) x 2, attach first limb in the same manor as ears are attached using sc inc, 2 sc, sc inc, 2sc, attach second arm with sc in 2sc, (sc inc, 2sc) x2	24
16	(sc inc, 3sc)	30
17-24	Sc around	30
25	attach first leg with 3sc, 3sc, attach second leg with 3 sc, 10sc, popcorn stitch with 5dc, 10sc	30
26	(sc dec, 3sc) x6	24
27	(sc dec, 2sc) x6	18
28	(sc dec, sc) x6	12
	Stuff body
29	(sc dec) x6	6
	sl st, cast off and sew hole shut.   Then sew mouth onto bunny under the nose using the black wool.

 Add bunny to the Easter Basket and fill with chocolate!

  

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