The Chapter Manager of the Colorado House Rabbit Society asked for bunny-themed knitted items for their gift shop, auctions, and fundraisers. I'd suggest asking your local HRS chapter if they can use anything or just send stuff to the Colorado HRS.
I contacted several pattern writers for permission to use patterns to knit and send to the CO HRS. I was lucky enough to receive permission from Anne Bosch of Blackberry Farm to knit and donate the rabbit socks from the Pet Socks Pattern and from Barb Telford of Woodsmoke Woolworks to knit and donate her adorable Bunnies and Carrots hat. Barb also said I could use her other patterns for this purpose so I may also be making her Bunnies and Carrots baby sweater - both patterns are available for Naked Sheep.
Here's my first attempt at the Bunnies and Carrots hat in Lamb's Pride. As you can see there are tension issues with my stranding efforts between each rabbit. This weekend I made two more versions of this hat and I've decided not to strand but instead to leave long floats instead. I figure long floats really don't matter in a hat as much as they would in mittens or socks.
The Bunnies & Carrots hat is done in worsted weight and can be done in any size from baby to adult large, with or without ear flaps. If you decide to knit this particular hat, I have a recommendation. Start the ear flaps with your I-cord, then directly go from there to the bottom of the ear flap and then knit the ear flaps on the rim of the hat as specified. I made this hat for a four year old who managed to lose the cords to the ear flaps the first day he wore the hat so this method may help counteract that problem. In the photo above, the green hat was done in this method but the brown one simply had the I-cord cords attached to the ear flaps.
Also, don't strand the yarn between the bunnies because you will get puckering. This will result in some long floats but will look a lot better. You can tack down the long floats later if the hat will be for a child. If you hate bobbles (the bunny's tails are bobbles) you can double or triple your yarn and just do French knots instead. I stuffed the carrots with plain old cotton balls.
And here are two other photos of bunny stuff I donated - the mittens are just plain mittens (any pattern will do) with rabbit ears added. The bunny slippers are just Theresa's Fuzzy Feet done in size 6 needles with rabbit ears added.
