I saw this Garter Stitch Square Bunny on Pinterest. The knitting part is so easy - just a garter stitch square - that I tried it out to see if it would be any good for the school knitting group that I'm hoping to set up. The school is in a state of upheaval at the moment with the long-standing headteacher leaving at Easter, so they've asked for the group to be put on hold for a while.  I'm hanging on in there though; those children are desperate to learn to knit, I just know it.

To make the bunny, I used...
A small quantity of DK yarn
4mm needles
Toy stuffing
A contrast colour for the pompom tail.
A blunt-ended sewing needle.

Cast on 23 stitches, knit in garter stitch until you have a square. (Tip: to check if you've knitted a square without using a ruler, lift a corner of the cast on edge up to the diagonally opposite corner on the needle.  If the edges are aligned then you've got a square.) Cast off.

Use running stitch to sew a triangle shape on the knitted square, as in the picture. Obviously it's better to use matching yarn for the sewing.

Pull on the ends to make your bunny's face and ears.  Put some stuffing in the head area.  

Adjust the ears so that they point nicely forwards and then pull the running stitch tight and securely sew everything closed between the ears. .

Use mattress stitch to close up the seam on bunny's back...

... making sure to pull to close the seam neatly (my favourite bit).

Put stuffing inside the body and then use mattress stitch to sew up the end seam.

Use running stitch all the way from the bottom of the rabbit up to the base of the ears and then pull tight and secure to give bunny the nice rounded shape.
This bit is a little fiddly and I had to experiment a little to get it right. Make sure the yarn is secured very well at the top.

You can use a fork to make a small pompom for the tail.  Lay a shortish (20cm) length of yarn through the middle tines of the fork, then start winding a long length of yarn around the fork width. When you've finished, tie the shorter yarn tightly around the wound yarn. Pull it off the fork and then cut the loops just as you would normally when making a pompom. It will need neatening up with scissors to make a nice rounded shape.

Firmly attach tail to bunny.

I'm in two minds as to whether this is a useful project for a children's knitting group. The square itself needs to be quite neat and robust to stop stuffing poking out, while beginners often have tension issues and holes. Plus it's fairly tricky to sew the bunny together, as you have to hold everything tight while its secured into place. Maybe too tricky for a child. 

It's cute though.

Wendy x

It seems I have made a nice cat cushion.

Wendy x

My children have watched me knitting since almost the moment they were born. Even in those early days when my whole world had turned into an alien landscape involving more nappy-changing than I ever thought possible, endless hours on the sofa attempting to feed, and hormone levels so erratic that sobbing with joy followed tears of despair as seamlessly as if they'd been joined with mattress stitch. Even then I would still try and find time to knit a row most evenings.

My eldest started asking to learn to knit at about three, and I foolishly tried to show him.  He has asked and we've tried again about once a year since, until he properly picked it up when he was about eight.  I know there are other ways to get young children going with yarn - pompoms,  finger knitting and knitting dollies - and we did make pompoms, but I didn't know about finger knitting then, and never quite got the point of the knitting dolly.

What I hadn't expected was the sheer frustration of the whole thing.  We'd sit down with yarn and needles and I'd demonstrate: "Through the front door, around the back..." He'd start, go wrong, I'd say, "No, not like that" all nice and calm, but it seems the damage was done.  Within minutes he'd be throwing it down and saying he couldn't do it, with me not able to understand why he wouldn't just try again and having a full-on frustration tantrum.  Yes, I mean me.

So the next time he asked to learn, I would tell myself to adjust my expectations.  Of course he wasn't going to be able to knit perfectly, he may never learn to knit at all, but that wouldn't be the end of the world, the point is to enjoy it.  Even so, I didn't usually make it more than ten minutes before pronouncing through gritted teeth that I was "just going to make a cup of tea."

But both boys learnt in the end and between them they've produced a couple of scarves for their teddies, and they're sporadic, but keen, knitters.  I still do emergency rows to get things back on track - once one of them managed to turn ten stitches into twenty in a single row!  But I have learnt to relax about the whole thing, and try never to rip back their work if there is any possibility of saving it.

...except maybe if they're not looking!