Seamless rabbit

A friend runs the Pipkin Rabbit Rescue in the north of England, and a Ravelry group is making toy rabbits for her as fundraisers.  The designer of an adorable pattern, Billy Bliss Bunny Rabbit (Ravelry link), gave me permission to make one to be sold for charity.  My rabbit will be faceless since my embroidery skills are poor, but my friend will put a face on it for me.

I'm using Berroco Comfort, which is a splitty yarn with lots of loosely twisted plies, but picking up stitches for the body went well.  I used US1 needles to pick up the stitch without knitting it, then transferred to my US3 as I knit  the first row.  The seamless construction is appealing, I dislike sewing myriad toy pieces together.  The only thing I'll have to sew on is a pom-pom tail and that's worth the awkward first few rows after picking up stitches on a stuffed piece of rabbit.  The yarn is soft and machine washable which seemed good qualities for a charity bunny, it's an acrylic/nylon blend in worsted weight.

It's a bigger bunny than I expected, the head is the size of a hefty lemon and it's supposed to end up 12 inches long.  Working worsted yarn on US3 needles gives a solid fabric and I'm happy with the look.  It's not an entirely practical travelling project as you have to stuff as you finish each section.  I may pack stuffing when I'm working on legs, or put the final stitches on holders.