Lily and Lalla

I'd been wanting to design a new ami for a while. And it had to be a bunny, named Lily. I had the image of Lily in my head. I doodled several pictures of her in margins. I wanted Lily to be a doll bunny. I wanted to make her clothes, shoes.

So I made my bunny. I made her legs, with feet. I made her chubby tummy. I make her arms, her head, her ears. And then I sewed her together. Hmm. I hated sewing her together. I couldn't get her legs on straight. She suddenly reminded me of the first ever ami I published, chubby teddy, who was made in the same way but was smaller and softer and easier to sew together. She was cute, but her legs were decidedly wonky.

I made her a cute jacket. But those wonky legs bothered me.

Since my early beginnings in amigurumi, I have been trying to simplify the construction of the toys I make. I know I'm not the only one who hates sewing pieces together. Crocheting them in as you go is the solution! Of course it's not always possible. It depends on the pieces and how they lie (ears for example can only rarely be crocheted in).

So Lily  (with her wonky legs and cute jacket) sat and waited. And I started on Lalla. Lalla is worked from the bottom up. You'll start with her feet, that are crocheted as part of her legs, that are crocheted straight on to her body, then you'll crochet in her arms.

Then you'll increase for her head, then you'll crochet in her ears, add a face, and keep on crocheting right to the top of her head. Lalla is a lop-eared rabbit and her head is round. Some people tell me she looks more like a dog than a rabbit. Lalla can also stand unaided!

I think my third rabbit may well be a mixture of Lily and Lalla (Lila?) She'll have the same one-piece body as Lalla with the same head as Lily.

I'm busy writing up the pattern for Lalla, and I'll also include the options for the sew-on head and ears. It may take me a while because it's a long pattern. I'll include the cute jacket pattern too. I'll post to my facebook page as soon as it's done. You can see another photo of Lily with her jacket on facebook too!