Holidays are excuses. Excuses to eat obscene amounts of food, to dress up in funny outfits, to get out of work, to travel all the way to Moosejaw or Leavenworth to see Great Aunt Martha. Well, maybe not that last one. But after the holiday you’ll have an excuse not to visit again for a while.

They’re also an excuse to do a more-copious-than-usual amount of crafting. Easter specifically provides an excuse to do crafts involving unreasonably cute fluffy animals: bunnies, ducks, lambs. Most of which have nothing much to do with the religious or historical aspects of the holiday, but popsicle stick crosses get boring after the first one. Or even before.

When I was in grade 6 my friend and I made sock bunnies as a classroom project (we were homeschooled that year). We named them, sewed vast wardrobes for them, acquainted them with our other stuffed animals and held tea parties in their honour. My friend’s bunny even had a foam-board house, of which I was greatly envious.

It’s a relatively simple craft, seasonally appropriate, and provides an answer to what to do with all those unmatched socks lingering in the bottom of your laundry basket.

[NOTE: I was pretty excited to be reliving my childhood, making another sock bunny all these years later. So excited I sort of forgot to take pictures of some of the steps. I’ve tried to provide some illustrations to make up for this.]

1) Find an old sock. Now, the point here is to reuse and recycle, but you also don’t want to end up with a bunny with holes or ugly worn patches. It’s preferable to have a sock whose heel is still intact, as the heel will end up as the bunny’s face. Holes in the toe are easier to work around, as is fraying at the top of the sock.

2) Turn the sock inside out and lay it out on a flat surface, heel up.

3) Cut a rectangle out of the toe of the sock, stopping about an inch from the heel. Keep the cut-out rectangle.

4) Cut a rectangle out of the top (ankle/leg part) of the sock, stopping two or three inches from the heel. Keep the cut-out rectangle.

5) Using thread the same colour (or as close as you can get) to the sock, sew up the open inside edges of the toe. Sew across the bottom of that cut-out rectangle bit as well. You’ve just made the ears.

6) Sew up the open inside edges of the sock’s ankle. But do not sew across this rectangle’s top (short) edge, or you will not be able to stuff your bunny.

7) Turn the sock back right side out.

8) Stuff the bunny’s head (the heel of the sock). You don’t need to stuff the ears – they look better left floppy. For stuffing, you can use conventional stuffing (bought at a fabric or craft store). Or you could use scraps of fabric or felt (though this could be a bit lumpy), or (this is what I did since I didn’t have any stuffing in the house at the time) you could us scraps of yarn. Mine were the end bits from that finger-knitted chain scarf from a couple weeks back.

9) Once you have stuffed the head, get another sock (this one can be as old and wrecky as you like). Or you could make a little cloth pouch. Fill the toe of the second sock with beans, enough to fill the tummy of your bunny. Cut off the rest of the sock, sew up the open side, and stuff it inside your bunny’s stomach.

10) Stuff the bunny’s legs, then sew up the opening.

11) Take the rectangles of sock you cut out in steps 3 and 4, and fold them in half. These will be the arms. You may want to trim them a bit shorter.

12) sew up 3 sides of each rectangle. Turn them inside out, stuff them, sew them up, and attach them to the body.

13) Sew a few large stitches around the bunny’s neck to give it some definition. Do the same for its cheeks.

14) Sew on some button eyes and a nose.
That’s it! Now you can make your bunny some clothes, or maybe a foam-board house.