Bunny Holder Amigurumi

My first back to school craft for this year – Bunny Holder Amigurumi. They can be done by using some stash yarns and the free crochet pattern below.

This bunny holder amigurumi is not quite a usual “amigurumi” that we stuffed with poly-fill. I crochet a cover following the shape’s of the vitagen bottle, then decorated it into a bunny. It is an amigurumi craft because of the tight stitches and its toy-look, but not quite an amigurumi because it is not stuffed. Therefore, I called it “non-stuff” amigurumi 🙂

I started making amigurumi since I know how to crochet, some 30 years ago during my childhood years. I wasn’t even told the crochet I did has a name “amigurumi” which was meant for crochet stuffing toys. With the affluence of Japanese craft, the first non-stuff amigurumi I made was using this empty vitagen bottle. I remember I also made a bunny out of that, similar to this bunny but of course not so well did. Too bad I didn’t keep that precious first amigurumi piece to show you.  Well, it is not a nice good looking one to show off, but it was my first piece which deserved a place in my craft museum. What do you think a 10-year-old school kid can produce on her very first crochet toy?

I hope you like this bunny holder amigurumi. It doesn’t need to be for putting pencil, it can be used as a utensil holder for toddler’s utensil, or as a vase for flowers, or just anything you can think of.

Bunny Holder Amigurumi

Difficulty Level: Amigurumi Beginner

Materials & Tools:
1. Empty Vitagen bottle
2. Yarn stashes of pink & white colors (medium worsted weight), red & blue (lightweight baby yarn)
3. 3mm, 1.5mm crochet hook
4. 5mm wiggly eyes
5. Tapestry needle
6. Stitch marker
7. Strong multipurpose adhesive
8. Scissors
9. Beads and string for the necklace.

Note: I am not sure if you can get Vitagen worldwide but it is popular in SE Asia. Find an alternative if possible. Another brand you can look out for is Yakult but the different country will have different bottle shape.

Dimension:
Empty Vitagen bottle: 2″ base, 3 1/2″ tall. The neck begins at 1 1/2″ from the base.
Finished size: approx. 2 1/4″ wide (exclude bunny tail), 6″ tall (include ears)

Abbreviations:
st = stitch
ch = chain
sl st = slip stitch
sc = single crochet
sc2tog = single crochet 2 together (decrease) [suggest to use invisible decrease]
mm = move marker
fo = fasten off
[ ] = the number indicated in the bracket is the total sts in the round

Crochet Pattern:
(from bottom to top)

Bottle Body [make 1]
Base
PINK medium worsted weight yarn with 3mm hook
R1: ch2, 6sc in 1st chain, mm [6]
R2: 2sc in each st around, mm [12]
R3: *2sc in first st, 1sc in next st, repeat from * around, mm [18]
R4: *2sc in first st, 1sc in next 2 sts, repeat from * around, mm [24]
R5: *2sc in first st, 1sc in next 3 sts, repeat from * around, mm [30]
Body
R6 – R13: sc in each st around, mm [until you reach the bottle’s neck]
R14: *sc2tog decrease, 1sc in next 3 sts, repeat from * around, mm [24] {do invisible decrease}
Change to WHITE medium worsted weight yarn
R15: sc in each st around, mm
R16: *2sc in first st, 1sc in next 3 sts, repeat from * around, mm [30]
R17 – R19: sc in each st around, mm
R20: *sc2tog decrease, 1sc in next 8 sts, repeat from * around, mm [27]
R21: *sc2tog decrease, 1sc in next 7 sts, repeat from * around, mm [24]
R22: *sc2tog decrease, 1sc in next 6 sts, repeat from * around, mm [21]
R23: *sc2tog decrease, 1sc in next 5 sts, repeat from * around, mm [18]
fo & hide yarn end.

Ear [make 2]
WHITE medium worsted weight yarn with 3mm hook
R1: ch2, 6sc in 1st chain, mm [6]
R2: *2sc in first st, 1sc in next 2 sts, repeat from * around, mm [8]
R3: *2sc in first st, 1sc in next 3 sts, repeat from * around, mm [10]
R4: *2sc in first st, 1sc in next 4 sts, repeat from * around, mm [12]
R5 – R11: sc in each st around, mm
fo with 4″ – 6″ tail.

Red Flower [make 1 for female bunny]
RED light baby weight yarn with 1.5mm hook
R1 – ch2, 6sc on 2nd st from hook, slst to the first ch to make a ring.
R2 – *slst on next st, ch3, dc, ch3, slst, repeat * 6 times to make 6 petals.
fo with 4″ tail.

Blue Necktie [make 1 for male bunny]
BLUE light baby weight yarn with 1.5mm hook
Row 1: ch2, 1sc on 2nd ch from hook, turn
Row 2: ch1, 3sc in next st, turn.
Row 3: ch1, 1sc on 1st st, 2sc in next st, 1sc in next st, turn.
Row 4 – Row 10: ch1, sc in each st, turn.
ch around the neck, slst to the last row of the necktie.
fo with 6″ tail.

Stitch the necktie to the male bunny body, and make another stitch on the necktie for the knot shape.

Crochet Vitagen Bottle cover

Get ready a clean empty vitagen bottle, medium worsted weight yarns (white & pink), 3mm crochet hook, stitch marker, tapestry needle, and scissors.

Crochet a base according to the “base pattern” above. The base should be slightly bigger than the bottom of the vitagen bottle.
Getting the right tension is important in order to follow this pattern. For intermediate amigurumi level, if you can’t get the right tension, you might need to do some modification on the pattern to suit the bottle size.

Work upright with the “body pattern”. By R13, you should reach slightly above the groove line of the bottle.

R14 is the decrease round to make the cover follows the contour of the bottle.

Change yarn to white at the last loop-over of the of R14. Continue to crochet with R15.

Follow patterns from R16 to R23, if the tension is right, you should reach the mouth of the bottle.
Cut and fasten off the yarn, hide yarn end into the body.

Bunny In The Making

Crochet the ears by following the “ear pattern” above.
Make a mini pom-pom by following this tutorial.
Spare some pink yarns for facial features.
Get ready a pair of wiggly eyes, multipurpose adhesive, tapestry needl, and scissors.

Shape the ear by folding the 2 sides to the center and make a few stitches on 3 rows of the stitches.

Sew the ears securely to the bunny body.

Sew some wiskers on the cheeks and a nose at the center.

Attach the mini pom pom to the back of the bunny.

Attach the wiggly eyes to the bunny holder amigurumi, set it aside to dry.

Crochet a red flower by following the above pattern, sew it to the ear.
Make a beads necklace and put in on to complete the bunny holder amigurumi.
Alternatively, crochet a blue necktie for the male bunny.