Rascally Rabbits

The Donation Tradition

The holiday season is swarmed with a menagerie of holiday traditions. Some of these traditions we dread, like fruit cake, ugly Christmas sweaters, and awkward family portraits. Some traditions we grow to love and others we've cherished all along. In my home, most of our holiday traditions were ones I cherish (with an exception of maybe giving away all the holiday chocolates before any of us get to try them :). One tradition I particularly enjoyed was making fleece blankets and donating them to the children's hospital. 

Going to the fabric store and picking out our favorite fleece combos, taking the fabric home, and creating blankets, while Trans Siberian Orchestra plays in the background... it makes me smile just thinking about it. But this year I carried on the donation tradition in a new way. This year, my tradition included a fuzz explosion, little plastic noses that always seem to be missing a piece, and lots of adorable little rascally rabbits. 

Earlier this year I discovered the snowshoe hare pattern designed by Mckay Manor and absolutely fell in love with the resulting cuties. So, when the snugly fabric required to make these little guys went on sail I rushed to Craft Warehouse to fill my quota of needed supplies. I raced through the holiday season, working overtime in my own version of Santa's workshop. Each rabbit was cuter than the last and each day the mess grew bigger than the day before. At long last, the rabbits were complete and I hopped on over to the hospital to donate the lot. I sincerely hope that my crew of rabbits will bring some joy to someone in need this Christmas season. With all my heart I want to wish everyone with family or friends in the hospital a "hoppy holiday."

More on the Snowshoe Hare

During my creation of the rascally rabbits I became very well acquainted with rabbit fur (fake rabbit fur but nevertheless). The stuff clung to everything, found it's way into my eyes, and left the biggest mess all over my sewing room carpet. The fuzzy nature of the project became the source of inspiration for the color selection of my rabbits. 

In the summer season snowshoe hares have standard brown fur typical of rabbits seen all over. However, during the winter season, their soft brown fur is replaced with a glistening snow white coat. Of course, the color change reflects the change in their environment. In the winter, snowshoe hares' habitat is transformed from a standard brown fall to a luminous white winter with a deep coating of snow. 

Instead of relying on temperature changes, or the first snow fall of the year to signal their color change, snowshoe hares' coordinate their annual transformation with a much more reliable timer. For snowshoe hares, and many other animals exhibiting seasonal change, change correlates with day length. As the days grow shorter their fur grows whiter. 

To reflect this change and honor the genius of nature I sewed rabbits in varying shades of brown, gray, and white. As an afterthought, I designed some rabbits from a soft rainbow color because truly what could be a more magical coloration?

One Final Note

Change can be hard. It takes a lot of energy for a snowshoe hare to replace it's old coat with an entirely new one. Sometimes this change may take place long before the first snow arrives. For a while, the snowshoe hare's new look may seem out of place, but in truth this is Mother Nature's gift to the hare. It is better for the hare to be prepared for winter early, than wait for the white fur to "fit in." Mother Nature is not the only one who follows this pattern. After all, there is a higher power who is the grand designer of Mother Nature herself. Just as Mother Nature cares for every rabbit in the realm, He cares for each of us us. 

If someone you love needs a reminder that He is watching out for them and preparing them against the winter, these rascally rabbits are now available for purchase upon request. You can pick any color you want or get a surprise. Each rabbit comes with a personalized tag that you can write your own message of hope in or leave it up to me. Please see the Shop Sewing page for more details. 

As always, "hoppy holidays."