old mossy wall shawl, finished

May 13, 2012 Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)32 Comments

I have finished the old mossy wall shawl.

Omwshawl

Although those lovely ripples make a beautiful pattern and I do love the mossy, woodland tones of the yarns, I don't feel quite right in it.

Omws3

Omws

Maybe I'm not a shawl wearing kind of girl afterall. I think I'll be wrapping this one around and wearing it like a scarf and that will probably be the end of my shawl knitting days.

Omws2

Omwshawl2

Still, now it's finished I'm free to take up my crochet hook again for a spot of evening time 'one a day' grannying because after saying that I was all blanketed out, something has caught my eye. In fact it's been a bit of an obsession over the last two weeks and I've been trawling the yarn shops looking for the right yarns. Now I have my cast of yarns gathered and I'm ready to start but I will tell you all about it next time!

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PS: I didn't use both the tones of Koigu as I had originally planned. I felt the dark green one didn't work, so I substituted some Madeline Tosh sock yarn that I had left over from some gloves. Details are on ravelry if you're interested x

garden stuff

a spot of gardening

May 7, 2012 Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)28 Comments

Typically for a British bank holiday we've spent the long weekend dodging rain showers. Luckily there have been some dry spells that were long enough for Toby to have some bouncy time and for me to potter around the garden. I had bought some new herbs to replace those that have been in situ for a few years and gone all woody and now they're happily bedded into my little herb wall.

Garden3

In between the herbs I've planted a few little violas – they were on sale and are so pretty that it would have been unkind not to give them a home. There were a few too many to fit into the wall and as the herbs will probably crowd them out, I've popped them into a pot.

Garden2

Since the weather isn't yet good enough for us to be spending much time outside I've brought them inside so that I can appreciate their delicate prettiness all the time.

Viola5

Viola4

Viola2

It's nice to have a little taste of spring inside the house, though I hope that Toby isn't tempted to literally taste them – I've not had fresh flowers in the house since the peony munching incident!

crafts & knitting

back to knitting

May 3, 2012 Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)55 Comments

Well, after braving Sunday's weather on the 10k walk I'm not feeling at all guilty to be curling up with my knitting (and truth be told I was aching just a little bit at the beginning of the week!) I have lots of animals to finish off, so at the moment I'm trying hard to resist casting on a couple of new ones in these gorgeous yarns…

New yarn

Shilasdair's Luxury DK (10% Cashmere, 10% Baby Camel, 40% Angora and 40% British Merino Lambswool) is produced on the Isle of Skye and dyed with natural dyes like madder and onion skins. I'm also finding the thought of trying out a few bunny dresses in the Quince & Co 'sparrow' (100% organic linen) rather tempting. I will resist (for now) and press on with finishing off because there are lots of spring dresses to sew up

Clothes

and lots of heads and limbs to be attached to fat-tummied bodies!

Legs2

Enjoy the rest of your week and if you have any excess sunshine with you please could you send a little this way – the constant heavy rain here is getting a bit repetitive!