light, or lack thereof

January 14, 2008 Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)31 Comments

I remember when I was very little my Dad would sing me to sleep with a song (that I now sing to my own kids) and in the morning he’d wake me up with another:

Morning has come
Night is away
Rise with the sun
and welcome the day

I also sing this to Amy when I wake her in the morning (to a grumbled response) and this morning the words struck me as I pulled back the curtains on another dreary and dark, rainy January morning. Rising with the sun does make you feel good but what to do on mornings like this one where the sun seems so absent? There really is something about the lack of light at this time of year that makes it a depressing time. I’ve always liked winter (much prefering to be too cold than too hot) but the lack of light does sap my spirit. Summer seems a distant memory and all troubles seem to weigh heavier on a dull and overcast day.

It’s not all doom and gloom however because when all is dull, cold and damp outside, I feel completely justified in curling up in a soft, warm blanket and just knitting the day away.

With this in mind I’ve just treated myself to this new blanket – a pure lambswool Scottish crofters blanket from The Atlantic Blanket Company bought with some of the money which came to me following my
Gangan’s death last year. I’m planning to stitch a small memorial
patch to sew on it. I think of my Gangan and Gampy when I’m snuggled up and it seems so appropriate to be thinking of them
while enveloped in a warm hug.

So I am happy to be right here, right now, knitting and quietly waiting for spring to come.

Thanks so much for all of the comments on the previous post – reading them really helps and I’m really grateful for the support and kind words. Thanks people x

crafts & knitting

About me & my knitting…

January 10, 2008 Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)167 Comments

Hands

Hi and welcome to my blog, I’m Julie. I live in Hertfordshire with my husband, 2 children, 3 chickens and a lot of wool.

Here you’ll find I write mostly about knitting, which is my favourite way to spend my free time and it’s helped keep me sane through some of the more difficult times with our son who is severely autistic. Family life is a bit of a rollercoaster ride and I also write a little about our experiences in the hope of helping others in a similar situation and to give a little insight into some aspects of life with an autistic child. I also write about the countryside and wildlife that also inhabit this little corner of leafy green Hertfordshire.

There are some free knitting patterns for you to use (see the ‘free patterns’ button on the right). I also have patterns available to purchase, it’s a small range of toys and novelties at the moment but I hope to keep adding new ones. I’ll keep the blog here and my ravelry page up to date with any new releases.

Me with wool

A little bit about me:

I trained as a graphic designer and since graduating I’ve worked as an illustrator, in sales & marketing and more recently as full-time mum and part time knitter. I was nine when my Mum and Gangan taught me to knit and knitting has been a part of my life in some shape or form ever since. I knit to keep stress at bay, to have a creative outlet in my life but mostly because it simply makes me happy.

Since 2005 I’ve supplied my knitted work to various outlets: Hope & May, Gibbs & Ward, London Mummy, The Cross in Holland Park, Lilymay in Brighton & Mahar Drygoods in the USA. I currently sell what I make through my Etsy shop and although I’m unable to take on orders I am always making new items and will keep my mailing list up to date with anything newly available. To be added to this list please use the sign up form in the column on the right there.

I like a quiet life and the other things that bring me pleasure are:

listening to music – Ludovico Einaudi on a sunny Sunday morning, The Wailin Jennys in the quiet of the evening when the children are in bed, Nick Drake when it’s raining or I’m down and ’80’s disco when I feel full of life and want to dance with the children.
cooking and eating, especially homemade cake, cold rhubarb crumble with custard, goat cheese with tomatoes and I like drinking tea from a nice cup.
being outdoors, especially the smells of mushroomy earth, cut grass and thyme and the sounds of birdsong and the wind in the trees.
growing things in my little garden, especially things to eat; herbs, vegetables and raspberries warmed by the sun.
hills and woods, camping and the sound of rain on your tent when you’re warm & dry inside.
buying yarn, knitting, singing when I’m happy, reading other people’s blogs, warm socks and cosy cardis

and I love being a mum.

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Path

Mustard stuff

Thanks for visiting x
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general stuff

starting as I mean to go on…

January 10, 2008 Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)21 Comments

Well traditionally it’s the time for new beginnings and for resolving to change things that need changing so like everyone else I’m jotting down my new years resolutions – knowing full well that given a couple of weeks some of them will have been put aside (and number 3 will definitely never get off the ground!). Still, I love the idea of starting afresh (in school I was the swotty kid who got really excited when it was time for a brand new exercise book) and number 5 is the one that really needs my attention this year. So for the record (because apparently telling people helps you to keep them) here’s my new years resolutions…

1. to buy less prepared food and make more – I want to make all of our bread, cakes and biscuits (I have done well so far this year – my current tally is 3 loaves, 2 cakes and 2 batches of peanut butter cookies – mmm!)

2. sew some stuff. I’ve had Wee Wonderfuls put-together-pattern-book no.1 and the Crafter’s Companion for the last year and still haven’t made anything from either AND I’ve been hoarding some kitty craft fabric so there are no excuses really. I have a few other projects in mind too – hopefully at least one will get done during the next 12 months!

3. be tidier (hmmmm, like that’s going to happen!)

4. chill out about my inbox and face facts. I am never going to be able to answer all the emails or reply to all the comments unless I give up knitting! Sadly my inbox currently contains 58 messages pending a reply – apologies to all those waiting to hear from me.

5. make more time to do simple things with my daughter – she misses out so much on a ‘normal’ family life and has to put up with a lot less attention than she deserves. We’re good at the big stuff but day to day when Daddy is working Toby soaks up all of my available attention. I know I’m going to be carrying around guilt about this for the rest of my days so maybe this year I can do more stuff with her which will ease that a little.

Ali recently wrote a beautifully thought-provoking post about blogging and I think she’s absolutely right – when you’ve blogged for a while posting does take on a different flavour. I’d certainly find it difficult to turn my back on this little space here – it’s become such an important part of my daily life and it really lifts my spirits to find people sharing warmth, creativity and ideas. But that said it can be a bit of a black hole that sucks you in and spits you out 3 hours later and you wonder where the time has gone.

In order to achieve my number 5 this year I am going to have to be more disciplined about the time I spend here so whilst I’ll be around it may not be as frequently as before. Or maybe it will – new years resolutions often don’t amount to much but at least if you know what you’d like to change you can begin to take steps.