new year, new pattern :)

January 9, 2020June 27, 2026 Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)22 Comments

Hello and a belated happy New Year! I do hope that this new year has been kind and gentle to you so far.

I’m still getting back into the swing of things after the wildly out-of-routine Christmas break and I have some pictures to show you of the knitting that I did manage to work on in the quiet moments. But first I want to tick something off my New Year’s resolution list, something that I had hoped to have ready during November (in time for Christmas present knitting), but missed my self-imposed deadline. So here it is now, nice and early for a little Easter bunny knitting instead. Introducing Little Cotton Rabbits small rabbit pattern.

This little pattern was prompted by all of the messages that I received last spring following the release of the mini bunny and bear pattern when I was inundated with requests for removeable clothes for the minis and so I set to work making some scaled down versions of the regular sized clothing. I’d also received a lot of requests for mini versions of all my other animal designs and so at the same time I started working on those too. As I worked I began thinking that instead of adapting the minis for the other animal designs, it might instead be more fun to have small scaled down versions of my regular sized animals to wear the clothing. I’d made a small version of the bunnies back in 2007 when I was playing around with ideas for different sized animals and so I hunted through all my old notebooks for the notes that I made back then, and used those as a start point for a scaling down the little cotton rabbits design.

I’ve really enjoyed working on these small versions, they knit up more quickly than the regular sized bunnies and are a nice size for little hands to hold – they come out at around 8 inches (20cm) tall compared to the regular sized bunnies which are around 10^1/2 inches (27cms). Paired with the regular sized bunnies they make a sweet family group too. The yarns I’ve used are exactly the same yarns and needle sizes as I would knit the regular sized animals in – using a worsted weight yarn for the bunny, with the clothing in 4ply weight yarn (unlike the mini patterns, that are made completely in DK yarn on 2.75mm needles), so it’s easy to make a regular sized bunny and a matching little version too, all from the same balls of yarn. I can’t wait to see little cotton rabbit families appearing 🙂

Just as with my regular sized bunny patterns, I’ve included different designs for the head – a plain coloured bunny head, one with an eye patch and a Dutch bunny head with a blaze down it’s nose. Within the pattern there are also 2 options for knitting the body, a plain naked body and a body with knitted on underpants. Included are 3 items of clothing to fit the small rabbits (though they will also fit the mini bunny and bear patterns too), there’s a dotty dress, a striped sweater and a pair of short trousers all included. I’ve decided not to make these small versions with mary jane shoes at the moment but I plan to play around with options and will most likely work on a ‘small ones’ shoe pattern to also include sneakers and so on, just like the optional extra shoes for the regular sized animals. There will be lots more clothing to come too, I am bursting with ideas, all I need now is the time to turn those into pattern form.

As always I’m brimming with excitement to see what you make from my patterns, so if you do give this new one a go please come and share your project photos over in the Ravelry group.

Right, I’m off to keep working on some small versions of my other animal designs and the clothing too. I’ll let you know how I’m getting on soon.

The picture below shows all 3 sizes of Little Cotton Rabbits now available.

The largest is the boy bunny in a striped sweater (my original rabbit) which is 9 inches tall to the top of the head, (27cms/10^1/2 inches tall to the top of the ears)
the middle sized is the new small rabbit which is 7 inches tall to the top of the head, (20cms /8 inches tall to the top of the ears)
and the smallest is the mini bunny and bear knitted in 4ply yarn on 2.5mm (US 1.5) needles which is 5 inches tall to the top of the head, (14cms/ 5^1/2 inches to the top of the ears)

A gift of time

December 18, 2019October 17, 2025 Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)39 Comments

Well, it’s almost Christmas and so I’m going to sign off here for a couple of weeks. I have all of the presents for Amy and Toby wrapped, the larder and fridge are well stocked, the log pile is full and the christmas tree is up and decorated, so I think I’m organised. I’ve not had to gift shop for H as it’s been years since we bought Christmas gifts for each other – we learnt quite early on that he doesn’t know much about yarn and I know even less about bicycle chain sets and derailleurs. So it was by mutual agreement that we decided to buy our own gifts at Christmastime. This year he’s looking forward to using a new set of titanium spoked wheels and I’m going to be enjoying these goodies…

Devotions, The selected poems of Mary Oliver;

heavenly smelling ‘resurrection’ Aesop handcream;

beautifully bound Slightly Foxed editions of Adrian Bell’s triology of books 1920’s farming life in rural Suffolk ;

soothingly tactile mug for tea from Andrea Roman, A R Ceramics;

Viola yarn, organic Merino DK in ‘Silver Birch’ and Merino fingering in ‘Rosehip’ from Loop London.

However, the gift that we do always give to each other is one far more precious than any material possesions, and that is time. Over the Christmas period, when Toby is off from the routine of school, things can get intense and wearying and so each of us makes sure that the other one has at least 2 hours of free time each day, time when the other person is responsible for the constant supervision that Toby needs. For H this might be going out cycling or spending time up in the attic playing a computer game. And for me this sometimes means going out for a wood walk alone – seeking the peace that I always find in quiet natural spaces; sometimes it might be time for a warm bath (though often that doesn’t work out too well if Toby hears the taps running as it turns into Toby-bath-time instead, especially if there are scented bubbles involved); and sometimes it’s just space within the busyness of the day to sit quietly listening to music or watching a film and having some uninterrupted knitting time at home while H takes Toby out.

Over the next 2 weeks I’ll be looking forward to my little peaceful parcels of ‘me-time’ and curling up with one of these books, or casting on some mittens with some of this yarn. But before our holidays begin I need to go and pick up Amy from uni and then we can start our festive time altogether.

And with that thought, I’m going to leave you with the wish that your festive celebrations, whatever they may be, are full of small joys and that you are surrounded by those you love most and share many tender and happy times with them,

with love and my warmest best wishes to you for the holidays and for the bright new decade that awaits us,

J xxxx

countryside · in the woods · winter

Early December

December 12, 2019April 29, 2026 Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)11 Comments

Out in the woods most of the trees have shed all of their leaves now, but those that do still cling to the branches, mostly on the oaks and birches, have been burnished by the early morning frosts and shine like gold in the low winter sunlight.

There is something so very peaceful and calming about the woods at this time of year and when I’m walking alone I rarely see anyone, though I did meet a lovely lady and her dog the other day and we compared fungi pictures and best places to spot different kinds. But most of my wood walks are anti-social affairs, where I walk alone slowly, quietly and almost reverently, trying to attune my senses to the woodland world so that I can hear the rustle of falling leaves, smell the damp, richness of generations of decaying leaves and notice the subtle shift in the colours of the leaves, each one slightly different to it’s neighbour.

Coming home I always feel a sense of cleansed calm and a peaceful stillness that quiets my mind and I try to hold on to that as long as possible by sitting with a warm cup of tea and my knitting. Inevitably though the waiting chores call me back to the busyness of the day and life speeds up again. Are there things that help you find peaceful corners of your busy days? Do tell me about them in the comments if you have time.

Well, I have some ‘thank yous’ to say today.

Firstly, Thank You so much to Andrea at Fruity Knitting who recently invited me to be on one of their shows. Unfortunately for me the timing didn’t fit, and with everything that has gone on with Toby this year I currently feel a need keep things here as simple and flexible as possible, so I didn’t feel I could commit to an interview. But it certainly was a great honour to have been asked. I’m sure you already know about their 60 minute fortnightly shows featuring interviews with various fibre artists ranging from knitwear designers, sheep farmers to yarn producers – they are one of the most popular, well produced and informative knitting shows on You Tube, so if you’ve not come across them before, they are well worth a visit.

Secondly, a big thank you to Verena at BaerReport for the article about my knitted bears in the November issue, I was very flattered to be included in this lovely magazine all about hand-crafted and collectable bears.

Thirdly, Thank you to Sarah at Yarnologie magazine, for featuring my hedgehog pattern in the festive summer issue, there are some really cute projects to make in the issue and the front cover is so sweet!

Finally, before I go I wanted to share another wonderful you tube channel with you, Talasbuan. I started following Mathais and Tova on instagram because Mathias takes the most beautiful photographs and I quickly became enchanted by their off grid life in Jamtland, Sweden. They both have such intergrity and dedication to living a simple life that honours the animals they raise for food and they are inspiring in their hardwork as they begin to restore a much neglected small holding in a clearing in the northern woods. Their beautifully filmed vlogs centre on their daily life: caring for their animals; building a log cabin, root cellars and shelters for the animals from the surrounding timber; growing fruit and vegetables and preparing nutritionally dense, ethically produced, organic food. Recently they produced a short film to announce an exciting event – watching it is a beautiful way to spend 2 minutes of your life, and gives you a taste of the magic that they share on their channel, please take a look and if you are as moved and inspired as me, perhaps follow their channel or become a patron… New Beginnings, by Talasbuan

Well, that’s all from me today. Like most of you, I’m up to my ears in lists of things to do in the next two weeks. I hope your preparations for the festive season go well, that the queues diminish as you approach all checkouts, that you find the perfect gifts for those you love and that you have a little quiet time to yourself in amongst all of the craziness, J xxx