cosying on a windy day

October 13, 2018January 7, 2026 Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)34 Comments

Our ‘new normal’ is beginning to feel familiar now, with returns to comfortable routines for the three of us here and Amy settling in well and having a great time away at Uni.

For most of the last week I’ve been sorting my tangled mess of knitting projects and tidying the house, but on Thursday I headed off for a peaceful autumn walk. The leaves have yet to fully change colour, so the woods are not yet at their most photogenic and I forgot to take my waking boots (yet another indication of my lack of concentration skills right now) so I didn’t end up walking as far as planned. I had hoped to find lots of fungi, but it’s been so dry that there was very little around and what I did find was shrivelled and sad looking.

Friday was really windy here, so although I had actually remembered to put my walking boots back in the car, I decided to stay home. Happily I was browsing Ravelry and saw Alicia Plummer’s newly released ParkTrail sock pattern, so I snuggled up, cast on and enjoyed a little quiet and cosy knitting time in the warm afternoon sunlight shimmering through the wind-whipped trees outside the window. The notes on the yarn I’m using etc. are on my Ravelry project page.

My list of things to do this coming week includes finally finishing off the batch of animals that I started earlier this year. I’ll pop back with some pictures in a few days or so and hopefully will have some news of when they’ll be available for those interested soon. Maybe we’ll have a little giveaway too – it was my 12th blogging anniversary at the beginning of September, so I think a giveaway would be in order.

Hope you’re enjoying the weekend where you are. I’m off to knit more rows of my socks – they’re going to make great walking socks for more autumn walks. See you soon, J x

crafts & knitting · general stuff

A parting and some subsequent faffing

September 23, 2018January 7, 2026 Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)20 Comments

Well, as expected this weekend has been odd. Amy and I set off with a fully laden car at 8ish yesterday morning and by 9.30 were carrying the bags and boxes containing all of her worldly goods up the 2 flights of stairs to her room on the top floor. We unpacked everything and made her room cosy and nice; sorted out all of the necessary admin; picked up her wristband for Fresher’s week events; topped up her student card with her first weeks worth of money; had some lunch, and by 2pm she was all sorted and ready for me to leave. There were big hugs but no tears, because this is the start of an exciting adventure for her rather than a sad parting of the ways, and then I was on my way back home again. It wasn’t until I was driving back up our road that the tears came for me – I think arriving back home without her brought things into focus. It’s feeling odd here today – I keep expecting her to come skipping down the stairs in search of a snack and, as expected, it will take a lot of getting used to. We’ve been texting lots and will no doubt continue to do so, and the odd feeling will slip away as we adjust to the new normal. Fresher’s week sounds like a lot of fun so hopefully she’ll have a great time and settle in well.

There are so many things that I should be doing at this moment, most of them involving tidying up the house after the long summer months of not really bothering, but I am not quite sure where to start. The long list of tasks in my head, all vying for equal importance status, are tangled like the yarn in my workbasket and refuse to form an orderly queue and be committed to paper. So instead I’m procrastinating and knitting simple cabled pink wrist-warmers with beautifully soft Shalimar breathless in ‘velvet slippers’ and flipping through the new issue of Creative Countryside.

Perhaps, after a few days of faffing around and allowing myself to get reacquainted with being able to choose how to spend my own time, a plan for tackling my chores will come into focus. There are bunnies waiting to be finished too, all dressed up for spring, as I had planned to list them in time for Easter earlier this year. That’s rather indicative of how this year has been; time ticking and trickling through my fingers; plans made and not realised – I need to give myself a stiff talking to – but not until I’ve knitted a few more rows and had another cup of tea.

Each time I glance at my left hand I think of my girl, and what she’s doing at this moment. We’ve had these matching rings for a couple of years now (bought from the lovely Wild Fawn jewellery) – though mine is no longer a perfect circle as I occasionally catch it on the freezer drawer! And I like the fact that it reminds me of her and makes her feel close at hand still.

general stuff

what we did this summer…

September 10, 2018January 7, 2026 Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)27 Comments

Well hello again, long time no see! The school summer holidays finished on Tuesday of last week, when Toby went back to school but to be honest I was feeling a bit exhausted, so I took the rest of the week to curl up in a quiet corner and knit socks. The long school break over summer always requires a lot of energy but this year it has been especially challenging, both physically and emotionally. It sounds like I’m complaining, but I’m really not – it has been a good summer for us. It’s just that by the end of 7 weeks of full on Toby time I feel like a yo-yo and am looking forward to just being able to sit without needing to jump up and get a snack, run a bath, find a toy, swap a dvd or any of the countless little things that Toby constantly needs doing for him.

He has also kept me busy with lots of walks and our new favourite activity – cycling. We’ve found a special needs adapted cycle hire centre about 10 miles away and have had great fun cycling a side-by-side tandem around the sailing lake there. I do the steering and braking and Toby just helps with the pedalling – though it feels like he’s ‘glass cranking*’ going up the hills and only putting any really effort in on the downward slopes when he just wants to go madly fast!

*glass cranking – a cycling term meaning to rotate the pedals without actually applying power, but trying to hide this from those you are riding with.

On the emotional side Amy had her A level exam results, which were initially a bit of a nasty shock for her, as she fell quite a long way short of her predicted grade in one subject. After conferring with her teacher and putting in for a re-mark she now has the grades of A, B, B – not quite what she’d hoped for but good just the same. It’s a useful learning experience for her and hopefully she’ll put her disappointment to good use and resolve not to leave anything to chance as she embarks on her degree course in two weeks time.

Oh, it feels so odd writing that! It’s going to be a big change for us all at the end of September with Amy going off to Uni and living on campus (in a rather lovely en-suite bed study room with a kitchen shared with 6 others). She’s only an hour away by car so is able to come back for the odd weekend if she wants to. I’m not yet sure how to feel – cohabiting with a strong willed teenager who doesn’t want your advice thank you very much; leaves the new bathroom that her Dad spent weeks re-decorating in a soggy mess; helps herself to the last of the ice-cream and wakes the whole house up at crazy o’clock in the morning can sometimes make you feel like you won’t miss her a great deal, but I suspect that all of that will be forgotten once she’s left and I’ll be very much missing her wry sense of humour, her company on movie nights, her frequent hugs and the sound of her beautiful singing through the ceiling as I sit here typing at the computer.

When she was born I remember feeling completely inexperienced and unprepared as a parent, despite all of the preparation and classes, and I feel the same kind of bewilderment now she’s about to begin her independent life. The difference is that her future is now firmly in her hands and no longer in mine. We raise our children with the hope that they’ll grow into capable, independent individuals and will no longer need us, but I’m not yet sure how to dial down my impulse to protect, to educate and to shield her from the worst that the world can inflict. It will take some getting used to I think.

Change is all around here and the seasons are shifting into autumn. I’m so looking forward to some solitude in the woods over the coming weeks – they are at their most beautiful under a golden autumn sun. And being able to wander at my own pace; to sit and listen to the birds in the treetops; to stop and get down on my hands and knees to look for toadstools and maybe take a photo or two will be something I very much enjoy.

Well, thanks for popping in to visit. I’m looking forward to posting regularly here again very soon, hopefully see you again then.

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Pictures above were taken at Hatfield house, July 19th 2018