Thank you

March 10, 2018January 7, 2026 Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)159 Comments

So, I’ve taken my time posting about this, mostly because I’ve been half expecting an email telling me sorry, it was all a big mistake. But that hasn’t arrived so it has started to feel real, and I’ve just sent off some pictures to be used in an article, so it must be true. What, what, you may ask, well it seems that I am the winner of Knitting Blog of The Year in the *2018 British Craft Awards!

It feels rather odd and very wonderful just typing that! Writing this blog is a self indulgence for me. It is my happy place that I can fill with pictures of beautiful yarn, share things that I’ve made, reminisce over wonderful countryside walks, make friends and meet lovely like-minded people. It’s a place to focus on the positives, to escape from bad days or sleepless nights and I love being here. Over the 11 years I’ve been posting here I’ve felt incredibly privileged to have so many of you visit me, a few of you for almost all of the time I’ve been here and I’m so grateful that you do take the time to pop in.

So I want to say a heartfelt Thank You. Thank you for voting for me and thank you for visiting this blog and for allowing me to continue being here without feeling lonely 🙂

It’s been a very odd week here, made so by the complete absence of any knitting. Not something I’ve chosen you understand, but rather something forced on me after I slipped over in the slushy snow melt last Saturday evening and landed heavily. I was outside the chicken run so luckily wasn’t completely covered in poo but I bruised my hip and elbow and sprained my wrist. It’s been a little painful and did swell up quite badly but I think the most painful part of the whole thing is that I’ve not been able to knit all week. It’s been very unsettling and I’ve felt distinctly strange, a bit like I’ve lost something but can’t remember what. I think I should be OK to start gently again tomorrow and so that’s my plan for Mother’s day here – hopefully a cup of tea and some toast will be brought to me in bed and I’ll have a lazy day re-uniting my fingers with some beautiful yarn and my beloved pointy sticks.

Wishing all mums out there a happy UK Mother’s day tomorrow, may your day be relaxing and full of the things and people you love xxx

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*The British Craft Awards are run by Immediate Media, and the awards are voted for by readers of Immediate’s craft magazines, which include Simply Knitting, The Knitter, Mollie Makes, Love Patchwork & Quilting, Simply Crochet, and The World of Cross Stitching. There were five categories in Knitting sector and winners in the other categories were Woolly Wormhead for Designer of the year, Rowan Yarns for Brand of the year, Addi by Selter for Product of the year and Wool Warehouse for Retailer of the year

Little Cotton Rabbits won Knitting Blog of the Year, while in 2nd place was KnitBritish.net and in 3rd place was NeverNotKnitting.com

Where are you Spring?

March 1, 2018January 7, 2026 Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)20 Comments

When spring suddenly seems a distant dream, thanks to the arrival of bitterly cold winds and drifting snow, the best option is to snuggle and I’m doing just that. Knitting in more of these pretty spring colours helps too and I’m slowly working my way towards a little batch of spring dressed bunnies and lambs.

It has been really beautiful outside though. Unusually the snow has come in very localised showers and at times we’ve had bright sun light shining through the flurrying snow as it whispers it’s way to the ground. Thanks to the sub-zero temperatures it’s been that dry fluffy kind of snow rather than the slushy wet stuff that is more usual here and that’s created the perfect canvas for stories to be written across – stories written by the fox that trotted up the driveway in the night on silent and slender paws, circling around the car and searching for some supper, and stories from the birds who are up at dawn to begin the busy task of breakfasting, leaving a delicate trace of their dartings here and there. Finding these tracks in the morning when I go out to let the chickens out of the coop is one of my favourite things about freshly fallen snow.

Well, hope you’re keeping warm where you are and enjoying what the seasons are bringing your way. I’m off to do some more knitting and snuggling 🙂

crafts & knitting

pretty and sparkly

February 21, 2018January 7, 2026 Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)35 Comments

It was the school half term break here last week and it ended up being a longer one than it should have been when Toby came down with a virus and had to stay off school on the last day of term. Inevitably we all caught it in turn and spent most of last week feeling sorry for ourselves, staying huddled up in the warm, sniffling into tissues and drinking honey and lemon tea. When I’m feeling rough there’s nothing like a little yarn therapy to lift my spirits so I dived into my growing collection of mini skeins. Such pretty colours and some with the added sparkle of silver lurex did the trick and helped me feel much better.

These are a mixture of mini skeins from The Wool Barn and the sparkly ones are the new Nateby yarn from Eden Cottage. They’re all rather good for knitting bunny cardigans from 🙂

The other thing that lifted everyone’s spirits here was Amy getting an unconditional offer of a place at the university that is her top choice. We went for an applicant day visit on Saturday which confirmed how much she wants to go there and the first thing she did when we arrived back home was to log in and accept the offer. So come September she’ll be off to uni! Eeeek!

With Toby now back at school I’m knuckling down and working on finishing off a batch of finished animals. I’ll keep you updated with progress, til then have a good week x