September days

September 23, 2016 Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)37 Comments

With the autumn equinox yesterday the balance of the year has tipped and now we're heading towards shorter days, from warmth to cold and from light to dark but for now it still feels like summer is hanging on here. I've been trying to get out a little more often while the good weather lingers. We have such great countryside around us and I always feel relaxed and peaceful after a walk but it seems hard to fit one regularly into my days, there's always something that needs doing isn't there.

Still, I've been making good progress on knitting projects. The first prize in my 10th anniversary giveaway competition has been sent off and has safely arrived in her new home. I really enjoyed making her and putting together all of the little bits and pieces (I always loved dolls houses when I was little and that's obviously still with me). The little suitcase and tea-set are from Maileg who have retailers all over the world and I made the little iced bun from my teeny tiny bear pattern (scroll down to the bottom for the bun).

Mouse

Travelling mouse

Towards the end of summer I'm always tempted by patterns for scarves and shawls and mittens so I'm also working on a couple of cosy projects for myself and my family. This one is from a pattern from 'Flora' the first Issue of Making (which I believe has now sold out). It's the Flora cowl but I'm making it into a long rectangular scarf which will wrap round and round and be snuggly. The yarn is the very beautiful Blend No 1 from Ysolda which happily is back in stock (probably not for very long as it's rather in demand due to it's softness, lovely marled grey tones and it's excellent provenance). I bought 2 skeins and am just coming to the end of the first one so I'm hoping that I'll be able to finish this in time for the arrival of colder weather.

Blend1yarn

Blend1 yarn

I don't know if it's the time of year but I feel like I'm struggling to fit everything into my days at the moment. Nothing has really changed here, so I think it's me more than anything else, but I just can't seem to settle or get myself properly organised. I'm good at making lists but the power to get on with tasks seems to have deserted me at the moment. Maybe it is the time of year and hopefully I'll feel more settled once autumn has got going. How about you, are you faffing about or organised and together at the moment? If you are organised do you have any tips to share?

Well, I'm rambling so it's time to go and add some things to my list of to do's and then promptly ignore them by making a cup of tea and picking up my knitting! 'Til next time I'll leave you with some pictures from my equinox walk up Widbury Hill yesterday. Thanks for dropping in x

Hawthorn

Snails

Seedhead

End of summer

September 15, 2016 Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)38 Comments

Firstly I want to say a huge Thank You for all of the kind, funny, thoughtful and heartwarming comments on the giveaway post. I have read them all and I really appreciate the time everyone took to comment. As usual I've used a random number generator to pick the winners and in view of the amount of comments I decided to giveaway an extra animal so I've picked three winners. They've each been notified and are in the process of choosing their prizes (you can see who they are in the previous post).

As I've been merrily knitting away for months, making exactly what I want when I've wanted to I've ended up with lots of clothes, heads and feet. Now I have to jigsaw all the pieces together, work out which head goes best with which outfit and make all the missing parts. It's going to take me a little while but I am hoping to have a little batch of animals ready to sell this autumn and all being well another one in the run up to Christmas. That's the plan anyway!

Bits and pieces

We're starting to get back into term-time routines here. It always takes a while for Toby to settle in, especially as he has a new classroom and new teaching staff. He's also in the biggest class he's ever had with 11 classmates instead of 6 or 7 so this is challenging for him as he thrives a calm and quiet environment. And he's adapting to the after school clubs that I've signed him up for. As he's almost 15 it seemed like a good idea to expand his horizons, so he now goes to Rock club where they explore lots of contemporary music and Health and well-being club where he experiences relaxation techniques and yoga. On club afternoons I collect him with a handful of custard creams as a little treat and to try a lessen the anxiety he experiences at not coming home on the bus as usual. It also helps me feel a little less guilty for tipping him out of his comfort zone!

Anyway, I must get on with some work so I'm off to get knitting arms and sew seams. Until next time I thought I'd leave you with some of the pictures taken over the school summer break where we celebrated Amy's brilliant GCSE results (3 x A*, 7 x A, 1 X B), tried to get out and about as much as possible and made lots of plum jam 🙂

See you soon x

Cheers

Plums

Plum jam

Jammy

Spoon

Sunday2

Canal

Canal2

Hollycross lake

Geese2

Rays

Sunset

crafts & knitting · general stuff · Giveaways

Ten years and a giveaway

September 3, 2016 Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)2,069 Comments

Ten years ago today, on September 3rd 2006 my four year old son Toby was about to start school. It was a big deal for me because not only is he severely autistic but I was ending a six year period of being a constant stay-at-home mum and I wasn't entirely sure what to do with my days.

To counter my anxiety at whether he'd cope with the dramatic change and to keep my mind occupied I wrote my very first blog post and so embarked on a journey which has meandered and rambled over the last decade to arrive at this very point here.

When I began I had no plan or any real aims. I was simply looking for a little online companionship and something to keep me from feeling isolated and anxious about Toby and all of the challenges he continues to face. Well, I found that and so very much more. I've made friends both near and far, both online and in person. I've been on the receiving end of the most wonderful encouragement and compliments for my knitted makes and over the years have been lucky to have sold and sent off many of my knitted animals to all corners of the world. And more recently I've had a fabulous reception for my range of knitting patterns. In short I feel so incredibly blessed and lucky to have stumbled in here and found such a wonderfully supportive community.

Bodies

To celebrate my anniversary I am having a giveaway of two animals. The 2 winners can choose an animal each from the batch I have almost finished which will also come with a change of clothes and a little suitcase to keep them in. To be in with a chance of winning one of the two animals in the giveaway please just leave me a comment on this post. The giveaway will close on September 12th and I'll use a random number generator to pick the two winners on September 13th.

Heads

New dresses

As a thank you to all the knitters who visit with me I also have a special discount code which for the next 3 days (ending on September 5th) will get you 25% off any of my patterns:

TEN25

So if you've been meaning to try one of my patterns or if there's one you'd like to add to your collection then please just enter the above code at the checkout either on Ravelry or on Etsy (please note that you will have to enter the code in order for the discount to be applied). If you want to use the coupon code here on my shop please note that you will have to use the 'add to cart' function and not the 'buy now' in order to enter the coupon code. Sorry, the offer has now expired

I've covered a lot of blogging ground over the last 10 years and had planned to show you some of my favourite moments and pictures but there are too many to know where to start. So instead here are some of the changes of look my blog has had and a few stats…

2006

First banner

2010

Banner2

2012

Banner 3

10 years of blog stats: 7,832,269 total page hits, 703 posts and 36,917 comments

When I think about ten years passing it seems to have gone so very quickly. But when I look back at the photo taken on the morning of Toby's first school day (September 4th 2006) and how tiny Amy and Toby were, it feels like such a long time ago and really shows how much has changed.

Us2006

So, as I start my second decade of blogging I'd like to say a huge thank you to everyone who visits me here, especially those of you who take the time to leave a comment and those of you who buy my patterns and finished work. It means so very much to have your kind support, thank you xxx

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Please leave a comment below to be entered into the giveaway draw. Comments will be closed on the morning of September 13th and two winners will be drawn by random number selection.

Thanks so much for all the comments! The competition draw is now closed and the winning numbers are 107 which is Justpootling and 2018 which is Maggie Richardson.

Winner 1 Winner2