A new facebook group

May 20, 2020September 29, 2025 Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)8 Comments

Hello, how are things with you?

Here we’re plodding on with our small routines and trying not to panic too much at the thought that Toby may not go back to school until September. He’s happy with walking in the woods every day but still getting frustrated at the lack of everything else that he enjoys and so the thought of another 15 weeks with no school, clubs, respite, McDonalds, swimming or mini steam train rides is a scary one, so let’s not dwell on that!

I’ve been spending my early mornings pattern writing and have been making slow and steady progress. Now I need to work out the logistics of getting the step-by-step photos for them done – I suspect that as my hands are often busy elsewhere it will also be a long slow process! But I do hope to have 3 new clothing patterns for the small rabbits (7 inch size) soon – including a selection of dresses, sweaters and dungarees. I also have a free supplement pattern for the regular sized (9 inch) animals that is almost ready to share.

The other thing I’ve been spending my free time on is setting up an official Little Cotton Rabbits facebook group. I already have a lovely, friendly Ravelry group that is full of talented makers and it’s been my plan for a while to try and set up a similar group over on facebook.

The fact that I’ve started my own group is not a criticsm or negative comment on the friendly group that already exists on facebook, but I do feel more comfortable spending time and sharing tips in a space that is all my own, and where I can control the look and feel of things. I also wanted a space where I can share the download files for my free patterns along with my personal making tips, special offers, pattern launches and the occassional yarn giveaway. At the moment there’s not many members (although I’m so happy to already see some friendly and familiar faces) but I hope in time together we can build a friendly and supportive corner of the internet for people who enjoy using my patterns, if you’d like to come and join me there, and share any projects you’ve made from my patterns here is the link:

New Little Cotton Rabbits Facebook Group

Well, I’m off to squeeze in a little pattern writing time before Toby gets up. Hopefully I’ll be back later in the week with that new free pattern supplement, see you then x

Over the last month

March 16, 2020April 29, 2026 Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)42 Comments

The pictures above are a little selection of things from the last month here:

I’ve been working on several new patterns: clothing patterns for the small animals, including dresses, sweaters and dungarees; more small versions of my animal patterns; a regular sized badger and there are a few other ideas that I’m also playing around with.

Spring has been arriving in our garden and the countryside around us, with blackthorn blossom, catkins and the blossoming of our plum tree.

Kit, our foxy visitor, has been coming almost every day. Back in January she seemed to be getting into lots of fights and was quite injured one morning – you can see in the pictures above her patches of missing fur and scrapes but she also had a bad limp and a broken canine tooth. She spent a day licking her wounds and curled upon top of the chicken run – the ivy-covered netting forms a comfy hammock and happily the chickens seemed oblivious and carried on life as normal! More recently I noticed that she was pregnant – she was distinctly plump around the middle and I think that she had her pups on the 2nd or 3rd of March as she didn’t visit on those days and when she arrived on March 4th she was back to her skinny self. Since March 12th she’s back to visiting every day for food and her teats are now clearly visible, so her cubs must be thriving. And yes, I am keeping a fox diary 🙂

The last month has seen unprecedented times arrive around the globe and I think we’re all at least a little afraid right now. I’m trying not to shut out that fear and instead embrace it and let it guide me to socially responsible and sensible decisions. We’re keeping Toby off school for now as he’s vulnerable and we’re practicing ‘social distancing’, going for our wood walks but avoiding other people. That’s something we all need to be doing – not just for ourselves and our loved ones but also for the wider community. If you can go out into busy spaces less then do choose to; wash your hands often and keep compassion and kindness to others as your goal – you never know when you yourself might be in need of the kindness and compassion of a stranger.

Please let’s all stay safe out there and keep others safe through our actions xxx

countryside · crafts & knitting · in the woods · wildlife · winter

Hibernating

January 20, 2020April 29, 2026 Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)16 Comments

The first few months of the year always feel to me like a time for quiet rest and a gentler pace of life. Perhaps it’s the short daylight hours of winter which make me feel a little like hibernating and using less energy. In summer I might walk in the woods in the evening or we’ll be in the garden until after 10pm when dusk falls, but in January and February, with darkness falling before four o’clock in the afternoon, all I feel like doing in my free moments is curling up in a cosy corner by the fire and reading or knitting.

Along with bunny knitting I’ve been knitting lots of mittens. I have lots of wristwarmers, which I wear constantly throughout the winter months, but have been getting cold fingertips on my woodwalks and so it seemed a good plan to knit something a bit more cosy. This was a free pattern that I found on Ravelry and it’s perfect, knitting up very quickly and with such a clever and comfortable thumb placket. It’s called Garnomeras enkla vantar by Maria Samuelsson and I’ve loved knitting these in the ‘silver birch’ organic merino Viola yarn that I gifted myself for Christmas, a beautiful hand-dyed yarn which has so many subtle tones. In fact I love the pattern so much that I’ve knitted a second pair, also in Viola Organic merino yarn, colourway ‘frozen earth’. I have made a few modifications to the pattern (which is written for worsted weight yarn) in order to accomodate the DK yarn weight and I’ve added a little texture too – notes are over on my project page.

This morning there was a spectacular sunrise, which made me want to get up, dressed and out for a walk. So I headed off to the woods to see if the wood anemones were up yet but there was no sign of them, not even the tips of their leaves breaking through the soil. The woods are still deep in winter’s pause, and we’ve not yet had a cold snap so it will be a little longer before the growing season starts again, although tree buds are starting to swell and small bird songs were all around as they start to pair up ready for spring. At least I’m now ready for ice and snow if it does arrive soon, and my hands will stay toasty and warm in my new mittens.