Category: crafts & knitting

crafts & knitting · new patterns

mini bunnies and bears, two new patterns

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)41 Comments

Earlier this year I started playing around with the idea of a mini version of my knitted bunnies. I wanted a pattern that was a little simpler to knit and construct than my regular sized animals (they are shown in the picture above for comparison), and I also wanted the little toy to be suitable for a baby or small child, so the clothes are all knitted on with no removable parts or buttons.

The pattern started out as a boy and girl version of a bunny but as I was working on it I thought it might also be fun to also have an option for an unclothed version and once I’d fiddled around with that it also occurred to me that it might be nice to do a bear as well. So what I have finally ended up with is two new mix and match type patterns:

  • There’s a girl version with instructions to make a bunny and a bear, with an attached dress and striped stockings but also has an option for a completely naked toy.
  • Then there’s the same for a boy version, again with instructions for a bunny and bear and options for a naked version or a version wearing attached jumper and shorts.

The mini animals work out at 14cm/51/2 inches tall if knitted with DK yarn on 2.75mm/US 2 needles, but you can make a smaller version with 4ply yarn and 2.5mm needles, or a larger version with worsted weight yarn and 3mm needles.

They are listed on Ravelry or on Etsy and the regular discount of 15% applies if you add 2 or more of my patterns to your basket.

With Easter coming up at the end of the month I though it might be good to share these patterns now as these little bunnies might make sweet Easter gifts. If you do use the patterns please come and share your projects on the ravelry group, I love seeing what people are making from my patterns and there are lots of friendly makers there who like admiring each other’s projects.

Well that’s it from me today. It’s the start of the school break here and Amy is back with us for Easter so I’ll not have much time to pop in here over the next few weeks, but I do want to share some other Spring things I’ve been knitting, so I hope to be back here next week with some pictures, ’til then have a lovely weekend x

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PS: There is a chart for the little heart on the dress in the foreground over on my post about duplicate stitch and at the bottom of that same blog post I’ve also added a chart for the rose pattern that I’ve used previously on some animal dresses.

 

crafts & knitting · general stuff

A perfect Sunday

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)14 Comments

The perfect Sunday morning. What would yours be like?

Mine would look exactly like the top picture and I was lucky enough for that to be part of my Sunday yesterday.

My idea of the perfect Sunday is

:: waking up when you’ve had enough sleep, rather than to the sound of an alarm clock;

:: padding downstairs in cosy socks and PJs to pop the kettle on;

:: taking a tray laden with brewing breakfast tea and a warm cinnamon bun back to a still-warm bed;

:: reading and knitting the morning away in bed with chill radio playing until everyone else is up and wanting some lunch;

:: pottering in the garden after lunch, tidying up the vegetable beds and enjoying the golden light from the setting sun blushing the spring blossoms on the tree;

:: making a roast dinner for family and curling up together for wine and cuddles by the fire afterwards.

It’s not often that everything is in alignment for a perfect Sunday, but I’m hoping for a re-run next weekend 🙂

My knitting projects above are:

‘Out of winter shawl’ by Tamy Gore, knitted in simply stunning ‘Owl Feather’ Grenouille sock yarn

A pair of simple ribbed wintery wristwarmers that I’ve improvised in order to let this beautiful hand-dyed neppy yarn take centre stage. The the rich earthy tones and light neps of the yarn remind me of a ploughed field in winter, so ribbing seemed appropriate. The yarn is ‘Need for tweed’ BFL/Donegal nep from Ocean By The Sea (the making notes on the wristwarmers are on my ravelry project page)

Reading: The Peregrine by J. A. Baker – beautiful written, evocative prose for quiet Sunday morning

 

crafts & knitting · foxes in my garden · garden stuff · general stuff · wildlife · winter

February blues

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)31 Comments

February might be the shortest month but it always feels to me like time runs much more slowly in February than in any other month. To be honest I’m tired of grey, dreary, overcast days and I’m so looking forward to feeling the days lengthen out and seeing brighter colours emerging in the countryside. I’ll be off on a snowdrop hunt sometime later this week because those delicate little bell shaped flowers are always the first signal of a change in the seasons. In the meantime I’m cosying indoors and knitting February away. For some reason I seem to have been mostly knitting in blue for the last few months. Do you find that you get drawn to a particular colour at a particular time? I was knitting mostly in warm tones of gold, pink and mustard throughout last year but blue seems to be the colour of the moment for me, though I think I might be hitting saturation point as I have been finding myself looking at lots of lovely brown speckley yarns on Etsy.

Anyway, two pairs of socks have been finished, the top ones are Fair Isle Flower Sock by Candice DeWitt knitted mostly in Eden Cottage Hayton ‘tarn’ and below are a pair knitted from Helen Stewart’s Fragment sock pattern in Madeline Tosh twist light yarn ‘well water’ (I’ve added both as projects to ravelry if you wanted links to yarns etc.)

The pair I’m currently making are from the Kia sock pattern by Dawn Henderson. It’s a lovely rhythmic and relaxing pattern, perfect for knitting when you just want something undemanding to occupy your hands and soothe your mind from a busy day, and it’s generously shared for free (though if you use the pattern you could buy Dawn a ko-fi to thank her).

In other news I’ve had some interesting visitors in the garden. With the weather being colder last week, and there being less food out in the countryside towards this end of winter, we’ve had flocks of finches swooping in to the bird feeders (mostly gold and green finches); the squirrel has been doing his best acrobatics in his attempts to loot some of the bounty and we’ve also had a few rather exotic visitors moving into the area from London. This is a ring necked parakeet – and she’s not alone as one morning a flock of 12 or so flew over and I’m now regularly hearing their raucous calls echoing around the neighbourhood. My favourite garden visitor though has been this cheeky fox. I always know when he’s around (usually appearing in the hour before sunset) as the chickens go berserk with squawking and when I look out there he is running up and down outside of the run trying to get in. As soon as I go out he runs down the side of our house and leaps through a narrow gap in the fence to our neighbours garden and there he stays in the hope I’ll go back inside, every now and then popping his head through the gap to check if I’m still there. I’m very happy to have him in come and visit because he’s beautiful and such a character but I’m not sure my chickens are as pleased the have him around!