Category: crafts & knitting

crafts & knitting

A little batch of bunnies and friends

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)21 Comments

There are still a few bunny tails to sew on but that’s my job for this afternoon, so I thought that as time is marching on I’d stop procrastinating and just get on with listing this little batch of mostly finished animals.

The first 10 of them are listed now over on my shop blog where I am selling them via a kind of lottery system. I do this because when I sell the animals on Etsy in timed batches I always get emails from disappointed people who have slow internet connections or who are in time zones that make it difficult for them to be on their computer at the allotted time. Selling 10 of them via random number generator to select a recipient gives everyone a fair and equal chance of buying. The details of how to register your interest in any of the animals are over on the shop blog. Please read the post at the top of the page there as it explains what to do. I’m also going to be listing 6 over on Etsy. Details will be sent just to those who have signed up to my mailing list.

If you do miss out this time round please know that it’s not my intention to frustrate or upset. If you feel compelled to write and tell me about your frustrations or disappointment then I will do my best to reply with good grace but I cannot take on special orders because it simply wouldn’t be fair to everyone else.

There will be many more animals next year as I want to concentrate on making rather than pattern writing for a few months. When I was little my mum told me not to try and please all of the people all of the time and although that is good advice because it is just not possible to keep everyone happy, I will keep trying my best to keep as many people happy as possible 🙂

Thanks so much as always for your kindness and for supporting my little business.

 

autism · crafts & knitting

A quick hello

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)31 Comments

Sorry, it’s going to be a short one today. A big chunk of the paperwork for Toby’s transition into adulthood support and services arrived on the door mat last week so I’ve been immersed in that, which if you’ve ever had to fill out these kind of forms you’ll know is a deeply stressful and depressing experience that shows up all of the inadequacies of language in conveying meaning. Seriously, it feels like walking a tightrope over a crocodile pit, one wrong inflection to a sentence and all is lost and all I want to do is ensure he is provided for at the level that he needs. Anyway. I’m ploughing through it, so on to happier things.

Happily knitting really does help so I’ve been furiously click-clacking away in every spare minute. I really hope to have a batch of animals finished in the next 10 days or so (barring the arrival of any more paperwork). Some of these bunnies have been waiting a year for their clothes but I don’t have too much more to do now, a few arms and tails, lots of french knots and buttons to finish off and then just pondering names, making labels and hopefully remembering what yarns I used for each so I can write descriptions. I will keep you posted when they are ready and send out an email to my mailing list with full details – the sign up form is over there on the right of the screen if you wanted to join.

Other happy news has come my way in the form of a blog award and I’m very proud to have been awarded Craft blogger of 2017 from dotcomgiftshop thanks so very much to everyone who voted for me.

 

 

Lastly, before I go and start form filling again, I will be helping my friend Hazel on the cake stand at a new event called The Creative Social taking place in Hertford town this Saturday. I’m also going to bring my knitting and some of the little cotton rabbits (just for showing, not for selling) so if you’re passing pop in for some homemade cake and say hello. I’m happy to answer any questions about the patterns or to demo any techniques if you wanted to ask anything in person. It would be lovely to meet you if you’re able to make it. Edited to add: I’ll be a little bit late as I have to drop Toby off for respite on the way so will be there around 10.30am.

 

 

The Creative Social, showcasing local makers and tutors, bring your own projects and meet other crafters, fabric and wool exchange, haberdashery, cakes, tea & coffee

Saturday 11th November 10 – 2pm

Friends Meeting House, Hertford SG14 1BA, Hertfordshire, UK

Adults £1 entry, children free

Will be back here again soon once all the paperwork is slain!

J x

 

 

crafts & knitting · new patterns

Oink, the pigs are here

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)62 Comments

There are now pigs in the Little Cotton Rabbits pattern range! It is such a relief to sign off on these patterns, it does feel like I’ve been working on them for a very long time.

The finished patterns themselves are very straightforward but when I’m pattern writing I do like to try out lots of different ways of doing the same thing with the hopeful aim that the final pattern will be easy to use and give a toy that someone is pleased to have made. Inevitably this means a lot of frogged samples and things in the bin but also leaves me with a lot of heads that now need bodies, so I’ll be making lots of finished animals from now until Christmas!

One of the hardest things about writing up the pig patterns has been choosing the yarn to make them in, pink yarn has to be the hardest colour to choose from on-screen pictures. I ordered masses of different worsted, DK and Aran weight pink yarns and was constantly surprised when each batch arrived. I’d sift through 10 balls of what I’d hoped would be perfect piggy pinks only to find some were too salmon-coloured, some were dirty pinks, some too boiled lobster-ish. I finally decided upon Milliamia’s Naturally soft Aran in Blush (229) as the main colour for the pigs in the patterns. It’s a nice rosy pink (think creamy strawberry milkshake) and the yarn is soft and not too expensive. You can see below some of the other yarns that were on my shortlist – the runner up was definitely Quince and Co Lark in Petal which was probably my personal favourite but being a very pale shell pink didn’t show up so well in the photos and maybe harder for people to get hold of.

I’ve had a lot of fun coming up with some different designs to represent different pig breeds too. I have a real soft spot for Tamworth pigs which have coarse ginger hair all over their bodies and so much character. So there are tips in the pattern for yarns to use to get a similar effect. There’s also a pattern for a pig with a patch (a bit like a Gloucester Old Spot pig) and an alternative set of ears if you’d rather make a floppy eared pig. Both patterns include all options.

The boy pig pattern includes shorts and a sailor sweater (both removable). The shorts can be knitted with stripes all over or in a single colour. The girl pig has short socks and shoes (both attached) and a removable dress and within the pattern there are easier or more complex options for the socks.

The patterns are now available via Ravelry  and I’ll be uploading them to Etsy shortly.

As always, I’d love your feedback on these patterns and I’m eagerly awaiting the uploading of the first projects over on Ravelry. The Little Cotton Rabbits Ravelry group is full of lovely people who like sharing projects they’ve made, so if you do give any of the patterns a go please come and join in, we’d love to admire what you’ve made.

Happy knitting xxx