three-quarter year resolutions

September 8, 2017 Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)23 Comments

Breakfast 1

Knitting breakfast

Cookerybook

Textures

Hibiscus tea

The new school year is always eagerly anticipated here. Not only does it bring a welcome return to comfortable routines but it also seems like a second chance in the year for new resolutions and plans.

Toby is settling in well with a new teacher and class assistants (happily his classmates are all the same) and Amy is enjoying being in the top year, her last year of school ever. I've spent the last few days clearing up summer holiday mess, tidying things away and getting myself in a sorted frame of mind (or at least trying to) and I've at last had the chance to sit down and properly go through a couple of new cookery books that I bought over summer.

Back in July I started intermittent fasting – the 16/8 kind where you fast for 16 hours each day (in my case 7pm until 11am the next day) and then eat normally during the 8 hours inbetween. When I get up I drink lots of hibiscus tea to keep the hunger pangs at bay – it's quite compelling to watch as it brews with streams of dark red pouring out from the teabags to turn a bottle of water as red as a robust red wine in just minutes. Most days I do make it to 11am before eating anything, though I'm not letting myself feel guilty about the days when I cave in and have a bit of buttered toast at 10am.

The idea is that a longer fasting time between eating gives the body time to process the food and burn away extra fat stores and there are suggestions that it has health benefits too, including helping balance insulin levels. The health aspects are those that most interest me but I'm also loosing weight on it, so far 11lbs in 10 weeks so I'm very happy about that. I'm trying to make sure that what I eat in my 8 hour window is mostly healthy (though I still have cake and chocolate and sugar in my tea) and so I've been looking for new inspiration and have found it in 2 books by Anna Jones. Now I've got a long list of new recipes to try and one of my favourites so far is 'overnight bircher with peaches'. It's delicious with any fresh fruit and is a nice 11am breakfast or fits the bill perfectly for a pudding when I fancy one. I think it tastes even better when eaten from the beautiful tactile cup that I bought from Rachelle Blondel – her wonderful ceramics are organically formed and lovely to hold.

Along with healthier eating I'm trying to get back into the swing of pattern writing so I'm structuring my day into chunks of 'work' knitting and 'play knitting' time. The knitting pictured above is what I'm currently working on in my play time (along with various odd socks) and will be a lovely big, soft wrap for when the colder weather arrives. The pattern I'm using is 'Void' by Melanie Berg and I'm knitting it in The Uncommon Thread's Lush Worsted yarn, a heavenly mix of merino and cashmere with a little nylon for strength, my project details are here.

As soon as I have something concrete to share on the work knitting front I'll be back with news. I will also be having a giveaway to celebrate my just passed 11th blogging anniversary (on September 3rd) but first I need to get myself organised properly, so that will happen later in the autumn.

Thank you so very much to everyone who commented on the previous post. Such wise, compassionate and heart-felt words deserve a proper reply and I feel a bit bad that I've not yet had the time to do that. Until I get the chance to I just wanted you to know how deeply I appreciate your kind comments, thank you xxxx

crafts & knitting · garden stuff · general stuff

Late Summer

August 28, 2017 Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)15 Comments

Wildflowersocks

Dream stripes

Points

Beets2

Snail1

Snail3

Butterfly

Cosmos buds

Sunflower

Sunflowr

Sflower

Hazy

Our summer days have merged into a flow of lazy, mostly at home days and I'm at that point in the school summer hols where I can no longer remember which day of the week it is.

We've been spending lots of time outside; swinging gently in the shade or lazing on a picnic blanket in the garden; walking in the woods and over hills; riding on the little steam train near here and eating lots of ice-cream. It's been mostly relaxing and Toby is coping. He's also beginning to adapt to the lack of pudding that I mentioned in the previous post and though it's still a work in progress it looks like petit filous yoghurts are becoming his new pudding of choice, which is a great relief!

Out in the garden things have been really productive this year. I'm still picking french beans, raspberries, rocket and kale and the cylindrical beetroot that I planted from seed has done really well and is deliciously fresh – seems I'm not the only one to think that either. Everything is still flowering too, the little oregano flowers are attracting lots of bees, hoverflies and butterflies and we've been watching the rapid growth of a surprise self-seeded sunflower.

There's even been a little knitting going on: I've finally finished and blocked a shawl that has been languishing in a bag for a year or more (Dream Stripes by Berangere Cailliau, details here); have quite a few pairs of socks on the go, as I'm clearly still under the spell of the sock knitting fairy (above are Wildflower and Honeycomb socks by Olivia Villarreal, details here) and there have even been a few animals emerging from my knitting basket too (more on that another time).

We've got exactly a week left until school starts again so we're just going to keep things simple here and try to savour the last summer break days, because days of warmth and sunshine are now numbered for this year. Mornings are becoming hazier and cooler, the evenings are shortening noticeably and the leaves in the woods are taking on that late summer dusty green. Autumn is waiting in the wings.

PS: I knew there was something I'd forget and that's the pictures of the tiny cucamelons that a kind friend gave to me as seedlings. Incredibly and despite unwanted attention from slugs, snails and squirrels they actually have tiny fruits!

Cucum

Cucumelon

crafts & knitting

In need of an intervention?

July 30, 2017 Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)42 Comments

Tea and toast socks

Umm, still sock knitting here, and a little obsessively truth be told. I'm not quite sure why, but it might be because the weather here has felt distinctly autumnal lately. Or maybe it's to do with the undemanding rhythm of knitting socks – just going round and round knitting two, purling two is rather relaxing and a nice break from the rigours of writing patterns which quite frankly is taxing on the brain. In either case, I do so love knitting and just sitting here doing it rather than working to the broken rhythm of noting down every stitch and fussing over wording descriptions so that others can follow instructions feels good, so I'm allowing myself a little holiday from pattern writing over the school summer break. It may well be that I have a shed load of socks at the end of these 6 weeks and whether I'll need a knitting intervention remains to be seen!

The pair I've just started (above) are from a really pretty pattern by Olivia Villarreal – Wild flowers and honeycomb socks which I'm knitting in beautiful The Uncommon Thread Tough Sock yarn in shades 'tea smoked' and 'toast' – perfect for a spot of Sunday morning knitting with a nice cup of tea. I've also almost finished the 2 pairs that I mentioned in the previous post (below) so am definitely making up for years of never knitting socks!

If you are waiting for my next animal pattern please forgive me for asking you to wait even longer and thanks for your patience and understanding while I take a little breather and indulge my newly found joy in sock knitting. Rest assured that there will be a new animal pattern coming up after the summer and I'm also working on extra ideas for clothing too, more news will follow. 'Til next time, wishing you peaceful days, restful nights and a little of what makes you happy xxx

A toe to go