February, the waiting month

February 13, 2017April 29, 2026 Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)41 Comments

February always feels like the month where you need the most patience. The shortest day of the year may well be weeks behind us now, but February days can feel as short, dark and cold as it is possible to be and although we all know that Spring is on the way, concrete evidence of that is hard to find. The grey days coupled with lingering sniffles have us feeling a little blue here, even the mood-enhancing effects of cake seemed more short-lived last week and we’ve all needed a little extra comfort and cosiness.

Unsurprisingly I’ve been finding mine in knitting and I’d like to show you what I’ve been working on but I’m not quite ready to reveal, so that will be for another day. I have finished the Snawpaws mittens though and as today had the brightest start that we’ve seen in weeks I grabbed them and my camera and set off for an early walk (leaving the others to a half-term break lie-in).

We’re lucky to have such a good choice of places to walk and today I chose the New River canal and Amwell nature reserve. Though the trees are still bare I’ve come home reassured that Spring really is just around the corner: there were plenty of catkins and buds; frilly anemone leaves underfoot in the woods and a feeling of renewed intimacy between the resident swans. The male swan spent a good deal of time thrashing the water with his huge wings and putting on quite a display for his mate and it’s nice to think that there will be a new clutch of fluffy grey signets hatching out in a few months. A little robin was trilling away in the hedge and flew down to greet me, perching on a fence post just beyond arms reach. He was most amenable to being photographed and offered me several poses to choose from, such a bold and entertaining little chap as he was. It was a lovely morning to be out and I’m glad I made the effort and resisted that tempting lie-in.

I’m hoping to get out later in the week for a snowdrop walk because once they’ve emerged there’s no denying that Spring has begun. ‘Til then I’ll be keeping Toby entertained and busy and hopefully squeezing in a few rows of knitting here and there. Hope the week ahead is good to you, see you soon.

crafts & knitting · general stuff · winter

A sprinkling of snow

January 13, 2017April 29, 2026 Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)22 Comments

Right now there’s quite a lot of snow coming down here in loops and swirls of big, fat flakes but it’s unlikely to last long and the snow that fell here yesterday evening has already mostly melted away. Even so it’s a good excuse to stay snuggled by the fire today where I’ll be making more lists for next week (mostly just transferring all the things that didn’t get done this week) and playing around with ideas for the next pattern. I have lovely cosy toes too thanks to the socks that I’ve just finished from Trin Annelie’s lovely and currently appropriate ‘Snowy Toes’ pattern, knitted in The Uncommon Thread’s beautiful Tough Sock yarn.

Hope you’re keeping well and warm where you are and that there’s a lovely weekend stretching out before you x

crafts & knitting · general stuff · winter

back to familiar routines

January 5, 2017April 29, 2026 Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)27 Comments

The Christmas and New Year break was a good one here. We spent lots of time together watching family films and eating nice things which makes for the best kind of Christmas holiday in my book, especially as Amy is usually out or cloistered with her computer in her room and it was lovely to have a little more of her company. Toby loved his new lego and has been busy chewing it as usual. He’s becoming well practiced in the teenage art of long lie-ins and though he’s still up each night playing musical beds he was coaxed back to his own bed in the morning with a tray of toast and ginger biscuits and happily snuggled there with his books ’til almost lunchtime while I got on with household chores. Return to routine is always welcome however, Toby copes so much better when things are as he expects them to be and when he copes better we all do. So today feels good as the school term has started and I’m sitting here enjoying the quiet while making lists and getting organised.

The mornings have been cold and frosty here this week so it seemed a good excuse to start the pair of gloves above. They’re from a Kate Davies pattern called Snawpaws and I’m knitting them in the unbelievably soft Tynd yarn from Woolfolk which I bought from Loop. They’re knitting up nice and quickly so I’m looking forward to wearing them by the weekend.

Well, I’m off to write some more lists and ease myself back into work mode. As usual there’s a rather large number of emails in my inbox awaiting a reply so if you are waiting to hear from me hopefully you’ll bear with me while I work my way through to yours.

Thanks for dropping in, I hope you’ve had a good start to the year where you are x