A gentle start

January 13, 2015April 30, 2026 Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)51 Comments

After the coughs and colds that we all ungratefully received for Christmas I’ve been easing myself gently into this new year. Happily it’s been years since I’ve been so ill and I count myself lucky on that front, but this bug has definitely knocked the wind right out of my sails and I’m only just starting to feel myself again. Taking things slowly has definitely helped, as has knitting with gorgeous new yarn and drinking hot tea from a lovely new cup. The cup and the yarn were much nicer Christmas presents than the cold!

The cup and saucer are from potter Lars Soendergaard and the yarn is Pigeon Roof studios sock yarn from Loop which comes in sets of graduated mini skeins. I’m using the charcoal colourway to make a pair of long cosy wrist-warmers from this Churchmouse pattern. I had thought of knitting these flat but am now stepping outside my comfort zone and using the magic loop technique to knit them both at the same time. It takes some thinking about when you cast on but once you get going it works well and you don’t have to remember which row you changed to the next colour as you’re working each hand simultaneously.

So, here we are almost half way through January already. Have you made New Year resolutions? I’ve decided not to bother anymore – I don’t have a very good track record with them. It would be nice to loose a little weight (but since that involves more exercise and less knitting time it’s unlikely to happen in earnest – though I have been known to knit while bouncing on Toby’s space hopper so perhaps there is some hope for me. Come to think of it that would be a great idea for an exercise class – any fitness instructors out there want to come up with a knit and bounce routine?). I’m also aiming to worry less (hmm, that one will take a lots of work) but that’s the extent of my vague and wafty thoughts on things I’d like to do differently this year. I’m not going to dwell on failing to achieve them as peace and simple pleasures are the most essential things for well-being and we should probably all learn to go a little easy on our imperfect selves.

Hope your new year has got off to a good start, see you soon x

magazines and a cuppa

December 12, 2014April 30, 2026 Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)32 Comments

It’s rather dingy, wet and windy here today, so the best option is to snuggle up with some knitting, a hot cup of tea and some nice magazines.

And these magazines are particularly nice for me to flick through because I’m in them 🙂

Many thanks to Lizzie at Simply Knitting for the interview in issue 128 and to Danielle at the beautiful Artful Blogging for featuring my blog header in their ‘banners we love’ section of the Nov/Dec/Jan 2015 issue.

The gloves I’m making are Vagabond fingerless mittens by Misa Erder and I’m enjoying trying out the magic loop technique for the main part of them. It looks complicated but once you get used to it, it is quite straight forward. The pattern itself is lovely, I particularly like the construction of the thumb.

Ok I’m off to knit a bit more before Toby gets home. Wishing you a good weekend and hopefully a relaxing one – though it’s so often a manic time of year isn’t it?

crafts & knitting · general stuff · winter

first days of winter

December 9, 2014April 30, 2026 Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)25 Comments

Some random things from the last week…

working on the edging of my big misty blanket, having finished the main section. Hope to make this a wide border but it will be dependent on how much wool is left.

enjoying frothy coffee in the early afternoons

discovering a new yarn brand – Yarn Stories. Not only beautiful quality yarns in gorgeous colours but also the nicest packaging I’ve ever seen. I expect to be knitting lots with their newest yarn, Fine Merino and Baby Alpaca Aran – a couple of colours are going to be so perfect for my next pattern.

preparing over-winter residences for the local bugs

Liking, the first frost of the year…

…the emerging structure of trees…

…and a regular visitor these last few afternoons – one of our neighbours has a pond so they are probably not liking this handsome chap as much as I am!

Thanks so much for all of the thoughtful kind and wise comments on the previous post about Toby’s recent struggles. It’s always lovely to receive such warm-hearted, sweet encouragement and it’s so helpful to know others have gone through similar times. The only variables for us now are duration and intensity but since we’ve been through rough patches before and they’ve not lasted indefinitely, it’s easier to feel hopeful now, knowing that it’s a passing phase.