Category: crafts & knitting

crafts & knitting · general stuff · Giveaways

7 years

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)1,083 Comments

Hello again. It's nice to be back now that the children are at school again. It's been longer than I planned since I popped in here and I had intended to write another couple of blog posts over the school summer hols but circumstances conspired to keep me away from the computer. I will write up a post soon about my summer knitting exploits but today is a special day as it is my blog anniversary – it was exactly seven years ago today that I first dipped my toe into bloggy waters.

Candycoco

At the time I didn't have any long term plans for the blog. All I wanted was a distraction from worrying about Toby (who was having his very first day of school), a way of connecting with other people who like to make things (because it appears that none of them live very near me) and maybe a way of selling a few knitted things so that I had an excuse to keep making them. I count myself extremely lucky to have had all 3 of those wishes come true and so much more besides. I've made real life friends through this little blog, built a small business which does indeed allow me to justify buying lots of yarn and knitting each and every day and I have a lovely place to come to escape from some of the worries about Toby's future.

But all this would not have been possible without you – all you lovely visitors who pop in and say Hi, offer encouragement, support and generally just make me feel happy and part of a like-minded community.

As a small thank you I am giving away the two bunnies above (called Candy and Coco). To be in with a chance of winning one of them just leave me a comment below and tell me something you like to do with your free-time. I'll pick 2 winners using a random number generator a week today (Tuesday 10th September)

I'm also giving away a free supplement to my bunny girl/seasonal dresses knitting patterns. This is for the dress design on the bunnies above and includes charted and written instructions (please note that you will need one of my patterns as the supplement is just the design notes rather than the full instructions for the dress construction). If you'd like a copy you can download it for free here.

Thanks again for continuing to visit with me and for all of your lovely comments over the last 7 years, I hope you'll stick around for a while longer x

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As always after the long summer holidays I am woefully behind with replying to emails. I hope to catch up over the next week, sorry if you are waiting to hear back from me.

 

autism · crafts & knitting · general stuff

summer days

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)39 Comments

Summer has arrived here in this little corner of England. The last few days have been wonderful weather-wise and over the weekend our whole family has been outside  – the sunshine even coaxed Amy out of the teenage stereotype of preferring bedroom living 🙂

I've been sitting in the shade at the end of the garden and working on some end of term presents for Toby's teachers. I plan to pair each strawberry bookmark with a pretty note book and pencil and wrap them up nicely.

 

Strawberrymaking

Free pattern from Pezdiva (with a few adaptations).

 

Strawbs

Toby has of course been enjoying bouncing, swinging and paddling

 

Paddling pool

even the chicken has been enjoying the hot weather with a paddle in her own pool

 

Paddling

Poor H has been the only one not relaxing or keeping cool – he's still been hard at work building paths and paving around the garden room.

 

Garden work

I am also working on a little batch of knitted animals. It's been a while since I offered any for sale so I hope to have them finished soon, I'll post some pictures when they're ready.

Talking of knitting, thanks so much to Love Knitting for featuring little cotton rabbits as their blog of the week last week.

Thanks too to all of the people who sent me emails and messages about the book of the week on radio 4. 'The reason I jump' is written by Naoki Higashida an autistic boy living in Japan and takes the form of questions put to him and his answers. It is a fascinating and thought-provoking insight into the world seen from an autistic perspective. My copy arrived yesterday and I'm already halfway through (and scribbling notes to myself as I go). The introduction by David Mitchell is brilliant and any parent of an autistic child will be nodding in agreement and probably like me welling up with tears at reading things that so often go unsaid.

 

Book2

The book itself is revelatory and has again made me tearful many times, both in recognition of the huge implications it could have in the way that others perceive those with autism and because current state schooling often deeply underestimates and mis-interprets many autistic children. My head is literally buzzing and I'm trying to think where we go from here in order to give Toby a way of communicating all that is in his head (rather than just his basic wants), because there is a lot more going on in there than most people give him credit for. I'd urge anyone involved with any aspect of caring for autistic people to read this book, it is an eye-opener and has the potential to change lives.

Thanks as always for popping in to visit. See you again soon

 

crafts & knitting · new patterns

little cotton rabbit dresses

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)87 Comments

Well the patterns for the seasonal dress collection are done. I’ve bundled 14 different designs into one PDF pattern which includes 3 designs each for Spring, Summer and Autumn attire, 4 for Winter wear and a pretty lace dress for parties and special occasions.

The pattern has 19 pages including a single page with both colour charts and written instructions for each design, an index indicating level of difficulty (most are fairly easy with one or two trickier knits) and full construction details with pictures to show two different options for the sleeve. But if you’re worried about printing all of those pages out you only need to print the 2 pages of instructions and the single page for the pattern you’ve chosen to work on in order to make a dress. The rest of the pattern can sit on your computer for reference and like my bunny patterns all photos are zoomable if you want to see more detail on the fiddly bits. The pattern is available as instant download either on Ravelry or Etsy

I hope everyone who buys a copy really enjoys making their little cotton rabbits a wardrobe of dresses to wear throughout the year.

Now I’m off to do some quiet knitting, rest my brain and catch up with some blog reading – I’m really missing seeing what all my favourite blog people are up to. Thanks as always for dropping in and for supporting my work x

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PS: Lots of people have asked about the other animal patterns (fox, elephant, mouse, monkey etc) and I will be writing up these over the coming months.