germy half termy

February 20, 2012 Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)42 Comments

Last weeks half term break turned into a rather germy affair for us when poor Toby came down with a mystery virus and reacted with his usual high temperature fever of 103^o – 104^o. He looked really awful and was groaning a lot and that together with the really high temperature had me on high alert. I always find these episodes rather scary as it is difficult to gauge how ill he really is because he simply can’t tell anyone how he’s feeling, and like all things Tobyish you have to rely on guess work and trust your instincts. After 2 days of lying flaked out in bed refusing all but the tiniest sips of water his temperature started coming down and when he started requesting chocolate ice-cream again we knew he was feeling better! Having his big sister on hand for tickles and cuddles cheered him too.

Today they are both back at school and I’m enjoying some time to knit again. I have been working on lots of animals over the last 2 months but seem to be having difficulty with knuckling down to finishing them off. Recently I’ve been in a real knit phase and the thought of sewing up and stuffing is a chore, so for now I’m going with the knitting urge and as a result have this big old tangled basket of bits and pieces. I’ve been especially enjoying making clothes – mostly lots of dresses with flowers which are probably a result of my yearning for the arrival of spring!

Hopefully the desire to sew up and stuff will seize me soon and a few more finished animals will emerge from the mess!

crafts & knitting

Patterns to buy

February 11, 2012 Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)

All of my patterns are digital and supplied as instantly downloadable PDF files.

You can find the entire range (including all free patterns and supplements) over on Ravelry.

Please note that the only official and valid locations that you can purchase or download my patterns from are on Ravelry, Etsy and LoveCrafts. If you find my patterns available for download anywhere else please be advised that they will be pirated copies, taken without permission and supplied to you illegally, most likely with a side order of malware/ransomware. Please be careful out there and don’t fall victim to any other websites offering my patterns for free or in exchange for ‘tokens’

Clicking on any of the pictures below will take you to that marketplace, where the patterns are available to purchase

Happy knitting x

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Ravelry	Etsy	LoveCrafts

crafts & knitting

me old china, finished

January 27, 2012 Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)91 Comments

Oc6

In some ways I'm a little sad to have fastened off the last stitch in the edging of this blanket.

Oc7

It has been a pleasure to make; rhythmic, undemanding and soothing.

After a bit of a false start (when I had a crisis in confidence about the colour choice and unpicked 20 squares) I started again and I'm now very pleased that I did take out that yellowy colour.

Oc4

The colours to me are rich and comforting and it has turned out just as I had hoped.

Oc10

In fact I am ridiculously pleased with it.

Oc3

So here it is, all finished (though it's not easy to photograph)

Oc1

And here are some stats:

:: Started on August 31st 2011 and finished on January 27th 2012

:: Worked with a 3.5mm crochet hook in 10 colours of DK yarn:

5 balls of Rich 911 (red) Rowan wool cotton (including 2 for the outer edge),

3 balls each of Geranium 976 (dark pink), Tender 951 (pale pink), Antique 900 (cream), all in Rowan wool cotton, Basil (green) in Rowan Belle Organic DK and Mirage (pale blue) in Rowan Classic cashsoft DK

2 balls each of Cypress 968 (aqua), Clear 941 (silver grey), Blue Wash (dark blue) all in Rowan wool cotton,

9 balls for the main background Celandon 979 (pale green/aqua) in Rowan wool cotton

:: There are 99 squares (9 x 11) and it measures 133cm x 163cm

:: Each square is a traditional granny square (there are lots of tutorials on the internet such as this one) and each square has 6 rounds of different colours. There's a sort of checkerboard pattern, alternating between squares with red near the centre and those with it near the edge but it's fairly random.

:: Each square is surrounded by a round of the background colour and I worked 3 rows of this around the 99 squares.

:: The edging is worked as follows: 1 row of single crochet, 1 row of double crochet, another row of single crochet and a row of picot edging.

One a day

I've got used to working on a little crochet in the evening so now I'll have to ponder what to make next as my one a day project, though I think I'm a little blanketed out.

Any ideas?

(part of the one a day project)