Category: general stuff

crafts & knitting · garden stuff · general stuff · summer

summery snippets

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)37 Comments

Some moments from the first two weeks of our school break…

  • Amy’s summer hair, dip-dyed blue (which will hopefully wash out before she goes back to school or it will be time to get the scissors out!)
  • Days of absolutely torrential rain fall (with some local flooding) and others full of sun and red skies at dusk, all of which make for a lovely lush garden.
  • we’re having a good harvest of peas, lettuce and broccoli but the french beans have been rubbish thanks to the slugs back in spring. I’m rather excited about my kuri squash plant which is growing like stink and the squash themselves are like little balloons which get bigger each time I look at them. I’m looking forward to making squash soup if we get enough of them.
  • Toby is enjoying the garden too, kicking back in his swing with his lego and occasionally having a burst of energy on the trampoline. We’ve also been swimming a few times and had lots of walks in the cool woods which have been lovely on the hottest of days (no pictures yet as Toby doesn’t like me to stop – he likes to keep moving when we’re out walking.)
  • There’s even been a little knitting. This was taken at 10.15pm this evening when I was cowl knitting by candlelight in support of the #LightsOut campaign commemorating the start of the first world war 100 years ago. #LightsOut’s inspiration stems from the then foreign secretary Sir Edward Grey’s famous remark on the eve of the outbreak of the war. He said: “The lamps are going out all over Europe; we shall not see them lit again in our life-time”. Britain declared war on Germany at 11pm on 4 August 1914.

So with that sobering thought, I’m off to bed feeling grateful that those dark days of 1914-18 are long distant and hoping that we don’t see the like of them again.

general stuff · summer

savouring quiet time

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)45 Comments

The final few days before the long school summer break are always held in sacred regard here. It’s the last chance for six weeks to savour complete quiet, unadulterated by Black Veil Brides screaming out of Amy’s room or the incessant clicking of Toby’s lego bricks constantly being taken apart and reassembled. Keeping Toby occupied over the summer hols is always a full time job and I will not have much time to call my own over the coming weeks. So today I am being very indulgent and sitting peacefully at the end of the garden with my knitting. At the moment I’m playing around with ideas for Fair Isle sweater patterns (though there won’t be a pattern for a while as I still have lots of tweaking to do) …

At the end of the garden, sitting with knitting, is my perfect place to be and right now I’m feeling very lucky indeed to be right here. Though the place that my friends and I spent yesterday afternoon in was also rather perfect, The Mudlarks Garden Cafe in Hertford.

In a world where high street cafes are often multi-national affairs and look the same no matter which town you’re in, such a unique and a locally run establishment is a true gem.

There’s a lovely friendly feel to the seating, with cosy sofas and armchairs, little nooks and sweet tables with mis-matched chairs. Hot drinks are served in pretty vintage china tea cups with proper leaf tea in teapots arriving on a tray with milk jugs and tea-strainers. Food is freshly made, organic, vegetarian/vegan and very tempting (I took these pictures after the lunchtime crowd had been and gone and so most of the quiches, salads and cakes had already been devoured).

There are books and toys for little ones, a table football game in the outbuilding and a very pretty courtyard garden full of flowers, bunting and more seating.

But what really makes this cafe so very special is it’s involvement with and support of the local community. The Mudlarks community garden is a charity very close to my heart. Their stated aim is

to integrate people with learning difficulties and mental health issues into the community through gardening whilst also promoting conservation and allowing people of all abilities to learn and work together.

They also support young people with autism and learning difficulties beyond school and this is something which I’m hoping will be a part of Toby’s future when he leaves school.

Many of the ingredients used at the new cafe come from the community garden project and it’s a nice feeling to enjoy a well-made cup of tea and delicious lunch and know that it is a virtuous one too because of all those people that are helped and supported.

I know that many of you that visit here with me are not even in the UK, let alone local to Hertford but if you are ever in the area please make a detour and stop by the Mudlarks garden cafe for a cuppa and a slice of cake (and remember there’s the lovely Creative Sanctuary just around the corner selling beautiful fabrics, yarn and haberdashery).

I hope you don’t mind me plugging this cafe, I’ve not received an incentive of any kind for writing about it and I’ve done so purely because I wholeheartedly admire their support of autistic and special needs adults (something that has special resonance for our family).

Right, I’m off now to make the most of the last day of term. I hope to pop in from time to time over the next 6 weeks (if Toby allows me). So until then, thanks for stopping by x

 ………………………………………………….

Mudlarks Garden Cafe, 12 Railway Street, Hertford, SG14 1BG

Open Tuesday – Saturday, 9am – 5pm

details on Go Hertford

PS: a couple of people have emailed to ask about donating to the Mudlarks charity. They would deeply appreciate any financial support and if you wish to donate you can do so via  their webpage or on their charitychoice page. Thanks x

 

garden stuff · general stuff · spring

planting, tick

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)15 Comments

Do you ever get the feeling that you’re traveling through life on an escalator going the wrong way and although you’re working pretty hard you are just not making any progress? I’m sure you do as there can’t be many of us who escape feeling swamped from time to time. I’ve certainly been feeling that way lately – for every bit of paperwork I fill in another drops through the letter box, for every blog post I catch up with another 2 appear in my blog reader, for every email I answer another 3 pop into my inbox… you get the picture I’m sure.

Not a lot was ticked off my to do list this weekend either. In fact the only tick was vegetable planting with help from Toby and we spent a lot of lovely time in the garden together yesterday (hence the pictures of the chives which were planted last year and are now in full and glorious bloom and attracting a lot of bees).

So far this year I’ve not sown as much as I had planned to. I did have grand vegetable planting plans but they’ve been scaled back to more manageable proportions and this weekend Toby and I just planted some beans and peas (a little late in the year but hopefully not too late to get a harvest).

We’ve also got earlier plantings of garlic, broccoli and lettuce which are coming up nicely.

There are a few little seedlings too which should be ready to plant out soon and with any luck will give us some delicious onion squash in the autumn. Courgette and squash seeds are my favourite to grow. They look just like a childs drawing of a little sprout and they are pretty robust – which is a good thing when Toby is involved in the planting out!

So that’s the news from the garden at the moment. In knitting news there is lots going on with pattern writing but nothing yet finished, just a big old tangle of sample bits – the result of testing out different yarns and tweaking bits and pieces. If you’ve emailed me for an E.T.A on the next pattern I’m afraid I can’t give one yet but I am working on the sweaters, the sneakers and all of the other animals, so they are on the way.

This week is the week of Toby’s annual school play so he goes to school from 4pm – 9.30pm which throws everything out of kilter in a big way. And hot on the heels of this week is the school half term break, so I won’t be getting on top of my to do list anytime soon and my email backlog is already of embarrassing proportions – I really am sorry if you’re waiting for a reply from me.

A couple of people emailed to ask about how I constructed the cushion cover – by the way thanks so much for all of the kind comments about the bench in the previous post. Here is a picture of the back.

The crochet top extends a little way underneath where I’ve sewn it to a rectangular piece of fabric and left one side open (held in place by saftey pins) incase I need to take the cover off to wash it. In terms of advice for fitting the crochet top I can’t give much other than to make a top piece the same size as your foam pad and then make side pieces, checking the fit as you go. It was all a bit make-it-up-as-you-go-along but it seems to work and so far it is standing up well to daily Toby use.

Hope you have a good week, see you soon x