sunny day stuff

July 4, 2014April 30, 2026 Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)29 Comments

The last couple of days have been so lovely weather-wise. We’ve spent almost every waking moment outside and it’s been hard to get Toby to come in from the trampoline even after darkness has descended. He’s also discovered how fun it is to go hunting for frogs after dark and we’ve left an old tray filled with water out for them which they seem to really enjoy and it makes them gather in one place so Toby can try to touch them (gently with supervision) and laugh with glee when they hop off. There was also some hedgehog poo in the frogs bath this morning so the night-time visitors to our garden are enjoying a little paddle too!

After the children had gone to school this morning I settled down in the garden for some breakfast (I never seem to have time for mine until they’ve left the house). As I was sitting there munching my granola and yoghurt I was looking over the veg beds and admiring my new watering can which I treated myself to this week and I pondered that it could benefit from a little yarn-bombing. Which is why it now has a crochet handle, why I am even more pleased with it and why H thinks I have way too much time on my hands.

This afternoon, inbetween a bit of weeding and lots of pegging out washing, I’ve been knitting up a pair of mittens in lovely wood and water tones.

Unusually for me I’m using double points and am actually liking them for a change. Perhaps it just took finding the right needles to cure me of my aversion to knitting in the round (these are Karbonz from Knitpro and they’re lovely to work with). The pattern is a free one from Churchmouse Yarns and Teas and I’m making it in Hazel Knits Artisan sock and Madeline Tosh sock (both from Meadow Yarn). It seems to have become a habit for me to make mittens on the hottest days of the year, perhaps they’ll have a bit of extra warmth in them come winter-time.

Well, I’m off to peg out a bit more washing and sit for a few quiet minutes before the children bring chaos back to my little corner of the world. Have a good weekend x

PS: happy Independence Day to all my friends in the USA x

longest day

June 23, 2014April 30, 2026 Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)35 Comments

Can you believe the longest day of this year has already been and gone?

My Summer solstice was a quiet one with Toby in respite for the day, Amy out with friends and H off cycling. I made the most of the peace by settling myself in the shady spot at the end of the garden with my knitting, notes and computer and I worked on getting the seasonal sweaters pattern finished.

It’s pretty much done but later today I need to take a cover photo and give it all a final check through and then it should be ready to share. I’ll tell you more about what is in the collection later in the week.

Being outside feels so good and the weekend weather gave plenty of opportunity to do just that. There were some pretty interesting skies too, with perfect conditions for contrails which took ages to disperse, the sky above our house soon becoming criss-crossed with them.

Yesterday was also a garden day. Toby had lots of fun on the trampoline while H and I pottered around, tidying up some of the shrubs that have become overgrown and weeding out the chicken run. A few months back we lost Butterscotch, the last of our 3 original chickens to a mystery illness and we thought we’d wait a while before getting ourselves a new flock – just incase there were still some germs lurking around. I think enough time has passed now so we’ve tidied up the run and I’m hoping we’ll have some new clucky friends very soon.

The garden is very green and fresh looking at the moment. We’ve not had intense summer heat yet and although there’s not been much rain of late the water butts are still quite full and I’ve been diligently watering each night. I love all of the different shades of green in the various corners of the garden…

Well, I’m off to get everyone ready for their respective day and then I’m going to try and take that cover photo for the sweaters pattern. I hope to be back later in the week with news of that, so until then have a good week x

garden stuff · general stuff · summer

snippets of summer: garden

August 7, 2013April 30, 2026 Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)44 Comments

I’m afraid I’m not getting much computer time at the moment – young master Toby has other ideas for keeping me busy. Today though he is elsewhere so I thought I’d pop in and show you some snippets of recent days in the garden.

We’ve been…lazing in the hot sunny weather and blue summer skies and then scrambling about like mad to gather in washing and toys in the sudden heavy downpours, marveling at the dramatic clouds as the storms blow over, eating chilled nectarines from the farmer’s market and homegrown salads picked fresh from the garden and enjoying the rampant growth of everything in the garden and all of the attendant wildlife.

As I mentioned keeping Toby occupied and safe is a full time job as he needs constant supervision to keep him out of mischief (thank goodness for CHIPs summer club and respite days that have given me some time off). Sometimes though the mischief is of the playful kind – I snapped this yesterday evening when I was making a cup of tea, I turned my back to empty the pot after warming it and turned back to find him wearing the warm cosy as a hat and sniffing the teabags (sniffing everything is his new thing at the moment). He found it very funny!

I hope to pop back soon with some snippets of summer knitting. All of the hot weather hasn’t made me feel much like plunging my hands into wool but I have still managed to add to my large basket of stuff in progress 🙂

See you soon, keep well and happy x