Category: summer

countryside · crafts & knitting · summer

Endings and beginnings

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)2 Comments

 

June brings early summer here in the south of England. Not that you’d know it from the recent weather though; chilly winds, frequent rain showers and a distinct lack of sunshine have meant it’s been feeling much more like March and I’ve not yet put away the winter woollies. I’m not really complaining though, cooler temperatures are more conducive to knitting and to long country walks, and thanks to the unseasonable weather the countryside is still clothed in the bright, verdant green of spring. The early spring flowers have though given way to the summer ones; meadows of delicate grasses sprinkled with ox-eye daisies, verges of cow parsley and hedgerows of elderflowers, bramble flowers and dog roses, all so very pretty.

Back at home I’ve been slightly obsessed with knitting jeans for some reason, having switched my colour focus from greens to blues. This indigo dyed cotton yarn (Scheepjes Skies light) is perfect for knitted jeans and when it’s washed the colour leaches out a little (though it’s leaching during knitting too, as you can see from my hands) and you can give a little extra rubbing to the knees so they look a little worn in.

Since the start of the year I’ve been dreading the arrival of June. Over the last 18 years, whilst Toby has been at school and more recently at special needs college, we’ve built safe and comfortable routines that help him to manage the everyday things that everyone else does without a second thought. He’s had somewhere to go that helps to fill his time with some meaningful activities, giving him experiences he wouldn’t otherwise have had and providing us with much needed respite time in which to work, rest and recharge. Tomorrow is the very last day of ‘full time education’ for him and what comes next is as yet untested, unknown and uncertain, which is never a comfortable place to be when autism is a factor.

I began this blog in 2006, on the day before Toby started school aged four years old, and in some ways it would be fitting to finish writing here today on the day before he finishes college and we begin a new chapter in family life. It is something I’ve thought about, simply because life is about to get more complicated and free time will be more limited, but the truth is I’m not ready to go just yet. Putting together this blog encourages me to contemplate all that is positive in life, to go out and take pictures, to sit quietly and edit them and to write about my small and simple adventures and love of knitting. And when I have opened up about the struggles we sometimes face, you – my community of blog readers, have never failed to generously gift me words of kindness, compassion and wisdom, I would miss doing this and all of you terribly. So I’m staying for now, though service may be disrupted for a bit whilst we find our feet and forge new routines.

Well, I’m off to do a little quiet and calming knitting, I hope that the rest of June is kind to you, hopefully see you soon, J x

countryside · general stuff · in the woods · summer

Summer’s end

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)22 Comments

 

First Published on my Typepad blog, September 1st 2023……

Summer is drawing to a close here and we’re preparing for next week’s return to term-time routines. Looking back over the last 2 months I have to say that this has been a good summer. The weather has been perfect, not hot enough to frazzle tempers or cause restless nights, but warm enough to make being outside a joy. And, unlike last year, the frequent rains have kept the countryside green and bountiful. It’s been a wonderful growing season and the hedgerow harvest is going to be a bumper one, with masses of blackberries, rosehips, sloes and acorns.

We’ve walked every single day and, much as I have loved walking daily with Toby, it’s been necessary for his happiness to go at the pace he sets, so I am looking forward to being out and about on my own, with the luxury of the slower pace that brings, and the freedom to stop and notice small delightful things. Back at home Toby has had his inevitable meltdowns, but they’ve been less frequent than I expected and the good times have been more numerous than I’d dared to hope for.

I’m also looking forward to the peace of being on my own in the house and the quiet that allows for proper pattern writing concentration. I have fiddled with my new cows pattern over the summer, but it has been a half-hearted affair, and so full of interruptions that I suspect that my notes are full of errors. It will be good to be able to sit here and make some more meaningful progress over the coming weeks.

Well, I just wanted to say hello again, I look forward to being here a bit more frequently as the autumn arrives. Thanks as always for visiting me here, J x

Pictures above are from:

  • my annual sun-rise solo walk at Waterford marsh where there had been a heavy dew which delicately decorated the silken strands of spiderwebs hanging from the fences. And where I saw geese, kingfishers, egrets, a kestrel, and deeply enjoyed munching a croissant whilst listening to the early morning birdsong from deep in the river-side willows. A heavenly start to the day;
  • bubbles in the garden, so many bubbles, much to Toby’s delight;
  • feathers (buzzard, owl, goldfinch, jay and greater spotted woodpecker) and snail shells, treasures found on our daily walks;
  • beautiful new yarn from  The Knitting Shed, at the moment I’m just admiring it, whilst pondering autumn knitting projects;
  • summer sunsets in all their technicolour glory;
  • the super blue moon on August 30th, slightly obscured by cloud but brightly beautiful all the same.
countryside · crafts & knitting · general stuff · summer · wildlife

Summer days

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)9 Comments

First published on my typepad blog, August 1st 2023 . . .

Well, we’re half way through the long summer break here and have settled into a comfortable daily routine. Mornings are calm and quiet as happily Toby enjoys quite long lie-ins, so I usually have a couple of gentle hours to call my own, either reading or knitting and sometimes having breakfast in bed when the mood takes me. Once he is up we head out for a walk, usually walking around 3 miles and stopping for a picnic snack along the way. Toby is good company as a walking buddy, he so enjoys the peace and quiet of the countryside and looks all around him as we go along. He’s still not keen on me stopping to take photos of things but is getting gradually more tolerant, just as long as I’m quick.

It’s a wonderful thing to be able to share a love of nature and the outdoors with him, and our walks together are often the best part of the day. We’ve seen so much wildlife: lots of muntjac deer, a stoat, rabbits, buzzards, red kites, kestrels, storks, egrets and so very many insects, bees, dragonflies and butterflies, it’s been a great year for them and I’ve seen such a variety. It looks like being a good year for blackberries and hazelnuts too, with a bumper crop ripening in the hedgerows and we’ve seen a lot of early fungi too, doubtless sprouting well because of all of the rain we’ve had recently. Not that I’m complaining in any way, I’m so grateful this year for the cooler temperatures and wetter weather and so is the greenly verdant countryside.

There’s not much progress on anything knitting related at the moment. I’ve been knitting quite a few scarves from the ‘Sophie Scarf’ pattern by Petiteknit as it’s a beautifully simple and uncomplicated knit, perfect for picking up whenever I get the chance for a few rows and putting down again when Toby needs something. As far as my own pattern writing goes I do now have a cow pattern finalised, though still in the form of scribbled notes which need a lot of work once the next college term starts in September.

I hope you’ve had a good month and that August is kind to you, J x