crafts & knitting

A little knitting news

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)209 Comments

Thanks so much for the nice welcome back. Getting so out of touch does feel strange to me when blogging has been such a part of my life for nearly seven years. The list writing is definitely helping me order my thoughts but lists are not the only thing I have been writing over the last week, I have also been pattern writing!

 

Patterns

Over the years I have avoided writing up the patterns for the little cotton rabbits partly because it is such a lot of work to write something that someone else can follow, partly because I'd rather be actually knitting than anything else and partly because they are so very personal and it's hard to put them out there for scrutiny. And then there is the Toby Factor. If you are one of the people who have written and asked me about availability of animal patterns you will have probably received my standard answer

"Thanks for asking about the patterns for the knitted animals that I make. As
yet I've not written them up but I do hope to in the future when things get a little easier with my son and will keep the blog up to
date with any developments"

Well, it has been slowly dawning on me that things may well not get any easier on the Toby front, in fact with his teenage years looming they may well get considerably harder for a while. His future is uncertain and therefore so is mine, tied together as they are and right now may be as good as things get. So I have been thinking long and hard and decided that if I am ever going to publish my patterns I may as well just get on with it and so that is exactly what I am doing right now. The first one is with pattern testers right now, though I think it will be a few weeks before it will be ready with all the charts, photos and formatting that I intend to include.

I just thought I'd give you a bit of advance notice and an explanation as to why I might not be popping in here so much for a wee while. I am working on them every spare minute I have.

I still plan to make knitted animals for sale, I cannot imagine life without making them now, it has become my main source of peace, tranquility and relaxation. But I'm also mindful of the fact that knitting for around 8 hours a day, almost every day may well be taking its toll on my fingers – they are not as supple as they once were and are a lot more prone to aches. Still there will be plenty more knitted animals from me for the forseeable future – in fact there are plenty waiting for finishing at the moment. Once I get pattern writing out of my system I will be turning my attention back to bunny knitting in earnest.

If you are one of those waiting on my patterns – thanks for being patient with me for all of these years, I hope you won't have to wait much longer!

garden stuff · general stuff

hello again

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)53 Comments

Thanks for dropping in and thanks for the kind messgages that I've had over the last couple of days asking if things are OK. They are, and I hadn't meant to be away for so long. I had intended to pop my blogging head on again the day the children went back to school but when I looked I couldn't find it! I suppose it's a little to do with getting out of practice but there is also the fact that my head feels stuffed full of thoughts about so many different things right now. The Easter holidays were quite difficult and a couple of different things happened which were unsettling and upsetting. When things are complicated I try to seek out ways to simplify our life here and I'm making lists and jottings in an attempt to order my thoughts, hopefully that will help me feel normal again soon!

I did have a few laughs when I discovered a brilliant blog written by the dad of an autistic boy. He wrote a wonderfully funny piece for the BBC website about the dreaded school holidays which I completely identify with, it's a good read if you have time. I also read a fair bit of his blog My Son's not Rainman over the Easter break and it helped me hang on to my sense of humour which was in danger of becoming a bit threadbare.

 

Malabrigo

It is good to be back in term time again and have a little time for peace and quiet. I am currently enjoying pondering plans for this basket of
recently acquired malabrigo. I'm also busy making
hedgehogs for the next class I'm doing at the Creative Sanctuary in May. There
are a couple of spaces left if anyone is interested in coming along,
booking details are here.

It's nice to have some warmer weather at last too, happily Spring now seems to have properly arrived and over last weekend Toby was joyfully reacquainted with bubbly bouncing time on the trampoline! There are blackbirds nesting in the clematis outside the back door and the bluetits are checking out the bird box on the plum tree. Luckily neither of them seem disturbed by the work going ahead in the garden. H has worked like a horse over the Easter break carting barrowloads of our old patio away and taking down the shed.

 

Gardenapril

Garden april

There is now a flat space ready for the garden room though first the herb wall needs to be finished and the fences replaced. It's coming along though and Toby is coping suprisingly well with the changes. I think it helps that he loves his new swing chair and I feel better at the loss of the climbing frame when I see him spinning and rocking and squealing with delight!

 

Toby swing

 

Toby swing2

Well, it's nice to be here again and I'm looking forward to catching up with what everyone has been up to but for now I'm off to do some more thinking and list writing. Will be back soon, hopefully with a clearer head!

crafts & knitting · garden stuff

snow and stitching

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)46 Comments

Thanks for all the good wishes for our garden plans. Although there will be lots of changes going on many of the things that I love about the garden will still be there – the raised beds are being reconfigured and I'm looking forward to planning out the veg garden soon – hopefully in time for spring (if it ever arrives!). We're also keeping the chicken run, half of the herb wall, the table and chairs under the grapevine where I like to sit and knit with my radio in summer and of course Toby's beloved trampoline. I will miss my messy little shed with it's bench and shelves strewn with gardening bits and bobs, though my potting bench will have a new home outdoors so I can still potter at it.

It's the loss of the climbing frame that has had the most impact on the garden and on me, to tell the truth I cried when it came down. It has served our family so well for many years and brought so much pleasure
to Amy and Toby. I can still vividly remember the delight and amazement on Amy's face when she saw the first swing that we put up, and Toby's utter joy at the climbing frame, he was up there before it had even been finished! I have fed him lots of petit filous yoghurts up on the platform – it was always his favourite place to eat them on a summer's day.

I suppose that what I am actually sad about is the ending of a chapter in family life. Taking down the climbing frame has felt like closing the door on childhood and I will miss it because it was loved by the little people who used to play and squeal and
laugh on it. But it has been a year or two since Amy has played on it and Toby is getting too big to be completely safe on it. It is the right time to make a change – a garden is best adapted to suit the needs of those who use it and I'm sure we will come to love our new garden room and I will wonder 'how ever did we manage without it? I am certainly grateful for the kindness and generosity of family and friends that has made it possible.

Over the weekend the work outside had to be put on hold due to a late winter storm and yet more snow!

Snowblos

 

Snowb

 

Snuggling inside with lots of wool was definitely the best thing to do and I started planning how to join the stack of squares for my tiled blanket.

 

Stacked

There have been a few false starts…

To begin with I sewed the pieces together through the front-most loops of the edging round. I thought it was going well but when I laid it out I wasn't happy – it looked scruffy and messy and I didn't like the wonky squares

 

Joining

Then I tried sewing through the back loops on the edging round…

 

Joining2

…but was still not a happy bunny. I think it was better than the first attempt but still a bit scruffy at the corner joins.

So finally I tried sewing through the little line of bumps at the back of the edging…

 

Joining3

…and at last I think I'm happy. I plan to keep on joining the squares like this and once it's a bit bigger I'll take some more photos – hopefully at that point I'll not change my mind again as I'm now heartily sick of unpicking stitches!