one a day

March 11, 2011 Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)65 Comments

It's been dawning on me that I'm not doing too well with my new year's resolution to look for the best in each day. In theory it's a simple one, but in practice I find when I sit down at the end of the day my mind starts going over all of the negative bits. So I started thinking of ways to make me focus on the positive moments and I think I've come up with a way to end each day on a happy note.

It was love at first sight when I saw Solveig's gorgeous blanket but at the time I was all cack-handed on the crochet front. Now I've got a few crochet projects under my belt and I feel ready to take on a bit of a challenge. I'm going to take it slow and steady, just doing one square at the end of each day and as I work on each one I'll be mulling over the day's good bits.

For my one-a-day blanket I've chosen Amy Butler's Belle Organic DK yarn by Rowan because I love the softness of it and I've decided on a limited palette, using just 7 of the gorgeous collection of colours: Robin's egg, Cornflower, Peony, Hibiscus, Persimmon, Basil and Cilantro along with the main colour 'moonflower' which is a cream.

I know it will take me most of the rest of the year but at the end of it I'll have a lovely blanket (well hopefully if it turns out even half as nicely as Solveig's) and I like the idea that it will be made with happy thoughts in my head.

garden stuff

spring clean up

March 9, 2011 Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)38 Comments

We've had 3 back-to-back days of spring sunshine here. It's lovely how a bit of blue sky over your head and sunshine on your face can make you feel so much more energetic and positive and I'm suddenly feeling the need to get my fingers in the dirt and get the garden ready for veggie growing again.

This will be my third year of growing and so our soil needs a top up with a bit of richly rotted down compost. Luckily the chicken ladies are very helpful in that department. I remember being amazed when we got them at the quanity of poo that they generate but it's all being put to good use and hopefully my veggies this year will grow big and fat and delicious courtesy of the chicken ladies productive botties!

This year I'm rotating the crops in my four beds again with brassicas (broccoli & cabbage), dwarf french beans, carrots & parsnips, garlic & onions. Elsewhere in the garden I'm also growing tomatoes, patty pan squash, courgettes, lettuce, herbs, potatoes, raspberries and strawberies and I have a new little patio apple tree that is only supposed to grow to around 6ft tall.

I'm going to give beetroot a go this year too – prompted by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's delicious sounding recipe for beetroot, goat cheese and redcurrant salad and his slightly less tempting chocolate and beetroot brownies (both from River Cottage Everyday – I'll let you know how they turn out!). Are you growing anything in your patch this year?

general stuff

sweeties!

March 4, 2011 Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)39 Comments

Firstly I want to say a humongous thank you for all of the kind and compassionate comments I've had recently. When I'm feeling a bit low I'll read through them all again as I know they'll always lift my spirits and I do feel very privileged to have such generosity and warm-heartedness sent in my direction. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Our half term break was over relatively quickly – probably because we made the conscious decision to keep very busy. The plan was to exhaust Toby by day in an attempt to get him to sleep through the night but boy is he stubborn and he still hasn't slept a full night this year. We're tweaking dosages on the melatonin and continuing to try out everything we can think of including amended bedtime routines and weighted blankets.

Anyway, in the course of half term keeping busy I did a lot of driving and during a particularly bad traffic jam on the M25 Amy and I decided that our car was not really properly equipped for long journeys – there were no sweeties in the car, not even a three year old, dust covered toffee lurking at the back of the glove compartment! Obviously this needed remedying quickly and we headed off to our local Mr Simms Olde Sweetie Shoppe – what an emporium of delights!

I got all nostalgic over chocolate limes and aniseed twists as we always had a sweetie tin in the car on childhood holidays. We finally settled on acid drops, fruit rock, butter mintoes, sherbert fruits and butterscotch and we found the perfect sweetie tin (part of a set) so we're now properly equipped for our next road trip.