countryside · general stuff · in the woods

And Winter has arrived

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)25 Comments

Winter is decidedly here. We’ve had a few days of sub-zero temperatures and the early morning frosts have been beautifully sharp and sparkly. Yesterday Toby and I bundled up and went for a long walk at Panshanger. The ice crystals adorning every blade of grass, twig and seedhead made for a very beautiful landscape and even the barbed wire fences were prettified by the decoration of frost.

And then this morning we’ve woken to around 15cms of snow!

I’m glad to have lots of cosy woolly jumpers, scarves and mittens and will be wearing my wrist-warmers constantly now until the weather warms. It looks like the rest of this week is continuing to be freezing, so there will be a little more knitting by the fire going on here. I’m now in the final stages of laying out the three new patterns and am lucky to have some lovely people helping me to error check them. Though it will still be a few weeks before they’ve been thoroughly checked, so I’m aiming to be able to share them in the new year.

Hope you have a good week doing a little of what you love, J x

countryside · crafts & knitting · in the woods

Fungi in the woods part 2, and some small bears

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)20 Comments

Autumn is in full swing here and the leaves are now falling thick and fast, covering the woodland paths and the verges of the back roads with a carpet of golds, oranges and reds. It has been a fairly mild and damp autumn so far, and many of the toadstools have lasted well. I’ve seen such a huge variety of them this year and these are just some of the more photogenic ones. I do so love this season, it’s a magical time for walking out in the woods and with so much to see I’ve stayed until I’m tired and chilled, so coming back home into the warm to snuggle with my knitting has been especially welcome.

Pattern writing for the small bears, small mice and small sweaters is progressing and with all of the samples now made and I’m at the stage of taking the step by step photos. Then it will be photo editing, laying out the pages and finally checking everything through. It’s a long old process but I’m getting there slowly. I’ll keep you posted with news once they’re ready.

Well, that’s all of my news for this time, see you again soon x

 

countryside · in the woods · wildlife

October :: In the woods

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)20 Comments

It was my intention to pop this post on the blog in the last week of October but unfortunately my blog provider Typepad had some major problems that week and this blog was down for much of that time. It was a bit nerve-wracking, as the thought of losing 16 years worth blogging was not a happy one. Apologies if you were trying to view anything during that week, especially if you were trying to follow one of my tutorials without any of the pictures showing up. Fingers crossed they now have everything permanently fixed, it certainly all seems to be working properly again, so all is calm and well again here.

Above are some of my pictures of the huge variety of fungi I’ve found out in the woods this year. I’ve been four times since the beginning of October and every time have found something new and rather marvellous. Autumn is such a wonderful time to be out in the woods and I’m deeply grateful that we have such rich and varied woodlands around us which are full of so many different types of wildlife at all times of the year. I even encountered a small herd of lovely, gentle Red Poll cattle, who are there as part of a conservation grazing project. They were lovely company and seemed quite interested in watching me take photos, gradually grazing their way over to me to give me a sniff.

Out in the woods many of the trees are still in green leaf but then the autumn so far has been mild and rather wet. Not happy nut hunting weather for squirrels and back at home our resident friendly squirrel has been quite soggy looking.

Inside at home there is knitting and pattern writing going on, though at a slower pace than I’d hoped for. The other day I worked out that I only get 22 hours of Toby-free time a week in which to be able to fully concentrate on anything, the rest of the time my brain is mostly mush as it tries to juggle between family and work life – which is probably why I keep knitting samples only to find that I’ve already knitted that piece. I am holding on to the thought that moving at a snail’s pace is still actually moving, and that progress, however small it may seem, is being made.

Well, the weekend is beckoning, with lots of wood walks with Toby and hopefully some early morning tea, toast and knitting in bed for me whilst he sleeps in. I’ll be back soon with some more amazing fungi finds and hopefully a little knitting news, ’til then keep well and happy x