countryside · in the woods · wildlife

A proper autumn walk

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)33 Comments

Well, yesterday looked like being the very best day of the week weather-wise, so I decided to go adventuring in the woods with my camera (and this time with my walking boots too). These woods are very local, being part of Goldingtons nature reserve, only a 5 minute drive away at Hertford Heath. There a network of paths criss-cross mixed wood and heathland and with the sun reaching through the trees to warm earth drenched by heavy rain from the day before, there was a rising mist that held the sunlight in magical golden shafts.

Wandering through the trees I found fungi, insects, butterflies and lots of busy squirrels and noisy jays, both hiding stashes of nuts ready for the colder months ahead. In a field bordering the wood I made friends with 3 sleepy ponies and a little further on a dog called Bella came bounding up to say hello and seemed to want to follow me instead of her owner. I skirted a pond decorated with a carpet of thick green algae and headed deeper into the woods along an ancient path flanked by raised banks from which twisted coppiced hornbeams stretch their tortured trunks. I even found trees with faces. Because of the earlier rain there was a wonderful damp earth, decaying leaf smell and the air was busy with the calls of many small birds. It was a full sensory experience, as all good wood walks should be. The only thing missing was a snack, but that was soon sorted once I was home again.

Today I am knuckling down to lots of seaming and tail attaching for that long overdue bunch of bunnies. I plan to pop back on Friday with news of a little giveaway, so please come and visit again then if you’d like to join in. ‘Til then enjoy your midweek days x

countryside · crafts & knitting · in the woods

cosying on a windy day

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)34 Comments

 

Our ‘new normal’ is beginning to feel familiar now, with returns to comfortable routines for the three of us here and Amy settling in well and having a great time away at Uni.

For most of the last week I’ve been sorting my tangled mess of knitting projects and tidying the house, but on Thursday I headed off for a peaceful autumn walk. The leaves have yet to fully change colour, so the woods are not yet at their most photogenic and I forgot to take my waking boots (yet another indication of my lack of concentration skills right now) so I didn’t end up walking as far as planned. I had hoped to find lots of fungi, but it’s been so dry that there was very little around and what I did find was shrivelled and sad looking.

Friday was really windy here, so although I had actually remembered to put my walking boots back in the car, I decided to stay home. Happily I was browsing Ravelry and saw Alicia Plummer’s newly released ParkTrail sock pattern, so I snuggled up, cast on and enjoyed a little quiet and cosy knitting time in the warm afternoon sunlight shimmering through the wind-whipped trees outside the window. The notes on the yarn I’m using etc. are on my Ravelry project page.

My list of things to do this coming week includes finally finishing off the batch of animals that I started earlier this year. I’ll pop back with some pictures in a few days or so and hopefully will have some news of when they’ll be available for those interested soon. Maybe we’ll have a little giveaway too – it was my 12th blogging anniversary at the beginning of September, so I think a giveaway would be in order.

Hope you’re enjoying the weekend where you are. I’m off to knit more rows of my socks – they’re going to make great walking socks for more autumn walks. See you soon, J x

 

crafts & knitting · general stuff

A parting and some subsequent faffing

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)20 Comments

Well, as expected this weekend has been odd. Amy and I set off with a fully laden car at 8ish yesterday morning and by 9.30 were carrying the bags and boxes containing all of her worldly goods up the 2 flights of stairs to her room on the top floor. We unpacked everything and made her room cosy and nice; sorted out all of the necessary admin; picked up her wristband for Fresher’s week events; topped up her student card with her first weeks worth of money; had some lunch, and by 2pm she was all sorted and ready for me to leave. There were big hugs but no tears, because this is the start of an exciting adventure for her rather than a sad parting of the ways, and then I was on my way back home again. It wasn’t until I was driving back up our road that the tears came for me – I think arriving back home without her brought things into focus. It’s feeling odd here today – I keep expecting her to come skipping down the stairs in search of a snack and, as expected, it will take a lot of getting used to. We’ve been texting lots and will no doubt continue to do so, and the odd feeling will slip away as we adjust to the new normal. Fresher’s week sounds like a lot of fun so hopefully she’ll have a great time and settle in well.

There are so many things that I should be doing at this moment, most of them involving tidying up the house after the long summer months of not really bothering, but I am not quite sure where to start. The long list of tasks in my head, all vying for equal importance status, are tangled like the yarn in my workbasket and refuse to form an orderly queue and be committed to paper. So instead I’m procrastinating and knitting simple cabled pink wrist-warmers with beautifully soft Shalimar breathless in ‘velvet slippers’ and flipping through the new issue of Creative Countryside.

Perhaps, after a few days of faffing around and allowing myself to get reacquainted with being able to choose how to spend my own time, a plan for tackling my chores will come into focus. There are bunnies waiting to be finished too, all dressed up for spring, as I had planned to list them in time for Easter earlier this year. That’s rather indicative of how this year has been; time ticking and trickling through my fingers; plans made and not realised – I need to give myself a stiff talking to – but not until I’ve knitted a few more rows and had another cup of tea.

Each time I glance at my left hand I think of my girl, and what she’s doing at this moment. We’ve had these matching rings for a couple of years now (bought from the lovely Wild Fawn jewellery) – though mine is no longer a perfect circle as I occasionally catch it on the freezer drawer! And I like the fact that it reminds me of her and makes her feel close at hand still.