crafts & knitting

In need of an intervention?

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)42 Comments

Tea and toast socks

 

Umm, still sock knitting here, and a little obsessively truth be told. I'm not quite sure why, but it might be because the weather here has felt distinctly autumnal lately. Or maybe it's to do with the undemanding rhythm of knitting socks – just going round and round knitting two, purling two is rather relaxing and a nice break from the rigours of writing patterns which quite frankly is taxing on the brain. In either case, I do so love knitting and just sitting here doing it rather than working to the broken rhythm of noting down every stitch and fussing over wording descriptions so that others can follow instructions feels good, so I'm allowing myself a little holiday from pattern writing over the school summer break. It may well be that I have a shed load of socks at the end of these 6 weeks and whether I'll need a knitting intervention remains to be seen!

The pair I've just started (above) are from a really pretty pattern by Olivia Villarreal – Wild flowers and honeycomb socks which I'm knitting in beautiful The Uncommon Thread Tough Sock yarn in shades 'tea smoked' and 'toast' – perfect for a spot of Sunday morning knitting with a nice cup of tea. I've also almost finished the 2 pairs that I mentioned in the previous post (below) so am definitely making up for years of never knitting socks!

If you are waiting for my next animal pattern please forgive me for asking you to wait even longer and thanks for your patience and understanding while I take a little breather and indulge my newly found joy in sock knitting. Rest assured that there will be a new animal pattern coming up after the summer and I'm also working on extra ideas for clothing too, more news will follow. 'Til next time, wishing you peaceful days, restful nights and a little of what makes you happy xxx

 

A toe to go

Lucky sockss

 

 

crafts & knitting · general stuff

Early morning sock knitting

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)29 Comments

 

Early morning knitting

 

Socktops

 

Amy is going on a school trip today so we were up at 5am this morning. After dropping her off it didn’t seem worth going back to sleep so I’m now sat in bed with a little sock knitting to bide the time until it’s time to wake Toby up. For some reason I’m a bit hooked on sock knitting at the moment which is quite a good thing because I have built up a rather large stash of gorgeous sock yarns. It’s good to be whittling down my stash a little (and of course it means I can go browsing for a little more once I’ve made room for a few new skeins). My particular favourite sock yarns are The Uncommon Thread ‘Tough sock’, Eden Cottage ‘Hayton’ and anything from The Wool Barn. With all that lovely yarn it looks like sock knitting will be much more common here in future and happily I’ll also have some lovely leftovers for bunny cardigans and sweaters.

The patterns I’m working from are ‘Lucky me Socks’ by Pia Kammeborn (above) and ‘Emily’s Favourite Socks’ by Emily Foden (below) and notes on the yarns I’ve used etc. can be found on my Ravelry project page if you’d like more details.

Well, I think I have time for a few more rows before I go and rouse Toby with his breakfast tray of toast and gingerbread men, see you soon.

 

Sock making

 

Sock knitting

 

Sock yarns

 

garden stuff · wildlife

thunder moon

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)22 Comments

 

Strm front

 

Raindrops

 

Rainy

 

Watering can

 

After the storm

 

Thundermoon

 

Frog

 

Cosmos4

 

Cosmos3

 

Plums

 

Bee6

 

Bee7

 

Bee5

Bee3

 

July's full moon is known to some as the 'thunder moon' and that has been most appropriate this week.

Overall this year has been really dry and when rain has been forecast it's either completely evaporated before reaching us or we've just had a short shower. This last week has had a different story though and we've had several summer storms that have swept in quickly with dark, ominous clouds bearing torrential rain. Roads have been dramatically turned into rivers and the windows shaken by the loud thunder before the storm has headed off over the horizon leaving a wonderful sunset and the sound of dripping leaves.

It's been good frog weather, which has pleased Toby who finds a hopping frog to be the funniest thing on the planet, though if they hop in his direction and get too close he is liable to panic and run away squealing. The rain has been great for the garden too, everything is green and growing fast with flowers attracting lots of visitors.

This week has also seen a welcome slowing to the pace of life here. The last month has been really busy as we've been taking Amy up and down the country to visit various University open days. She has a year left of A levels before she leaves school and hopes to go on and study English and creative writing, which would be perfect for her as she's always written the most wonderful stories and has a flair with words. Hopefully everything will come together for her during this next year and she'll be starting a new chapter in her own personal story. The departure of a grown child is a strange time for a family though and is contrasting the very different needs of our two children even more than before; one ready to fly the nest and begin a new independent existence and one becoming even more dependant with the ending of the school years. It is what it is though and we are excited for Amy as she starts to make plans and preparations for her future, whilst trying not to dwell too much on how quickly the years fly by.

 

Uni visiting