crafts & knitting

may makings

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)34 Comments

Thanks so very much for the warm reception you've given my newest patterns. It's lovely to see so many finished projects popping up on Ravelry and to know that people are having fun making little bears. If you've made one please come and share pictures on the Ravelry group as we love admiring new projects.

Since the patterns were released I've been enjoying the freedom of knitting as the mood takes me, roaming through my basket of unfinished projects on a whim and starting off a few new ones too.

 

Gloves

 

These recently finished mitts are my new favourite pair, though with the weather warming up now I will have to tuck them away until the autumn (there's another of my favourite things in this picture – a new mug made by Sam Andrew).

The mitts started out as a skein of Ysolda's wonderfully soft and sheepy Blend No. 1. This yarn is really beautiful with an interesting tonal depth, gentle halo and lovely stitch definition and happily there's plenty left for another project.

 

Blend1

 

The pattern is Alicia Plummer's Antiquity, which is simple to work and beautifully textured. I wanted a longer cuff so this is double the length suggested in the pattern. My notes are on my Ravelry project page.

 

Mitts

 

I couldn't post this picture without mentioning the beautiful bud vase made by Pip Wilcox. Unsurprisingly whenever she updates her shop everything sells out very quickly, so I was over the moon when I managed to bag one and it is now sat on my bedside table, ready to make me smile when the alarm goes off in the mornings.

 

Blend gloves

 

There are many other projects in my basket at the moment but I'll show you more of those next week, when I've sorted out the tangled mess. Until then I'll leave you with the two little kitties I'm knitting from Cascade 220 Superwash Effects, with the varying tones it's perfectly suited for tabby cat knitting.

 

Cats

 

Have a great weekend, see you soon x

 

crafts & knitting · new patterns

…and bears, oh my!

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)79 Comments

It feels like I’ve been working on these latest patterns forever. In truth I think it’s just over a year but there have been a lot of distractions that have required I spend my time on other things and so it feels a very long and drawn out affair. Still, I am pleased to announce that I now have boy and girl bear patterns available.

Part of the complication with this pattern was that I wanted to incorporate different kinds of bear: a brown bear, a black bear with a light muzzle, a Polar bear and a Panda. The tweaks to make each of these are simple enough but laying it out within the pattern without the whole thing becoming too complicated was fiddly and more time-consuming than usual.

The boy pattern includes shorts and a Fair Isle sweater which is worked flat from the neck down to the shoulders and then in the round for the body and arms. Because I know that there are those who really don’t like stranded knitting or working in the round I’ve also included a pattern for a top down striped sweater that is knitted completely flat and then seamed. You can also combine elements from the 2 different sweaters so that you can make the Fair Isle design flat if you prefer and vice versa.

The girl pattern comes with a plaid dress that is worked flat to the waist and then in the round for the skirt part. Again, I’ve included a simpler striped dress for those who don’t like stranded knitting and/or knitting in the round.

Both patterns include the options for making all of the different bear types.

At the same time as working on the bear patterns I’ve been finishing off the shoes supplement pattern that I’ve been fiddling around with for ages too. This has different feet options that you can substitute for the feet in any of the animal patterns. There’s a pair of bunny slipper clad feet and 2 options for the trainers/sneakers: a simplish one and a more fiddly one.

All of the patterns are uploaded to Ravelry where they’re supplied as instant digital downloads or you can purchase via Etsy where you’ll have to wait a short while for me to email the digital files to you.

Now comes the fun part for me as I always look forward to the first finished animals popping up in people’s Ravelry project pages. It’s always such a pleasure to know that the patterns are being enjoyed. I hope that if you give any of them a go you’ll let me know how you got on.

Thanks so much. I’m off now to do some gardening in the spring sunshine, it’ll be nice to be spending more time outside. See you soon x

 

general stuff · in the woods · wildlife

In the bluebell woods

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)46 Comments

Hello again, hope you're well. Sorry that I've not been around much lately. The children have had a lot of time off school recently because of an odd arrangement of the Easter holidays and although they went back on Monday I've spent most of this week deep in pattern writing mode. It's going well but they're not quite ready so I'll post more about them when they're finished.

Spending a week mostly at the computer has left me feeling a bit cabin-feverish so earlier today I packed myself a little picnic and took myself off for a walk in the woods. It was the perfect antidote to staring at a screen and I thought you might like to accompany me. I had walked there 2 weeks ago when the bluebells were just breaking bud but today they were really at their best, I just wish I could have shared the wonderful scent with you because the whole wood was perfumed …

 

Blubell

 

B b woods

 

Bb wood

 

Bluebells

 

Bb

 

Picnic

 

Pic nic

 

Squirrel - Copy

 

Squirr

 

Squirrel3

 

Catkins - Copy

 

Oakleaves

 

Oakapple

 

This little oak apple (oak gall) fascinates me. It's caused by a gall wasp laying an egg in the developing leaf bud and so changing how it develops. I'll be paying it a visit throughout the year to see how it grows. It's already changed a fair bit since I first saw it 2 weeks ago …

 

Gall

 

Well that's it from me for today. I got home just in time as it's raining heavily now so I'm going to go put my PJs on and snuggle with some knitting until dinner. Thanks for dropping by, I hope to be around here a little more once these patterns are finished and if you've emailed me recently and are still waiting for a reply I'm sorry, I hope to catch up with emails next week.