Autumny things :: knitting

November 12, 2015 Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)21 Comments

Waves2

Autumn has been mild so far but is starting to bring some cooler breezes that seem to find their way up my sleeves and down my collar, so it's time to dig out the woollies. I'm enjoying wearing light-weight shawls and scarves, they're just right for keeping out those pesky drafts. This is my most recently finished one, knitted from Helen Stewart's lovely pattern 'Pebble Beach' in 'silex' Walk Collection Delicate Merino. The yarn is beautiful and you can see here how much the colours change in response to the light – in dull conditions the greys and cooler tones stand out but in full sunlight the warm mustard and ochres glow. Full project details on my Ravelry project page.

Shawl2 (2)

Shawl5

Edging

Shawl6

I've also finally blocked the shawl that I made much earlier in the year from Janina Kallio's 'Crescendo' pattern. Blocking is a bit of a chore but it's definitely worth the investment of time because the way that it transforms things is pure magic. I have a friend who is a master blocker and her beautifully finished projects always inspire me to reach for the blocking T pins.

Gingeya

Gishawlback

Ginger shawla

Along with a shawl to keep my neck warm I wear wrist warmers or arm warmers most of the autumn and winter, even inside on the coldest days and I have quite a big collection now…

Mittens

Still, I think there's probably room for a few more and I'm enjoying perusing my yarn stash to find the yarn that tells me it wants to become my next pair of wrist warmers!

Keep warm where you are (or cool if you're in the Southern Hemisphere and things are hotting up for you). See you soon x

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PS: I'm now on Instagram, or at least attempting to be, having a decidedly un-smart phone and an ancient tablet complicates uploads but I'm learning and hopefully will post fairly frequently once I find my feet!

Autumny things :: out & about

October 30, 2015 Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)38 Comments

Woods - Copy

The woods in Autumn are one of my most favourite places to be. It's such a sensory experience – a wonderful rich smell of damp earth; a rustling sigh as hundreds of leaves part company with the trees at the slightest breeze and a sparkling quality to the light as the low-angled sunlight is shimmered through all of the leaves still clinging fast. There are good things to eat too. I'm not confident enough to gather mushrooms but a handful of sweet chestnuts or blackberries instantly evokes childhood memories of autumn Sunday afternoons spent foraging in the woods with my Mum, Dad and brother. I do love being out in the woods on a bright autumn day.

Sadly though Toby seems to have gone off wood walks at the moment. He's been getting rather agitated when I've shown him the PECs card for the woods and biting his hand a lot (you can see it's badly calloused in the picture below). I did manage to coax him out with custard cream biscuits for one rather short stroll over this half term break but he was keen to get back to the car.

Amy walked with me on wednesday afternoon, both of us with our cameras in hand as she's preparing her coursework for her photography GCSE. We took a lot of pictures because there's lots going on in the autumn woods. We saw mini beasts; snails, butterflies and beetles, tiny fairy-tale porcelain fungus and toadstools and out on an open stretch a muntjac deer was crossing an autumn-sown field and stopping every now and then for a quick nibble of the fresh, green shoots. There was a fair bit of good-natured elbow barging between us over the best position to photograph from and lots of her shots came out better than mine. It was a memorable afternoon out with my lovely girl.

Woods7

Woods5

Leaves - Copy

Blackbird

Seat

Woods3

Toadstools

Chestnuts

Biscuits

Footpath

Bridge - Copy

Autumnleaves

Snail2

Butterfly - Copy

Lakeside

Dragonfly3

View - Copy

New crop

Newcrops

Deer

Teasel

Silhouette2

Back at home the late afternoon skies have been crossed with migrating flocks of birds. I love watching them heading south to keep ahead of the colder weather and wonder how far they are journeying.

Migration

Flyover

Autumn is in full flow here and I hope to make it out to the woods lots more before the leaves are all on the ground. Hopefully I'll be able to keep tempting Toby to come out with me and he'll re-discover his woodland mojo.

Pictures taken at:

Amwell nature reserve, Hollywell Lake with the dragonfly meadows and Amwell walkway, September 26th

Bencroft wood, Hertfordshire, October 26th

Panshanger Park and Osprey lake, October 28th

garden stuff · general stuff · wildlife

Autumny things :: garden

October 18, 2015 Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)31 Comments

Harvest

Harvest2

‘Ode to Autumn’ by Keats sums up the arrival of Autumn here…

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;

Conspiring with him how to load and bless, With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;

To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-trees, And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;

To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells, With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,

And still more, later flowers for the bees,

Until they think warm days will never cease,

For Summer has o’er-brimm’d their clammy cells…

It’s all mellow fruitfulness here and my gourds have swelled nicely 😉 as you can see above. Although I don’t think they are actually as big as the ones I grew last year. Every year I vow to nurture the plants with regular watering and plant feed but my good intentions slip as the weeks fly past. Next year I’ll strive to be a better gardener.

The carrots have done quite well though and we’ve been enjoying them mixed with herbs and shop-bought sweet potatoes, fennel, onions and parsnips and roasted in the oven.

Roasted veg

We’ve also had some wonderful cooking apples thanks to having generous and kind neighbours with very productive Bramley trees and so we’ve been enjoying a lot of apple cake, apple crumble and my current favourite ‘apple brown betty’ made with left-over homemade bread, butter and brown sugar.

The chickens are laying well and being rewarded with regular jaunts in the garden for a spot of free-range foraging.

Three hens

Hettie 2

Though I’ve not told them of the recent visitor that has been coming regularly to our front garden, as I think they’d be alarmed!

Fox2

Foxy

Fox

Seeing this beautiful fox has delighted me though. Last week I was really lucky to have a great view and took these pictures through my bedroom window just after dawn. I watched him for 20 minutes or so as he rooted round in the ruins of our front garden – we’ve had a lot of leylandii conifers taken out as they’d got too big and scraggy so the front garden is a complete mess at the moment but it is obviously the perfect playground for a curious and bold fox. I’d dumped the contents of the compost bin out there ready to be dug in and he was enjoying picking through and finding the egg shells. He didn’t even budge when a car drove by, just pricked up his ears and bristled with caution, ready to run should the need arise. I hope he sticks around because he’s a very handsome chap and is wonderful to watch but I also hope that the run keeps my fluffy ladies safe from becoming his dinner!

That’s all my news from the garden but I’ll pop back soon, hope you have a good week.

Hydrangeaheads