Little Cotton Rabbits

Urban wildlife

I may have said goodbye to a hedgehog yesterday but my garden is still popular with the local urban wildlife. Just after breakfast this morning I looked out and spotted two foxes frolicking in the autumn leaves!

Maybe Herbert has spread the word about this garden having a good source of munchies. I don't expect them to stick around for long though - these two will probably be travelling via royal mail as they'll be popping up in my shop with the next batch of toys.

A quick Herbert update: he's definitely still around - I heard snuffling in the bushes late last night and this morning it looks like he's pulled some of the extra bedding I'd left scattered around into his little house.

Farewell Herbert Sherbert - don't forget to write!

It's a sad day today - it's the day that Herbert Sherbert leaves home and makes his own way in the big wide world.

Do you remember how little he was when we first found him on August 23rd? Well, here's a reminder...

and now after 5 weeks of good food and safe refuge in our garage he's reached a hefty 583gms which is heavy enough to survive a winter hibernation

I'm lucky to be married to a man who knows his way around tools - he whipped up this wonderful hedgehog house which has since been dug in and buried under earth and leaves. Herbert has been using it for the last 5 days so hopefully has settled in and will still sleep in it now that the surrounding run has been removed.

I shall miss this little character who has been gentle and sweet and never bitten even though he was stressed when we found him and never liked being picked up. I'll miss digging up worms for his breakfast by torchlight each evening after the kids have gone to bed. I've loved looking after him and it's been very rewarding but it was always about getting him strong enough to go back to the wild. I'll carry on putting food out and hope I'll catch a glimpse of him now and again and will let you know if I do. So, goodbye little Herbert Sherbert, mind your manners, wipe your nose after eating slugs and most of all - watch out for cars!

knitting corners of my home...

Monkee maker started this a few weeks ago (I'm always late to the party!) and I've really enjoyed seeing where other people get knitty with it. So I thought I'd share a few knitting corners of my home.

After the kids are off to school and I've made a cuppa I'm to be found curled up here in the lounge - with the morning sun shinning through the window behind me it's a nice spot. (note the clever angle that I used to take this shot which avoids the dust, crumbs and other detritus strewn across the floor)

In the afternoon the light is better at the back of the house and you can find me sat here in the trampoline viewing gallery whilst keeping an eye on the kids if they're out in the garden. (Please try to ignore the view outside the window - both the mess and the small bottom - you get used to both around here!)

After the mayhem that is teatime my next knitting stint comes at bathtime:

Luckily for me Toby likes a long and playful bath!

I'm glad that knitting is so portable and that I get a change of scenery throughout the day. I can also knit in the garden (when it's warm and dry) and that's probably my favourite. I do however quite envy some of the lovely craft rooms that I've seen on my travels through blogland especially Heather Bailey's, and Manda's and of course Katie's awesome shed. Maybe I could persuade H to find the lawnmower a new home and commandeer our little shed as a little cotton rabbits craft oasis (I wish) but in all likelihood I'll have to stick to being a knitting nomad!

Take up the Monkee Maker challenge and show us where you do your thing!

New email address!

Yesterday I had around 800 bounced back emails pour into my inbox - looks like they were part of a mass mail out with my email address configured in as the return addres - how do they do that? Anyway I've decided to dump my email address and take on a new one. To contact me you can either leave me a comment here or click 'email me' on the left which links into my new email account. Hopefully that will sort the problem - fingers crossed!

My email address has been hijacked!

Just a quick note to say that I may not get your email if you send it at the moment as my email address has been hijacked by some xxxxxx and so my inbox is constantly filling up with returned spam emails!

I'll try and sort out a new address and post details soon.

Anyone else had a similar problem? If you have any advice please let me know!

Autumn

Thanks so much for all the kind and thoughtful comments that were left on the previous post - reading them really helps and I'm really grateful for the chance to get stuff off my chest without everyone thinking "she's off again...!". Toby is definitely much happier now that his tooth is out and so life here has returned to normal.

I thought I'd do a quick hedgehog update before the weekend. This week has definitely had an autumnal feel to it - the leaves on the trees have started to change colour and drop (I've even been out with my rake gathering piles of leaves to dry for Herbert's bedding). Herbert him/herself is doing great and is now tipping the scales at 498gms which will probably mean that he'll be up to the target weight within the next week.

I'm beginning to feel a little sad though at the thought of seeing his little prickly behind waddling off into the distance and so plans are afoot for a spot of house building this weekend - hedgehog house building. We'll be putting the house in his run and letting him camp out in the garden next week so that he can get used to all the smells and sounds of being outside all the time (up to now he's only been out in the run after dark for a few hours and then back into the crate in the garage). One he's acclimatised we'll remove the run and he'll be free to roam. I'm really hoping that he'll stick around and maybe use the house to hibernate in but we'll have to wait and see - he may have other plans!

I've not taken any recent pictures of Herbert as I'm trying to limit contact - we'll get some to remember him by before he toddles off! So hodggie pictures today are courtesy of Hamlyn's 365 Animal Stories, 1975 vintage!

A big thankyou to the tooth fairy!

If you drop in here regularly you'll know that I do my best to keep my blog focused on the happy aspects of my life and mostly on my knitting. But ocassionally there's a need to give it a little flavour of what is going on in the background as there are times when I struggle to be positive and carefree. So today I'm going to be self-indulgent and get something off my chest so that next time we can go on with the business of knitting and having some gentle fun.

Since Toby was diagnosed as severely autistic (nearly 4 years ago) I've had times where I'd wake each morning with a feeling of expectation and find myself thinking "things will start to get better when..." ...he starts nursery, ...he starts school, ...the summer comes... and thinking in that way is probably a saftey mechanism that has helped me get through some especially tough times. The problem comes when the realisation hits that things haven't got easier and I start to think "what if this is as good as it gets?"

This weekend I realised that I had got through the summer holidays by thinking that once Toby was back at school things would be better - foolish thinking because of course they are not. In fact the last week has been one of the toughest for a long while. For a start Toby slept less well than usual (and usual is bad enough!) but he's also been incredibly restless and demanding and the constant high pitched keening noise that he makes when he's distressed is especially hard to take.

Because Toby can't communicate we were left guessing as to why he was so out of sorts and then on Sunday evening I made a breakthrough! I spotted a wobbly tooth. I don't think it was actually causing him pain - it's just the fact that it felt different and in Toby's world different ain't good!

This kind of sums up autism - that something as simple as loosing a first tooth can cause so much angst and distress and in turn push a family to the edge of reason. We're all very grateful that yesterday the tooth fairy zapped the offending tooth and since then Toby has seemed much happier and actually slept through last night!

* Since the offending tooth has disappeared without trace (probably swallowed) I've had to use a stunt tooth - one of Amy's which the tooth fairy let me borrow (just incase she reads this!)

A case of mistaken identity?

Originally when I peeked under Herbert's spines I was pretty confident in my assessment of the tackle situation, (albeit quite small and furry) however now I am beginning to have my doubts. It's largely a matter of toilet ettiquette that has cast doubt in my mind. You see apparently little boy hedgehogs are far more likely to pooh in their beds than little girl hedgehogs (I am now restraining myself from further comment) - I'm told it's something to do with not having to share a bed as a grown up whereas the girls of course have babies to consider at some point. In the last few days Herbert has been quite scrupulous in exiting the bed chamber to dump his/her load. So for the minute we are pondering whether we should change our little guests name from HErbert to SHErbert - maybe I'll have another peek and see if anything is clearer.

Anyway sexuality aside the hedgehog is making great progress. His weight has increased from 140gms on the day he was found to 350gms and he's moved on from completely mashed food to lumpier chunks and some nibbly bits (raisins, kitten biscuits and nuts) as well as developing a keen taste for worms and slugs (good hodger!). I'm keeping all contact to a minimum so am having to curb all my impulses to stroke and cuddle even though he is so adorable cute. He still retains his roll reflex and will freeze and roll into a ball at sudden noises or when picked up and he's quite vocal with hissing and grunting to warn me away - all of which are positive signs for his re-introduction to the wild.

(this picture shows how much he's grown in 3 weeks)

The trouble is that the leaves have started falling and there's a nip to the air so autumn is definitely arriving and the thoughts of little hedgehogs should be now turning to building their nest for hibernation (or a hibernacula). It's now a race against time to fatten him up enough to get him through the winter ahead.

A round the world trip...

Talking of giveaways, do you remember my 100th post giveaway won by Jessica at Kerflop back in June? Well, I made a bunny, packaged her up and off she went on her way to Idaho, USA. But the days and weeks passed and she didn't arrive and as the weeks turned to months we had to assume the worst and consider that we might never see her again and so I made another for Jessica. This was my first ever missing parcel and I felt quite sad as each toy becomes a little individual personality and I don't like to think of any of them lost and alone! I secretly hoped that the first bunny had found a happy home somewhere and not met an untimely end mangled in some postal equipment or dropped out of a plane. Anyway, it turns out that my fears were unjustified as last week this arrived...

and inside, a little battered and squashed but still looking happy I found bunny.

So my faith in the postal service has been restored - quite amazing when you think she has travelled half way around the world and found her way back home again! In view of the fact that she came back I think I'm going to keep her as my lucky mascot. Meanwhile, I'm really pleased to report that this little bunny has reached Jessica at Kerflop who gets a gold star for her patience!

Cake competition

Well, my 1 year anniversary cake give-away competition has just closed and, resorting to the random number generator again we have a winner, comment number 10:

Well done Sarah at Lupin Cottage (I'll email you about your cakey preferences) and thanks so much to everyone for the wonderful comments and for taking the time to enter.

Hoglet update and cakes in print...

Just a quickie to give you an update on Herbie Hogwart who is doing really well. He's now doubled in size weighing 283gms at his last weigh-in and has progressed to eating slugs, worms and nuts as well as the mainstay of his diet - chicken cat food and kitten biscuits. For the last week we've been giving him a run in the garden each evening and he's been snuffling around in the grass and occassionally coming up with a tasty treat to munch. The best news of all is that the hideous ticks are history! Thanks so much for all the tips on getting rid of them. I tried the vaseline and it worked a treat - both had dropped off the next day and were stuck between 2 sheets of newspaper and summarily executed by stamping squad - no tears shed there! It's been difficult to take photos because he is mostly out at night and the flash startles him but I managed to get a couple:

In other news, I was chuffed to bits that my cakes get a mention in October's Period Living magazine (thanks Kim and Vikki for the tip off!)! They were in a feature about vintage textile dealer Donna Flower and her beautiful home (thanks so much Donna you lovely, lovely lady!)

So if you fancy winning a cake for yourself and haven't already left a comment on the previous post, pop down and leave one - my little 1 year anniversay prize draw will be open until tuesday. Have a fun weekend everyone!

My blog is 1 year old!

I first posted on September 3rd 2006 - and what a fabulous adventure the last year has been! Through this blog I've met some wonderful people, made lots of new friends and felt comfortable enough to bear my soul to a sympathetic and kind-spirited group of lovely people - yes you! There are so many callous, cruel and malicious things going on in the world and reading the warm and friendly comments that I get here is the perfect antidote. I'm grateful for the warmth I've found here and I deeply appreciate that you take the time to visit and leave me comments.

The children are back at school today. Luckily the morning routine went without too many hitches (apart from me chipping my favourite mug) and now I'm getting on with the business of soaking up some peace and quiet, and of course drinking tea (from my poor old chipped mug) and knitting!

Anyway, seeing as this is my 1 year anniversary I thought I'd have another giveaway. So if you fancy winning yourself a little cotton cupcake then leave a comment (just say Hi if nothing else comes to mind) and in a week I'll do a random prize draw.

Thanks again for visiting x

Guilt-free Jam

I often think that for most people being a parent means dealing with a large dollop of guilt - guilt at not spending enough time playing with your child because you need to get the dinner on, guilt at not reading them just one more story because you're dog-tired and just need a little adult time, guilt at being glad it's nearly the first day of term... (ha, that's me right now!) The guilty list goes on. Most of my guilt stems from the fact that of my 2 children Toby gets by far the most attention and often Amy has to make do with very little of my time and misses out on activities that we'd do as a family if we had 2 'normal' children. The summer hols are especially difficult for her as she has to cope with the worst of both worlds - she's not an only child and so doesn't get maximum available adult attention, she has a brother but he's not a playmate. We are beginning to look into some kind of respite but it's early stages and I know I am going to struggle leaving my incredibly vulnerable and precious boy in the care of someone else for more than a few hours. Anyway, at the moment we make do by splitting our family down the middle and doing separate activities - one of us stays at home for tickles and bouncing with Toby while the other takes Amy out.

One of the things I've been meaning to do with Amy for ages is berry picking. I remember happy afternoons from my own childhood when we used to go berry picking every year (and chestnut gathering in autumn, snowdrop and bluebell spotting in late winter and spring). I found that there was a pick-your-own farm nearby and so Amy and I set off for a wee bit of quality mum and daughter time. I was surprised that it was virtually deserted there and that they had strawberries rotting on the plants - obviously times have changed since I was little and berry picking just isn't very popular.

Amy and I had a great time though - munching on strawberries and raspberries as we picked them, looking at the different stages the fruit goes through as it develops and generally enjoying the time together. Because it was such a rare and special time we ended up picking more berries than we needed and so when we got home I thought we'd have a go at making jam.

Let me just say that Delia Smith's recommended 8 minutes for boiling it up didn't work for us - it was more like 20 minutes and then I wasn't sure if it would set.

The kitchen was a bomb site with sticky goo everywhere (I guess it would have helped if we'd actually had the right utensils and if I'd watched it properly and not let it boil over!)

The resulting jam probably wouldn't win any prizes but it certainly tastes sweet to me because mixed in there with the fruit and the sugar are some very special memories of some rare mother and daughter time - a simple activity for sure but then often those are the best.