Little Cotton Rabbits

This little piggy went to market...

...and this little piggy stayed at home. Which is right where this little piggy will be staying as Amy has nabbed her!

I was seized by an unyeilding desire to knit a pig on tuesday (strange life I lead!!) so this is my prototpye piggy and once I've sorted out the snout (I'm not fully happy with the end) then I will hopefully be making a few more. I am pleased with her squiggly tail though!

And talking of knitted toys I was really excited to hear from Carolyn, Suzie and Liz that some of my bunnies are in a new book just out called Home by Anita Kaushal.

(thanks for the pictures which came from Suzie -
I've spent all my pocket money on wool so haven't got a copy yet!)

I recognise them as coming from a batch that I sold around 2 years ago to The Cross in London's Holland Park. Before I started the blog and got all of the wonderful feedback about the exciting lives of my toys in their new homes I had already made around 180 rabbits. Many of these went to rather posh outlets and it does make me wonder where they all are now. It's nice to see these two again and in such a chic and stylish home - I hope they remember their humble beginnings!

Happy weekend to you all and especially to Laura at Cupcakes for Clara who is getting married tomorrow!

PS: The lovely Marie is having a wonderful 100th post giveaway at Marie Chantal. You'll have a wonderful time choosing between her gorgeous products if you're the winner, so to be in with a chance pop over and leave a comment.

It's cold outside...

Well, it seems that winter has arrived with fog, drizzle and murky weather all around. But here inside all is cosy, warm and fluffy...

... there's some fantastically soft Lousia Harding Kimono Angora sent to me a little while ago by the lovely Michaela which is in the process of being turned into a scarf.

... and some beautiful new marled Alpaca Select that I've just received from wonderful wool shop First4yarns which is being transformed into new bunnies.

And to do all of this knitting I've been using my new set of ivore swallow needles (made from casein - a lovely light and flexible plastic) recently bought from Dragon Yarns.

So, bring on the rain!

Oh, and by the way if you need a little cheering up, pop over to Sewchristine as she's having a lovely give-away competition and you might just win yourself something to brighten up your week!

Thanks Jill

There are lots of things I'm really behind with at the moment (like replying to emails and taking up tags - sorry Lesley I've not forgotten!) but I wanted to make time to publicly thank Jill (author of the Little Cotton Rabbit story) who recently sent me such a lovely parcel full of wool and goodies.

and included in the package were two bound copies of the book for Amy and I each to treasure.

Thanks Jill x

He's got the measure of me!

He may be autistic but my son knows me all too well. He knows that it's no good just trying to pull me upstairs to play bounce-on-the-bed while I'm in the middle of making tea. But taking my knitting bag as a hostage is guaranteed to get me following! What a tinker!

Have a great weekend everyone.

Christmas cards for charity

Thanks to everyone who visited my shop last night. The latest batch of toys will be winging their way to  their new homes shortly.

I wanted to make some postcards of this seasonal batch but once again time has got the better of me. But then I heard on the blog grapevine that those lovely people over at moo have come up with a wonderful idea. They are offering greetings cards that help raise money for Médecins Sans Frontières. A pack of 10 cards costs £9.99 ($1 goes to the charity) and you can easily personalise them so that your card says exactly what you want it to. You can either print the cards from your own images that you upload to flickr or choose from thousands on file at the people powered card store.

Or you could choose this one!

Just follow this link:

Make a MOO Greetings Card with this image and help raise money for Médecins Sans Frontières You'll be taken straight to a page on MOO with my image selected, ready for you to customise and buy. Find out more about MOO Greetings Cards

And if this has got you in a seasonal mood and you're a knitter then you should pop over for a visit with DottyCookie who has created the sweetest little christmas pudding patch to knit.
 

Rose petal tutu for Rose

The lovely Nathalie at Kennedy and friends has made this beautiful tutu to auction off for the Rose Willcocks fund. Made from the finest quality tulle, satin ribbon and silk rose petals it would make the most perfect Christmas pressie for a budding ballerina or little Princess (aged 2-6 years). Bidding has just started and will end on November 25th so if you pop over now and place a bid you'll be making 2 little girls very happy ones this Christmas!

My new apron

As I've mentioned previously my son is severely autistic. He's not yet developed any speech at all and has never uttered a recognisable word although he merrily babbles with lots of consonant sounds. How then can he wander over to me and purposefully ask for some chocolate buttons and a maisy video?

Well it's all down to the magic of PECS (the picture exchange communication system). I have talked about it here before so I'm not going to repeat myself but I will say again that PECs has transformed life for our family and given my little boy a 'voice'. For some time now I have been meaning to put in some intensive time to try and develop Toby's use of PECs further. At the moment he uses it confidently to request food, toys, videos and favourite places like the park but I am hoping that one day he will be able to comment on things he sees, hears and thinks and that we may be able to have more of a 2 way conversation.

So you're probably thinking "what has all this got to do with aprons?" Well, let me introduce my new secret weapon...

Lovingly handcrafted from beautiful fabrics and made especially for me by the wonderful Carolyn at Laughing Duck it has 2 perfect pockets for storing PECs cards and strips. When I'm wearing this I have all of the symbols that I need readily available so I can show Toby the symbol for 'wait' while saying it, the symbol for 'plane' when he glances up to look at one passing overhead and generally begin expanding his vocabulary and teaching him by example that he can use symbols to communicate rather than just for requesting things.

It will take time and lots of work to get him there but, as we have no reason to believe that he will ever learn to speak, using PECs is the best way to equip him with the ability to communicate with others. He's been a real star to achieve what he has already with it so I've no doubt we'll get there in the end and Carolyn's gorgeous apron is going to make getting there a lot easier and more fun! Thanks Carolyn!

Davy for Rose

Just look at this wonderful little chap Davy and his oh-so-cute pet snail Slow who is being auctioned off at ManOmine to raise money for Rose Willcocks. He comes with snacks and a selection of hats and is just the sweetest little bear. He could be yours if you get a bid in there quickly and then you'd have one less christmas present to worry about (if you can bear to give him away and not keep him all to yourself! hee hee)

A solution to the problem of grated cheese

You may remember that I was having a moan recently about Toby's liking for finely grated cheese and how I was wishing for a mouse to keep the carpets clean. Well, look what arrived in the post!

The most perfect little chap for the job!

He's already had a snuffle around and snacked on a couple of stray cheerios, some cake crumbs and of course copious quantities of grated cheese. He's worth his weight in gold AND he came bearing gifts of chocolate, biscuits and wool.

Martine you are very sweet - I love Cheddar (as Amy has named the mouse) and the goodies are much appreciated - thanks so much X

Thanks too to everyone who voted for me in the softie awards. It was great to be nominated and although my puds didn't win they're not too sad to have lost to such a cute gingerbread baby!

more little friends far away...

I spent the weekend in my 'mailroom' surrounded by tissue paper, ribbon and packing tape and yesterday the latest batch of little cotton friends embarked on their journey to new lives near and far.

I love knowing that my little knitted creatures have arrived safely in their new homes and it's a real bonus when people take the time to send photos. So here's a round-up of some of the little cotton friends who've happily settled into new homes. Thanks so much to...

...Martine who has given Crispin a snuggly new home (and a posh new scarf),

...Clara and her son who have taken Linus on lots of lovely autumn adventures (more adventures of Linus can be found here)

...Amanda, whose gorgeous little boy is obviously happy to meet Ferdie

...Nancy who has made Florrie feel right at home

...Karen, who has lots of friends to welcome Marnie

...Kelly and her daughter, who have a home full of cuddles for Minty and  Chuang Chuang

And lastly Mrs Gosling (Nikki) who has emailed me about Maxie.

He has gone to work in her class of 4 year olds where he's helping them to learn their jolly phonics - I know he'll be having a wonderful time and will be really proud to be doing such an important job.

Thanks everyone for the updates x