Little Cotton Rabbits

a funny week!

It's been a bit of a strange week here as our routine has been thrown out by Toby's school play. It happens once a year and means that he goes to school between 4 - 9pm for the middle three days, having his tea there and then doing a performance. He's coped (just) and although I've not managed to get anything done all week (other than keep him entertained) I've enjoyed having him around - just him and me, and I've been able to concentrate on him without feeling that I'm leaving Amy out. On wednesday evening Amy and I loved seeing him in the play. Toby was quite bewildered by the whole thing but not upset and some of the older children were really amazing and gave a joyful and spirited performance despite some severe disabilities - there wasn't a dry eye in the hall!

Anyway, because of the change in routine I'm really behind with replying to emails (again) and not much knitting or housework has been done. I did manage to make some real cupcakes though (inspired by a picture I saw over at Dotty Cookie of some cupcakes Ali bought) and I was really pleased with how they turned out. I just made a regular victoria sponge cake mixture, plopped spoonfuls into individual cases then swirled half a teaspoon of strawberry jam through each one and baked as usual. I topped them with pale pink glace icing and a dried strawberry (I couldn't get the freeze dried kind so settled for the chewy dried ones).

They went down a treat at Amy's school afternoon tea and looked quite appropriate as we were raising money for breast cancer charities.

Have a good weekend, it's a bank holiday here and looks like rain so we'll be bed bouncing!

tag from Shawn Mary

A couple of weeks ago Shawn Mary tagged me and as usual it has taken me ages to take it up (sorry Shawn Mary). Anyway, here's what she asked me and Molly at Molly's knitted teddybears -

1)  How does your creative process begin?

I knit every day when the children are at school and I often ponder what I'm going to work on when I'm walking back home from dropping Amy at school. It's pretty erratic really and completely on a whim - some days I want to just knit clothes, others it's rabbits, or cakes etc. and it often changes from day to day. Sometimes ideas pop into my head at strange times like the middle of the night when I'm up with Toby or I might be doing my weekly shop and see someone's clothes which inspire a certain combination of colours. I jot notes on various bits of paper and keep them in a file with scraps of boden catalogues and magazine clippings.

2) Do you start and finish one toy at a time, or do you tend to start multiple pieces for multiple ones and end up with lots of "parts"?

I'm a really messy worker and very rarely work on a toy from start to finish without at least starting several other things. I have lots of bags of bits stashed away! I'm particularly impulsive when I get a new yarn and will immediately drop what I'm working on to start knitting up something in a yarn that's new to me. It's embarassing to admit but I get quite excited by new yarns and I end up stalking my favourite on-line yarn sites in the early spring and autumn watching for the new season's colourways to become available (OK, I know I should get out more!)

3)  When it comes to clothes, do you knit these before you know who will wear them or does the finished face dictate what you will knit?

A bit of both. I often knit the clothes first and then make a toy to suit them but sometimes as the character of the toy emerges I get a picture of what kind of clothes I want to dress them in. Once the face is complete I usually know whether the toy is a girl or a boy and if I'm ever in doubt Amy always acts as my quality controller and makes the decision for me!

4)  Have you ever knitted one and after completion, just couldn't bear (ha, ha) to part with it?

I do have my personal favourites but I've never decided to keep any of them although I do have 'the one that came back' sitting right next to my computer as my lucky mascot!

She's special as she travelled to America, failed to get delivered and 6 weeks later ended up back here and she inspired a very special story wonderfully written by Jill.

typepad loves the little cotton rabbits!

The little cotton rabbits and I are really excited because today we're Typepad's featured blog!  Welcome to anyone who is visiting us for the first time and if you're a regular visitor - thanks for dropping in again!

I've been blogging with Typepad since September 2006 and I love them to bits! If you've ever been tempted to start your own blog then you should take a look at what they offer. Their templates are great with a really easy to use interface and their support services give you everything you need to get started and keep things running smoothly. Thanks Typepad!

news from the garden

Well the arrival of spring might mean that Toby is happier naked but it seems he's not the only one feeling a bit frisky!

It's been a while since I mentioned little Herbert/Sherbert Hogwart here and so I've been stalking around the garden at night with my camera. Please forgive the quality of the pics - I'm clearly no wildlife photographer, but I did manage to capture some clear evidence that Herbert/Sherbert has a girl/boyfriend!

They've been trundling round the garden together for the last few nights. Is it just a childish infatuation (afterall Herbert is not yet a year old) or could we be hearing the patter of tiny feet come autumn? I will keep you posted!

Our garden (although it is only a medium sized suburban one) is quite a haven for wildlife this year. We're regularly visited by grey squirrels and all manner of birds. We have blackbirds, robins and sparrows nesting and this year we even have a great-tit family in our nestbox. They hatched last sunday and now the parents are frenetically trying to stuff as many grubs and caterpillars into those little gaping beaks!

I love the arrival of spring and that nature is out there, doing it's thing. Hope you enjoy your patch this weekend!

fighting a loosing battle?

I am not yet winning the battle of the clothes.

I get them on him but within 2 minutes he has flung them all to the four corners of the garden - and he's becoming quite inventive about places to stuff them so I won't find them again! It probably doesn't help that we're having some lovely warm weather - not the best time for me to be insisting on clothes!

Still, on a positive note at least Toby is now starting his bouncing sessions with some clothes on and my quest to get him to keep them on will continue, although I will definitely focus my efforts on stripping off in inappropriate places and save the garden battle for when the weather turns colder again.

Thanks so much for all of the tips and advice left on the previous post about his stripping off. There were some very useful points raised about keeping his clothing soft and light and having a set of clothes that he associates with wearing in the garden - a bit like a bouncing uniform. All of which are really going to help in my quest. I'm hopeful we'll get there - one day! Potty training isn't fairing any better either but we always knew it was going to be a long a slow process for our boy.

His achievements are small and slow but one day I hope to write excitedly here about his first wee on our toilet and maybe even one day in the future I'll be joyfully telling you about his first ever word.

One day.

Maybe?

Hope is a wonderful thing.

Happy Birthday Mum!

Quite a few people have asked me recently how my Mum is doing after her awful accident last autumn. Since today is her birthday (Happy Birthday Mum!) I though I'd give you a quick update. She's now out of her support collar completely and although she still has pain from an incompletely healed vertebrae in her back she is mobile and getting on with some of the activities that she's always loved like country walks and she's started driving again. She's waiting to hear what the specialist advises about the problematic vertebrae and we've got our fingers crossed that it will heal without the need for further intervention. She's been such an inspiration with her determination to recover quickly and I'm so proud that she's kept going with such a positive attitude!

Anyway Mum, hope you've had a lovely day x

Lastly, I couldn't go without mentioning that the lovely Jenny at Frazzy Dazzles is having a very cute giveaway at the moment

How could anyone not want to snuggle Sugar and Barley? To be in with a chance, pop over quickly and leave a comment on her post before Saturday 10pm (EST Australian time)

My recipe for bank holiday bliss

A generous slice of blue sky,

a quick splash of paddling pool action,

and a delicious dollop of knitting in the garden!

oh, happy day! Hope yours was a good one too!

Teeny tinies

This week I've had a lot of fun making some teeny toys for the little cotton rabbits. So much so that I thought you might like to have a go too.

So I've written up a free pattern which you can find here. It's a bit fiddly and is probably an evening's work but they are fun to make and at our house they are proving very popular, as you can see...

Honey loves her little bunny - she's named him Pip and she never goes anywhere without him!