Little Cotton Rabbits

Hedgehog pattern

Thanks so much for all of the kind comments about the knitted hedgehogs. The little pattern is all finished and I'll pop some copies into my etsy shop and on to Lulu shortly. I thought I'd give away *20 copies of the pattern and also 2 of the finished hedgies at random - so please leave a comment below if you'd like to be entered into the draw.

The pattern can be made from leftover yarn and is very simple and with just 1 seam - the little feet are optional if you're in a hurry or don't like fiddly! They can be used as toys or make useful little pincushions.

 

I've decided to donate a portion of the profits to the British Hedgehog Preservation Society who were so helpful when we were hand-rearing Herbert Hogwart 2 years ago. Hedgehogs are in decline in many areas of the UK and if you'd like to encourage them in your own garden they have some great tips and advice on their website. They're lovely little creatures - very entertaining to watch and great to have around the garden as they hoover up all those pesky slugs and snails!

* sorry, I've just ammended the draw from being first 20 comments to a random draw (in order to give everyone in different time zones an equal chance!) I'll draw winners on Thursday morning (2nd July)

Comments are now closed (Thursday July 2nd 9.59am) Thanks x

garden stuff

Thanks to a spell of wet weather followed by lots of warm sunshine everything here in the garden has exploded!

and we're starting to reap the rewards from all of our hard work - here's our first homegrown courgette - yum!

Hope it's good growing weather with you!

hedgehogs

At last I have a picture of the hedgehogs in our garden!

OK, so I cheated - but the truth is that I feel really mean blasting the real ones with the camera flash while they're eating!

So here are the knitted hodgers that I made over the weekend. I'm still playing around with shaping but am hoping to write up this hedgehog pattern to share very soon.

chicken antics!

I topped up the chicken's dust bath yesterday.

At first it was an orderly affair

then there were 2 in on the act

and eventually all three were crammed into the pot

Daft creatures they are at times, but great entertainment!

Garden friends

Amy and I have really been enjoying watching Springwatch on tv this last week. We've been following the progress of all the baby birds and badgers and we've been looking round our own patch to see what we can see. There is a family of dunnocks nesting in the clematis and in our nest box we've had great tits who have just fledged. This little chap wasn't sure about flying to begin with but by the end of the day he joined his brothers and sisters up in the tree.

We also spotted a lovely big fat frog and there's definite evidence that the hedgehogs are very busy at night in the undergrowth. I don't yet have any pictures but they've been eating the food we've left out each night and our new hedgehog box has had lots of leaves pulled into it.

Lastly, there was this little chap.

I've been thinking about a mole for ages and he's my prototype. I have a few tweaks planned but hope to have some moles ready for Etsy soonish.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend