Little Cotton Rabbits

Goodbye from typepad, hello new blog

 

 

Oh my! I have been trying not to get too upset about this as obviously there are far worse things that others contend with in this world, but I am so very sad to write to you today and tell you the sun is setting here on this blog, as Typepad are completely shutting down their blogging service from the end of September this year.

This means that this blog is just going to disappear from here on October 1st 2025.

This space has been my home for 19 years and it contains so many memories and happy times for me and I am so sad to leave it, along with all of the connections it has to you and many, many others. I'm also trying not to worry about the impact this will have on my business as all links across the internet from google, Pinterest, articles about my work etc. will no longer link to any content, so a lot less people will be able to find me and my work.

I have created a new home for my blog over on wordpress (it has all of my old posts). My new web address is:

 

https://littlecottonrabbits.com

 

I plan to continue blogging there at least once a month and I really hope that you will come and join me there.

I will be spending September trying to make sure that I have copies of everything, especially the photos as they will not automatically import into my new blog (they are displaying currently because the typepad servers are still active but once those are closed the image links will be broken). I will try to upload as many of them as possible to the new blog but it will take time.

If you are already subscribed to receive my blog by email then hopefully you don't need to do anything and will continue to receive emails from me, as I hope to be able to import all of my subscribers into wordpress directly after sending this message. If you would like to continue reading my blog and receive it by email then please follow the link above to my new home and enter your email address to sign up for my blog there.

So, hopefully this is not a permanent goodbye, but if I don't see you again I just wanted to say thank you so much for all of the love and support, encouragement and kindness that you've sent to me here over the last 19 years.

Wishing you all the very best, with love and many thanks

Julie xxx

PS: if you have been kind enough to link to this blog from your own blog or social media I wonder if I could ask a favour and ask you to update your link to my new blog on wordpress? The link is above and I'd really appreciate that, thank you so much

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Typepad stats, 19 years, beginning on September 4th 2006 and ending with this post today.

• 14,444,317 Lifetime Pageviews
• 2083.11 Pageviews/Day
• 928 Total Posts
• 53,338 Total Comments

 

A Plea for your support:

Please grant me the gift of your patience, and trust that I am working my little hand-knitted socks off to make sure as many of my blog posts as possible on my new blog have their images intact by the end of September.

I am making this request because it has concerned and little upset me to find that people have been downloading my content from my typepad blog out of a desire to possess a personal copy of their favourite posts before images temporarily disappear.

Not only is this not the right thing to do (because all of my content is legally copyright protected and not anyone else’s property) but it is also unsupportive of my new blog, I shall explain why:

If you view my content in a saved copy on your own device then my new blog will not receive page hits for that content. Blog page hits are the life-blood of a blog, allowing it to ascend in blog rankings and search engine results and so be visible and accessible to more visitors. Viewing your own personal copy of my copyrighted content gives me absolutely no benefit as it does not give my new blog page hits and so ensures that it will remain invisible on search engines and low on blog rankings.

This is why copying my content is a slightly selfish and unsupportive thing to do.

So instead of downloading a personal copy of a post, image or writing that you like, please save a link to it on my new blog. All of my old posts are there and are still searchable by topic titles and also monthly, in exactly the same was as posts were searchable on this typepad blog.

To re-cap:

If you have enjoyed my blog post images and writings up to now and would like to act in a supportive way towards me, please visit my blog posts in their legal and rightful natural habitat - on my new blog.

This will enable me to continue to provide a lot of good quality content for absolutely free, untainted by advertising or affiliate links and not behind a patreon paywall. I ask very little in return for the content that I produce, and I receive absolutely no monetary recompense for the hours of work that go into each and every blog post. However blog page hits are of great benefit to me, as they ensure that my new blog grows and is seen by more people, and that may mean a few more sales of my knitting patterns, which is how I make my living,

Thank you for reading, J x

 

 

 

July: High Summer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The beginning of July was so very hot and dry here, too hot to sleep comfortably or to knit in the daytime, and so dry that the countryside was soon looking very parched. The cows knew something though (cows lying down is supposedly a sign that rain is imminent) and by the middle of the month the welcome rain did sweep in, bringing freshness and quenching the countryside back to a lush green again. Toby and I have enjoyed our regular walks so much more in the welcome cooler temperatures, and he has slept better too - he is so restless on very hot nights and often up wondering around the house, meaning that one of us needs to be up with him too, so it's been nice to have some unbroken rest again.

Since launching the squirrels patterns at the beginning of the month I've been taking things slowly; starting my quiet days with breakfast in bed and some simple sock knitting; tidying and organising the kitchen a little; pottering around without much of an aim and generally enjoying nothing much on my to do list other than taking care of Toby. 

Well, there's not much else to report from here really. Summer is my least favourite season but even so there are always things to delight in, I've detailed some of them below in my monthly nature notes.

I hope that you're comfortable and content where you are,

J x

 

Nature notes from July:

• Week 1:  So hot and dry, uncomfortably so at daytime temps of 32 degrees and night time above 20 degrees
• Week 2:  An amazing sight on the evening of July 10th when a cloud of ladybirds flew over, many thousands by the look of it, many settled on the hawthorn hedging where there were quite a lot of aphids to feed on. I have never seen so many at one time, the air was thick with them for around half an hour
• Week 3:  Rain and cooler temperatures arrive, so very welcome and Toby and I happily walk in the light rain
• Week 4:  All of the branches of the plum tree in our garden are weighed down under the enormous weight of a bumper crop this year. I've also noticed that the wild plum trees are also bowed over by the abundance of their fruit. Other things that I've noticed many more of this year than usual are insects and butterflies, especially the Ringlet (most years I only see a handful but they have been most numerous this year). It must be down to the hot and dry conditions throughout spring, favouring certain species and bringing about a greater number than usual.

 

 

 

New Patterns: the squirrels

 

 

It makes me very happy today to pop in here with news that my latest 9 inch animal pattern is ready to share. This is a pattern for a squirrel, which you can either make as a red squirrel with little tufty ears, or a grey squirrel without tufts.

As usual with my patterns there are 2 options:

one for a squirrel in a removable dress with knitted on shoes and tights;

and one for a squirrel in a removable sweater and shorts.

 

The squirrel in a dress pattern comes with these 3 dress options:

There is one that is worked in a single colour and has an openwork textured design, reminiscent of acorns. And two colour-work dresses, one with a bold acorn and oakleaf design that wraps around the lower skirt and the other that has a contrast coloured border dotted with small acorns.

 

 

 

 

The squirrel in a sweater pattern comes with these 3 sweater options.

There's a plain stocking stitch sweater, knitted in a single colour and then a large acorn colour-work design is added in duplicate stitch afterwards. There is a chart for this in the pattern, and if you prefer you could choose to follow this and use the intarsia method to knit in the acorn design as you go.

There are also two textured sweaters, one a very simple knit and purl textured pattern, and the other a little more complex and with a bolder texture created by a combination of double increases and decreases.

Also included are a pair of shorts that have a functional button closure at the waist in order to accommodate the large tail.

 

 

 

 

Both patterns are now live on Ravelry and Etsy and because I recently had a small price increase (the first in 12 years) I've also increased the discount for buying any 2 or more LCR patterns in the same transaction to a 20% discount on the basket total. Mentioning it in case you wanted to get any of my other patterns at the same time in order to get the 20% off.

As always I am really excited to see what other people make with these new patterns, so if you do give either of them a go please do consider sharing a picture on social media or on either the Little Cotton Rabbits Facebook Group or the Ravelry group, I'd love to see what you've made.

Well I'm off to finish a couple of grey squirrels, because only their heads made it in to the pattern so I'm feeling a bit sorry for them, 'til next time keep well and happy, J x

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A little note on purchasing:

Ravelry have a really efficient and easy to use email delivery system of the download links and it is very rare that customers have any issues, (the vast majority of the issues that do occur are down to buyer input errors of email addresses). In the unlikely event that there is a problem I can very easily help.

If you choose to purchase via Ravelry I will actually get to keep a little more of the money that you pay for the pattern (Etsy seller fees are much higher and they keep at least a quarter of every single sale, and almost double that if you click on an Etsy ad for my shop on google or pinterest, as they will then also charge me an advertising fee on anything you purchase from my Etsy shop anytime in the next month, even if you are an existing customer of mine).

If you do choose to use Etsy then please, please, please don't check out as a guest, because if you do not receive the emailed link that they automatically send it is almost impossible for me to help you. Instead log in to an Etsy account first, and that way it is very easy for me to help if you have any problems as the files will be stored forever for you in your Etsy purchase history. And remember that Etsy do not allow you to download any digital purchases via the app, so you will need to log into your account via your browser to access files.

 

June: dog roses, daisies and dragonflies

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Many of the places where Toby and I take our weekly walks are designated nature reserves, and so are a haven to all kinds of wildlife, from tiny insects and invertebrates, right up to large mammals such as badgers and deer. One of the best things about walking most days is the chance to see the different species that come with the changing seasons, and in June summer has arrived with us. Within the hedgerows and all along the path margins there is now verdant growth, and it seems that every leaf is home to some small creature; all manner of insect larvae, caterpillars, beetles, flies, bees and spiders. I carry my secateurs on all of our walks, though perhaps a machete would be more appropriate as our familiar pathways are frequently overgrown by new growth since the previous week and we trim our way through again. I'm constantly saying 'careful, stingers' and 'mind the prickles' to Toby so that he doesn't brush against the stinging nettles or snag himself on the brambles and wild roses that continually encroach on our route.

The beginning of June was cool and green and usually this month is the segue between spring and summer, but this year there was no gentle transition and the full force of summer heat quickly arrived. Now at the end of June the countryside is beginning to look parched and I'm hoping that some rain arrives with us soon. We've had it forecast a couple of times, but it seems to evaporate on it's way across the country before reaching this south east corner. We could do with some good old English summer weather, ie. torrential rain :)

Knitting is not something that I enjoy much in weather this hot, but I have been making good progress on my new 9 inch animal and the patterns have just gone out to be tested with a lovely group of people who are likely to be a lot better at error spotting than I am right now - towards the end of a pattern you tend to be blind to the mistakes that you know are in there somewhere. Anyway, as it will be ready in the next couple of weeks I thought it was time to reveal what I've been working on, so first a clue in the form of a riddle...

Red or grey or rare times black,

tail curled across my back,

storing nuts for winter time,

in a treetop home to where I climb.

 

and then a picture...

 

 

(and yes, that is a basket full of failed tails, 19 of them!)

I'll post full details as soon as the patterns have been fully checked and are ready to share, 'til then I hope you have a good couple of weeks where you are, J x

 

Nature notes from June:

• Week 1: Some of the hedgerows at Panshanger are being decimated by ermine moth caterpillars, many thousands of them congregate, eat all the leaves and weave their webs, completely covering some of the trees. The webs are amazingly thick and strong and look devastating to the tree, but once the caterpillars pupate they will recover and regrow leaves.
• Week 2: Dog rose, daisies and cow parsley are everywhere, simple beauty and a magnet for bees, beetles and hoverflies
• Week 3: Out in the woods there are insects everywhere you look, nature is a marvel, also spotted some summer fungi on a tree
• Week 4: This week has been the hottest so far, too hot to sleep well at night and the constant sun is parching the woods and countryside. All of the streams and brooks that run through the woods are now completely dry, and I look through the exposed pebbles on the stream bed for hag stones

 

May: and the full glory of Spring

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is something so exuberant and joyful about May, and this one in particular has been sublime as we've had such amazing weather, with each day warm, dry and sunny. The dependable sun has warmed the land and Spring has now arrived with a flourish. Everything is freshly green and blossoming, perfuming the breezes with an ever changing array of floral scents. Out in the woods the trees have grown a connected canopy of dense leaves and the lanes that we drive along on our way to and from the woods are once again secret, shady tunnels.

It is such a beautiful time to be out in the countryside, so much is happening and every walk we go on brings new delights to see and enjoy. I've paid my annual spring visit to the orchard where I spent a wonderful few hours just wandering quietly with my camera. At lunch time I sat by the little pond and watched a pair of Canada geese shepherd their 5 small chicks across to the other side.

Back at home I've enjoyed my first garden knitting session of the season, it's lovely to sit outside again on Toby's swing and listen to the birds in the tree above me and I look forward to more gently swinging garden knitting time over the next few months.

The highlight of the month though was on May 2nd, when just after 8pm Katsue brought her cub with her for a visit, he's quite shy but obviously just weaned on to solid foods as he ran over to investigate what his mum was eating. I had to take pictures through the window as he was very skittish and wary of us and we were all enthralled, holding our breath and hoping for the moment to last. I was so pleased that Amy got to see a cub this time as she missed the time that Kit brought her 3 cubs to visit. It seems that Katsue just has the one cub, as we've not seen any others and although she's taking plenty of food away each time the cub has not been back to our garden for a couple of weeks. He'll be hidden away somewhere safe, and growing a little each day under the watchful eye and dedicated care of his mum.

In knitting news there's not much to tell. I'm so eager to share details on the latest animal design but I'm going to have to keep you in suspense just a little longer, as it is not yet close enough to being finished. We have however started photography so it is progressing. Once we've finished all of the shots and I've got the layouts done I'll be in a position to reveal its identity.

Well, I hope that things have been good for you this last month and that the coming month brings some small joys your way. I'll see you again in a few weeks with notes of what we've been up to in June, J x

 

Nature notes from May:

• Week 1:  The bluebells are at their peak and filling the whole wood with their wonderful scent. May 3rd, heard the first cuckoo and saw newly emerged damsel flies. Buttercups and cowslips are out in the meadows. Oak galls are visible amongst the new oak leaves, in a month or so they'll harden into small brown balls, but right now they are pretty and pink.
• Week 2:  Hedgerows are in full froth, with hawthorn blossom (also known as May blossom) thick on the branches above and great drifts of cow parsley below. Saw the first swallows of the season, just arrived from their long journey from Africa. First dragonflies spotted at the Panshanger lake.
• Week 3:  It's apple blossom time and the old, gnarled trees at the orchard wear their most beautiful attire of the year. A thick carpet of pungent wild garlic covers the floor of the small wood, a beautiful galaxy of star like flowers.
• Week 4:  The great tit chicks fledged from the nest box into the big wide world. Rain arrived at last, not much but so very needed after such a long dry spell, the petrichor smell is wonderful.