Little Cotton Rabbits

january blues

Toby has been quite poorly over the last week and a half. He's gone for days without eating and has not been sleeping much but it's been hard to know what is wrong - no temperature, no sickness - just lethargy, paleness etc. Of course he can't tell me how he feels but it's been clear he's not the little chap we are accustomed too. Still he seems to be on the mend now - he's now eating a little and hopefully the sleep will follow soon!

Anyway, this coupled with the murky, dull weather that has followed the snow melt has left me feeling a little blue and so to cheer myself up I'm making myself a cardi.

It's been over a decade since I knitted anything for myself other than scarves or mittens and I'm quite excited at the thought of wearing it. The pattern is Shalom - a generous freebie from Meghan McFarlane and is a quick and simple knit made with nice chunky needles and knitted from the top down. I'm also pleased as I was able to use up some of my attic stash - a bag of Annabel Fox Chunky Donegal, vintage 1993!

 

fire & ice

 

There's still a real contrast between inside and outside here. I have my fingers crossed for a thaw and for the schools to be open this week but for now with more snow forecast it's not looking good! Hope you're keeping warm if you're in the grip of the icy weather!

snow!

Sure enough there was a large enough fall of snow on wednesday for the schools to be closed and remain closed ever since. So we've been enjoying the world outside our window while snuggling around the fire.

Of course there was a brief snowman building session follwed by a quick dash back inside for some hot chocolate.

The poor old chickens don't quite know what to make of all this white stuff but we've been keeping them warm with daily feeds of porridge and honey mixed into a mash with their regular layers pellets.

It's all very beautiful but I'm hoping it won't last too much longer - having the children off from school means not much is getting done!

happy new year

Just popping in to wish you a very happy start to 2010.

Here we've had a good Christmas and the children are just back at school (although maybe not for long as it looks like snow may force school closures later in the week!). Anyway, the first of my new year's resolutions is to tackle my mountainous email backlog and I'm not coming back properly until that is done, so for now I'll leave you with some of my favourite things from 2009...

See you soon, J x