Little Cotton Rabbits

one a day, part two

My one a day blanket is coming along nicely.

So far I have made more rounds than I've joined because I have been trying to work out how many completely different squares I could make from the 7 colours I've chosen but my brain just isn't up to the maths! Though I have managed to work out that for any group of 3 colours there are 6 possible combinations...

...but that's as far as my brain can compute and so I'll just have to work out the rest as I go along! The plan for happy-thought-thinking is working out well too and blankety thoughts this week have centred on confirmation that Amy has a place at the senior school she and we were hoping for - she's so excited! I've also been lazily mulling over seed planting and daydreaming about summer picnics inspired by a book I got from the library this week. It feels good to have set a little corner of the day aside for hooking and happy thoughts!

Hope there are some happy thoughts happening with you too.

spring has sprung

According to my calendar, today is officially the first day of spring here in the UK. The sign that spring has arrived in our garden is always the blossoming of an old plum tree.

One week ago::

Today::

 
Last year it suffered the loss of a major bough but it seems to have survived and hopefully some of the blossoms will yield some juicy plums for jam making later in the year.

 

Even Toby has been noticing that the trees are changing on our regular weekend walks!

For Japan With Love - day of silence

Tomorrow (friday 18th March 2011) heralds a day of silence for bloggers around the world as a mark of respect for the victims of Japan's recent disaster so I'm joining in and will not be posting. The organisers are also hoping for donations to the Shelter box relief fund. It's great to see that the target of $5,500 has already been exceeded but those folks need all the help they can get, so every extra penny will count.

 The following is a quote from one of the organisers Utterly Engaged

The aim is just raise awareness and respect and acknowledge the devastation going on in Japan.

The guidelines are simple.
1.  This coming Friday, March 18th, no posts at all on your blog.
2.  Please post a blog post about what you will be doing this Friday whenever possible in hopes to spread the word and whoever else would like to join in. You all can check out what Lydia of Ever-Ours did for her’s here or how we did ours here and do it your way if you’d like.  We’ll be posting a reminder post on Thursday evening on my blog too.
3. Tweet and Re-Tweet the shiznit out of the link to http://www.forjapanwithlove.com please.
4. Encourage your readers to contribute to donate shelter to Japan.
Whatever anyone can contribute will be appreciated.

Every little helps.

If you have a blog and want to join in and spread the word please write a post and leave a comment over on Utterly Engaged to let them know you're taking part. Thanks for reading x

 

one a day

It's been dawning on me that I'm not doing too well with my new year's resolution to look for the best in each day. In theory it's a simple one, but in practice I find when I sit down at the end of the day my mind starts going over all of the negative bits. So I started thinking of ways to make me focus on the positive moments and I think I've come up with a way to end each day on a happy note.

It was love at first sight when I saw Solveig's gorgeous blanket but at the time I was all cack-handed on the crochet front. Now I've got a few crochet projects under my belt and I feel ready to take on a bit of a challenge. I'm going to take it slow and steady, just doing one square at the end of each day and as I work on each one I'll be mulling over the day's good bits.

For my one-a-day blanket I've chosen Amy Butler's Belle Organic DK yarn by Rowan because I love the softness of it and I've decided on a limited palette, using just 7 of the gorgeous collection of colours: Robin's egg, Cornflower, Peony, Hibiscus, Persimmon, Basil and Cilantro along with the main colour 'moonflower' which is a cream.

I know it will take me most of the rest of the year but at the end of it I'll have a lovely blanket (well hopefully if it turns out even half as nicely as Solveig's) and I like the idea that it will be made with happy thoughts in my head.

spring clean up

We've had 3 back-to-back days of spring sunshine here. It's lovely how a bit of blue sky over your head and sunshine on your face can make you feel so much more energetic and positive and I'm suddenly feeling the need to get my fingers in the dirt and get the garden ready for veggie growing again.

This will be my third year of growing and so our soil needs a top up with a bit of richly rotted down compost. Luckily the chicken ladies are very helpful in that department. I remember being amazed when we got them at the quanity of poo that they generate but it's all being put to good use and hopefully my veggies this year will grow big and fat and delicious courtesy of the chicken ladies productive botties!

This year I'm rotating the crops in my four beds again with brassicas (broccoli & cabbage), dwarf french beans, carrots & parsnips, garlic & onions. Elsewhere in the garden I'm also growing tomatoes, patty pan squash, courgettes, lettuce, herbs, potatoes, raspberries and strawberies and I have a new little patio apple tree that is only supposed to grow to around 6ft tall.

I'm going to give beetroot a go this year too - prompted by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's  delicious sounding recipe for beetroot, goat cheese and redcurrant salad and his slightly less tempting chocolate and beetroot brownies (both from River Cottage Everyday - I'll let you know how they turn out!). Are you growing anything in your patch this year?