Little Cotton Rabbits

last days in the garden

We've had some wonderful weather here for the last few days - a real indian summer. Toby enjoys the garden so much when it's warm and dry but because he can't bear to touch wet surfaces and won't wear shoes in the garden, it won't be very long before he isn't able to play outside anymore. So we've been making the most of this last blast of summer and filling the time after school with as many bubbles and as much bouncing as is possible!

 

 

 

We've even stayed out until sundown and been rewarded with some beautiful skies

 

I do hope that this winter isn't going to be too harsh and we get some more bubbly, bouncy days to tide us over until spring arrives.

Have a lovely weekend wherever you are and please send any spare luck my way for tomorrow evening as I'm hosting Amy's 12th birthday party sleepover. I have a feeling sleep may not actually feature much!

 

back on track

Thanks for all of the comments and suggestions on the colours I've chosen for my blanket, what a lot of diverse opinions! Good job I only have to worry about pleasing myself ;)

I like Sarah's view about colour - it is all about how colours make us feel and that's a wonderfully subjective thing. Previously I felt jangly when I was looking at what I'd made, but now the citron has gone from the colour scheme I feel calmness. Whilst I liked the citron on it's own, I felt it had a strong influence on the surrounding colours and it changed the overall feel, so it's being replaced with a shade of blue-ish grey called 'clear' that I had bought for elephant knitting. I was too impatient to ponder any longer so I took the re-usable blocks and after spending yesterday's knitting time crocheting instead I now have this...

 

'Me old china' won't be a bright and colourful summer's day blanket (which is how I feel about my flowers in the snow) but more something to snuggle in on a cold and wet thursday afternoon in October when you're feeling a little melancholy, while listening to something like this.

I am not sad to unpick the blocks with citron in because I know that the result will be worth it for me. I'm lucky that although I'd woven in the ends I'd not got around to trimming them off so each round of yarn that I unpick is completely re-usable and I'm bagging them up in round order so that re-using them is easy.

 

Now I feel comfortable again with making my 'one square a day' each evening. But by day I'll be working hard to get this lot finished.

 

Yes, all the little headless animals are gradually each getting a body and clothes - it's just a bit of a jigsaw puzzle working out which outfit goes best with which head!

 

where is the love?

I know there's not really any such thing as a crochet crisis, but if there was I would be having one right now because (deep breath)...

...I am just not feeling the love for 'me old china' blanket  :(

 

 
Something about the colours feels wrong to me and I have a feeling it's that yellowy green "citron". I think it's too bright for my taste and the overall effect is too colourful and chaotic and just isn't what I was after. It's often the way isn't it, that something looks good on paper but in practice doesn't quite work out as planned.

 

What to do about it though? Unpick all my hard work or press on regardless and not be happy with it when it's finished? I will be having a crochet pause while I ponder, and turning to my knitting for solace which is good news for all of those body-less animal heads!

kitchen poetry

inspired by Ali

Today we used up the last of our homegrown courgettes in a lunch of delicious polpette. They didn't last long enough for a photo of their own so you'll have to follow the link to see what they look like - we can thoroughly recommend them (though we left out the lemon)...

 

 

They're easy,

cheesy,

and oh so very pleasy.

Poem by Amy & Julie

While I'm here I also have to show you the giveaway prize that came to me in the post this week ...

 

...notecards and a gorgeous, beautifully made michaelmas daisy corsage from the very talented Vivienne at Green Rabbit Designs. She makes the most beautiful knitted and crocheted bags and corsages - if you have a moment pop over and take a look at her shop.

The corsage looks perfect on my winter coat and I'm feeling very lucky! Thanks Vivienne x

colours

Thanks for all of the kind comments on my new blanket. A couple of people asked what yarns and colours I'm using, so here's a sample...

 

Because I wanted very specific colours I'm mixing 3 different yarns - Rowan Wool Cotton (50% merino, 50% cotton), Rowan Belle Organic (50% organic merino, 50% organic cotton) and Rowan Classic Cashsoft DK (57% extra fine merino, 33% microfibre, 10% cashmere). Despite having slightly different finishes and thicknesses they all seem to be working well together so far.

I'm using the celandon as the main background colour and random selections of the other colours in the granny squares - I'll post some more pictures when it's a bit bigger!

 

my 'me old china' blankie

I am well and truly smitten with crochet (though I'll not be giving up my day job of bunny knitting anytime soon). Now that my fingers are a little more confident I'm finding it involves a little less involvement from my brain than knitting does - there are no rows or stitches to count and no increases or decreases, just a rhythmic round and round that is soothing and uncomplicated and perfect for the end of the day when I'm feeling weary. And I really enjoyed working on one square a day of the 'flowers in the snow' blanket so as soon as that was finished I started planning my next 'one square a day' blanket.

I wanted my favourite colours of blues, greens and reds to be dominant in this next blanket and I had an idea of the sort of one I wanted to make inspired by this gorgeous blanket by Moogsmum. More recently I came across these inspiring creations and have been day-dreaming about all of these while keeping an eye out for the right yarn colours. Then one day when I was tidying up the kitchen my gaze fell on my china on the shelf and I knew that these colours would be perfect.

 

So, this next one a day project will be known as 'me old china' blankie

 

 

Perfect name for it really, because 'me old china' is cockney rhyming slang for mate / friend and I plan on doing lots of snuggling with my mate under it when it's finished!

If you fancy joining in with a 'one a day' project of any kind then please join the One a Day ravelry group started by Gingerbread Girl where you'll find lots of other lovely people doing it too!

 

heads up

Well, my little family seems to be settling nicely into term-time routine - Amy is still loving senior school and Toby has coped surprisingly well with being in a new class. You'd think then that I'd be settling nicely into my routines too, but I'm not.

I don't know if it's the change of season but I'm feeling distinctly unsettled. I'm aimless and flitty and can't seem to sit for any length of time and finish anything. Which is probably why I have a whole heap of animals on the go (28 at the last count). It doesn't help that there's lots of lovely new yarns arriving for the autumn/winter season, as I can't resist trying out new wool for the animals. And I won't tell you about the mittens and two scarves that I've also started or about the new crochet project that keeps tempting my fingers, because you'll probably wonder if I've completely lost the plot!

At least I'm doing well on the animal heads, (which are always my first thing to knit of each animal)...

 

 

...but the bodies and clothes have yet to be made. Hopefully I'll get less fidgety over the next week and will be able to settle and get some of these finished soon.