Little Cotton Rabbits

Soggy but still smiling

Earlier today Amy and I joined around 180 others for the 10K walk to raise funds for CHIPs (the children's charity that runs clubs for special needs children that Toby attends). We'd been closely watching the weather forecast all week and it had been getting steadily worse. By yesterday gale force winds and heavy downpours were predicted and it's safe to say that I wasn't feeling very excited about the prospect of walking 10K in those sort of conditions. But when we arrived that feeling started to change because there was such a warmth and enthusiasm in the hall where we all gathered to do our warm up. Some walkers had even dressed up especially...

 

 

These are some of the lovely CHIPs people who take care of Toby

 

My lovely friend and organiser Hazel did a brilliant speech and warm up routine for everyone and then we were off, out of the warm dry hall and into the wind whipped rain. I had planned to walk with Amy and we were together at the start but she is young and fit and has long legs so it wasn't long before she left me behind, (far, far behind).

 

 

In fact when I finished the walk (rather near the back) I found her and her friends already in the cafe eating cake. The three of them actually finished 3rd overall in a very respectable time of just under an hour and a half.

 

 

There was such a great atmosphere and despite the awful weather a lot of people turned up to walk. We all gathered for tea and cake afterwards (it was the thought of cake that had kept my legs moving over the last 3 kilometres). There was a raffle, a lot of hugging and congratulating and I was enormously touched to be awarded a trophy for raising the most money.

 

 

But I can't claim the credit, because it was you lovely people that did that. So here is the trophy that I accepted on behalf of the kind and generous readers of the little cotton rabbits blog.

Thank you everyone - you are the best xxx

 

(And as you can see from the trophy picture the sun has come out now the walk is over!)

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Update: Tuesday 1st May

I've just used the random number generator to select a recipient of the little spring bunny from all of those that generously donated to our sponsored walk. It's drawn number 85

Which is Brenda Allen.

Many, many thanks again to everyone for your wonderful kindness x

seeds

My goodness it's been a wet and windy week here. I had planned to get out in the garden and plant my broad bean and carrot seeds direct into the beds but I'm really not a wet weather person and knitting on the sofa has held a much stronger appeal! Those seeds that I planted back in march and early april are growing into strong little plants and I'm looking forward to getting them into the raised beds in the next few weeks.

 

 

I love watching seedlings grow from a shrivelled brown dot into a big green plant - it's truly magical. These broccoli, cabbage and lettuce seedlings have a lot more growing to do but  when they're fully grown and tended with care I'm hoping they'll reward me with a tasty summer feast!

On the subject of seeds, I was planning to send a friend some seeds that I collected from my garden last year but the little brown packets that I put them into looked so ordinary and plain and I had wanted them to be more of a gift. So I sat down with a few left over bits of yarn and fiddled about on ideas for a little pouch to hold seed packets. After a few prototypes of different sizes I finally settled on a design which can also hold an i-phone or similar sized gadget.

 

I thought I'd write it up as a little pattern, so give me a few days or so and I'll hopefully have it ready to share with you.

Hopefully the wind and rain will abate a little on Sunday as it's the big day for Amy and me and the others talking part in the sponsored walk for CHIPs. The forecast is not looking good though, we'll be looking forward to cups of tea, hot chocolate and cake at the finish line, and coming home to a hot bath!

Stay warm and dry wherever you are this weekend x

 

A thank you from the heart

It's been an emotional weekend here and I've been reduced to tears many times. But they've been tears of the good sort, brought on by kind messages from people I've never met and the hugely generous donations to the CHIPs fund. There are no words to adequately express the gratitude and sense of wonderment that I feel right now, the generosity and kindness of everyone is quite overwhelming.

 

 

Today I'm having a quiet start to the week with my knitting. I'm mostly working on bunnies at the moment but the Old Mossy Wall Shawl is also gradually growing when time and inclination coincide. This is about a weeks worth of gentle paced knitting.

 

Amy calls this the 'mouldy old wall shawl' - she is most unimpressed by my colour choices but I think a mother and daughter probably should have different tastes in accessories and I'm quite pleased with how it's turning out.

Thanks again to everyone for the messages, emails and donations, I am so very grateful and truly moved by the support that everyone has shown.

Fundraising for CHIPs and a giveaway

On April 29th Amy and I are going to take part in a 10k sponsored walk to help raise funds for CHIPs CHIPs (Childrens Integrated Playschemes). For a couple of years now Toby has been going to a regular saturday morning club organised by this charity. Although it's only held every couple of weeks it has become part of Toby's routine and he always gets excited when I get his CHIPs T-shirt out because he really enjoys his visits there.

All of the team are hugely dedicated and work so well together to keep the children happy and entertained. Toby's visits there in term time and the school holidays give him a chance to interact with others and while he's having fun H and I have time to spend with Amy and each other. But the costs of running such schemes are of course huge and although parents pay towards the sessions most of the money needed to fund special equipment and one-to-one staffing is raised by charity events and donations:

Imagine, as a child, having nowhere to play, rarely going out and having few friends to have fun with. Horrible isn’t it?  Yet that is the situation facing many disabled children today due to the continuing lack of support and understanding of disability in society. It is CHIPS goal to provide a fun, safe and integrated environment for children of all ages to play and socially interact.

CHIPS is only part funded by Councils which mean that we rely heavily upon fundraising and the kind generosity of people like you.

Source: CHIPs website

 

We have just heard the the council have reduced their funding to CHIPs from this year and so the need to raise funds is even more urgent than in previous years.

That is why my lovely friend Hazel (herself the mum of a sweet autistic son called Jack) has organised this sponsored walk and why Amy and I will be joining in. We have set up a fundraising page and would really appreciate any sponsorship donation that you're able to make, however small because any money raised will really benefit families like ours and CHIPs now supports over 225 families with children like Toby.

I am also having a little giveaway and will include anyone who makes a donation in a random draw to win this spring bunny.

 

 

On Monday April 30th I'll draw one name with a random number generator from all of those who have donated and that person will win her.

Thanks so much x

 

a new one-a-day

We did have a good Easter break, I hope you did too. We saw family and friends, had days out, a posh lunch and a fiftieth wedding anniversary party. Toby really enjoyed his few days of respite over the 2 weeks and with him out of the house having fun I even had some time to knit. There was of course some bunny knitting but I also had the urge to work on something new.

 

 

I've really been missing having a one a day project on the go, a simple and uncomplicated something to slowly nurture in the quiet moments at the end of each day. I have been pondering crochet projects and I did make a tentative start on a cushion but I'm not finding crochet satisfying at the moment and I think I'm back in knit mode again. I sat for a while browsing on ravelry and flickr, musing through favourited projects and it occurred to me that although I've favourited lots of shawls I have never actually made one, so I think a shawl may be just the thing to fit the bill for my next one-a-day project.

I have picked out a pattern; Whippoorwill by Carina Spencer, my needles are primed and my chosen yarn has just arrived...

 

 

I've opted for Koigu's Painters Palette yarn in 'stone mix' and 'dark khaki'. Though I love the natural tones in both of these colourways, I'm not sure if this combination will work out so I also have some Madeline Tosh sock yarn which will play understudy to the khaki and step in if it's a little discordant. In view of the colours I think I shall call this project the 'Old Mossy Wall Shawl'.

 

I've wound my first skein and I'm all set. To begin with I'll work a few rows a day but once I'm on the long edge it will definitely be one a day - I'm not especially looking forward to those 300+ stitch rows!