Little Cotton Rabbits

christmassy snippets

On the last day of term I sent in my usual teacher christmas presents of peppermint bark

 

 

we made some cakes for a charity fundraiser, and went a bit mad with the edible glitter

 

H assembled our Christmas tree (with much cursing at the fact that all the colour coded stickers had dropped off the branches but I think the random branch lengths add to the 'realness')

and the lovely miss Amy decorated it.

 

I smile every time I walk past the tree because it is dotted with my growing collection of treasured handmade decorations from bloggy friends: the beautiful stained glass bird from Kristen, The sweet Christmas angel from Dottycookie and the lovely Miss Ivy Pecker from Jooles.

 

 

Anyway, we've had a relatively good Christmas and the day itself was quite peaceful. As usual the excitement and magic of the festivities passed Toby by completely but on Christmas morning, for the first time ever, he showed some interest in opening his pressies. It was lovely to see him working out how to get the paper off and being interested in what was inside. Even though it was a fleeting moment it brought a tear to my eye, in a good way - the perfect Christmas present for me.

 

I hope your Christmas was a good one and I just wanted to pop in and wish you a very happy New Year.

See you in 2013!

seasons greetings

Well, we're in the last few days before the school Christmas holidays start so I wanted to wish you all happy holidays before I disappear for a week or so. Our tree will go up once the children are home from the last school day and then we'll start our celebrations. I hope that you all have a very merry week whatever you are celebrating and a happy start to the new year.

Amy helped me put together this little video - she has provided the lovely singing on the backing track.

 

 

 

Keep warm, keep safe and enjoy your week, see you soon xxx

ingredients of a happy morning

 

the bright, clear light of a cold winter's day,

smelling the woodsmoke from the fire in the stove,

knitting up a pattern that is well written and clever*,

 

listening to Chill on my radio

eating hot buttered toast with tangerine marmalade

and drinking a good strong cup of English Breakfast tea, with one sugar please.

 

Added together, these equal a happy morning for me.

 

What are the things that add up to equal your kind of happy?

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* The pattern is Alfredo Gloves by Suzanne Stallard and with its well positioned thumb and neatly integrated shaping it's the nicest pattern for fingerless gloves that I've knitted.

PS: the pattern is written for knitting in the round but I much prefer knitting things flat and seaming them with mattress stitch afterwards, so if you're a clever in-the-round knitter please don't let my pictures put you off giving a lovely pattern a go.

PPS: the yarn used for this pair was Madeline Tosh sock yarn in 'mare' and 'smokestack' full details on my ravelry page.

 

 

packing

Well, the last batch of little cotton rabbits (and friends) for this year are being bedded down in their tissue paper and wrapping and getting ready to be sent off to new homes.

 

I think the annual Christmas batch with their nordic clothing are the ones that I most enjoy working on and I really like playing around with new dress designs. This year my favourite is the dress with the little robins - it was a bit fiddly to knit but I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. I'll also find it hard to say goodbye to Henning with his fat tum and baggy shorts - he reminds me a little of Toby!

 

 Anyway, if you're interested in rehoming any of these 8 animals then please pop on over to my 'shop blog' and leave a comment on any that you like. I'm closing comments and using the random number generator on Thursday morning.

Then I'll be taking a wee bunny knitting break (I'm a little bunnied out) and instead I'm planning on making more wristwarmers. I've just cast on yet another pair, this time using a lovely pattern from Suzanne Stallard, but more of those another time.

Christmas Jumper Day

Thanks for all the kind comments about Amy's singing in the previous post - she is suitably embarrassed and actually not giving me too much grief (which might have something to do with me reminding her that I could have published the picture of her sitting on her potty in just a princess crown!)

Anyway, on the Thursday before last when I was sat in the audience watching her sing in the school talent showcase (and feeling that unique-to-mums emotional mix of pride, weepiness and nerves) there was a little part of me that wished it was possible to be in two places at once. I had been really flattered to be invited to a very exciting event taking place in London at the same time - the launch of Christmas Jumper Day hosted by Debbie Bliss and Trisha Malcolm, Editor-in-Chief of Vogue Knitting, at the Save the Children Living & Giving shop in Primrose Hill. Fifteen other knitty bloggers did make it there and had a great time knitting up Debbie's cute egg cosy patterns, you can make your own from the free pattern here.

Since I wasn't able to be at the 'knitterati party', I promised that I'd give the campaign a mention here, afterall who could resist the chance to wear a fun Christmas jumper to raise money for a very worthy cause?

 

Here are the details:

"On 14th December, more than 250,000 people (and counting!) will be wearing a festive woolly to school, offices and workplaces all across the UK, with everyone taking part donating £1 to Save the Children.

Think fluffy nosed reindeer and cross-stitched snowmen! Anyone can take part – you can decorate an everyday jumper with tinsel and baubles, rescue an old one bought in a moment of festive joy, or even knit one if you've got the skills – it's completely up to you.

Money raised from Christmas Jumper Day will help bring life-saving care to some of the world’s most vulnerable children. In the world's poorest countries almost 7 million children die every year from easily preventable causes like diarrhoea and malnutrition. Simple solutions, like vaccines and mosquito nets, save lives – so your knitted jolly jumper could make a real difference.

We want to spread the word far and wide to get as many people as possible involved in a day of jumper joy on 14th December."

 

So dig out your winter woollies - or whip one up if you have time - there are even some free patterns provided by Debbie Bliss and T Bramsden.

Please join in by donating £1 and wearing a woolly on Christmas Jumper day and urge your workmates, housemates, in fact anyone you know to join in too and lets all get in the Christmas spirit on Friday December 14th.

Thanks x

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Edited to add: The Save The Children website seems to be down at the moment - it is now back up.

Their facebook page is here.