Little Cotton Rabbits

Seasonal sweaters pattern

Just a quick post today to say that I've finished my little collection of seasonal sweaters which is now available if you fancy making any extra clothes for your little cotton rabbits.

The pattern has 20 pages (with each design in it's own section so you can print out one rather than the whole thing if you prefer) and contains a range of sweater designs from easy to more challenging knits. There is a Fair-Isle design sweater, a cabled sweater and a reversible top-down cardigan/button back sweater. There are also 3 different styles of simple sweater which can be customised by choosing from eight seasonal designs worked in duplicate stitch. I'll be writing a proper post with tips for duplicate stitch very soon (it sounds a daunting technique but is really very simple)

The pattern is available on Etsy and on Ravelry if you were interested in giving it a go.

Right I'm off to make some duplicate stitch samples for a photo shoot and will pop back next week with those tips. Thanks for stopping by, enjoy what's left of your week x

longest day

Can you believe the longest day of this year has already been and gone?

My Summer solstice was a quiet one with Toby in respite for the day, Amy out with friends and H off cycling. I made the most of the peace by settling myself in the shady spot at the end of the garden with my knitting, notes and computer and I worked on getting the seasonal sweaters pattern finished.

 

It's pretty much done but later today I need to take a cover photo and give it all a final check through and then it should be ready to share. I'll tell you more about what is in the collection later in the week.

 

 

Being outside feels so good and the weekend weather gave plenty of opportunity to do just that. There were some pretty interesting skies too, with perfect conditions for contrails which took ages to disperse, the sky above our house soon becoming criss-crossed with them.

 

 

Yesterday was also a garden day. Toby had lots of fun on the trampoline while H and I pottered around, tidying up some of the shrubs that have become overgrown and weeding out the chicken run. A few months back we lost Butterscotch, the last of our 3 original chickens to a mystery illness and we thought we'd wait a while before getting ourselves a new flock - just incase there were still some germs lurking around. I think enough time has passed now so we've tidied up the run and I'm hoping we'll have some new clucky friends very soon.

The garden is very green and fresh looking at the moment. We've not had intense summer heat yet and although there's not been much rain of late the water butts are still quite full and I've been diligently watering each night. I love all of the different shades of green in the various corners of the garden...

 

 

 

 

Well, I'm off to get everyone ready for their respective day and then I'm going to try and take that cover photo for the sweaters pattern. I hope to be back later in the week with news of that, so until then have a good week x

 

Déjà vu

 

 

If you've been reading my blog for a while you may have a slight feeling of déjà vu in seeing this post. Don't worry, it's not you it's me - I have made a virtually identical blanket in the past.

I'm not by nature an obsessive person, in fact ask H and he'll tell you I'm a natural slob when it comes to housework and there's always a small pile of discarded clothes next to my bed rather than neatly folded in drawers and cupboards. But when it comes to making woolly things it seems I do have compulsive leanings. I've been fighting this particular urge for a while but a few weeks back I began to wonder what harm there would be in giving in to something that is going to give me pleasure and contentment and so I have started work on a second misty blanket.

 

 

I'm essentially using the same colour palette as before - I had quite a bit of yarn left over from the first which helps and there is something about this combination of colours which I find peaceful and that makes me rather happy. This time though I'm making some changes:

• adding an extra round to each square
• being more structured with the coloured centres
• using more subtle shades in the beiges and greys
• only chaining 4 at the corners instead of 5
• working groups of 3 stitches into the corners on all rounds (previously I'd used 2 stitches on the first few rounds)

 So, this is how the Misty Mark 2 currently looks

 

 

And this was the mark 1 about the same stage:

 

 

It's not that I don't like the first one but there are a few bits of it that do niggle me. In particular my misguided use of a dark brown yarn (which I remember being unsure of at the time) and I now notice leaps out in a very inharmonious way. Also, whilst I'm feeling critical, the gaps at the corners are just a bit too gappy if you ask me.

See, gappy corners and standy-out dark brown bits...

 

 

The first misty will still be loved as a snuggly throw in the garden room and the second misty will be for our bed. All in all I'm much happier with how the new version is starting to look and it's nice to be crocheting again in the evenings when the lights are low and I feel sleepy. I just have to deal with telling H that there's going to be yet another blanket in the house - he's not actually noticed it yet :)

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PS: if you want any yarn/hook details I've added this to my ravelry project page and will keep that updated as I work on this.