Little Cotton Rabbits

picking up the pace again

Thanks so very much for all of the kind comments on the previous post. It's especially helpful to hear from others who've had similar experiences and I really appreciate all of the suggestions too. I'll be trying to reply to all of your comments over the next day or two.

Is it really the last day of November today? Considering that Christmas is always at the same time each year it really does have a way of sneaking up on a person. I need to get my act together and finish off all of the animals that I'm working on because it's getting awfully close to last posting dates.

 

 

I've been working on this little mouse today and she at least is now finished. Hopefully a few more of them will be ready soon. I'll keep you posted if you are interested.

 

Quiet time

Sometimes you need to make a conscious effort to slow down and indulge yourself in a little quiet time and that's what I'm doing today. Today will be a pyjama day - the phone will be left to ring, all but the most pressing of emails will go unanswered, there will be plenty of chocolate, a bit of book reading and a little undemanding crochet. It has already got off to a good start with tea and hot buttered cheese scones

 

 

The reason I feel in need of a bit of quiet time is because lately things have been complicated on the Toby front. Not especially so with him personally but with the things related to him. He is entering a gradual transition phase where he is being passed from child services to adult ones and this means many more meetings with professionals, on-going assessments, checks and an increase in the mountain of paperwork that goes along with having a child with special needs.

This year we seem to have had more forms than ever to fill in and each time a new one arrives I have a little wobble as I know the weight of the task is far more than a few sheets of paper. One form that I filled in this year was 48 pages long. It took me over 2 weeks of thinking and planning what to write. There were tears as I recounted particularly traumatic incidents that illustrate the depths of Toby's disability and a great deal of anxiety at whether the words I'd committed to paper really conveyed the extreme challenges he faces on a daily basis. It is an all-consuming task until completed - it even intrudes on your sleep, because you know it's important to your child's future and you also know that the person who will process the form has a very different agenda to your own.

I've also learnt that words can be taken out of context and used to prove the opposite of what was meant by them. We are in that position at the moment and will have to appeal against a decision made about Toby by going to a tribunal - something which I am dreading but which is necessary to protect his rights as he grows into adulthood.

Please don't think for a minute that I am so ignorant or insular that I don't know there are millions of people all around the world in far worse situations than this. I do know that and it does make me incredibly grateful for all that we have. But we are each bound within the confines of our own existence, viewing the world from our own perspectives and at the moment a little indulgent quiet time is helping me to cope with our small difficulties.

I'm grateful to be able to find peace and contentment through playing with wool, it always helps calm me and un-fuddle my head. What do you turn to in times of stress? If you feel like sharing,  I'd love to hear what helps you through your difficult days.

 

 

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PS: Thanks so much for the feedback about instagram. As suspected lots of people don't do instagram and most of those that do don't mind seeing pictures twice, so from time to time I will post photo round-ups here on the blog. I definitely won't be stopping blogging though  :)

 

Weekly roundup

Last week brought a change in the weather here - it's been getting colder and we've had such strong winds that most of the beautiful autumn leaves are now in puddles on the ground.

 

 

Friday was a bright day and I made the most of it by getting out into the garden to plant some spring bulbs - narcissi, muscari and bluebells and some hawthorne whips which will grow into a hedge to replace the overgrown leylandii conifers that we had taken out a few months ago. The front garden has looked very bare ever since but hopefully these new plants will fill in the gaps and provide lots of shelter and food for wildlife.

 

 

There's been knitting of course - bunnies as usual...

 

 

...and another pebble beach shawl in a paler shade of Walk delicate merino - a yarn that lends itself really well to wispy shawls. I'm only on row 20 but am not in a hurry so it will continue to grow slowly in between other projects. Here it is next to my lovely new mug which I bought this week from a talented potter on Etsy.

 

 

This week has seen me taking lots more pictures than usual because of joining instagram - my page is here. I've really been enjoying snapping away at whatever takes my fancy without necessarily having to think of words for a full blog post. Not that I'll be giving up blogging (this will always be my first home) but I'm wondering whether to do a regular blog post like this one, which is a kind of hodgepodge summary of my week using images that I uploaded to Instagram. The thing I can't decide on is whether  people will be bored seeing the same images in both places. It probably depends on whether you look at both - if you have an opinion on the matter I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Well, have a good week, and Happy Thanksgiving on Thursday to everyone in the USA x

 

Christmas stockings

If ever proof was needed of the speed that time passes by, then I have it here with my little Christmas stockings.

 

 

A long time ago I was asked to knit some little stockings for a shop window display and I scribbled some notes to myself whilst making them. When I started the blog in 2006 the Christmas stocking pattern was the very first one that I wrote up to share with others and I hastily took some rather fuzzy photos so people could get on with the pattern and planned to upload some better ones in a few weeks. But, here we are 9 years later and I'm a bit ashamed to say that the same out of focus, poorly-lit photos are still there!

Every year I've thought that I must dust off the pattern, take some decent pictures and produce a proper pdf file that people can download and this year I have finally managed to do just that. The pattern has been tweaked very slightly:

• a change of decrease direction at the start of the heel shaping,
• an extra instruction about picking up a stitch at the join between the sides of the heel and the top of the foot and knitting it together with it's neighbour, which is aimed at eradicating the gap that often appears there
• and 5 new charts to add to the existing 3 which have also had a makeover.

You can download a copy of the new pattern here download now. (I've left the original pattern untouched too).

It's still free and shared with my thanks for supporting my work and in the hope that you enjoy using it to make decorations for your home, gifts for your family and friends or for charity fundraising. It makes me very happy to think of my little pattern helping to spread a little pleasure and happiness out there.

Right, now I've got to go and seam this little lot, which should keep me busy for a while!

 

 

Autumny things :: knitting

 

 

Autumn has been mild so far but is starting to bring some cooler breezes that seem to find their way up my sleeves and down my collar, so it's time to dig out the woollies. I'm enjoying wearing light-weight shawls and scarves, they're just right for keeping out those pesky drafts. This is my most recently finished one, knitted from Helen Stewart's lovely pattern 'Pebble Beach' in 'silex' Walk Collection Delicate Merino. The yarn is beautiful and you can see here how much the colours change in response to the light - in dull conditions the greys and cooler tones stand out but in full sunlight the warm mustard and ochres glow. Full project details on my Ravelry project page.

 

 

 

 

 

I've also finally blocked the shawl that I made much earlier in the year from Janina Kallio's 'Crescendo' pattern. Blocking is a bit of a chore but it's definitely worth the investment of time because the way that it transforms things is pure magic. I have a friend who is a master blocker and her beautifully finished projects always inspire me to reach for the blocking T pins.

 

 

 

 

 

Along with a shawl to keep my neck warm I wear wrist warmers or arm warmers most of the autumn and winter, even inside on the coldest days and I have quite a big collection now...

 

 

Still, I think there's probably room for a few more and I'm enjoying perusing my yarn stash to find the yarn that tells me it wants to become my next pair of wrist warmers!

Keep warm where you are (or cool if you're in the Southern Hemisphere and things are hotting up for you). See you soon x

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PS: I'm now on Instagram, or at least attempting to be, having a decidedly un-smart phone and an ancient tablet complicates uploads but I'm learning and hopefully will post fairly frequently once I find my feet!