Little Cotton Rabbits

The most wonderful time of the year

Thanks so much for all the kind comments on the previous post. The news is such an enormous relief and has come at the perfect time, we'll enjoy our Christmas all the more without that dark, ominous cloud hanging over us! I'll be trying to reply to comments over the coming days but since time is short before the school break now I just wanted to pop in and wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a very good start to the New Year.

 

 

It was peppermint barking making day here yesterday and as usual I over-indulged on the trimmings and ended up with a very messy and sticky kitchen. It is nice though to make something home-made to give as teachers gifts and I do enjoy my little annual bark making session.

 

 

 

You can find a full copy of the recipe I use here (along with a free downloadable label set for printing out and gifting), and the original American recipe that I based it on is here.

This will most likely be my last post for this year, though I'll pop back to wish you a Happy start to the new one. I wish you all the very best for the season with much fun and joy in the company of those you love and a huge virtual hug and heartfelt thanks from me for visiting here and sharing your stories, support and friendship x

 

 

Recently...

 

Today I am knitting lace, eating clementines and brazil nuts, listening to the sweet voice of Kate Rusby and feeling a deep sense of well-being, calm and gentle joy. Because today the postman has brought a brown envelope containing not more forms but some actual good news. Thanks to some extra evidence that we submitted a couple of weeks back the decision regarding Toby's entitlement has been changed in his favour and we will no longer need to go to a tribunal. I am so deeply grateful that we've had the support of Toby's head teacher and the very eminent clinical psychologist who originally assessed and diagnosed Toby's autism. They both took time to write very succinct and compelling evidence about the severity of his condition and these two letters have obviously made much more impact on the decision than anything we as parents submitted. Anyway, it's resolved and a great weight has been lifted from me - today I am relief personified :)

While I'm here I'll show you some pictures of what else I've been knitting lately.

 

 

There have been socks on my needles! My first ever pair knitted in a soft dove grey and a second pair in a mustardy yellow. Both of these pairs from a lovely simple pattern- Laule'a by Cabinfour using worsted weight yarn (which means they knit up quickly). I've used lovely soft Rooster Almerino aran in 'shimmer' and 'custard' which I had in my stash.

 

 

In other news I had a very nice mention on the Love Knitting blog the other day as part of their '5 minutes with...' series. If you'd like to read it you can find it here.

 

 

Lastly, I'll leave you with some of the glorious skies that I've snapped over the last few weeks and put on Instagram. The last few days have been flat, dull and grey but when it has been clear the sky has been beautiful.

 

 

 

Thanks for popping in and visiting with me. The School Christmas break starts this coming Friday at lunchtime and so I don't expect I'll be around as much but I will be back to wish you a very merry Christmas so see you then x

 

Treasures

Gobsmacked! That is the word that springs to mind as I look over all of the comments left on the previous post for the little Christmas mouse. Thank you all for taking the time to leave comments, so many really lovely and kind ones too. It would be nice to be able to give everyone a prize, but obviously that is impossible with just one of me and so many comments but I will ponder on new free patterns and giveaways for next year and will keep you posted.

The lovely Emma of Silverpebble recently posted a picture on Instagram of some of her collected treasures and when I commented at how lovely they were and that I too had a collection of special bits she asked to see, so here is my treasure collection that I keep in a couple of old OXO tins.

 

 

 From top left corner:

• 2 silver bracelets which were my christening presents;
• a heart shaped stone found on a beach on France on my first holiday with H;
• a 1922 Belgian 5 cent coin with a hole punched in it (from my great Grannys sewing box). I'd love to know why there is a hole in it - perhaps it was given as a keepsake;
• a collection of shells from various beach holidays;
• a rat tooth that reminds me of a holiday when I was 14. I'd gone up into the sand dunes for a bit of kissing with a French boy who was my holiday romance and we found this skull. We both kept a tooth as a souvenir and now I can't even remember his name!;
• a little hand sewn leather wallet that belonged to my Great Grandmother with a cross and prayers (see below)
• broken pottery shards from our garden - our soil is full of broken pottery bits of indeterminate age;
• in the little tin are some lumps of amber, an old 3 penny bit, another old key and a feather from Berry the blackbird who we raised years ago
• along the bottom are other finds from digging in the garden: a knapped flint and various fossil like rocks. The next town from us is one of the oldest continuously inhabited places in Northern Europe and whenever I find bits in the garden I wonder how many people have stood on this spot in the past;
• a pretty feather found in the woods;
• a squashed locket that 10 year old me found in the road - it had been run over by a car and inside has a faded picture of a baby and a lock of hair. I made a 'found' poster and stuck it to the Post box nearby but sadly no-one ever came to claim it;
• a curl of fur brushed from Poppy, my beloved cat who I adopted from stray on the streets of Hull when I was a student. She lived with me there for 3 years and used to sit on my lap and look out of the window on the long train journey from Hull to Reading in the holidays. When I left college she came too and lived with H and I in our first flat in Ealing. She was a much loved and pampered old lady cat until her peaceful death in her sleep 4 years later.
• a little black bakelite cat that I stole when I was 18 from the cluttered attic of my first landlady. I'd gone off to art college and lived with my best friend in one attic room with only cold running water. We were  allowed to have one bath a week each (by appointment only), cooked on a 2 ring table-top stove and had no heating. We liked exploring the other end of the attic - which was stuffed with loads of old clothes, furniture and even a real tiger skin rug :( 
• my great Grandmothers wedding ring;
• two very old keys, whatever they fitted has long since been lost (again from my Great Grandmothers house)
• a silver sixpence from 1956
• a little green glass monkey that was my mothers until I badgered her to give it to me when I was about eight or nine. I have kept it safely ever since Mum  :)

 

 

This little wallet is a mystery. It was returned by the undertakers with all of my great Grandmothers effects after she died and until that point I don't think another person had ever been aware of its existence. Clearly it was hand made and she had worn it about her person for most of her life. It contains a medal from Our Lady of Mount Carmel P.F.U., a crucifix, a 'Battleship Prayer' cloth badge from 'The League of The Sacred Heart of Jesus' B.O.W British made and a little handwritten pledge which reads:

????...  God because Thou art so good. I am very sorry that I have sinned against Thee and I will not sin again.

 

 

It feels a little sad to know so little of her life but she was my great grandmother so I only knew her as a slightly cantankerous old lady who smelt a bit funny and she died when I was 12. I would love to know what this little wallet means but that is no doubt lost in time now. I keep it as a poignant reminder that everyone was young once and becomes old and unless they pass on their story it is lost forever. Perhaps this blog will survive in some format when I am long gone and be all that is left of my story - that is a nice thought.

 

Do you have a treasure collection or an object that you keep for the memory it conjures up? I'd love to hear about it if you have time to leave a comment.

 

A Christmassy giveaway

It pains me to say it, but I have to admit defeat on finishing off the batch of seasonal themed animals. Time has not been on my side and I have a heap of unfinished animals here and not enough hours left to finish them before last posting dates arrive. So instead I'm going to give away the little Christmas mouse who is the only fully finished one of the batch.

 

 

To be in with a chance of winning her please just leave a comment on this post and I'll use a random number generator to pick a winner next Tuesday (December 8th).

If you were hoping to have one of my animals I'm sorry to disappoint but I'll be working on a batch now to have ready before Easter so I'll keep you posted on progress with those. I'll also be working on a new pattern in the new year and will keep the blog updated with news of that. As always, if you want to get advance email notice of any of my finished projects and patterns then please send me an email and I'll add you to my mailing list.

Thanks x

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PS: If you wanted to knit your own little mouse like this one it is just a combination of my girl mouse pattern with the reindeer dress from my 'seasonal dresses' pattern (slightly modified to work the body in brown and the antlers in grey). All of my patterns are available on either Ravelry or Etsy

 

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The random number generator has picked number 33, which is Lauren H.

Thanks so very much to all those who took the time to enter. I hope to have at least 1 more giveaway in 2016 and will keep you posted.