Little Cotton Rabbits

hello again

 

 

 

 

 

Hello and thanks for dropping in to visit here despite my long absence. I hope you've had a good few months and that life for you is finding a balance in these strange times.

The summer break here has been a little challenging at times, things have been difficult for Toby with all of the unpredictable happenings and changes due to covid 19, so we slowed things right down and just parcelled each day up and put it away, moving on to the next one with the hope that it would be a better one. We've had a gentle pace and a very limited routine to our days but that has helped him to settle and calm. He's enjoyed lazy morning lie-ins with breakfast in bed and our daily walks (come sun, rain, wind or storms) have been a time of meditative contemplation. As we've walked quietly together along the peaceful woodland paths, I've matched my pace to his, stopping for minutes at a time when he's in sensory shutdown and can't move, and trying to keep up with him (but mostly failing) when he is overwhelmed by the desire to run. The walks have been the highlight of our days.

There's been a lot of evening knitting time for me while he's watched his videos and played with his books and duplo, and as a result I have a lot of pattern plans on the go. I'm currently working on a set of removable shoes for the animals (for both the regular sized patterns and the small version); the badger pattern is coming together slowly and I'm also working on small versions of all of my animal designs. I've been playing around with this lion idea too, and though it's not quite right yet I hope to have this ready soonish as a free supplement to the existing bear pattern. I'll keep you posted here of developments.

In other news,

• I'm very flattered to have been nominated for Noteworthy Knitting Blog in the Crafties, 2020 which is organised by Lovecrafts. If you'd like to vote for me I'd really appreciate that, the voting link is here.
• September 3rd was my 14th anniversary of starting this blog and so I'd like to hold a little celebratory giveaway, but need to get myself a little organised here first. More news of that in a later post.
• The Facebook group has been a great source of pleasure for me over summer, I've loved seeing everyone's projects there and at the end of August we topped 3,000 friendly members. I'm pondering how to celebrate that with an exclusive giveaway over there but haven't yet worked it out, but that will be coming up too. If you're on Facebook and would like to join us and share your projects, you'll find the group here

Well, that's all the news from me, I mainly just wanted to break the silence and say Hi. Now that Toby is back at school (for his final year) I'm hoping to be able to pop in here regularly and I'll keep you posted on pattern writing progress and the giveaways.

Thanks as always for taking time out of your day to join me here, I really appreciate your visit :)

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PS: I'm sure someone will want to ask, so here's a little info about my notebooks.

I like to write all of my patterns longhand as I'm working them out, so always have several notebooks on the go, jotting down ideas, trying things out, changing them and trying them again - it's a long slow process :) The notebooks themselves are from MD paper - the pages are in a lovely paper that takes the ink well, and I like to personalise them with stickers from the wonderfully talented Nastia Sleptsova.

 

 

Sundress bodice / camisole free pattern

 

 

 

 

Hello, I hope you're having a good week.

We're deep in the school summer break here and Amy is back home with us at the moment so I've not been getting much computer time. It's lovely having Amy back here and we've been enjoying walking in familiar places in the afternoons, family dinners and watching films together in the evenings. It's so good to spend some time with her again after 21 weeks apart because of lockdown.

Well, I'm popping in very briefly today because I have a free pattern supplement to share with you. While I was working on my recent bags, baskets and backpacks pattern I had an idea for a new dress bodice (you'll see the similarity to the bag handles). It's taken me a while to write this up and I cannot guarantee that the pattern is error free as my brain isn't getting much concentration time so it's had to be worked on whenever I can fit in the time. Hopefully it will be coherent enough to follow and will give all the necessary details.

The free supplement will work with either the regular 9 inch sized animals or the newer small 7 inch size. You will need to use it in conjunction with one of the existing dress patterns - either one that is included in an animal pattern or one from the dress collection patterns ('seasonal dresses', 'textured dresses' or 'small dresses'). Work the skirt part up to and including the waist decrease from one of those patterns and then use the free bodice pattern to create a new sundress option.

Also included are brief instructions on using the bodice to make a little camisole/vest top, which makes a cute little pyjama set when combined with the shorts from one of the boy patterns. Pictures of both the sundress and the camisole in both sizes are above. The pattern is free to download from either Ravelry or from the Facebook group.

I hope you enjoy using the new free supplement and it gives you lots more options for creating outfits for your Little Cotton Rabbit animals, happy knitting, J xx

 

 

Bags, Baskets and Backpacks

 

 

Before I started the Little Cotton Rabbits Facebook group it hadn't occurred to me how much people like to give their knitted animals accessories. Seeing lots of projects there with little shoulder bags and backpacks started me thinking that it might be nice to have a range of bag accessories for my animals, and so here they are.

There are 5 little patterns within one, though lots of extra options within that so that you can customise each bag or basket:

• A backpack/rucksack with a gusseted flat bottom so it can stand on it's own, a front flap to keep any treasures inside secure and the option of fastening the flap with either a strap and loop or a button and buttonhole.
• A basic basket that can be made in 3 different styles depending on the type, length and attachment points for the handles.
• A little shoulder bag which can be made in colour-work or texture.
• A shopping/market bag in a choice of 2 different open-work patterns
• A cross-body/handbag in either a 2 or 3 colour tweed pattern or a honeycomb texture pattern.

The pattern is up on Ravelry and over on Etsy too if you're interested in giving it a go. As always I am excited to see what people do with these and as they knit up quickly I'm hoping they'll be good fun to knit.

Well, I'm off to do some housework (reluctantly, I'd definitely rather be knitting) and get things ready for Amy coming home tomorrow. It's been 4 months since I last saw her and I've missed her so much, it will be lovely to have her back here for the next few weeks. Hope you have a good weekend in store too,  J x

 

happy Summer

 

 

Just popping in briefly to wish you all the very best for a happy Summer (or Winter if you're in the Southern hemisphere). The school summer break has just started here and although Toby had only been back at school for a few weeks and with shorter days, he had begun to settle into a routine, so there's a new one for him to adjust to now. Not that he'll be complaining, as he definitely would choose a long lie in each morning :)

I'm looking forward to next weekend when Amy is coming home. I've not seen her since the beginning of March and although we've texted almost every day I've missed her so much. I'm so grateful that she was able to stay with her boyfriend's family during the lockdown, it's definitely helped her cope with these trying times.

The summer break from school is 7 weeks long, so I might not be here very often during that time, though I do hope to pop in now and again and I'm also hoping to hang out on the Facebook and Ravelry groups too, so maybe see you there. I'll will be back soon though with news of the latest pattern which I finished off earlier today and is currently in testing. Can't wait to share it with everyone - it's for accessories and there's a sneak peek in the picture above at the basket that's included. I'm so pleased with how it's turned out and the bunny twins Charlie & Coco have had fun testing out how many strawberries they can fit into their baskets (these bunnies and their clothes are knitted from my small rabbit pattern and the new small clothing patterns for the dress, sweaters and dungarees).

Well, wishing you a happy weekend, hopefully I'll be back next week with some new pattern news, J x

 

New small sized clothing patterns

 

 

 

Hello there, it's been a while and I hope you're well.

It feels like I've been working on these patterns for a very long time indeed and they have to be the most stressful set of patterns that I've ever worked on - though not because the patterns are in any way complicated or difficult but because of the circumstances that they have been written under. For the last 4 months we've been in lockdown here, without the usual support of respite or school for Toby, and that has meant that his 24 hour constant care and supervision has been soley down to us. This has meant that I've had to grab small snippets of time to pattern write whenever they presented themselves to me and it's not the way I like to work at all, nor the most effective way of maintaining focus and concentration.

Anyway, Toby was invited back to school 10 days ago and after a bit of a wobbly start he's started to settle into the new routines. His school day is shorter than usual, but it has meant that I have had 4 hours and 30 minutes of uninterrupted concentration time with which to work on finalising these patterns and it's been such a relief to be able to achieve something again and finally get the patterns finished.

So here they are. They are all designed to fit the small 7 inch rabbit pattern (not the larger 9 inch animals),

• A dresses pattern with 20 different designs for the skirt and 3 options for the neckline;
• A sweaters pattern with a cabled Aran sweater; a top down cardi with a yoke;  3 top down raglan sweaters: a T shirt, a long-sleeved sweater and a cardigan; and a simple sweater with 10 designs to duplicate stitch on to the front;
• A dungarees and pinafore dress pattern.

I've decided to launch them altogether so that if anyone wants to purchase 2 or more at the same time they'll automatically get the 15% multi pattern discount. They are currently available via Ravelry or Etsy (the discount will apply as soon as you add at least 2 patterns to your basket)

Sorry that there are not more pictures of the small animals wearing these outfits, time has not allowed that yet but I am hoping to take some more pictures over these next 2 weeks, which is the only time that is left to get anything done before the 7 week school sumer break begins. I'm hoping that I'll also have a chance to finalise another pattern that I've been working on but it will depend on whether time is on my side :)

I'm looking forward to September when all being well,  I'll have a few more free hours to call my own and I can get out and about with my camera and write a little more here on the blog, I miss that. Until then stay safe and well where you are, with love and best wishes from me xxx

 

Choosing Yarns for the Little Cotton Rabbit Patterns, (part 2)

 

 

One of the challenges of writing a knitting pattern is that yarn manufacturers are constantly changing their collections - developing new yarns, discontinuing others and creating new colourways in existing yarns. It is impossible to keep up with these changes within the confines of a written pattern and so instead I've decided to write up some posts here on the blog with tips on choosing potential yarns for my little cotton rabbits patterns. The beauty of these notes being in a blog post here is that I can keep it updated as time goes on, so that if you check back in the future this post will hopefully reflect more accurately what yarns are available at that time.

For this post I'm going to focus on the yarns for the cotton 4ply/fingering weight yarns that I use for the clothes, there's already a post written about the yarns used for knitting the animal patterns here

Below I've compiled a list of my current favourite yarns for knitting the clothes in, along with descriptions of what in particular I like or dislike about them. For the most part I recommend 4 ply/fingering weight cotton yarns.

 

So, why cotton and why 4 ply/fingering weight?

There are a few reasons that the clothing is worked in a lighter weight yarn than that used for the animals.

• Firstly using a thinner yarn and smaller needles means that there are more stitches across a row to play with, meaning that designs can be more intricate and give a finer appearance than would be achieved by knitting the clothing in the same worsted weight yarn as the animals.
• Secondly, I like the contrast between the knitted fabric on the clothing and that of the animals - this is especially accentuated when the animal is worked in a fuzzy mohair blend yarn with the clothing in a smooth cotton. I particularly like using cotton yarn for colourwork patterns (using 2 or more colours) because with cotton yarns the stitch definition is crisp and the patterns look more defined.

Fingering weight (also known as 4ply) is a light weight yarn. Technically speaking it is designated as 'superfine 1' by the yarn standards from the Craft yarn council with 14 wraps per inch (meaning that if you wound it around say the handle of a wooden spoon so that there were no gaps between the strands there would be 14 wraps of yarn in an inch). In practice there is a great deal of variance between different yarns marketed as fingering weight and even different yarns from the same manufacturer vary surprisingly in thickness and knitted tension, let alone those between different manufacturers. FYI Ravelry has a really useful table with yarn weight comparisons.

 

A note on different cotton finishes:

Cotton yarns come in two different finishes:

1. A soft cotton which retains the natural properties of cotton. It behaves much more like a woollen yarn, with fibres which cause the stitches to bind together, resulting in a softer and more flexible knitted fabric. Many of these are produced from organic cotton (look out for organic certification)

2. Mercerised/mercerized cotton, which is a cotton yarn that has been treated under tension with caustic alkali (sodium hydroxide) and then neutalised in an acid bath in order to impart strength and lustre to the fibres. It tends to be a shiny, rigid yarn which is stiffer and more rope-like than natural cottons as any natural elasticity is removed. When knitted up the stitches stay distinct from eachother because of the lack of soft surface fibres.

Personally I am not a fan of mercerised yarn, it uses toxic chemicals in it's production process and I much prefer the knitted fabric that is created by natural soft and untreated cottons, preferably organically produced ones.

 

A note on comparing yarns:

Although there are industry standards for yarn weights in practice these are only a guide, and I'm sure that if you knit a lot you'll already have experienced anomalies. For instance Millamia naturally soft cotton that is mentioned below is classed as a 5ply/sportweight yarn and yet I find it thinner than most of the 4ply/fingering weight yarns. One way that I judge whether a yarn is likely to work is to compare the length of yarn per ball. Most of the yarns below come in 50gm balls so by comparing the yarn length per ball you can make an estimation of how thick or thin the yarn strand is (please note this only really works when comparing yarns of the same fibre - it would not work if you compare a cotton yarn with a woollen yarn).

So here's a little comparison of the yarns below, with thickness based on length per 50 gm ball, and listed from thickest strand to thinnest:

Yarn and colours must-have 4ply: 125m

Sheepjes Catona: 126m

DMC Natura Just Cotton: 155m

BCGarn Alba: 160m

Drops Safran: 161m

Krea deluxe: 165m

Millamia naturally soft cotton: 165m

Scheepjes Cotton 8: 170m

Scheepjes Sunkissed: 170m

KPC Gossyp: 180m

 

My favourite 4ply/fingering weight yarns for Little Cotton rabbit animal patterns:

Note, I've linked to the Ravelry pages for each of these yarns, as that way you'll be able to see projects made from the yarns, what others think of the yarns and also links to local stockists. At the bottom of each yarn description I've also linked to the manufacturers own website (where there is an SSL secure website).

 

 

BC Garn Alba

This yarn is my number one choice for knitting dresses and sweaters in. There's an array of beautiful subtle colours: softly muted pinks; warmly spiced mustards and misty chalky blues, along with some more vibrant, zingy shades too. The yarn is 100% organic cotton and ecologically produced with GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard) certification. It's a soft combed cotton, plied with a loose twist.

50gms: 160m (175 yds).

(unfortunately BC Garn's own website is currently not SSL secure so I'm not linking to it here)

 

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Krea Deluxe Organic cotton

This soft cotton yarn is a new discovery for me and I've only been using it for a few months, but it's very quickly become a favourite. It's organic cotton, GOTS-certified and produced in Europe (sown, grown and harvested without use of chemical pesticides and artificial fertiliser) and comes in the most amazing array of pastel shades in very subtle tones.

50gms: 165m (180yds)

Krea Deluxe website

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Drops Safran

This yarn is incredibly good value for money. Soft, S on S plied yarn which holds together well when worked with and it comes in a good usable range of colours. Actually designated 5ply, but is comparable to most of the yarns here designated as 4ply.

50gms; 161m (176 yds)

Drops website

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Scheepjes Cotton 8

A soft plied yarn, very good value and a great range of colours (mostly vibrant and bright shades). A little on the thin side.

50gms; 170m (186 yds)

Scheepjes website

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Scheepjes Sunkissed

Exactly the same as Scheepjes cotton 8 above, expect the sunkissed range is a variegated yarn - nice for extra interest. A soft plied cotton, a little on the thin side

50gms; 170m (186 yds)

Scheepjes website

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Millamia naturally soft cotton

This yarn seems to be classified as 5ply/sport weight (which is slightly thicker than 4ply) but I've actually found it thinner than most of the other cotton yarns mentioned here (see note above about comparing yarns).

Plied with a tight twist it comes in a rather limited range of mostly pastel colours.

50gms; 165m (180 yds)

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KPC gossyp 4ply cotton

Certified by the Organic Exchange, using cotton from certified organic cotton farms in China.

Soft cotton, plied and a little thinner than all others mentioned here and in a great range of colours

50gms: 180 m, (197 yds)

 

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DMC Natura Just Cotton

A great range of lovely colours but it is a splitty yarn (in that the strands easily separate which can make it slightly hard to work with and result in spilt strands) and it's slippery, so the ball has a frustrating tendancy to unwind and get easily tangled. I find it easiest to knit this with blunt rather than pointed tip needles. All cotton yarn, S on S plied.

50gms; 155m (170 yds)

DMC website

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Yarn and colours must-have

Smooth mercerised cotton,

Although this yarn is classed as 4ply/fingering weight (on Love crafts) it's more like 5ply (Ravelry's classification) I find it quite thick, so you might find that it's knitted in this come out a little larger.

This yarn comes in an amazing array of colours. It's also very useful that there are 2 ball sizes as you can collect your favourite shades in the larger 50gm balls and use the small 20gm balls for colour highlights - it's easy to build up a large palette of colours without having to spend a fortune. Good value.

20gms: 25m (27yds)

50gms: 125m (137 yds)

Yarn and colours website

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Scheepjes Catona / Scheepjes Catona Denim

Mercerised cotton yarn in a really great range of colours. It's classified as 4ply but is much more of a sport weight and is one of the thickest yarns mentioned here. I tend to use it for the dungarees and the shorts. It also comes in 10gm, 25gm and 100gm balls.

50gms: 126m (138 yds) / 124m (136yds)

Scheepjes website

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Other 4ply cotton yarn suggestions:

Lang Baby Cotton sport

Plied soft cotton, 181m (198yds)

 

Onion Organic cotton

Certified organic cotton, soft and plied, 155m (170yds)