Little Cotton Rabbits

making winter december

Part of the Making Winter series started by Silverpebble and Thriftyhousehold.

In my opinion one of the best things about winter is the woolies. I do like to be snuggly when it's cold and have a particular weakness for gloves and scarves so anytime I make anything for myself it usually ends up being either of these. Since winter is now well and truly here, it's inevitable that I'd have several such snuggly projects on the go...

The first is a pair of mittens from a beautiful fairisle pattern called Peerie Flooers by Kate Davies.

 

 

I'm knitting these flat because I find it much quicker and I really, really hate knitting in the round. I've made another few tweaks to suit what I like (all notes over on ravelry) but Kate's colour choices are so perfect so I'm working in those...

 

... Arncliffe, Bainbridge, Hubberholme, Leyburn, Muker, Nappa, Richmond in Rowan fine tweed.

I've also got 2 other pairs of fingerless mittens on the go, one that I started last year and never finished and another that I started a few weeks back. Both are worked in Madeline Tosh sock yarn. The yellow ones are from a free pattern called hedgerow by Amy Ripton and are worked in 'winter wheat'. The stripey ones are worked in 'thyme' and 'wash' and are based on my favourite ever mitten pattern Endpapers by Eunny Jang (which is also free) with lots of personal tweaks.

 

According to H, I have enough mittens to sink a battleship already but I reckon there's always room for a few more pairs (my ravelry queue is testament to this and has links to some great patterns).

And then there's my scarf collection, but we'll leave those for another day - I'll be back later in the week with a simple scarf tutorial.

just a bit excited!

These days it's not often that I feel feel full of childish excitement but today as I walked out of the newsagents I had to resist skipping back to the car, because clutched in my hand was a copy of Let's Knit magazine and it has a little bit about me and my knitting in it.

 

Thanks to Adrienne for the lovely write up and to H for taking a half decent picture of me - I truly hate having my picture taken!

Happy weekend all. I shall be trying to finish up some christmas knitting and snuggling by the fire as it's a cold one here!

one a day update

I'm still rather astonished at all of the comments that I received on the previous post for my little giveaway. When I started this blog in 2006 I didn't really know where it would take me and I certainly didn't imagine for one minute that I'd have so many people around the world who were interested in the little things that I love to make. I don't know how to  begin to thank everyone for the kind comments and for keeping me company here, I am so very grateful.

After all of the recent bunny knitting I've been enjoying dipping back into some of the other unfinished projects that are lurking in baskets and bags around here. In particular my old china blanket which was supposed to be a one a day project but has been a little neglected of late. Back in October it had 49 squares...

 

Today it has 68...

 

 

Still, it is progressing, even if the pace is a bit slow. I've decided that I'm aiming for 99 squares (9 x 11) with a wide-ish border of some sort. I had hoped to have it finished by Christmas but I'm beginning to suspect it won't be, especially now that we've entered the final run up and there are so many other demands on my time. I have also begun to suspect that it will in fact not be mine when it's finished as someone around here seems to have taken rather a fancy to it!

 

Still, that's what it's all about really, it is a lovely feeling when you've made something that someone else treasures.

Wishing you all a stress-free week, may all your Christmas shopping trips be successful!

Giveaway time

I've been pretty disorganised this year and I missed my traditional giveaway to celebrate the start of my 6th year of blogging at the beginning of September. So instead I thought we'd have a little pre-Christmas giveaway and here is my giveaway bunny girl Ullie.

 

She's made from a yarn blended from alpaca and silk. Her dress has christmas trees around the hem and a little peter pan collar and she has a little stocking of her own. If you'd like to win her please just leave a comment below and I'll draw a winner at random on Sunday 4th December which should give me enough time to package her up and have her to the winner in time for Christmas morning.

As always, thank you so much for your interest in my work and for supporting our little family xxx

...............................................................................

Comments (wow, so very many of them!) are now closed and the random number generator has swung into action and come up with number 156

which is Chris

Thanks so very much to everyone who took the time to enter and leave such kind comments, I really appreciate them all xxx

a little army

Family life has been full on here over the last few weeks, with various appointments for Toby, plus the usual night-time shenanigans and a few day-time tests of my heart health, once when he got a pea stuck up his nose and then when he climbed over the banister on the upstairs landing. Amy is adapting to senior school life, has had her first unpleasant experiences of the power games of others from someone she thought of as a best friend and has crossed the threshold into womanhood. And I, well I have been being Mum and knitting because it helps keep me on an even keel! In fact along with a couple of scarves, a pair of mittens and my crochet one a day blanket I also seem to have a little army on the go!

 

I am off now to sew on tails and name those that are finished and then I'll be listing them for sale later this week, most of them lottery style and the rest on Etsy. I'll also pop some better pictures of each up on Flickr.

 

I'll keep facebook up to date with details of when they're ready and send out the usual emails to the mailing list. I also have a little batch of christmassy, nordic dressed ones which should be ready by early December and I'm also thinking that it's been a rather long time since I had a giveaway so I will sort one out shortly.

Kitchen poetry 3

Well despite the lack of chill in the air these past few weeks the leaves have started changing colour and the clocks have gone back, so it feels that autumn is well and truly here again. Its arrival has made me want to get ready for winter and I've been making lots of soup for the freezer. Soaking split peas for split pea and ham soup (from River Cottage Everyday)

 

and roasting butternut squash for Squash & Cumin soup (recipe from my mum)

 

 

To serve 6:

3 teaspoons of cumin seed

1 teaspoon of coriander seed

1 teaspoon of caraway seed

1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper

olive oil

1 medium squash (either butternut or onion) around 1kg in weight

2 large onions

3 garlic cloves

50gms butter

750ml stock (vegetable or chicken)

220ml creme fraiche

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 190 degrees / gas mark 5. Cut the squash in half and remove all of the seeds, place in a roasting dish, drizzle over the olive oil and bake in the oven for up to an hour until soft. Toast all of the spice seeds in a dry pan and grind to a powder.

Finely chop the onions and garlic and sweat in the butter until they are soft and translucent. Set aside until the squash is done. Scrape the roasted squash flesh from the skin and put in a deep pan with the onions, ground spices and stock. Simmer for a few minutes. Add the creme fraiche and blend to a thick, smooth soup. Good to eat with warm crusty olive bread.

 

Even my knitting has been touched by autumnal colours - I've been working on a very soft and very decadent new scarf in gorgeous pure cashmere (Jade Sapphire 8ply cashmere in Chamomile). I've gone for a very simple garter stitch because when the yarn is this special I don't think it needs fancy stitches.

 

These autumny pursuits have inspired Amy and I to write another bit of kitchen poetry...

 

When autumn comes a-knocking

Amy and I make soup,

We also kick through fallen leaves

and shop for yarn at Loop!

 Poem by Amy & Julie

 

Making preparations for winter is something lots of people are doing at the moment and there's a wonderful project just started by Silverpebble and Thriftyhousehold called Making Winter which aims to celebrate all of the lovely things that winter brings. So if you fancy sharing some of your favourite wintery things pop over and join in x