Little Cotton Rabbits

friday afternoon knitting

Thanks for the kind comments recently about poor Toffee and Amy's ballet performance and the garden. I don't get as much time as I'd like to reply to everyone but I wanted to say here how much I appreciate you taking the time to leave me a message.

A couple of people asked about bunny knitting - there's certainly a lot of it still going on here (although I'm still quite enamoured with crochet too!) and I should have some animals ready in the next week to list over on Etsy (will email the advance mailing list with details as soon as they're ready). I've been playing with ideas for boy's shoes and have just about worked out a new design for trainers, so hope to have a couple of those ready soon.

I'm off to make the most of the last quiet hour before the weekend and start on a head for that poor head-less bunny. Have a happy weekend where you are.

weekend stuff

We had a busy weekend with a lot of ballet rehersals for Amy. There's only a week to go before her ballet school perform Cinderella at the local theatre and Amy is Cinderella's shadow (as you might imagine she's very excited!) So that meant a lot of sitting around for me - not too bad when you've got a bag full of crochet to keep you busy! I'm working on lots of different bits at the moment which I hope will one day become a collection of cushions!

There was also a little garden time. Everything is growing like mad and there are loads of strawberries ripening.

We learnt our lesson from last year and picked them quick before the birds or the slugs could tuck into them.

They tasted good!

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PS: the crochet cushions above are all based on the summer garden granny square pattern from Attic24's blog

the loveliness and the not so

Thanks to a generous voucher from a friend I have treated myself to some gorgeous new yarn for a cosy autumn scarf (bought from first4yarns). It's really soft and beautifully marled.

but on the not-so-lovely side is this...

Luckily for Toby it has fixed easily with a dab of superglue or he'd be in the doghouse for sure!

the saggy baggy bag

It's finished and yes, it is saggy and oh so very baggy. I now realise that it would have been better to have used a finer crochet hook with this yarn and it would have helped to have woven in the ends as I went. I also still dislike the purple spot but all things considered I am ridiculously pleased with my finished bag! I'm also glad that I got the time to finish it over this half term break which has had it's difficult moments but overall not been a bad week for us. Even so, I'm really looking forward to the peace and quiet that tomorrow will bring when our term time routine resumes again!

An upside down week

This week is one of the strangest in our family's year. It's the week of Toby's school play which means all routines are stood on their head. From tomorrow he'll go to school from 4pm til 9pm instead of the usual 9am - 3pm and he'll take part in the annual school play each evening. It's challenging to him to say the least but last year he coped pretty well (fingers crossed for this year being the same!) and the play that the school put on is amazing especially when you consider the diverse and very severe disabilities of all the students. Everyone takes part from the youngest in the nursery at 3-4 years to the oldest at 18 -  19 years old and they all do their best according to their abilities. I'll take my tissues as usual and be prepared for the stinging hands that follow all the clapping!

I'm hoping that the sunny weather that joined us for the weekend will continue so that Toby can happily play out in the garden during the daytime and I can sit and watch him while finishing off my crochet bag - just the straps and trim to go now.

I'm pretty happy with it although it's going to need lining and my join is very scrappy - still crochet seems to be more forgiving than knitting in that sense and it doesn't really notice (from a distance at least!)

True to form I've also kicked off another crochet project (on the basis that you can't be a proper crochet-er without having a few granny squares under your belt) I hope to add to these from this pattern and make a cushion somewhere down the line.

I'm really enjoying getting to grips with crochet but my first love will always be my knitting! Talking of which I'm off to make the most of the last quiet day of the week and finish off a bunny or two. Enjoy your week wherever you are.

playing hooky

For the longest time I've been meaning to learn to crochet. I've looked at courses but it always seems difficult to fit them in around family life. Anyway for some reason on Saturday the vague desire to have a little crochet in my life became a pressing need and so I turned to the internet. Ravelry is fabulous as a resource and I found tutorials, free patterns, videos and advice. On saturday evening I made a little sample strip to get me started and give me a feel for the hook but I really wanted to actually have something to show for the effort so I started on this great free pattern from Attic24.

My first ever crochet project is riddled with errors and I've used the wrong stitch (double instead of treble english - all that terminology is still a foreign language to me). I also wish I'd not started in that dark purple as I like the muted gentle tones of the rest of it. But all of that is outweighed by a childlike pleasure in learning something new. I'm having a lot of fun although my hands are hurting more than with knitting - I must be awakening some new muscles!

Anyway, it feels good to have made a start and this old dog is happy to be learning new tricks!