Little Cotton Rabbits

my 'me old china' blankie

I am well and truly smitten with crochet (though I'll not be giving up my day job of bunny knitting anytime soon). Now that my fingers are a little more confident I'm finding it involves a little less involvement from my brain than knitting does - there are no rows or stitches to count and no increases or decreases, just a rhythmic round and round that is soothing and uncomplicated and perfect for the end of the day when I'm feeling weary. And I really enjoyed working on one square a day of the 'flowers in the snow' blanket so as soon as that was finished I started planning my next 'one square a day' blanket.

I wanted my favourite colours of blues, greens and reds to be dominant in this next blanket and I had an idea of the sort of one I wanted to make inspired by this gorgeous blanket by Moogsmum. More recently I came across these inspiring creations and have been day-dreaming about all of these while keeping an eye out for the right yarn colours. Then one day when I was tidying up the kitchen my gaze fell on my china on the shelf and I knew that these colours would be perfect.

 

So, this next one a day project will be known as 'me old china' blankie

 

 

Perfect name for it really, because 'me old china' is cockney rhyming slang for mate / friend and I plan on doing lots of snuggling with my mate under it when it's finished!

If you fancy joining in with a 'one a day' project of any kind then please join the One a Day ravelry group started by Gingerbread Girl where you'll find lots of other lovely people doing it too!

 

heads up

Well, my little family seems to be settling nicely into term-time routine - Amy is still loving senior school and Toby has coped surprisingly well with being in a new class. You'd think then that I'd be settling nicely into my routines too, but I'm not.

I don't know if it's the change of season but I'm feeling distinctly unsettled. I'm aimless and flitty and can't seem to sit for any length of time and finish anything. Which is probably why I have a whole heap of animals on the go (28 at the last count). It doesn't help that there's lots of lovely new yarns arriving for the autumn/winter season, as I can't resist trying out new wool for the animals. And I won't tell you about the mittens and two scarves that I've also started or about the new crochet project that keeps tempting my fingers, because you'll probably wonder if I've completely lost the plot!

At least I'm doing well on the animal heads, (which are always my first thing to knit of each animal)...

 

 

...but the bodies and clothes have yet to be made. Hopefully I'll get less fidgety over the next week and will be able to settle and get some of these finished soon.

 

summer's end

It's here, the start of autumn, and I can't tell a lie and say I'm not pleased! Not that summer has been bad, in fact it's had some really lovely bits this year but it's hard work keeping Toby occupied and safe during the school break and even Amy has found it a bit long. She was so excited to start at her new senior school yesterday and Toby seemed very happy to start at his school again this morning.

Over the summer we did pack a lot in and Amy & H had a fab time in France despite a thorough soaking thanks to the unseasonal weather! I even managed some knitting time, although crochet did end up featuring a little more heavily as it was easier to pick up and put down without having to finish a row first - an essential when I'm at Toby's beck-and-call!

I even finished my one-a-day blankie!

 

It ended up being a little smaller than planned (at 12 x 15 squares it's more of a snuggle-on-the-sofa throw than a bed blanket) but it felt like the right time to finish it (and I'm itching to start on a new crochet project - but more of that another day).

 

I'm quite pleased with it, although there were some colour issues along the way - my mathematical approach to having each and every square different hit a snag when I discovered that some of the colour combos were truly foul - especially the darker blue, green and purple one! So I did end up repeating a couple of favourite combinations instead. For a first blanket it's not bad and it's been a great learning curve for me. Thanks to Solveig for her wonderful free pattern.

 

It's lovely to be back here, although I'm feeling so out of touch with everyone and being away from the computer for the best part of 6 weeks has left the blog writing bit of my brain feeling all rusty. I'm going to ease back in slowly and spend some time catching up with my favourite blogland people (I've also got an email inbox that's brimming over). But for now I'm off to savour the peace and quiet of the first day of term and enjoy exercising my knitting muscles again.

Thanks for visiting xxx

Long time no see

Hello again! I had planned to do a weekly post throughout the summer - kind of rounding up the events of each week, but it obviously wasn't meant to be!

Life with Toby has to be flexible or you'd go insane very quickly and he has been very demanding of late so keeping him busy is a full time job right now. He's also been plumbing new depths in the sleep department, with the current pattern being sleep at 10pm, wake at 2am-ish, play and watch videos for 4 or 5 hours (he is absolutely wide awake) before catching another 2 or 3 hours of sleep. Still, on the positive side this has given me 4 or 5 hours of extra making time (never again will I wish for more hours in the day - believe me it's not that desirable!).

Anyway, I've put these night waking hours to good use and have started another cushion cover - a bigger one this time. I have to say that when it comes to the yarny arts, knitting will always be my first love but the lure of crochet is strong and I can't seem to resist, it also feels less demanding when your mind would rather be sleeping!

 

I did start this as a cushion cover but I love this yarn so much (Rowan milk cotton fine - the colours are so soft and lovely) and I got swept along and ended up making more squares than I needed, so I think it's on the way to becoming another blanket!

 

Well, Toby needs some breakfast so I had better go. It's just him and me this week as Amy and H have embarked on a little adventure to France!

It's Amy's first ever trip abroad and her first proper motorbike trip so I'm hoping they have a lot of fun and that the weather stays mostly dry with none of the downpours that have been forecast!

 

Hope all is well with all of you. I've not had time to keep up with reading blogs so I'm feeling very out of touch. I'm looking forward to the start of school and catching up with everyone!

Hope to see you all again soon x

summer hols

Well, you'd never think it by the weather (which has been far more March flavoured than July) but here we are again at the start of the long summer break. This one is slightly different as it marks a major transition point for Amy, who says goodbye to junior school today and is getting ready to be a senior from september. I'm so grateful (and relieved) that she's incredibly excited about it.

As usual we're not having a family summer holiday because it's just too difficult with Toby so I'm whipping up a little summer holiday kit for Amy including a batch of summer holiday vouchers - lots of little fun things that we can do together while Toby is at summer clubs or being looked after by H. I had thought Amy might have grown too old for these but she informs me she'll never be too old for them and it wouldn't be summer without them! This year treats include regulars like camp out in the garden, berry picking and trip to the farm shop, shopping trip with £10 spending money, lunch at a restaurant, trip to the cinema, picnic with a friend, trip to a museum, sleepover with a friend etc.

 

If you'd like some to use with your own family, you're welcome to print some off from here Download Vouchers

Anyway, there have been a few breaks in the cloud today so I'm off to spend the last few hours of peace at the end of the garden with my one-a-day blankie which continues to grow slowly but surely.

 

 

 

 

Wishing everyone a good summer/winter depending on your hemisphere. Will pop in here when I can, so see you soon  x

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PS: Thank you so very much for all of the kind comments on the previous post. Comments I'll treasure and am very grateful for. I hope I didn't make anyone who has simply asked about patterns for the animals feel bad for just asking - that was not my intention. I just wanted to explain some of my thoughts and feelings x