Little Cotton Rabbits

All I want for Christmas...

 

 

 

The two little animals above have been gifted to friends, the cards are all sent, the tree is up, the presents for the children are wrapped and the larder is full - I'm at last prepared for and looking forward to a few gentle-paced, family-based days. We have a quiet and simple Christmas here, centred around sharing time together, eating and relaxing. There's nothing I'm hoping for in the way of physical presents, but if my Christmas day includes some of the following then it will be a good one...

• A crisp, frosty dawn with mother-of pearl coloured clouds high above the rising sun and the song of a robin heralding daybreak from the top of the plum tree as I give the hens their breakfast,
• A cup of good coffee to warm my fingers after coming in from the cold,
• Toby and Amy having a long lie in, so I can sit with my soulmate and spend a little time alone together,
• Christmas carols on the stereo so I can sing along as I peel potatoes and prep for lunch,
• Hoping that my roast potatoes get crispy and the turkey stays juicy and flavourful, so that I can show my family what they mean to me with a gift of good food,
• An afternoon family film on the tv so we can all curl up together and feel nostalgic,
• An evening cosying by the fire with a glass or two of something warming,
• A bright moon floating in a clear sky studded with stars, so I can send up grateful thanks for a day well lived before heading off to a warm bed.

I'm signing off now but will see you in the new year, I hope your holidays bring you what you are hoping for and a little peace and pleasure and time with those you love most,

J xxx

 

Christmas tree bears & a new friend

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This year it seems to be proving harder than ever to get organised for Christmas. I had so many things on my to do list for this week but on Monday Toby developed some snuffles, and although he has no other symptoms and isn't unwell in himself I felt that keeping him home from college was the responsible thing to do because the current situation has us all feeling a little paranoid and extra sensitive to other peoples coughs and sneezes. Anyway, I'm going to be deleting a few of the less essential things from my list and what doesn't get done by friday will simply have to stay undone :)

I have ticked one thing off my list today though and that is to upload a new and updated version of my tiny bear Christmas tree decorations. I first shared this in December 2008 and I thought it could use a make-over and a few new photos. The instructions are the same as they were and are very simple and fairly quick, if a little fiddly, to follow. If you wanted to make some of your own you can download the new copy of the file from here:  download now 

And you can see all of the projects that others have made over the years (including lots of sweet adaptations) over on Ravelry.

Lastly, out in the garden I have a new friend. I am still missing Kit the fox and will never forget her frequent visits over the last 2 years, but the antics of this little squirrel definitely put a smile on my face. We've had plenty of squirrels in the garden before and they have all been typically skittish and wary, but this little chap is a very friendly character and follows me around the garden. I now have hazelnuts in my pocket whenever I go outside, and he politely takes each one in his little paws before scampering off to stash them somewhere - by now he must have the largest stash in the area!

 

 

 

Preparations

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It always seems that early December is a time of mild panic, spent trying to remember things you've forgotten, making lists and losing them and trying to juggle far too many different tasks. Leastways, that's what it's like in our household. As usual I am woefully behind in ticking off things on my 'to-do for Christmas' list but I have made a little progress this week with finishing off some animals for family and friends. And as an antidote to my chaotic Christmas preparations I've been taking myself off to the woods regularly - just to have some time alone in this peaceful place is a precious thing and I always come home with more ordered thoughts in my head. 

The first winter storms have already blown through, taking most of the remaining leaves from the trees and leaving rainbows in their wakes. Dramatic sunrises signal the arrival of the next bout of wet and windy weather, that old adage 'red sky at morning, shepherds take warning' really does work. With most of the trees bare the forest has a kind of stark, twiggy beauty and I love the way the low winter sunlight slants through the trunks, illuminating ferns with a golden glow and casting long shadows across the forest floor.

Next week I'm planning to work on an updated layout for my little free Christmas tree bears pattern. I'll pop back with news of that once a new version is ready to download - they only take a couple of hours to make so hopefully there will still be time to make one or two if you wish.

J x

Out in the autumn woods

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Temperatures have dropped a few notches here this week and out in the woods that has signalled the start of a co-ordinated leaf drop. As we've walked the woodland paths, great flurries of leaves have been whipped from the overhead branches and blown together to form deep drifts underfoot. Because there's been very little recent rain they're lovely and crisp and the most beautiful colours, from the light gold of silver birch, through the ochre tones of hornbeam, the copper of the sweet chestnut and burnished bronze of beech, to the dusty browns of the oaks. Toby is delighted. He kicks through the crisp leaves and uses his booted feet like small ploughs, leaving furrowed piles of leaves in his wake. Our walks take twice as long at this time of year, as he likes to double back and go through the deepest patches again. I love to see him so happy at such a simple pleasure, and we keep cosied up against the cold breezes with scarves and mittens, though we do arrive home again with wind-chilled cheeks and pinkened noses.

Throughout October and November I've been out in the woods on my own too, with just my camera for company and have had fun toadstool hunting. I thought that this might be a good year for them, but they've been a bit thin on the ground and I've not found any of the beautiful fairytale Amanitas at all this year. That's half of the fun though - never knowing what you might find around the next tree stump, and I never tire of looking.

Back at home in the warm I've been trying to sort through the mass of 'in progress' animals. So far I have 4 boxes full of bits and pieces and still have more bags to sort through. It's my mission to finish them off over the coming year and get them to new homes and I think I might have a few more giveaways over the next year. By the way, I'm still reading through all of the comments on the last giveaway - there were so many! Thank you so, so much for all of your kind words and for taking the time to comment and share what has made you happy recently - I will continue to enjoy reading through all of the comments in the coming weeks.

Well, I'm off to do a bit more sorting and to try and marry up various body parts of animals and try and remember what yarn I used so that I can make any missing pieces - not a way of working that I would recommend!

Have a good week and warmest best wishes to all my American friends for a happy Thanksgiving xx

 

An autumn giveaway

 

 

 

Back on September 3rd I celebrated my 15th blogging anniversary. In previous years (up until 2018) I have held a little celebratory giveaway of finished animals, but the last few years I've been so busy with writing patterns that I've not actually managed to fully finish many animals (I'll show you my rather large collection of unfinished ones another time).

To be honest I have deeply missed the joy of just making, because knitting samples for pattern development and step-by-step photos simply does not hold the same peaceful and relaxing pleasure. At heart I am a maker and making these two animals has given me the most knitting pleasure that I've felt for quite some time. I hope that they will also bring pleasure to their new owners, which brings me to announce a giveaway.

 

The Giveaway:

To win either this little black bear or grey rabbit all you need to do is leave a comment below.

You can write anything you like (just the word 'enter' is enough) but if you have time, I'd love to hear about something that has brought you some recent pleasure and enjoyment.

Your comment is automatically given a number and on Monday November 15th at 12 noon UK time I'll close the post to further comments and use a random number generator to pick two numbers from all of the entries.

The first number picked will be the first prize winner who will get to choose between the two animal prizes and the second number picked will win the remaining animal.

 

Here's a more detail description of the prizes:

The little black bear is knitted from Camarose Snefnug yarn in 7313 and comes with a pair of brown dungarees knitted from Krea deluxe organic cotton shade 53, a little cream blouse knitted in Krea deluxe organic cotton in shade 02, a light brown cardi knitted in hand dyed yarn from the Wool Barn, a scarf knitted in The Uncommon Thread Lush worsted yarn in 'Belle Epoch', a cream dress with knitted leaf design and two pairs of shoes; a light brown pair with eyelet detailing and a plain dark brown pair. The extra outfit will be packed in a little tin suitcase from Maileg.

The little grey bunny is knitted in 1 strand of Rowan Alpaca Classic in 'feather grey melange' held with 1 strand of Rowan Kidsilk haze and comes with a pair of brown dungarees knitted from Krea deluxe organic cotton in shade 53, a little cream blouse knitted in Krea deluxe organic cotton in shade 02, a light brown cardi knitted in hand dyed yarn from the Wool Barn, a red scarf knitted in Rowan kidsilk haze in 'ruby', a brown dress with embroidered toadstools and two pairs of shoes; a red pair with eyelet detailing and a plain brown pair. The extra outfit will be packed in a little tin suitcase from Maileg.

Wooden toadstools, pinecones etc. are not included and are just used in the pictures as props.

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To recap: Leave a comment below to be in with a chance of winning one of these two animals and their assorted clothing (giveaway is now closed). Giveaway closes at 12 noon on Monday 15th November.

Please can I ask, only one comment per person, thanks J x

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The number for the first prize is:

774

DianeD said...

I would so love to win one of your beautiful animals. They are all sooo gorgeous.

November 09, 2021 at 04:48 AM

 

 

The number for the second prize is:

1674

Norma Bingham said...

Thank you for being so generous with your time and your talent! As I write this, the sun is shining brightly on a very frosty morning. I have my daughter's dog, Miss Molly, to keep me company today and my favourite local radio station playing in the background. My joy comes from counting the many blessings I have in my life right now. I wish you much joy in return.

November 10, 2021 at 04:50 PM

 

Autumnal influences

 

 

 

 

Last week was the college half term break here, so there was lots of time spent with Toby walking in the woods. Autumn is definitely here now, with its cold breezes, crunchy leaves underfoot and toadstools everywhere. It was fascinating to see the same patch of toadstools visibly growing each day as we passed by them on our same route through the wood and I'm looking forward to getting out there on my own with my camera later in the week (Toby gets most miffed if I stop to take pictures on our walks together).

Back at home my knitting has been influenced by autumn too and I'm spending most of this week finishing off this little black bear and grey bunny ready for a giveaway. They'll both be wearing autumnal clothes and I've had fun playing around with a duplicate stitched design for some toadstools on the skirt of one of the dresses. I've made a free chart for the toadstools that you can download here, Download Toadstool chart

I've also made a little blouse with a collar to go under a pair of dungarees. I made this by combining the bottom of the camisole that you can find in my free 'Sundress supplement' pattern with the bodice from my 'Textured dresses' pattern. Simply cast on and work up to row 19 from the camisole in the Sundress pattern for the 9 inch animals, and then work from row 1 of the bodice pattern on page 3 in the Textured dresses pattern.

I'll be back soon with pictures of these two finished animals and details of how you can enter to win one of them - it will be a random number generated draw.

Hope the rest of your week goes well. We're having a good one here and celebrating Amy's new job as a special needs teaching assistant - we're really proud of her as she embarks on life after full time education and embraces all of the responsibilities of working life.

See you soon xx