Little Cotton Rabbits

If only I was an octopus...

Sometimes I wish I was an octopus - it would be so much easier to get everything done! It's amazing how quickly 6 hours of child-free time wizzes past. It always made me laugh when people heard my youngest was starting full-time school as they'd usually say "You won't know what to do with yourself". I had to resist bending their ear by going into nauseating detail about all the projects I had planned. Anyway, I'm certainly keeping busy although not much hoovering is getting done in our house (I like to think I have an ecclectic approach to housework!) I've been thrilled at all the lovely comments that people have left on my site.

So on to my works in progress:

Little E has departed for a new life in cornwall,

the two sisters are currently winging their way to Rebecca in Ireland (who sent me these lovely goodies, that chocolate didn't last long!),

I've designed some stocking tops (will get H to take a better picture shortly),

I've unearthed a christmas cake design from last year and started making a few

I'm also making fabric party-bags and trying to clean the house ready for Amy's birthday party on Sunday. Ten little girls will be descending on us for 3 hours of making crafts, playing party games, dancing and a sugar-coated party tea. Amy is beside herself with excitement and I'm beginning to wander if having it at home was such a good idea. Oh well, I'll just visualise that chilled bottle of Pinot Grigio waiting for me on Sunday evening - I think I'm going to need it! Wish me luck!

Raspberry delight!

I love getting packages in the post, especially when I'm eagerly anticipating the contents. So I was thrilled to bits this morning when a beautifully wrapped parcel from Raspberry arrived. Alice Bloor is a textile artist and felt-maker. She creates beautiful pieces and I fell in love with her pincushions. I also had to buy this brooch to pin on my favourite green corduroy jacket although I suspect that it will not remain mine for long - no doubt once Amy spies it, it will mysteriously be spirited away! Oh well, I'll enjoy it while I can. Thanks Alice (sorry the pics don't really do them justice - check out Raspberry's site for  much better  pictures).

Little E for Rebecca

Rebecca asked me to make a bunny for the newborn daughter of a friend. I've been itching to try out some designs for knitted letters that I did earlier in the year and here's the result - little E. Let me know what you think Rebecca.

autism insights and knitted stockings

Poor old Toby's been a bit under the weather this weekend. I think it's just a cold but it's not always that easy to tell. Sometimes it's hard to tell even if he is unwell and even when you establish that he is, it's usually impossible to say for certain whether he has a headache, earache, sore throat or all of the above because he just can't tell me where it hurts. There is a theory about autism known as mindblindness which sums all this up pretty well: autistic people assume that everyone knows what they are thinking so they don't understand the need to communicate that they're hungry, cold, in pain etc. Toby has never pointed at anything (a common autistic trait) nor has he ever drawn my attention to anything he is interested in. It is exactly like he just assumes I already know. One time I found him just standing in his room, all tangled up with the cord on his roman blind - he'd been upstairs for 20 minutes and I'd assumed he was playing quietly - goodness knows how long he'd been stuck but the point is he didn't utter a sound to get my attention, just stood there waiting for me. I felt like such a bad mummy and needless to say I don't really let him out of my sight anymore. Anyway, after 3 nights of little sleep because he was so snuffly, he's seeming a little better today and he's gone back to school.

I have written up the pattern for the stockings - hopefully in some kind of understandable knitting jargon. I've added some photos to show certain steps and will be improving on these and adding some pattern design suggestions shortly. If you are feeling adventurous and fancy giving it a go please drop me a note and let me know how you got on (this is my first foray into pattern writing - I usually work off scribbled notes and memory!) Similarly if you try it and get stuck just contact me and I'll try to help. Good luck!!!

Brain drain

Before I had children I used to think that I was a reasonably intelligent person with the ability to simultaneously have an intelligent conversation whilst secretly thinking about what to cook for dinner that night. These days I am beyond help and can't even carry on a conversation without getting sidetracked - see I'm waffling now. Anyway, for a few days I've been thinking about dusting off some christmas ideas from last year. So today I rummaged through my work boxes for a pattern that I had designed and found 3 versions of it. I've now had to spend all morning knitting up each pattern to work out which was the final perfected design. And the morale of the verbose story is: BE MORE ORGANISED!

So here are some samples of what I'm aiming for 
Knitted christmas tree stockings to fill with goodies (choccy coins and tiny gifts). I'm also planning to write it down in meaningful knitting language and post it on my blog as a free pattern. So if anyone out there fancies trying it out - watch this space!

Indian summers and aran jumpers

Am feeling all relaxed today, having had a better than expected weekend. I did expect Toby to have difficulty as he'd been up and out of the house at school all week but happily he was quite content to potter and have lazy days in the garden. We even got the paddling pool out yesterday afternoon - I love indian summers, and obviously so does Amy.

On the knitting front I've been busy knitting up that nice ball of Rowan felted tweed and here is the result - Aran boy. It's quite fiddly cabling on 2 and a quarter mm needles but I'm pleased with the result. More new rabbits later in the week as I have more new wool in 100% baby alpaca - soooo soft.