Little Cotton Rabbits

A summer round-up

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hello hello, long time no see.

I’ve been holding off writing until things felt settled with Toby’s new routines in the hope that I could be all positive and upbeat. And for a few weeks at the end of July it did indeed feel like we were heading into calm waters, but just recently things have got a little more choppy again.

We did have 3 day care sessions of roughly 6 hours each in place for Toby to attend at 3 different lovely settings, and he did seem to be gradually adapting to them, but last week he hurt a member of staff at one of them and so obviously they can no longer have him, so we're down to 2 sessions per week, one on a Monday and one on Wednesday. He's so big and strong and coupled with being easily upset and unpredictable this makes it very hard for others to care for him whilst keeping everyone safe, and there is simply a dire lack of suitable provision for those like Toby with more severe learning disabilities and challenging behavioural issues.

This does mean that we’re having to rethink everything in a way that works for us all, and it’s taking some getting used to. My brain keeps saying ‘don’t worry, you’ll have plenty of time to get things done in September’  and then I have this weird, almost dizzying sensation when the other side of my brain reminds me that there is no more school or college, there will be no extra time, this is how things are now. It is most disconcerting.

It also means I’m having to plan out how I can keep running little cotton rabbits as a business, as working on patterns, answering emails and blogging will all have to be fitted in to less time than I had originally planned for. I’m currently making lots of lists and ranking my weekly parcels of time into high and low value blocks so that I can work out what I can get done and when.

All is not despair though. As always Toby is very happy to have his long lie-ins and daily walks with either of us, and he’s been very calm and happy on his full days here at home, so that remains a thankfully big positive in all of our lives.

These are some pictures from some of our walks together, despite many years of trying Toby still does not like me stopping to take photos on our walks, so I have to squeeze them in whilst he's naturally distracted. The countryside around us is still very green, though signs of a seasonal change are starting to creep in, with more seed heads than flowers out in the meadows and the first fungi springing up in the undergrowth. We’ve had the usual August mix of sunshine and heavy downpours, so some glorious skies and a few double rainbows have been beautiful overhead sights.

Knitting here has been restricted to one scarf and a few pairs of socks, mostly because my brain has needed very simple projects during this transition time. I'm hoping to start pattern writing again this coming week and will keep you posted of any progress.

Lastly Bluebell, our one remaining hen, succumbed to old age at the end of last month, she was nine and three-quarters, a most respectable age for a chicken, we brought her and two others to live with us in March 2015 when they were point of lay, so a few months old. We’ll not have more I think, there’s a feeling of wanting to pare down and simplify life as much as possible here, but I will miss having animals to tend to, especially as the foxes seem to have currently disappeared from the garden, as they so often do at this time of year.

Well, I will be back here on the blog, not sure when yet, but hopefully at least once a month or so, so until then I hope all is well in your own little corner of the world, thanks as always for stopping by to visit with me, J x

 

my foxy friend

 

 

 

 

 

Earlier in the year I posted a picture of the fox peeking through our garden fence and she's been a fairly regular garden visitor ever since. When I first got a good look at her she seemed quite sleek and almost plump but more recently has seemed thinner, and thinking perhaps that food might be a bit scarce I've been offering her a meal whenever she turns up - she seems particularly fond of leerdammer cheese :)

She mostly visits after dark, but for the last few weeks she has been arriving earlier in the evening and sometimes in the early morning too (much to the disgust of the chickens). When she arrives in the garden I open the back door and throw a little food then stand very still and as a result she has come to tolerate me being there, only a few feet away - though always with a watchful and suspicious eye on me as she eats and tensed like a coiled spring ready to run if I make any sudden moves. I've no wish to tame or inhibit that wild instinct, it is a well honed survival mechanism and she needs it, but I will offer a small meal now and then to share the privilege of her company.

This morning she visited early and was content for me to take some pictures and while editing them on the computer just now I had a light-bulb moment. Can you see what was spotted in the last blurry picture there? The outline of swollen teats on her belly is a giveaway sign that she's was fatter and then thinner because she's just had a litter of cubs!

I'm under no illusion though about why she visits - she's very clearly focused on the plump and juicy feathered meals strutting up and down my chicken run. But if she's thrown a little food she graciously leaves them alone for the rest of the day and the chickens remain safe, though unsettled. They only get to forage under supervision now and the rest of the time are safely enclosed in the brilliant chicken run that H built - still predator proof after 10 years. There are definite signs though that the chickens are not happy about the interloper - I'd call this a protest wouldn't you? ...

 

 

 

 

We also have a lot of small garden birds visiting our little patch at the moment and on occasion larger ones too - I've had the pleasure of seeing this heron ungainly balanced on the roof opposite - I think one of my neighbours has a pond that he's eyeing up. It is such a privilege to have wild creatures as a regular garden visitors and I'm hoping that in a month or so that the fox might bring her little ones along to frolic on the grass - I'll try and have my camera ready if she does :) 

Well, I have had a nature filled week and am off to fill my weekend with knitting. Hope you have something nice in store for your weekend x

 

Puffed out

Firstly, thanks so very, very much for all the wonderfully kind comments on the previous post about Tobys hair. I was so touched to read them and wish I could share them with Toby and have him understand all of the lovely compliments you gave him.

Secondly, sorry to not have been around much recently. I seem to have done something to my elbow and it's needed some rest as even typing for more than a short while has been a bit painful. Scraping down the chicken run every few days probably hasn't helped but I think making these puffs may be the main cause...

 

 

A couple of weeks back I decided to start a cushion to match the blanket that I'm slowly working on (see below) and I've always loved Alicia's Sunshine day afghan, so that seemed the perfect choice of pattern. Once I got going on the puff making I became a bit hooked on them and made lots in one day. The following day I paid the price for my puff over-indulgence with a very sore elbow and it's taking ages to feel better.

Needless to say this project is now having a snooze at the bottom of my knitting bag. I really like how it looks and hopefully I'll be able to pick it up when my elbow doesn't hurt so much. In the meantime small bursts of knitting seem to be OK, which is a relief as I'd get incredibly grumpy rather quickly if I wasn't able to knit!

And here's where the crochet blanket is up to so far, but with my sore elbow it will be a while before it gets much bigger.

 

 

 

In other news, the garden is blooming. My squash and courgette plants are now in their permanent home and growing fast. The kale and broccoli are all doing well under the netting but the poor bean and pea seedlings have been decimated by slugs who come out to munch on them each night. Still most things are faring better and the chives are exploding like little flowery fireworks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The chickens are happy and laying an egg each most days - evidently I need to make more things that use eggs as we've built up quite a stock! You'll see there's a particularly large egg in the middle which I'm pretty sure is a double yolker as we've had a few already. I've not yet been able to work out which of the ladies is laying these but I don't remember having any with our previous hens so these are special.

 

 

 

The weather this week has been all over the place, sunshine one minute and huge cloud-burst downpours of rain and hail the next - not fun if you get caught out in it but the rainbows after the storms have been especially bright and lovely.

 

 

 

Next week is school half term break but I hope to be back with some knitting news once we're back into our term time routines again. Until then, thanks for visiting and best wishes for happy times x

 

snippets from our Easter hols

Hello again! I hope you had a lovely Easter. Over our two week school break we kept busy with wood walks and lots of garden days, especially in the middle of last week when we had a few days of distinctly summery weather - hopefully there will be a lot more of that to come!

The Easter egg that I was most eagerly anticipating did not arrive for Easter but appeared a week and a half later on April 15th...

 

 

That was when the first chicken egg was laid, with the second two eggs following the next day. The first two eggs are tiny and I'm not sure which of our girls to congratulate and give extra treats to as both eggs were laid in the early morning. The third egg was larger (though still on the small side compared to a shop bought egg) and was definitely laid by Hattie, as she went into the nest box during the day and after she came out there was a lovely warm speckled egg sat in the straw.

 

 

 

So our girls are ladies now :)  They have learnt to scratch in the dirt, to come when I rattle the little jar of corn they get each afternoon, to let me pick them up for inspection and a quick cuddle and they are old hands wings now at bed-time ladder climbing. They do make me smile and I've really been enjoying their antics...

 

 

 

 

 

The first egg may not have arrived in time for Easter day but I did get a lovely Easter present, The New Kitchen Garden by Mark Diacono. The fact that I bought it for myself (because around here it's only the children who get visited by the Easter bunny) doesn't diminish my enjoyment of it - it's a great book, beautifully laid out and it has all the information I need to make the most of our little veg patch.

 

 

I've already made a start with nasturtiums, courgette seedlings (which are desperate for bigger pots) and my kuri squash seeds are just about breaking through the surface of their compost. In the garden I've planted out kale, broccoli, cabbage and some lettuces too and I've direct sown spring onions, beetroot, mangetout peas and dwarf french beans. Fingers crossed we've got no more frosts to come.

 

 

Around the rest of the garden everything is sprouting and it seems that overnight the plum tree has gone from frothy white with blossom to bright spring green as the first leaves open out.

 

 

I love this tiny shoot coming directly out of the gnarly bark - it perfectly illustrates the magic that is all around at Spring-time

 

 

as do these small shoots of sweet woodruff growing out of the wall.

 

 

Well, I'm off to relish my monday-me-time. Having Toby at home for the last 2 weeks has been quite tiring, so it's very nice to have a bit of time to myself again with the children going back to school today. I'll be playing around with the blanket that I started over the Easter break.

Originally I had planned using Solveigs lovely 'flowers in the snow' pattern exactly as written but when I started joining the squares I felt the need for a bit more space between the coloured circles.

 

 

So I'm adding a round in grey before starting the squaring-off round.

 

 

I'm using mostly Rooster Almerino yarn which is beautifully soft. All notes and yarn used etc. over on my ravelry project page if you want more details.

Thanks for stopping by. I'll be back soon, hopefully with some knitting news of a new pattern :)

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PS: This is not a sponsored post - I don't do those. I only write about things that I like and I buy with my own money.

 

Hattie, Hetty and Bluebell

Thanks so much for all of the kind comments about the blanket and all the great paint suggestions.  I'm looking forward to changing the bedroom colour but I suspect it will take us while to get around to painting - the thought of having nice new grey walls is lovely but the reality of getting them is less lovely. In the meantime I have something else that is lovely and grey in my life. Meet Hattie, Hetty and Bluebell...

 

 

Come on girls, turn around and say hello. They are more interested in pecking the fence than having their photo taken, in fact they are more interested in pecking than doing anything else.

I collected them on Monday afternoon and they are slowly getting used to their new home. They've been very twitchy and nervous, jumping at every new sound - the lawnmower a few gardens away caused lots of consternation and when a plane went quite low overhead on it's way to Stanstead airport they went completely to pieces - watching them reminds me of the story of Chicken Licken who thought the sky was falling.

They became a little calmer this afternoon. Earlier I spent a couple of hours outside with them, weeding the veg patch and all the while making warbling happy chicken sounds and cooing at them to get them used to me (the neighbours will now think I'm completely batty). They still need assisting in and out of the hen house, as the ladder clearly terrifies them right now but having had chickens before I know that they'll be doing it on their own in a few days. It won't take long before they'll have settled enough for their individual personalities to emerge - they are already starting to size each other up and work out the pecking order.

They are all hybrid hens bred from Marans crossed with other breeds - Hattie is a Speckled Ranger

 

 

Hetty is a Speckled Humbug

 

 

and Bluebell is a Bluebell

 

 

They came from Handpecked which is a lovely family-run local business with a good range of hens and supplies.

It's so nice to have chickens in the garden again. They are such fun to watch and having freshly laid poached eggs for lunch is delicious, though it will be a month or so before they begin laying so I'll have to be patient. In the meantime I am enjoying being a chicken keeper again :)