Little Cotton Rabbits

A little haven of peace and tranquility

For the last 16 years our bedroom has been more of a family room than a place to call our own. Before going to bed at night we've either had to sweep crumbs from the bed due to toast-munching toddlers, remake the bed entirely thanks to Toby using it as an indoor trampoline or get into bed to find lumps of lego underneath the top sheet from where Toby has crawled (in summer we have a stretchy cotton jersey fitted sheet which he likes to sit under and use like a tent).

 

 

Over the years the bed has been a surface for tickle games (like in the pictures above), a thing to hide behind in games of hide-n-seek and a quiet place to snuggle at the end of the day for bedtime stories. Both of the children have at one time or another slept in our bed (or next to it in a moses basket as newborns) and we've frequently had family breakfast in bed - before Toby was born Amy used to sit between H and I every morning to eat her toast.

The walls of our room have been crayoned on by Amy when she was small and Toby has smeared my rather expensive face cream all over the floor and used it as a skating rink. Several times in the past he has smeared much worse over the walls, but we'll not think too deeply about that.

We'd never ban the children from our room but they both have rooms of their own that they now prefer spending time in, so it felt like it was time to reclaim a little space of our own again (and a room that was a more fitting backdrop to the crochet blanket that I spent so long making - it used to have dark blue walls).

The walls are now all painted, in the soft dove grey colour I had in mind (we went for no. 3 in the end), the pictures are re-hung (all are photographs taken by H) and the new furniture is in. I am so enjoying having a peaceful, tranquil space to retreat to now and then. In fact I'm off there now for a spot of knitting (Toby is at a holiday club for a few hours today enjoying the bouncy castle) and it might be a while before I come out again!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

making a start

The summer holidays are hurtling towards us and with them the prospect of a lot less free time so we're spending most of this last week of term-time trying to get our bedroom painted.

 

 

I made a start last week by painting over some of the dark blue so that we could pin down which colour to choose from our short list. At the moment no. 3 is favourite but it's hard to be certain as the colours change so much depending on the time of day and which lights are on...

 

 

We'll live with the colours for another day before committing ourselves to a paint purchase and then it will be time to dig out the paint rollers and full steam ahead. Though I must admit that I'm not looking forward to the doing bit of having a new-look room - I must be using muscles that don't get a lot of use during knitting as my arms are aching already and I've only undercoated part of one wall! Thank goodness we only do this once in a blue moon (it was last decorated 16 years ago - H finished painting the skirting boards and hung the curtains the day that Amy was born!)

Talking of blue moons there is one happening on the 31st of this month. It won't actually be blue coloured but is called so because it's the name given to the second of 2 full moons taking place in a single month - something that doesn't happen very often.

 

 

Enjoy the rest of your week x

messy life

Sorry to have absented myself for so long. Lately life has felt a bit like my project bag here - a big old tangle of things with lots coming unraveled at the same time!  Life is sometimes a bit messy and I've not felt that I've had much of any interest to share with you here on the blog.

 

 

On the positive side I've been resting my elbow (which is much improved by the way - thanks for all of your good wishes), and working on a new pattern which I'm desperate to share with you but need to work on a little bit more before I do.

 

 

Recently we've had a tantalising taste of summer weather and I've so enjoyed being out in the garden with my knitting and my radio again. Everything is growing so well (I'm watching the first of the courgettes swelling daily and they're almost ready to pick). We've had some beautiful sunsets too, which have amused Toby while he's been bouncing on his trampoline - it's hard to get him to stop at bedtime now that the evenings are long and lovely.

 

 

Hattie Hen has gone broody (very unusual for a hybrid breed I'm told) so she's just sitting on her imaginary clutch of eggs. I keep moving her out of the nest box so that at least she is visible to the other two and in the late afternoon they often go and sit with her in the corner and keep her company. Hopefully she'll get bored of sitting soon but for now we're down to two eggs a day.

Not much else noteworthy has been happening on our patch. Hopefully I'll be back soon with some news of a new pattern, knitting projects and the usual unfocused mix of family life - the happier moments at least!

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PS: I'm trying an experiment and am currently replying to comments that are left directly here on the blog - not sure if I'll be able to keep up with it but will do my best :)

Thanks for dropping in to visit, see you soon 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.

 

Happy Easter

Where did March go? I don't know how the last couple of weeks have been with you but here they have fairly flown by. I had meant to write more posts about the knitting I'm doing and about the chickens (who are settled in nicely now) and about garden stuff but time has run out and there are just a few short hours until the school Easter break starts, so those will have to wait until the children are back at school at the end of the month.

Until then I thought I'd pop in briefly with some spring-feeling photos...

 

 

 

The plum tree is in blossom but we had some really high winds at the beginning of this week so some of the smaller branches and twigs have snapped. A few of these blossomy twigs paired with a handful of muscari from the garden are brightening up our table and happily the tree is still looking beautiful in its frothy white finery.

 

 

The tree blossoms look pretty at sunset too when, caught in the warm glow, they turn peachy.

 

 

 

After sunset we've been planet watching as Venus has been especially bright just above the horizon to the west and the first visible star in the evening sky (seen here above the fingernail moon). I love star gazing - it makes me feel so small and humble in the face of the mind-boggling enormity of space. I find it a good way to hang on to a sense of perspective when life feels a little overwhelming.

Do you like the little knitted nest above? I am so happy with it, made in just under an hour this morning from scraps of yarn and using Annie's lovely and generously-shared free pattern (scroll to page bottom on the link). I'm not sure how long the little candy-covered chocolate eggs will stay in there though!

 

 

 

Well, I'm off for a quiet cup of tea and some precious knitting time (and maybe one or two of those chocolate eggs) while I can enjoy the peace and quiet. Hope you have a lovely Easter, see you soon x