Little Cotton Rabbits

summery snippets

Some moments from the first two weeks of our school break...

Amy's summer hair, dip-dyed blue (which will hopefully wash out before she goes back to school or it will be time to get the scissors out!)

 

Days of absolutely torrential rain fall (with some local flooding) and others full of sun and red skies at dusk

 

 

all of which make for a lovely lush garden

 

 

we're having a good harvest of peas, lettuce and broccoli but the french beans have been rubbish thanks to the slugs back in spring. I'm rather excited about my kuri squash plant which is growing like stink and the squash themselves are like little balloons which get bigger each time I look at them.

 

 

I'm looking forward to making squash soup if we get enough of them.

 

 

Toby is enjoying the garden too, kicking back in his swing with his lego and occassionally having a burst of energy on the trampoline. We've also been swimming a few times and had lots of walks in the cool woods which have been lovely on the hottest of days (no pictures yet as Toby doesn't like me to stop - he likes to keep moving when we're out walking.)

 

There's even been a little knitting. This was taken at 10.15pm this evening when I was cowl knitting by candlelight in support of the #LightsOut campaign commemorating the start of the first world war 100 years ago.

#LightsOut’s inspiration stems from the then foreign secretary Sir Edward Grey’s famous remark on the eve of the outbreak of the war. He said: “The lamps are going out all over Europe; we shall not see them lit again in our life-time”. Britain declared war on Germany at 11pm on 4 August 1914.

So with that sobering thought, I'm off to bed feeling grateful that those dark days of 1914-18 are long distant and hoping that we don't see the like of them again.

 

savouring quiet time

The final few days before the long school summer break are always held in sacred regard here. It's the last chance for six weeks to savour complete quiet, unadulterated by Black Veil Brides screaming out of Amy's room or the incessant clicking of Toby's lego bricks constantly being taken apart and reassembled. Keeping Toby occupied over the summer hols is always a full time job and I will not have much time to call my own over the coming weeks. So today I am being very indulgent and sitting peacefully at the end of the garden with my knitting. At the moment I'm playing around with ideas for Fair Isle sweater patterns (though there won't be a pattern for a while as I still have lots of tweaking to do) ...

 

 

 

 

At the end of the garden, sitting with knitting, is my perfect place to be and right now I'm feeling very lucky indeed to be right here. Though the place that my friends and I spent yesterday afternoon in was also rather perfect, The Mudlarks Garden Cafe in Hertford.

 

 

In a world where high street cafes are often multi-national affairs and look the same no matter which town you're in, such a unique and a locally run establishment is a true gem.

 

 

There's a lovely friendly feel to the seating, with cosy sofas and armchairs, little nooks and sweet tables with mis-matched chairs. Hot drinks are served in pretty vintage china tea cups with proper leaf tea in teapots arriving on a tray with milk jugs and tea-strainers. Food is freshly made, organic, vegetarian/vegan and very tempting (I took these pictures after the lunchtime crowd had been and gone and so most of the quiches, salads and cakes had already been devoured).

 

 

 

There are books and toys for little ones, a table football game in the outbuilding and a very pretty courtyard garden full of flowers, bunting and more seating.

 

 

 

But what really makes this cafe so very special is it's involvement with and support of the local community. The Mudlarks community garden is a charity very close to my heart. Their stated aim is

to integrate people with learning difficulties and mental health issues into the community through gardening whilst also promoting conservation and allowing people of all abilities to learn and work together.

They also support young people with autism and learning difficulties beyond school and this is something which I'm hoping will be a part of Toby's future when he leaves school.

Many of the ingredients used at the new cafe come from the community garden project and it's a nice feeling to enjoy a well-made cup of tea and delicious lunch and know that it is a virtuous one too because of all those people that are helped and supported.

I know that many of you that visit here with me are not even in the UK, let alone local to Hertford but if you are ever in the area please make a detour and stop by the Mudlarks garden cafe for a cuppa and a slice of cake (and remember there's the lovely Creative Sanctuary just around the corner selling beautiful fabrics, yarn and haberdashery).

I hope you don't mind me plugging this cafe, I've not received an incentive of any kind for writing about it and I've done so purely because I wholeheartedly admire their support of autistic and special needs adults (something that has special resonance for our family).

Right, I'm off now to make the most of the last day of term. I hope to pop in from time to time over the next 6 weeks (if Toby allows me). So until then, thanks for stopping by x

 ..........................................................

Mudlarks Garden Cafe, 12 Railway Street, Hertford, SG14 1BG

Open Tuesday - Saturday, 9am - 5pm

details on Go Hertford

 PS: a couple of people have emailed to ask about donating to the Mudlarks charity. They would deeply appreciate any financial support and if you wish to donate you can do so via  their webpage or on their charitychoice page. Thanks x

 

planting, tick

Do you ever get the feeling that you're travelling through life on an escalator going the wrong way and although you're working pretty hard you are just not making any progress? I'm sure you do as there can't be many of us who escape feeling swamped from time to time. I've certainly been feeling that way lately - for every bit of paperwork I fill in another drops through the letter box, for every blog post I catch up with another 2 appear in my blog reader, for every email I answer another 3 pop into my inbox... you get the picture I'm sure.

 

 

Not a lot was ticked off my to do list this weekend either. In fact the only tick was vegetable planting with help from Toby and we spent a lot of lovely time in the garden together yesterday (hence the pictures of the chives which were planted last year and are now in full and glorious bloom and attracting a lot of bees).

 

 

So far this year I've not sown as much as I had planned to. I did have grand vegetable planting plans but they've been scaled back to more manageable proportions and this weekend Toby and I just planted some beans and peas (a little late in the year but hopefully not too late to get a harvest).

 

 

We've also got earlier plantings of garlic, broccoli and lettuce which are coming up nicely.

 

 

There are a few little seedlings too which should be ready to plant out soon and with any luck will give us some delicious onion squash in the autumn. Courgette and squash seeds are my favourite to grow. They look just like a childs drawing of a little sprout and they are pretty robust - which is a good thing when Toby is involved in the planting out!

 

 

So that's the news from the garden at the moment. In knitting news there is lots going on with pattern writing but nothing yet finished, just a big old tangle of sample bits - the result of testing out different yarns and tweaking bits and pieces. If you've emailed me for an E.T.A on the next pattern I'm afraid I can't give one yet but I am working on the sweaters, the sneakers and all of the other animals, so they are on the way.

This week is the week of Toby's annual school play so he goes to school from 4pm - 9.30pm which throws everything out of kilter in a big way. And hot on the heels of this week is the school half term break, so I won't be getting on top of my to do list anytime soon and my email backlog is already of embarrassing proportions - I really am sorry if you're waiting for a reply from me.

A couple of people emailed to ask about how I constructed the cushion cover - by the way thanks so much for all of the kind comments about the bench in the previous post. Here is a picture of the back.

 

 

 

The crochet top extends a little way underneath where I've sewn it to a rectangular piece of fabric and left one side open (held in place by saftey pins) incase I need to take the cover off to wash it. In terms of advice for fitting the crochet top I can't give much other than to make a top piece the same size as your foam pad and then make side pieces, checking the fit as you go. It was all a bit make-it-up-as-you-go-along but it seems to work and so far it is standing up well to daily Toby use.

Hope you have a good week, see you soon x

 

 

all is well

If you've popped in here for a visit over the last 5 days you may have been greeted by a blank page and been wondering what has happened to me and the little cotton rabbits. Last thursday Typepad (who host my blog) were targeted by a rather massive and sustained distributed denial of service attack which knocked out all of their services and since then they've been working round the clock to get up and running again. Fearing for it's safe return has made me realise just how much I love my blog and the contact it gives me with others who like woolly stuff and similar things and I'm very happy to have it back.

Anyway, I'm getting back into the term time swing of things here, catching up (albeit rather slowly) with an email backlog that built up over the school Easter break, settling back into pattern tweaking and writing for those seasonal sweaters that I promised and generally just enjoying having some time to call my own instead of Toby's. This morning I've been on a bluebell walk as the local woods are full of them and we have a lovely sunny morning here today so it would be daft to sit inside all day.

 

 

I always think of April as the month of unfurling and those bright chartreuse green shoots emerging everywhere from little brown tree buds are quite magical. The most magical sight of all though is the carpet of bluebells.

 

 

For just a couple of weeks each year the woods are transformed into a place where you can really believe that fairies exist. When you sit quietly on a mossy log in a bluebell wood, troubles fade away for a while and you feel a sense of timelessness and peace, at least until a dog comes bounding up to lick your face as one did to me earlier! Still, it's a lovely way to escape from modern world stresses and I have resolved to go walking in the woods on my own more regularly, and of course it is the regular weekend activity with Toby – the woods are his favourite place to be.

Hopefully if you pop in again you'll find everything in it's place but if things do go wobbly again please don't give up on me as I will definitely be blogging here for a long time to come :)

definitely spring

Yep, Spring has definitely arrived, hooray!

We have spent the whole weekend out in the garden, sorting out the lawn (which is now mostly mud thanks to the very wet winter), tidying the beds ready for veg planting and just soaking up the wonderful warmth of the sun. It seems that we aren't the only ones sunbathing either as the plum tree is a magnet for Peacock butterflies emerging from hibernation. We often find them hibernating in the wood pile - they make the most alarming sound with their wings when disturbed and we're always careful to rebuild a shelter for them when we take wood away to burn on the stove. At one point this morning I counted six of them fluttering around and feeding from the tree blossom (which must be one of the earliest and most abundant food sources available to them), it was a truly magical sight.

 

Despite the closed wings I love this picture below because you can see that lovely spiralled proboscis

 

There must be a feast of nectar up there because there have also been loads of bees buzzing around the thousands of blossoms that are open on the tree at the moment.

 

 

 

It's so nice to have warm, bright days here again and to be able to be outside without getting soaked or shivering! Everything feels more manageable when the sun is shining :)

I've also taken advantage of the brighter weather to take some pictures of my finished Dream Stripes shawl (details of pattern and yarn here).

 

 

 

 

I'm really pleased with how it has turned out and with how blocking really accentuates those lovely points - I've never actually been bothered to wet block anything before - a quick steam block under a damp cloth is usually the best my projects can expect, but that wasn't going to cut the mustard here so I'm glad I took the time to wet block this time.

 

 

Now I just have to work out how to wear it - Amy tells me I look like a granny with the way I'm currently wearing it (you can always rely on a teenager for brutal honesty, thanks my lovely for your kind words). So, any tips on cool shawl wearing would be gratefully received!