Little Cotton Rabbits

knitting time again

Sorry to have stayed away for so long. Unfortunately blogging is one of the first things to fall by the wayside when things get busy, and things have been far too busy for my liking recently. First there was Toby's school play week (which was an upheaval for Toby and a tough time for us but happily in the past now) and then there was the half term break, which again Toby found difficult because of the change in routine.  He and I went to stay with my Mum and Dad for a few days and playing with his cousin Zoe really helped him get through the week.

Happily we are now settling back into the term-time routine which is nicely predictable for Toby and brings me a calmer pace with some lovely knitting time. To celebrate my reunion with my pointy sticks and yarn I have cast on a new project...

 

 

I'm using an ancient ball of stashed yarn that has no ball band but I think it's Jaeger and the pattern is the lovely 'catching butterflies' by Tiny Owl Knits.

 

I think these will be the perfect mittens for wearing on a cool summer evening, or even the cold summer days that we've been having rather a lot of recently.

 

There are also bunnies and foxes slowly emerging from my knitting bag and I'm still plodding along on my one-a-day misty afghan which is now getting big enough to sit under as I work on it - a bonus at the moment due to this cold, wet and windy start to June.

Hopefully the sun will rediscover our little patch soon. The newly-fledged birds would certainly benefit from better weather - like this little blue-tit who came out of the nest last week with a big chunk of it caught around his leg and wasn't able to fly. I carefully caught him and managed to cut it off - thank goodness for the tiny points on embroidery scissors. He fluttered off into the shrubs and hopefully he's doing fine now.

 

Well, it's nice to be back again and I'm looking forward to catching up with everyone, see you soon x

 

 

Soggy but still smiling

Earlier today Amy and I joined around 180 others for the 10K walk to raise funds for CHIPs (the children's charity that runs clubs for special needs children that Toby attends). We'd been closely watching the weather forecast all week and it had been getting steadily worse. By yesterday gale force winds and heavy downpours were predicted and it's safe to say that I wasn't feeling very excited about the prospect of walking 10K in those sort of conditions. But when we arrived that feeling started to change because there was such a warmth and enthusiasm in the hall where we all gathered to do our warm up. Some walkers had even dressed up especially...

 

 

These are some of the lovely CHIPs people who take care of Toby

 

My lovely friend and organiser Hazel did a brilliant speech and warm up routine for everyone and then we were off, out of the warm dry hall and into the wind whipped rain. I had planned to walk with Amy and we were together at the start but she is young and fit and has long legs so it wasn't long before she left me behind, (far, far behind).

 

 

In fact when I finished the walk (rather near the back) I found her and her friends already in the cafe eating cake. The three of them actually finished 3rd overall in a very respectable time of just under an hour and a half.

 

 

There was such a great atmosphere and despite the awful weather a lot of people turned up to walk. We all gathered for tea and cake afterwards (it was the thought of cake that had kept my legs moving over the last 3 kilometres). There was a raffle, a lot of hugging and congratulating and I was enormously touched to be awarded a trophy for raising the most money.

 

 

But I can't claim the credit, because it was you lovely people that did that. So here is the trophy that I accepted on behalf of the kind and generous readers of the little cotton rabbits blog.

Thank you everyone - you are the best xxx

 

(And as you can see from the trophy picture the sun has come out now the walk is over!)

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

Update: Tuesday 1st May

I've just used the random number generator to select a recipient of the little spring bunny from all of those that generously donated to our sponsored walk. It's drawn number 85

Which is Brenda Allen.

Many, many thanks again to everyone for your wonderful kindness x

A thank you from the heart

It's been an emotional weekend here and I've been reduced to tears many times. But they've been tears of the good sort, brought on by kind messages from people I've never met and the hugely generous donations to the CHIPs fund. There are no words to adequately express the gratitude and sense of wonderment that I feel right now, the generosity and kindness of everyone is quite overwhelming.

 

 

Today I'm having a quiet start to the week with my knitting. I'm mostly working on bunnies at the moment but the Old Mossy Wall Shawl is also gradually growing when time and inclination coincide. This is about a weeks worth of gentle paced knitting.

 

Amy calls this the 'mouldy old wall shawl' - she is most unimpressed by my colour choices but I think a mother and daughter probably should have different tastes in accessories and I'm quite pleased with how it's turning out.

Thanks again to everyone for the messages, emails and donations, I am so very grateful and truly moved by the support that everyone has shown.

Happy Easter

Just popping in briefly to wish you all a very happy Easter and to say a big thank you for all of the kind, compassionate and wise words on the previous post.

 

 

Sorry for recycling an old image, but I've not had the chance to take a new one! Hope you all enjoy an Easter day with those you love. We'll be having hot-cross buns, roast chicken with all the trimmings (Toby's favourite) and rather a lot of chocolate I suspect!

smiling

I have a big smile on my face today. And what has prompted my big smile? Well, it's this lovely little package...

 

It's always a delight to get a package in the mail, especially one that is so prettily wrapped and one that contains something eagerly anticipated, but not yet seen. I pulled one end of the gingham ribbon and revealed...

 

 

 

...the beautiful block that I won in Annie's lovely giveaway to celebrate her year of blogging. It comes from the very talented Fee who has some wonderfully desirable items in her shop Chipper Nelly.

 

I will treasure this block with its pretty vintage button and perfect-for-me-colours and will keep it on the shelves next to the computer, where I can see it every day. Like all of my other gathered treasures, it will prompt thoughts about the very best bits of blogging: of fellowship with people you've not met for real; of sharing interests, ideas and passions and celebrating all forms of creativity.

Thanks Annie and thanks Fee

 ....................................... x ............................................

 

PS: thanks for all of the kind comments on the little video of Toby in the previous post. I'm so glad that you all saw what I saw - that unbridled joy. It does make you laugh out loud to see him like that and such carefree, all-consuming pleasure and delight is infectious. I'm glad you enjoyed it too.

 ....................................... x ............................................

PPS: It's Mothers day here in the UK tomorrow, so best wishes to all you lovely mummies out there - hope you get breakfast in bed and a relaxing day!