Little Cotton Rabbits

Home comforts

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was the school half term break here last week and we had a fun time keeping Toby active and busy: lots of wood walks, tandem trike rides, swimming and rides on the mini steam train that he loves. Alongside our outdoor adventures there was also a little time for some indoor comforts: a couple of lazy lie-ins with knitting and tea in bed, quiet evenings by the fire and some baking of raspberry and white chocolate muffins - just the thing to come home to when you've had an afternoon in the breezy autumn woods :)

The shawl above is being knitted from Elizabeth Doherty's 'Rose Gold' pattern in sublimely soft 'Nomad' Yak DK yarn from The Wool Barn I'm hoping to finish off the lovely and unusual side-joined border this week and then it will need blocking (my least favourite part of handknitting) but with any luck I'll have it snuggled around my neck for our next wood walk, as woolly armour against those cool and intrusive autumn breezes.

I'm also busy with pattern writing, but more of that another time - for now I'll leave you with some of the pictures I've taken over the last 2 months of the fox that has been regularly visiting our garden since early spring, we've nicknamed her Kit (from kitsune) ...

 

 

An autumn fungi walk

 

 

Firstly thank you all so very much for your kind and thoughtful comments, emails and direct messages wishing Toby a happy birthday. He had a lovely afternoon full of the simple pleasures that make him happiest; balloons, cake, lego, sensory toys, curry for dinner, salted caramel ice-cream for pudding and a 'disco' in the evening - he likes dancing by himself with the lights off and the disco ball on. I popped a couple of pictures of him taken on his birthday at the end of the previous post.

Talking of simple pleasures, I indulged in one of my favourites earlier this week when I took myself off for an autumn wood walk. Because we've had a lot of rain here recently I thought that it might be a good year for fungi and I was not disapointed.  I have never seen quite so many different types out in the woods and spent a very happy 3 hours wandering around with my camera and getting wet, muddy knees at Danemead wood, Broxbourne common and Cowheath wood. There's a mix of habitats there: deciduous woodland with oaks and hornbeams; a large area of pine woods and small areas of heathland and it was very peaceful with just the sounds of birdsong and the breeze ruffling the treetops and persuading the dying leaves from the branches.

I tried to name all the different funghi but have given up because it's so hard to identify most of them. A few though are easy - like the yellow staghorn which looks like a fairy campfire glowing in the undergrowth; the false deathcap that has a weird almost luminous greenish glow and the iconic fairytale fly agaric with it's white spotted bright red cap. Each is beautiful in their own unique way, even though some are very poisonous!

There are also some great pictures I'd like to show you of the fox, who is still a regular garden visitor, but I think with all of these woodland pictures I've run out of space here today, so I'll save those for next time. Have a great weekend and if you get time please leave me a comment below and let me know what seasonal delights you're enjoying in your part of the world.

 

 

Eighteen

 

 

He may not be able to speak a word, dress himself, understand dangers or resist custard creams.

He may be awake each and every night, badly bite himself when stressed, strip all the beds 5 times a day and put everything he finds on the floor in his mouth.

He may need constant, vigilant supervision just to keep him safe and, due to the severity of his autism, will never be able to live independently, build a career or find a partner to love,

but,

He is one of the worlds truly innocent and gentle souls, free from malice, free from duplicity and wholly loveable and it is my greatest privilege to be his protector, his advocate and his mum,

Happy 18th birthday sweet Toby

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Thank you all so very much for your kind and thoughtful comments, emails and direct messages wishing Toby a happy birthday. He had a lovely afternoon full of the simple pleasures that make him happiest; balloons, cake, lego, sensory toys, curry for dinner, salted caramel ice-cream for pudding and a 'disco' in the evening - he likes dancing by himself with the lights off and the disco ball on!

Thank you again for all of your kind good wishes x

 

 

 

routines

 

 

 

 

 

Monday morning. It's nicely quiet and calm here and I've just finished my favourite breakfast of poached egg (thankyou Mrs chickens) on hot buttered toast with a pot of tea - a good start to any day. I had planned to be back here on the blog sooner but it has taken a little longer than expected to get Toby settled back at school and Amy moved into her new uni digs. At last though we are back into familiar routines - to some that might sound boringly monotonous but here routines are a welcomed necessity and help our little family function.

Toby is now in the sixth form at school and so doesn't wear uniform. As someone who takes great comfort in the visual clues that different outfits bring to his life, he has had a little difficulty adjusting but we've settled on familiar school shoes and black jogging bottoms paired with a colourful T shirt (previously strictly weekend wear) and a new grey hoodie, and he's now adapting. Amy has had some challenges with settling into her new digs after a summer of living at hotel mum & dad but is now (I think and hope) happy to be back at uni and ready for year 2.

Now that I have time to myself again I've been tidying the house and sorting out paperwork relating to Toby's transition from child to adult social services - lots of reading and research to do and a lot of planning too. Once I'm on top of the paperwork and have caught up with emails I'll be joyfully turning my full day-time attention back to knitting and pattern writing - I can't wait! I have so many ideas bouncing around my head and hastily scribbled in notebooks over the last 3 months and I'm looking forward to sharing them with you. A sneak peek of one of the free patterns I'm planning on sharing is above.

I'll be back soon with more knitting news, 'til then thanks for dropping in to visit with me,

J x

 

Scenes of Summer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hello! And sorry it's been so long. I just wanted to pop in briefly and say I am still here - it's just that here the school summer break is full on Toby time, and he remains my focus until school starts up again on September 4th. Even so I have had my camera handy and have captured some favourite moments from the last month...

• countryside walking - finding breathtakingly fabulous fields of jewel-bright poppies;
• sky watching - for clouds, techni-colour sunsets, vintage planes and the red kites that have recently moved into the area;
• bug finding - newly emerged ladybirds, hoverflies and swallow-tail moths;
• knitting - mostly socks because they are undemanding, but there are a few more things on my needles that I'll share soon;
• pic-nicing with Amy, revisiting Hatfield house (after our first visit this time last year) for a lovely day together;

Today it's pouring with much needed rain, so Toby and I are having a lazy day - he's watching cbeebies shows on tv and I'm writing this. If the weather is better tomorrow we'll be off on a welly-boot woodland adventure - it's good to get him out and about but overall he's coping pretty well with the lack of routine. I do think though that we'll both be ready for when school starts up again 3 weeks and once he's back into routines I'll have time to call mine again so I'll see you then with some updates on what I've been working on. Hope the rest of August is good for you xxx