Little Cotton Rabbits

Long hot summer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you asked me when it last rained here I honestly wouldn't be able to come up with an answer - certainly it's been hot and dry for weeks. I'm old enough to remember the summer of 1976, in which the UK baked under endless blue skies and ended up with water shortages, drought and damage to crops and wildlife but being a small child at the time all that sticks in my mind was that we weren't allowed to fill up the little padding pool in the back garden. We're a way off from water shortages here at the moment but it has been so very hot and dry that crops, plants and wildlife are being affected.

Happily the robin family that have been nesting in our garage are OK and are enjoying regular deliveries of wax worms through the post (btw if you're looking for fresh live food for wild birds then I'd not hesitate to recommend The live food warehouse - their service has been brilliant, always next day delivery and free postage on orders over £5 - and this is not a sponsored mention, I'm just so pleased with them, having tried some other suppliers previously and been disappointed). The third batch of chicks have hatched and should fledge sometime next weekend. We think there are at least 3 but I've not managed to get a good look yet and don't want to disturb them. Mum and Dad robin are doing a great job though, having already fledged 9 chicks so far already this season.

Toby has been struggling with the heat - sleeping less well than usual, so we're all feeling a bit tired and frazzled and hoping for some slightly cooler weather - around 23c would be perfect if the weather gods are reading, oh and a little overnight rain would be good too. Most of my plants are suffering but I'm managing to keep watering with the dregs from the water butt and whatever the chicken doesn't drink each day. Not that I'm complaining about the weather, it's been glorious especially early in the morning and during the evening and we've been eating all of our meals in the garden. After breakfast and getting Toby off to school I've been heading to my favourite spot for morning knitting in Toby's swing chair. It's a lovely shady spot until around 11ish when I have to find somewhere else to knit as it's too hot in the full midday sun.

Talking of knitting, I'm making some progress with knitted things but don't have much to show yet other than lots of scribblings. I think I'm ready though to knit up samples for photographing and then I should be able to start to put this new pattern I'm working on together.

Well, that's all my news. I just wanted to pop in here and say hello because it had been so long since my previous post. Hope all is well in your corner of the world and you're enjoying whatever the seasons are bringing your way. See you soon x

 

Summer holiday kit (teenager style)

 

 

Well, I'm now the mum of a school leaver! Amy had her last A level exam yesterday and has officially left school.

When she was younger I used to love putting together a little summer holiday kit which I'd give to her when she got home on the last day of school term (here's some from earlier years: 2011, 2010, 2009). They were full of treats and fun things for the summer ahead and included a little collection of vouchers for activities that she could cash in with me. I've not done one for the most of the years that she's been at senior school as I felt that she thought it too babyish, but as this is the last summer before she goes off to uni I thought I'd re-instate the tradition, but with a teenage twist.

I'm using the same 'vouchers' that I made when she was 9 and am updating them with more suitable activities :

Pub lunch; Pimms picnic; walk in the woods followed by lunch at a local hand-made burger place; shopping trip... and it wouldn't be summer without strawberry picking, so there will definitely be a voucher for that too.

If you want to make some vouchers for your own children (no matter what their ages) there's a downloadable print-out that I made here: Download vouchers

It does feel odd to think that she'll not be living here from September. I'm not yet sure how I feel about that - it's an unfamiliar mix of excitement for her, mingled with concern, worry and hope. Like I say, an odd mix of feelings that I've not felt before. I'm certain that it's right for her to be going off to Uni and where she's going is the perfect Uni for her - it has such a friendly atmosphere and is not too big but it's got a vibrant student life and is only just outside London so she has many options for her free time. Anyway, life is speeding ahead so it will be here in an eye blink.

My other little family is doing well. The second nest-ful of robin chicks has fledged, though not as successfully this time. Two didn't make it, one dying during fledging probably due to an awkward landing and one was left dead in the nest. Of the three that have fledged two are still living in the garage and show no sign of wanting to leave, even though they fledged from the nest over a week ago. Meanwhile Mrs Robin has built a third nest - this time between two cans of paint on a shelf and Mr Robin is doing a good job of keeping his new offspring well fed, with a little help from me. I am so enjoying being a part of their little family and still find it a great privilege to be so trusted.

In knitting news I am still working on a new pattern, but progress is slow. I'll keep you posted here when it's ready and I also have a big batch of spring summer animals here that need my attention too - I'm not doing very well with time management at the moment and I think that I've had a harder time with Amy's a levels than she has! Hopefully I'll be feeling a little less anxious and a little more focused now they're all done.

 

 

 

Late May

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The days seem to be whizzing by at the moment and all of our schedules are up in the air here. Toby had his annual school play last week, which always throws our comfortable routines out of whack as he's off timetable and his school is open in the evening rather than the daytime for a couple of days. And this week is school half term break, so our days are continuing to have a slightly chaotic feel. Amy is deep in revision for her A levels and is on study leave. In 3 weeks time she'll have sat all of her exams and then she's done with her school years - it's almost incomprehensible how quickly those 14 years have passed, I still clearly remember her first day of school and it's got me feeling more nostalgic than usual.

Time has passed quickly for our robin family too. The chicks spent 3 weeks hanging around in our garden being fed mostly by their dad and now they've flown on and their mum is sitting on a new clutch of eggs in her nest in our garage. I did get a couple of pictures of them flitting about before they departed, they seem so unprepared for the world and I really hope that they do well and survive long enough to have chicks of their own.

As always, knitting is my constant and I've cast on too many new projects - most of them in blues. Do you find yourself drawn to certain colours at different times? It's definitely blue that is most appealing to me at the moment. These socks are coming along nicely and I'm hoping to keep my focus long enough to finish the pair and avoid the temptation to start something else new. The yarn is Eden cottage Hayton in 'Tarn' and Madeline Tosh twist light in 'paper' and the pattern is a free one - Fair Isle Flower sock by Candice DeWitt.

And I'm working these beautiful gradient mini skeins of Julie Asselin's Leizu 4ply into a shawl that reminds me of breaking waves, going as they do from deep sea blue to a foamy sea-spray light grey. This colourway set is called 'Oresund' and the shawl pattern is Pebble Beach by Helen Stewart.

There's also another blue yarned project that I'm working on at the moment but that needs some concentration, so I've had to put it on the back burner until after half term break when I'm able to call my time my own again. I look forward to showing you then :)

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Lastly, I'm sure you've been bombarded with emails about the new GDPR regulations brought into force by the EU on May 25th and so are aware that these govern how your information may be used and stored by others. In line with that I have written some new privacy policies that detail what information I collect, how I use it and what rights you have regarding that. I have not sent out an email to my mailing list as everyone on there is only there because they have requested to be and all of the emails that I do send (all 3 or 4 of them a year) have an easy way for you to manage your preferences and unsubscribe.

Any questions please get in touch.

 

 

Cosy knitting

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yesterday morning was bright and beautiful and I should have taken myself off for a walk but I am a bit hooked on knitting bunny heads at the moment, so I sat and knitted instead. It always happens when I find a new and particularly nice bunny knitting yarn and I'm having fun turning a big bag of yarn that I bought before Christmas into lots of animal heads. 

This particular yarn isn't just a single ball but a combination of 2 strands knitted together, both from a new brand called Willow and Lark. One is tweedy and rustic and has interesting flecks of subtle colour - Woodland, and the other is a thin strand of very fluffy blended mohair and silk - Plume. The nice thing is that there are similar shades in both different yarns so they match up perfectly. I've done the same thing in the past (with Rowan Felted tweed and Rowan Kid silk haze) and the two new Willow and Lark yarns are similar to those and combine beautifully to create a lovely knitted fabric that has texture, fuzz and subtle tones - in short perfect for bunny heads. I like the lovely halo that you get around their little ears and you can even brush the finished fabric to tease out extra mohair strands and increase the fuzziness.

The other reason I'm finding it a bit hard to step away from the knitting at the moment is because I want to release an updated version of the 2 rabbit patterns with a couple of extra head options, so I am knitting samples, tweaking a stitch here and there and making sure I'm happy with the instructions. I'll keep the blog here updated with news when the pattern is ready but it will be a free update.

So a sunny day passed by outside while I sat inside knitting, but by yesterday evening the winds were beginning to build in strength ahead of an overnight winter storm. Happily I was still snuggled up with tea and chocolate and feeling cosy. When I was a child I loved the sound of storms at night, it was thrilling and a bit scary. But being an adult and a homeowner puts an entirely different complexion on things and instead of lying there listening to the sounds of the storm and pretending that you're on an old-fashioned sailing ship with big sails and creaking decks, you're lying there wondering how many roof tiles are flying off and how expensive it will be to get the roof fixed.

Happily for us all of the roof tiles seem to be intact this morning, though we do have a couple of loose fence panels and the profile of the hill that I can see from my kitchen window looks somehow different, so there may be a tree or two down up there.

Hope the weather is calm and restful where you are and you have the chance to do something you enjoy sometime today x

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PS: Before I go I just wanted to say a big thank you to Feedspot for including this blog in their top 50 UK Knitting blogs. I'm in some very good company, so if you are a fan of knitting blogs then it might be worth visiting and seeing who else is included.

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Disclosure notice: 

Please be aware that I only write about and recommend yarns/products that

A. I've paid for with my own money and

B. I actually use in my projects

At the beginning of December I bought 2 of every shade suitable for bunny knitting and received the tote bag as part of a promotion that was running (a free bag with a minimum spend of £10 while stocks lasted). 

 

Happy New year

 

 

Hello, just wanted to pop in quickly to wish you a very happy start to 2018 and to share some of my favourite moments from 2017 (the usual mix of knitting, home and nature).

We're all in disarray here until later in the week, when the return to routines will smooth everything out again. Enjoy the beginning of your new year -  I hope it's a good one for us all, full of small and simple joys and plenty of gentle good times.