Little Cotton Rabbits

Ten years and a giveaway

Ten years ago today, on September 3rd 2006 my four year old son Toby was about to start school. It was a big deal for me because not only is he severely autistic but I was ending a six year period of being a constant stay-at-home mum and I wasn't entirely sure what to do with my days.

To counter my anxiety at whether he'd cope with the dramatic change and to keep my mind occupied I wrote my very first blog post and so embarked on a journey which has meandered and rambled over the last decade to arrive at this very point here.

When I began I had no plan or any real aims. I was simply looking for a little online companionship and something to keep me from feeling isolated and anxious about Toby and all of the challenges he continues to face. Well, I found that and so very much more. I've made friends both near and far, both online and in person. I've been on the receiving end of the most wonderful encouragement and compliments for my knitted makes and over the years have been lucky to have sold and sent off many of my knitted animals to all corners of the world. And more recently I've had a fabulous reception for my range of knitting patterns. In short I feel so incredibly blessed and lucky to have stumbled in here and found such a wonderfully supportive community.

 

 

To celebrate my anniversary I am having a giveaway of two animals. The 2 winners can choose an animal each from the batch I have almost finished which will also come with a change of clothes and a little suitcase to keep them in. To be in with a chance of winning one of the two animals in the giveaway please just leave me a comment on this post. The giveaway will close on September 12th and I'll use a random number generator to pick the two winners on September 13th.

 

 

 

As a thank you to all the knitters who visit with me I also have a special discount code which for the next 3 days (ending on September 5th) will get you 25% off any of my patterns:

TEN25

So if you've been meaning to try one of my patterns or if there's one you'd like to add to your collection then please just enter the above code at the checkout either on Ravelry or on Etsy (please note that you will have to enter the code in order for the discount to be applied). If you want to use the coupon code here on my shop please note that you will have to use the 'add to cart' function and not the 'buy now' in order to enter the coupon code.    Sorry, the offer has now expired

I've covered a lot of blogging ground over the last 10 years and had planned to show you some of my favourite moments and pictures but there are too many to know where to start. So instead here are some of the changes of look my blog has had and a few stats...

2006

2010

2012

 

 

10 years of blog stats:  7,832,269 total page hits, 703 posts and 36,917 comments

When I think about ten years passing it seems to have gone so very quickly. But when I look back at the photo taken on the morning of Toby's first school day (September 4th 2006) and how tiny Amy and Toby were, it feels like such a long time ago and really shows how much has changed.

 

So, as I start my second decade of blogging I'd like to say a huge thank you to everyone who visits me here, especially those of you who take the time to leave a comment and those of you who buy my patterns and finished work. It means so very much to have your kind support, thank you xxx

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Please leave a comment below to be entered into the giveaway draw. Comments will be closed on the morning of September 13th and two winners will be drawn by random number selection.

Thanks so much for all the comments! The competition draw is now closed and the winning numbers are 107 which is Justpootling and 2018 which is Maggie Richardson.

Because there were so many comments I decided to give an extra animal away and the random number generator picked 1703 which is modestine.

A Christmassy giveaway

It pains me to say it, but I have to admit defeat on finishing off the batch of seasonal themed animals. Time has not been on my side and I have a heap of unfinished animals here and not enough hours left to finish them before last posting dates arrive. So instead I'm going to give away the little Christmas mouse who is the only fully finished one of the batch.

 

 

To be in with a chance of winning her please just leave a comment on this post and I'll use a random number generator to pick a winner next Tuesday (December 8th).

If you were hoping to have one of my animals I'm sorry to disappoint but I'll be working on a batch now to have ready before Easter so I'll keep you posted on progress with those. I'll also be working on a new pattern in the new year and will keep the blog updated with news of that. As always, if you want to get advance email notice of any of my finished projects and patterns then please send me an email and I'll add you to my mailing list.

Thanks x

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PS: If you wanted to knit your own little mouse like this one it is just a combination of my girl mouse pattern with the reindeer dress from my 'seasonal dresses' pattern (slightly modified to work the body in brown and the antlers in grey). All of my patterns are available on either Ravelry or Etsy

 

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The random number generator has picked number 33, which is Lauren H.

Thanks so very much to all those who took the time to enter. I hope to have at least 1 more giveaway in 2016 and will keep you posted.

a 'better late than never' giveaway

 

 

Firstly, thank you so much for all of the messages about my finger. Happily the hefty dose of antibiotics did the trick and kept me out of hospital and I now have a normal looking finger again which can bend and, most importantly, knit (hooray!). Never again will I have complete faith in antibacterial hand soap - I now have an industrial sized pack of latex gloves and put a pair on every time I go into the chicken run.

Now, on to the purpose of this post...

On September 4th of this year I started my 10th year of blogging and it has become my tradition to host a little giveaway to mark these anniversaries. Writing a blog is a mostly self-indulgent act, a way to record passing moments that would otherwise fade and be forgotten but truthfully it would be an empty pursuit without the comments, emails, encouragement and friendship that all of you bring with you as readers. So thank you all so very much for visiting here with me, for taking the time to leave me a comment, for encouraging me, supporting me in my little knitting business and for generally helping me to stay up-beat and positive in the face of a challenging home life.

As always I've pondered ways of putting my thanks into a tangible form and as usual I've not really found a solution. I have however written up a small free pattern for a little capelet to fit the knitted animal patterns* which you can download directly from the link.

 

 

There is also an open draw with 2 prizes of a knitted animal. The two winners can take their pick of the latest batch of knitted animals that I am just finishing off and I'll include with each an extra outfit and a little suitcase to store the extra clothes in.

 

 

In order to enter the draw to win one of the 2 animals please just leave a comment below. You can write anything you like but I'd most like to read about anything that makes you happy so if you have time to tell me then please do. If you're busy and still want to enter then just say hi, it won't make any difference to the draw as I'll use a random number generator to pick 2 random winners from the comments on this post and I'll happily post the animals anywhere in the world. The draw will close on Wednesday 30th September and I'll then write about the winners and about the next batch of animals that I'll have available soon.

Hope you have a good week and again my sincere thanks for dropping by to visit with me x

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* There are some other free supplement patterns too. You can find my entire current pattern range over on Ravelry and I'll be adding more patterns soon.

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PS: The suitcases and the clothes rack are made by Maileg and I bought these ones from Bijou Lifestyle - a lovely little on-line shop with lots of tempting things! The coat-hangers I made myself from garden wire.

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Post Update, October 2nd 2015: The random number generator was used and came up with the following 2 numbers:

322

Denise said...

Julie, your blog makes me happy. To see how your family supports each other and interacts with Toby makes me smile. I have a sister with Down Syndrome who lives between my other sister and I. Your story makes me a better sister and caregiver to her. Keep up the wonderful work. I have one wish.... That I could remember how to knit as I did as a child. Now that there is a grandchild, I will have to try again so I could make her one of your adorable critters.
Thanks for the chance to win one!! September 23, 2015 at 02:40 PM

 

1245

Catherine Small said...

Happy anniversary! Planning, anticipating and starting a new craft project makes me feel happy! (Finishing them, makes me feel virtuous.) September 29, 2015 at 08:17 AM

I'll be back soon with pictures of the animals that they chose as their prizes and news of the little batch that are almost finished and ready to find new homes.

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Just to note, there's a bit of a glitch with the comments displaying properly. After the first page of 100 comments you have to click 'show more comments' to see the next 100 and at this point the numbers after comment number 98 will be out by one digit because of an erroneous glitch which pops up at number 98, which then incorrectly boosts all subsequent comments up a number.

There are a total of 1332 comments entered in the draw, so if you want to view them all and see your comment then please follow this link.

Giveaway time, at last :)

As mentioned over a month ago, I have just celebrated the start of my 9th blogging year!

I published my first blog post in September 2006 on the day before Toby started school - he was still 4 years old and much, much tinier than he is today! Amy was 6 and loved Disney princesses, colouring books and ballet. One of the first bunnies that I made for her was a ballerina bunny so it seems appropriate to bring that into this giveaway.

For all of you knitters out there I've written up a free supplement pattern for any of the girl animal patterns. It has instructions for a ballerina wrap cardigan and a simple circular net tutu. If you've bought a copy of any of my animal patterns and you'd like to knit up a ballet outfit for them you can download a copy here.

 

 

For all of you non-knitters, I am giving away the two ballerina animals pictured above, one to each of two winners.

To enter the giveaway just leave a comment on this post and let me know what things are making you happy at the moment. I'll leave the post up until next Thursday (October 23rd) at which time I'll use a random number generator to pick two winners - the first number picked will be given the choice of the rabbit or the elephant so I'm afraid the 2nd winner will have to settle for whichever animal is left.

Thanks again for visiting here with me. Whether you're a new visitor or one who has been with me on my little blogging journey since the beginning, I really appreciate you stopping by. I'll leave you with a picture of some ballerina bunnies that I made back in 2006 and my lovely girl as she once was (now she's all eye-linered up and clad in black with purple Doc Martens - how times have changed).

 

 

 

PS: Just a quick note to say that if you are a knitter and want to enter the giveaway for the 2 animals, that's absolutely fine - I didn't mean to make it sound as if you weren't allowed x

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Thanks so much to everyone who entered the giveaway drawing. The random number generator picked numbers 257 which is Caroline Roberts and 926 which is Wanda (the winners have been notified).

 

7 years

Hello again. It's nice to be back now that the children are at school again. It's been longer than I planned since I popped in here and I had intended to write another couple of blog posts over the school summer hols but circumstances conspired to keep me away from the computer. I will write up a post soon about my summer knitting exploits but today is a special day as it is my blog anniversary - it was exactly seven years ago today that I first dipped my toe into bloggy waters.

At the time I didn't have any long term plans for the blog. All I wanted was a distraction from worrying about Toby (who was having his very first day of school), a way of connecting with other people who like to make things (because it appears that none of them live very near me) and maybe a way of selling a few knitted things so that I had an excuse to keep making them. I count myself extremely lucky to have had all 3 of those wishes come true and so much more besides. I've made real life friends through this little blog, built a small business which does indeed allow me to justify buying lots of yarn and knitting each and every day and I have a lovely place to come to escape from some of the worries about Toby's future.

But all this would not have been possible without you - all you lovely visitors who pop in and say Hi, offer encouragement, support and generally just make me feel happy and part of a like-minded community.

As a small thank you I am giving away the two bunnies above (called Candy and Coco). To be in with a chance of winning one of them just leave me a comment below and tell me something you like to do with your free-time. I'll pick 2 winners using a random number generator a week today (Tuesday 10th September)

I'm also giving away a free supplement to my bunny girl/seasonal dresses knitting patterns. This is for the dress design on the bunnies above and includes charted and written instructions (please note that you will need one of my patterns as the supplement is just the design notes rather than the full instructions for the dress construction). If you'd like a copy you can download it for free here.

Thanks again for continuing to visit with me and for all of your lovely comments over the last 7 years, I hope you'll stick around for a while longer x

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As always after the long summer holidays I am woefully behind with replying to emails. I hope to catch up over the next week, sorry if you are waiting to hear back from me.