Little Cotton Rabbits

Koalas :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hello again, we're getting comfy with new routines here and I'm very happy to say that Toby has exceeded all of our expectations and has settled well at his new college. He's now had 2 full weeks and has already started to get used to the rhythm of the days. All of which is such a huge relief, I was so very nervous about this big step for him and based on previous experience I'd really not expected it to go as well as it has.

With Toby sorted, I'm starting to get myself sorted out too and into work time routines and I've just finished off 3 new patterns that have been in my workbasket for most of this year.

There are 2 patterns for Koalas:

• one which comes with a naked body and a removable outfit that includes 2 sweaters and a pair of shorts;
• and the other which comes with knitted on shoes and knickers and a choice of 2 removable dresses.

I’ve also got a new sweater pattern that has one basic shape (with plain stocking stitch back and sleeves) and has 6 different options for the front design. They're available now on both

Ravelry and Etsy

 

Finally, because I’m celebrating my 15th anniversary of starting my blog, I’m offering a 25% discount on all of my patterns from today until the end of September - this is available on all patterns on both (sorry it's now expired)

To keep the 15th anniversary celebration of starting my blog going I will also be having an animal giveaway soonish, but I need to take some photos for that, so I'll keep you posted with details when those are done.

 

snapshots from summer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hello again, it's been too long. The mid summer months are mostly taken up with family time here and I've been busy keeping Toby occupied and helping Amy get organised and moved back in here with us after finishing her degree. Above are a few snapshots of my summer: enjoying the warm sun; peaceful sky watching; finding different garden visitors; watching dramatic storms and grateful to be inside, and delighting in the the lovely Hertfordshire countryside.

There has been also a little time for knitting shoe-horned in too, as you'll see in the first picture above, and since finishing the dogs pattern back in May I've been having fun gradually developing this new 'little Cotton Rabbits' character, (hopefully you can tell it's a Koala). The pattern is all written up but until Toby is settled in his new placement at college I'll not have the chance to take all the pattern photos. It is coming along nicely though so I'll keep you posted when it's ready to share.

With Toby starting at college on Monday I'm a bit anxious and occupied with trying to make that go as smoothly as possible, but I'll be popping back as soon as the dust settles with knitting news and a celebratory giveaway because today is my 15th anniversary of starting this blog!

See you again soon xx

Mid-summer picnicing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today is Toby's last ever day at school. Fifteen years in the same severe learning difficulty school is a long time and it's hard to know how he'll react to not going there again. In many ways it feels like we are sailing into uncharted waters, I just hope we don't lose the paddle along the way :)

With the long summer break on the horizon, I decided to make the most of the last few weeks of familiar routines to go on a couple of solo mini adventures with my rucksack and camera. We've had perfect growing conditions here this year and the countryside around us is so green with lush summer growth. There are summer flowers everywhere: wild honeysuckle, cow parsley, daisies and buttercups.  Fruit is swelling on the trees and the brambles are thickly tangled, studded with flowers and busy with bees. So many of the things that I love about our local countryside. I also love picnics and am happy to have had five of them recently, including two lovely ones down in Surrey with Amy, who is staying in her uni digs until the end August. We're very proud of her as she's done really well in the finals of her English and creative writing degree, getting a 2:1 mark and is now looking for her first full time job, not an easy task in these chaotic times, but hopefully something will come along.

I hope to post periodically over the summer break, but might not manage to be here very much until the autumn. I will definitely be back though to celebrate my 15th year of blogging in early September. I hope you have a good couple of months, J xxx

 

Pictures taken at Tewin Orchard, July 2021

 

A couple of little free things

 

 

Hello and happy Tuesday. Over here I've been enjoying knitting again and have been finishing off a few ideas that I started playing around with while I was working on the dogs pattern. There's a pattern for a little dog bone, which can be knitted with 4ply yarn on 2.75mm needles or DK/worsted weight yarn on 3mm needles and will fit in the pocket of my toy dungarees pattern. It might make a sweet little accessory for your knitted dog to carry around in a pocket or backpack.

There's also a free chart that you could add to the front of a plain sweater using duplicate stitch. If you're new to the duplicate stitch technique I have a tutorial on how to work it over in my tutorials section of the blog.

You can download a copy of the little bone pattern from Ravelry and the chart can be downloaded here. I've also uploaded both files to the Little Cotton Rabbits Facebook group so you can access and download the files from there too.

I like providing little free patterns from time to time, it's my way of saying thank you to all of my lovely customers (please note that you can find all of my free patterns and supplements over on Ravelry and in the files on the facebook group) and I really hope you have fun with these two new freebies,

J xxx

 

 

Many thanks

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you so, so much for the host of kind, compassionate and wise comments, messages and emails that you've sent me in response to my previous post. The personal stories and experiences that have been shared help me enormously, and such a kind outpouring of friendship and support from everyone has buoyed me up no end. I will go back and read over the comments on that post, as I often do with the comments on similar posts that I've written in the past, and I know that every kind and heartfelt word of advice, encouragement and support will help me with future challenges too and guide our thinking as we go forward.

What a wonderful thing the internet is in this regard - that it can connect people and provide a space to reach out to one another. Some of the best and most useful advice that I've ever received on parenting Toby over the years has been graciously given in comments here on the blog, and I'm so very grateful to everyone who has taken the time to write. Thank you, thank you, a thousand thank yous xx

Toby remains settled and content with school still underpinning his weekly routine and I'm currently giving myself some time off from things that require lots of concentration, like paperwork and pattern writing, and instead going with what takes my fancy at the time. I suppose it's a kind of holiday-at-home. I've been reading more and listening to music and sometimes just sitting in the garden doing nothing other than cloud watching and listening to the birds. It feels good. 

We share our garden with lots of visitors and I take a lot of pleasure from their visits. In the past we've had orphaned hedgehogs, blackbirds, friendly robins and more recently a couple of squirrels, a family of blue-tits and our resident fox, Kit. She's really made our garden her personal space and though she doesn't visit every day, she's often to be found waiting for me first thing in the morning, either sitting outside the back door, napping on top of the woodshed or stretched out sunbathing on the garden table. I feel very privileged to have been adopted by her.

I have been knitting a little too and making bodies for many of the dog heads that I knitted up for the pattern photos. I'd like to have a giveaway with some of those, so I'll be taking some pictures and posting about that soon. And tomorrow I'm off to Surrey to spend the day with Amy - she went back to her uni accommodation last month after spending the winter lockdown here with us while she finished her final pieces for her degree. While she's waiting for her results she's getting herself sorted out for the next stage in her life, which will hopefully include a job soon.

Thank you again for allowing me to share a little of life beyond the knitting here, I'm never fully sure before I click 'publish' on such a post how it will be received, and am quite overwhelmed still at the enormity of the kind response, you have my deepest gratitude x