Little Cotton Rabbits

A Panshanger picnic

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Tuesday, which looked like the best day of this week weather-wise, I took myself off for a picnic and my first solitary walk since March. Throughout the lockdown Toby and I have walked almost every day in his favourite woods, rain or shine (and sometimes very heavy rain), and the same route because sameness is a comfort to Toby and he has definite ideas about which paths to take in the woods so I am happy to let him lead. Walking so frequently in the same place as spring developed into summer has been fascinating - seeing the progression of greenery throughout the wood, the growth of different plants and emergence of different insects. But walking with Toby is all about his wants and needs and so there's not been time for the leisurely wandering that I like to do on my own with my camera in hand.

For my walk I head to Panshanger park, which is a nature reserve on the edge of Hertford. It's a wonderful site with the ruins of an old orangery (all that is left of a once grand country house); lots of ancient trees, including the famous one called the Panshanger oak and a system of lakes that are former gravel extraction sites now returned to nature and linked by River Mimram - a crystal clear and swift running chalk river. The park gets busy near to the carpark but once you work your way along the river and through the meadows you leave the picnicking families behind and it feels as though you are deep in natural countryside. I spent 4 hours there, wandering over 5 miles, stopping for a picnic lunch and taking my time to notice all of the natural wonders that can be seen by slowing down and paying attention. It was a wonderful tonic and I arrived home again tired, a little sunburnt (despite the lack of obvious sunshine) and feeling the peaceful contentment that I always rediscover when I've had a day out on my own in nature. So here are some photos of my day: the wandering pathways through frothy cow parsley and hog weed; the meadows full of wild flowers buzzing and chirrupping with thousands of insects; the cool and vibrant green-ness that banks the river course; the beautiful longhorn cattle that are now resident in the pastures and the wonderful variety of flowers, plants and bugs, some of them quite scary looking! I hope you enjoy them, I'll certainly enjoy looking at them again in the future, especially when I'm back to walks with Toby over the long summer break.

Well I hope your weekend brings you a little of what you love, and that you find the same peace and contentment that Panshanger brought me this week :)

 

New small sized clothing patterns

 

 

 

Hello there, it's been a while and I hope you're well.

It feels like I've been working on these patterns for a very long time indeed and they have to be the most stressful set of patterns that I've ever worked on - though not because the patterns are in any way complicated or difficult but because of the circumstances that they have been written under. For the last 4 months we've been in lockdown here, without the usual support of respite or school for Toby, and that has meant that his 24 hour constant care and supervision has been soley down to us. This has meant that I've had to grab small snippets of time to pattern write whenever they presented themselves to me and it's not the way I like to work at all, nor the most effective way of maintaining focus and concentration.

Anyway, Toby was invited back to school 10 days ago and after a bit of a wobbly start he's started to settle into the new routines. His school day is shorter than usual, but it has meant that I have had 4 hours and 30 minutes of uninterrupted concentration time with which to work on finalising these patterns and it's been such a relief to be able to achieve something again and finally get the patterns finished.

So here they are. They are all designed to fit the small 7 inch rabbit pattern (not the larger 9 inch animals),

• A dresses pattern with 20 different designs for the skirt and 3 options for the neckline;
• A sweaters pattern with a cabled Aran sweater; a top down cardi with a yoke;  3 top down raglan sweaters: a T shirt, a long-sleeved sweater and a cardigan; and a simple sweater with 10 designs to duplicate stitch on to the front;
• A dungarees and pinafore dress pattern.

I've decided to launch them altogether so that if anyone wants to purchase 2 or more at the same time they'll automatically get the 15% multi pattern discount. They are currently available via Ravelry or Etsy (the discount will apply as soon as you add at least 2 patterns to your basket)

Sorry that there are not more pictures of the small animals wearing these outfits, time has not allowed that yet but I am hoping to take some more pictures over these next 2 weeks, which is the only time that is left to get anything done before the 7 week school sumer break begins. I'm hoping that I'll also have a chance to finalise another pattern that I've been working on but it will depend on whether time is on my side :)

I'm looking forward to September when all being well,  I'll have a few more free hours to call my own and I can get out and about with my camera and write a little more here on the blog, I miss that. Until then stay safe and well where you are, with love and best wishes from me xxx

 

Choosing Yarns for the Little Cotton Rabbit Patterns, (part 2)

 

 

One of the challenges of writing a knitting pattern is that yarn manufacturers are constantly changing their collections - developing new yarns, discontinuing others and creating new colourways in existing yarns. It is impossible to keep up with these changes within the confines of a written pattern and so instead I've decided to write up some posts here on the blog with tips on choosing potential yarns for my little cotton rabbits patterns. The beauty of these notes being in a blog post here is that I can keep it updated as time goes on, so that if you check back in the future this post will hopefully reflect more accurately what yarns are available at that time.

For this post I'm going to focus on the yarns for the cotton 4ply/fingering weight yarns that I use for the clothes, there's already a post written about the yarns used for knitting the animal patterns here

Below I've compiled a list of my current favourite yarns for knitting the clothes in, along with descriptions of what in particular I like or dislike about them. For the most part I recommend 4 ply/fingering weight cotton yarns.

 

So, why cotton and why 4 ply/fingering weight?

There are a few reasons that the clothing is worked in a lighter weight yarn than that used for the animals.

• Firstly using a thinner yarn and smaller needles means that there are more stitches across a row to play with, meaning that designs can be more intricate and give a finer appearance than would be achieved by knitting the clothing in the same worsted weight yarn as the animals.
• Secondly, I like the contrast between the knitted fabric on the clothing and that of the animals - this is especially accentuated when the animal is worked in a fuzzy mohair blend yarn with the clothing in a smooth cotton. I particularly like using cotton yarn for colourwork patterns (using 2 or more colours) because with cotton yarns the stitch definition is crisp and the patterns look more defined.

Fingering weight (also known as 4ply) is a light weight yarn. Technically speaking it is designated as 'superfine 1' by the yarn standards from the Craft yarn council with 14 wraps per inch (meaning that if you wound it around say the handle of a wooden spoon so that there were no gaps between the strands there would be 14 wraps of yarn in an inch). In practice there is a great deal of variance between different yarns marketed as fingering weight and even different yarns from the same manufacturer vary surprisingly in thickness and knitted tension, let alone those between different manufacturers. FYI Ravelry has a really useful table with yarn weight comparisons.

 

A note on different cotton finishes:

Cotton yarns come in two different finishes:

1. A soft cotton which retains the natural properties of cotton. It behaves much more like a woollen yarn, with fibres which cause the stitches to bind together, resulting in a softer and more flexible knitted fabric. Many of these are produced from organic cotton (look out for organic certification)

2. Mercerised/mercerized cotton, which is a cotton yarn that has been treated under tension with caustic alkali (sodium hydroxide) and then neutalised in an acid bath in order to impart strength and lustre to the fibres. It tends to be a shiny, rigid yarn which is stiffer and more rope-like than natural cottons as any natural elasticity is removed. When knitted up the stitches stay distinct from eachother because of the lack of soft surface fibres.

Personally I am not a fan of mercerised yarn, it uses toxic chemicals in it's production process and I much prefer the knitted fabric that is created by natural soft and untreated cottons, preferably organically produced ones.

 

A note on comparing yarns:

Although there are industry standards for yarn weights in practice these are only a guide, and I'm sure that if you knit a lot you'll already have experienced anomalies. For instance Millamia naturally soft cotton that is mentioned below is classed as a 5ply/sportweight yarn and yet I find it thinner than most of the 4ply/fingering weight yarns. One way that I judge whether a yarn is likely to work is to compare the length of yarn per ball. Most of the yarns below come in 50gm balls so by comparing the yarn length per ball you can make an estimation of how thick or thin the yarn strand is (please note this only really works when comparing yarns of the same fibre - it would not work if you compare a cotton yarn with a woollen yarn).

So here's a little comparison of the yarns below, with thickness based on length per 50 gm ball, and listed from thickest strand to thinnest:

Yarn and colours must-have 4ply: 125m

Sheepjes Catona: 126m

DMC Natura Just Cotton: 155m

BCGarn Alba: 160m

Drops Safran: 161m

Krea deluxe: 165m

Millamia naturally soft cotton: 165m

Scheepjes Cotton 8: 170m

Scheepjes Sunkissed: 170m

KPC Gossyp: 180m

 

My favourite 4ply/fingering weight yarns for Little Cotton rabbit animal patterns:

Note, I've linked to the Ravelry pages for each of these yarns, as that way you'll be able to see projects made from the yarns, what others think of the yarns and also links to local stockists. At the bottom of each yarn description I've also linked to the manufacturers own website (where there is an SSL secure website).

 

 

BC Garn Alba

This yarn is my number one choice for knitting dresses and sweaters in. There's an array of beautiful subtle colours: softly muted pinks; warmly spiced mustards and misty chalky blues, along with some more vibrant, zingy shades too. The yarn is 100% organic cotton and ecologically produced with GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard) certification. It's a soft combed cotton, plied with a loose twist.

50gms: 160m (175 yds).

(unfortunately BC Garn's own website is currently not SSL secure so I'm not linking to it here)

 

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Krea Deluxe Organic cotton

This soft cotton yarn is a new discovery for me and I've only been using it for a few months, but it's very quickly become a favourite. It's organic cotton, GOTS-certified and produced in Europe (sown, grown and harvested without use of chemical pesticides and artificial fertiliser) and comes in the most amazing array of pastel shades in very subtle tones.

50gms: 165m (180yds)

Krea Deluxe website

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Drops Safran

This yarn is incredibly good value for money. Soft, S on S plied yarn which holds together well when worked with and it comes in a good usable range of colours. Actually designated 5ply, but is comparable to most of the yarns here designated as 4ply.

50gms; 161m (176 yds)

Drops website

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Scheepjes Cotton 8

A soft plied yarn, very good value and a great range of colours (mostly vibrant and bright shades). A little on the thin side.

50gms; 170m (186 yds)

Scheepjes website

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Scheepjes Sunkissed

Exactly the same as Scheepjes cotton 8 above, expect the sunkissed range is a variegated yarn - nice for extra interest. A soft plied cotton, a little on the thin side

50gms; 170m (186 yds)

Scheepjes website

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Millamia naturally soft cotton

This yarn seems to be classified as 5ply/sport weight (which is slightly thicker than 4ply) but I've actually found it thinner than most of the other cotton yarns mentioned here (see note above about comparing yarns).

Plied with a tight twist it comes in a rather limited range of mostly pastel colours.

50gms; 165m (180 yds)

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KPC gossyp 4ply cotton

Certified by the Organic Exchange, using cotton from certified organic cotton farms in China.

Soft cotton, plied and a little thinner than all others mentioned here and in a great range of colours

50gms: 180 m, (197 yds)

 

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DMC Natura Just Cotton

A great range of lovely colours but it is a splitty yarn (in that the strands easily separate which can make it slightly hard to work with and result in spilt strands) and it's slippery, so the ball has a frustrating tendancy to unwind and get easily tangled. I find it easiest to knit this with blunt rather than pointed tip needles. All cotton yarn, S on S plied.

50gms; 155m (170 yds)

DMC website

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Yarn and colours must-have

Smooth mercerised cotton,

Although this yarn is classed as 4ply/fingering weight (on Love crafts) it's more like 5ply (Ravelry's classification) I find it quite thick, so you might find that it's knitted in this come out a little larger.

This yarn comes in an amazing array of colours. It's also very useful that there are 2 ball sizes as you can collect your favourite shades in the larger 50gm balls and use the small 20gm balls for colour highlights - it's easy to build up a large palette of colours without having to spend a fortune. Good value.

20gms: 25m (27yds)

50gms: 125m (137 yds)

Yarn and colours website

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Scheepjes Catona / Scheepjes Catona Denim

Mercerised cotton yarn in a really great range of colours. It's classified as 4ply but is much more of a sport weight and is one of the thickest yarns mentioned here. I tend to use it for the dungarees and the shorts. It also comes in 10gm, 25gm and 100gm balls.

50gms: 126m (138 yds) / 124m (136yds)

Scheepjes website

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Other 4ply cotton yarn suggestions:

Lang Baby Cotton sport

Plied soft cotton, 181m (198yds)

 

Onion Organic cotton

Certified organic cotton, soft and plied, 155m (170yds)

 

 

A free supplement pattern

 

 

Hello and happy Friday,

Just a quick post today to let you know that I've uploaded a free downloadable supplement that shows you how to turn the T-shirt (or the long sleeved sweater) from my 'Trio of top down sweaters' pattern into a dress. You'll need to use the trio of sweaters pattern to make the top part and then use the free supplement to knit on a skirt - it's very simple and quite quick and gives a little extra choice in the Little Cotton Rabbits wardrobe :)

You can download the free pdf file either from Ravelry

or from my new Facebook group (it's in the 'files' section on the left-hand side of the screen along with the files for my other free patterns)

I hope you enjoy it and as always I'm looking forward to seeing your projects.

Best wishes for the weekend, I hope it's a good one for you xxx

 

A new facebook group

 

 

Hello, how are things with you?

Here we're plodding on with our small routines and trying not to panic too much at the thought that Toby may not go back to school until September. He's happy with walking in the woods every day but still getting frustrated at the lack of everything else that he enjoys and so the thought of another 15 weeks with no school, clubs, respite, McDonalds, swimming or mini steam train rides is a scary one, so let's not dwell on that!

I've been spending my early mornings pattern writing and have been making slow and steady progress. Now I need to work out the logistics of getting the step-by-step photos for them done - I suspect that as my hands are often busy elsewhere it will also be a long slow process! But I do hope to have 3 new clothing patterns for the small rabbits (7 inch size) soon - including a selection of dresses, sweaters and dungarees. I also have a free supplement pattern for the regular sized (9 inch) animals that is almost ready to share.

The other thing I've been spending my free time on is setting up an official Little Cotton Rabbits facebook group. I already have a lovely, friendly Ravelry group that is full of talented makers and it's been my plan for a while to try and set up a similar group over on facebook.

The fact that I've started my own group is not a criticsm or negative comment on the friendly group that already exists on facebook, but I do feel more comfortable spending time and sharing tips in a space that is all my own, and where I can control the look and feel of things. I also wanted a space where I can share the download files for my free patterns along with my personal making tips, special offers, pattern launches and the occassional yarn giveaway. At the moment there's not many members (although I'm so happy to already see some friendly and familiar faces) but I hope in time together we can build a friendly and supportive corner of the internet for people who enjoy using my patterns, if you'd like to come and join me there, and share any projects you've made from my patterns here is the link:

New Little Cotton Rabbits Facebook Group

Well, I'm off to squeeze in a little pattern writing time before Toby gets up. Hopefully I'll be back later in the week with that new free pattern supplement, see you then x