Little Cotton Rabbits

Happy Easter / Spring :)

 

 

Thank you so much for all of the kind comments and messages from the previous post. As a couple of you rightly said, the rough patch will pass and Toby will be a little more calm and settled once again - hopefully soon. Anyway, I do really appreciate all of the kindness that you sent my way, thank you again for that.

This little bunny was made as a thank you gift for someone who has been very kind and helpful to me, but she has had quite a long and drawn-out journey from the northern hemisphere to the southern (what on earth is going on with the postal services at the moment?). At last however she has arrived safely and happily just in time for this special time of year.

Whatever your plans, whether you're celebrating a festival as part of your faith, delighting in the beauties of nature as the seasons change or simply enjoying a few extra days of free time to call your own, I hope you have a lovely weekend with plenty of peace and small pleasures. My plans include setting my alarm for 6am tomorrow and heading out with my breakfast in my rucksack for a quiet dawn walk on my own with my camera, hopefully to get some pictures of the blackthorn blossom which is decorating the hedgerows so beautifully at the moment, J x

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Just in case anyone wants to know:

The bunny is knitted in Camarose Snefnug yarn (one of my current fluffy favourites) with clothes in Krea Deluxe organic cotton. The lace dress is from my 'textured dresses pattern', the colour-work dress is the one that comes with the lamb pattern, and the basket is from my toy bags pattern.

 

Early April, mostly in pictures

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Words have been eluding me a little lately. Toby has been going through a bad patch behaviourally and I'm feeling a little tired and depleted. Happily Spring is now in full swing and the progression of colour throughout the countryside is providing many small delights. Being out with my camera always lifts my spirits and I hope these photos are a pleasure for you to see too. And Kit visiting again is such a joy. She's been here once or twice a week and is no longer pregnant so hopefully there are some healthy growing cubs hidden somewhere safe nearby. You can see in the second picture of her that part of her belly fur has gone, I've been trying to read up on whether it's related to her recently giving birth - maybe kind of a 'brood patch' as the cubs can't temperature regulate for the first 3 weeks of life. If anyone knows the answer please do let me know.

Progress is being made with the horse pattern but it's slow going at the moment as we're now in the Easter break from college so I'm not getting much time to work on it. Hopefully I'll have something ready to show you in a few weeks time.

Hope that you're finding some small delights in your days too, J x

 

More spring signals

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Although the trees are currently still skeletal and bare-branched, there are a few more signs that spring is just around the corner. Last summer the old plum tree in our garden had to have a heavy pruning because some of the branches were creaking badly and cracking under the weight of the plum harvest, but even so it is currently delighting both me and the bumble bees that are emerging from hibernation with it's blossom. It is such a beautiful herald of the change in seasons. There are catkins everywhere and daffodils too and I'm looking forward to going out with my camera next week in search of those, and hopefully the first of the blackthorn blossom.

Thanks for all of the comments on my winter mice giveaway post. I've notified the winners and the mice are both packaged up and currently travelling to their new homes, one in the North of England and the other a little further away in Tasmania! I will be having more giveaways later in the year so I better get on with making some more animals and also finishing off my horse pattern, can't wait to share that with you in the spring :)

Hope you have a good weekend coming up. See you soon, J x

 

Anniversary giveaway no. 2

 

 

 

Well, this is a little later than planned, but here is my 2nd giveaway for my special anniversary year.

There are two prizes in this giveaway: two little mice all snuggled up against the cold wintery winds that we have here this week; one in a removable dress, cardigan and scarf with knitted on stockings and shoes and one with removable sweater, shorts and pom-pom scarf.

The first prize winner gets to pick which of these 2 mice they would like, and the second prize winner gets the remaining mouse.

The prize draw is open to anyone, anywhere and I will post out the gift-wrapped prizes in sturdy cardboard boxes via Royal Mail track and trace postage.

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To enter the draw:

As usual I'll use a random number generator to pick the two winners, so to be in with a chance of winning one of these two mice please leave a comment on this post, you can simply write enter, or if you have time to spare tell me about something that is making you happy at the moment.

Important note: Only comments left on this post will be counted in the draw If you are reading this on a blog reader or an email then the actual post is here: https://littlecottonrabbits.typepad.co.uk/my_weblog/2023/03/anniversary-giveaway-no-2.html 

I'm not able to add in comments sent by email, left on a blog reading service or on any location other than this blog post.

Can I also please ask that you only post once in the draw in order to give everyone a fair and equal chance. Thanks for your kind understanding of these conditions of entry in this free prize draw.

I'll draw the two winners on Monday March 13th 2023 and will update this post with the winner names.

Please also note I am reversing the flow of the comments whilst comments are open so that people can immediately see whether their comment has posted (new comments will be first) and so your comment number will be constantly changing as more new comments are added. Once the draw has closed on monday I will change the flow of comments so that they begin with the first one left on the post and end on the last one - this will be when your comment will be allocated the unique number for the draw.

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I had fun making the scarf for the mouse in a sweater and thought I'd share how I did so in case you'd like to make one too:

I used two 4mm DPNs (double pointed needles) and bulky yarn to knit a 4 stitch i-cord (i-cord tutorials are easily found on your tube) to a length of around 35cms / 14 inches (enough to fit around the neck of your animal with sufficient dangle left over). Then I made 2 small pom-poms using a fork - it's handy as you can thread a strong cord through the tines to tightly tie the middle of the pom-pom before cutting the edges and freeing it from the fork. After cutting I trimmed them to make neat balls, then lightly steamed them over a pan of water to encourage them to full poufiness.

 

 

 

 

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Edited to add: Comments are now closed, 2pm, Monday 13th March

Here are the winners, I've emailed both and am waiting to hear back,  J x

203  Bernice said...

Oh Julie, such a sweet little chap to give away. Yours was the first blog I ever started to follow and after all these years, it's still my gp to read. Thank you for sharing your creative genius. It is always a pleasure.

March 06, 2023 at 01:11 PM

 

1009 Cathy Bodini said...

My happiness , at the moment, is because my bestie is soon flying over to visit me for 5 days.

March 06, 2023 at 09:05 PM

 

The first signs of spring

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Firstly, thank you so much for all the kindness in your messages from my previous post, the words you have gifted to me have been like a big warm hug.

In my journal of happy things Kit is still featuring, not daily, but every 2 or 3 days she's arrived for snacks and without a doubt she is pregnant. Twice her mate has accompanied her but he's very shy and has bolted for the bushes as soon as he's seen us. I've also jotted about the early evening sky, made beautiful by the planets Venus and Jupiter being so very bright and visible low in the sky to the west just after sunset.  I am hoping that we get clear skies on March 1st when they come close together, I love a bit of star and planet gazing - search 'Venus Jupiter conjunction' if you're interested in seeing the spectacle in your part of the world.

Out on my own in the woods I've been paying attention and noticing the tiniest details that show the shift in the seasons from winter to spring. Despite the recent sharp frosts there are tree buds swelling on the branches and the first emergence of catkins, but a carpet of snowdrops in a local wood is the most emphatic sign of change. These hardy little plants are such a hopeful sight, pushing their blunt tipped leaves through frosted soil throughout January to produce such delicate bell-like flowers each February. They're beautiful en masse and when they tremble in the cold wind on a breezy day it looks like the whole woodland floor is shimmering. And drifting down from the bare branches overhead come symphonies sung by small birds - being in a snowdrop carpeted wood is one of my favourite natural pleasures.

It's been a cold winter this year, so spring will be a while yet but it's been nice to embrace the last weeks of winter by curling up in the warm to work on new patterns. The horse pattern is coming along nicely and I'm now working on a cow pattern too. I will show you some pictures when I've ironed out some of the wrinkles. I'm also putting the finishing touches to a couple of mice that I'll be giving away. I've been holding off on this because of the disarray of the international post (Royal mail has suspended international deliveries throughout January) but now it looks like the situation is resolved I'll post about the giveaway soon. See you again when they're ready.