Little Cotton Rabbits

a little sun and some strawberries

Thanks for the good wishes. Things are a little brighter on all fronts today. The weather has improved a little and Amy & I have dodged the intermittent showers to head off to the pick-your-own-farm.

We picked 4lbs of strawberries and then came back home for our annual jam making session. Unfortunately, I've got it into the jars a bit too soon and now it's cooling I can see it's not fully set so tomorrow it will have to go back in the pan for another 5 minutes of boiling - I find it really hard to judge when it's just right! Once we have it back in the jars again we're planning to make some bread to go with it.

In the meantime Toby has been a little happier after a good bout of swinging in the garden.

The weather is looking brighter for next week so hopefully we'll get the chance to squeeze in that overnight camp-out. Enjoy your weekend whatever the weather with you!

weeks 3 & 4...

...have come and gone and are really best forgotten about. The weather has been mostly wet and windy which has meant postponing many of the plans we had for outdoor activities. Toby has been extremely agitated with lots of aggressive, self harming tantrums and we're not really sure why. It could be the lack of routine or not being able to play in the sunshine or he might be feeling unwell - it's always a guessing game with him, although no-one in our household (and probably our neighbours too judging by the amount of screaming he's done) has been left in any doubt that he's a very unhappy boy right now. When he's like this he needs constant attention so there's not really been much time for knitting which has meant my little bag of lovely new yarn that I treated myself to a few weeks back is still waiting to be got stuck into. 

I'm hoping that the next 3 weeks bring a bit of dry sunniness so we can have some fun outside before school starts again. Amy is desperate to camp out over night and I'm sure that a garden day with a little paddling pool action will improve Toby's mood no end! I know that dipping into that bag for a little knitting in the sun would make me a happy bunny! Still, it does make me glad that we're not away on holiday at the moment as life would be much harder if we were dealing with Toby like this in unfamiliar surroundings. There is always something comforting about home, even when things aren't as relaxed as you'd like them to be.

sacrifice

Thanks to lots of rain over the last few days things are continuing to grow and ripen quickly here in our garden. Although I think it's also partly due to an acquired bit of veg growing wisdom that I picked up from various books and blogs - the practice of companion planting sacrificial plants.

I've been growning nasturtiums and borage both of which are incredibly easy and cheap to grow from seed and are self replenishing as they set seed very well and so you have a free crop for next year. These are both now crawling with blackfly, aphids and caterpillars while my tomatoes, beans and raspberries are completely bug free and growing delicious crops.

There's another benefit too as there's a little ecosystem developing with ladybirds, lacewings and hoverflies all swooping in to feed on the blackfly banquet. It feels good not to be spraying chemicals all over the garden and instead trusting in nature to keep my crops safe from mini-munchers and I love showing Amy the interaction between all the insects. We especially like ladybirds and can trace the entire lifecycle of the 7 spot under our very noses...

...from larvae...

...to pupae...

...to adult...

 

If you're growing any fruit or veg yourself then I'd definitely recommend planting some sacraficial companion plants alongside them - there's a good list here.

wet weekend

It's pouring with rain here, so there's no chance of knitting in a sunny garden today. Still, I have managed a little crochet inside and I've now finished 3 of the 4 crochet cushions that I'm working on. I really like the first one (on the left), I'm quite pleased with the second one (on the right) but I'm not sure about the 3rd one (in the middle). It doesn't bode well for the 4th one and I've run out of steam a bit - hopefully it will look ok when I eventually finish it!

(1, 2 & 4 are based on Attic 24's summer garden granny and the 3rd is Jan Eaton's square target granny from her book '200 Crochet Blocks')

week 2

The summer hols are continuing happily here with everyone still in good humour! The highlights of our second week have again been water-based with a lovely day at the seaside (West Wittering in West Sussex) with Grandparents, Cousins and Auntie.

There has also been some splashing back at home in the paddling pool - not quite as exciting but still fun, especially with a garden hose!

We've also had some rain this week which has been great for the garden and everything is growing fabulously. I'm still enjoying getting to grips with the camera which has resulted in far too many photos being taken around here!

We're quite enjoying the relaxed pace of summer, with a few days out and about thrown in to prevent bordeom setting in. I'm at my happiest though when I get to grab a little time in the garden with my knitting or crochet and have a new favourite corner by the shed where I've been sitting on my newly-finished cushions and an old chair that was my Grandparent's.

With any luck I'll be spending a little of my weekend there - hope you get the chance to do something you like to do this weekend x

snappy happy

Our new camera has made me very happy today. I've never had one with a proper zoom lens before and I've had lots of fun snapping away at things in the garden and learning how to use it while the children play.

I'm also very happy that I let this one onion plant flower instead of chopping off the stem in order to grow a fat onion - the flower is rather beautiful and is getting lots of attention from the hoverflies.

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Thanks for the kind comments. The new camera is a Panasonic lumix DMC FZ38.

week 1

Our summer hols have got off to a good start here, with the highlight of the first week being the discovery of a new playground. Although it's a half hour drive each way it's been worth the trip as it's a playground with a difference - an aqua one. All the equipment sprays, mists or sheets water - the perfect sensory playground for Toby and it was free!

 

I expect that it gets really busy in hot, sunny weather but we went while it was cloudy and found it quiet. It's the perfect place for both the children to play together in safety and a good place to try out our new camera!

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PS: a big Thank you to Sue at Hello Gorgeous for featuring me on her Twenty Question Tuesday x

Summer holiday prep

Well, here we are again, on the cusp of the long, long, long summer break. Surely it wasn't a year since the last one - it certainly doesn't seem like it!

We're staying at home again for the duration, as a holiday away with Toby is just out of the question. So poor old Amy is feeling a bit hard done by, as all of her friends are chatting about holidays abroad. I've been making plans to keep the children occupied, Toby will be content with a new box of lego (he chews it and then gets cross that it doesn't fit together properly so some new bits will make him a happy boy) and some dry weather so he can play in the garden. It's a little harder trying to keep Amy busy but, like last year I've put together a summer holiday kit with colouring books, a dvd and a new game for the Wii and some summer holiday vouchers for activities that we can do together.

 

I've filled out my vouchers with a cinema trip, shopping trip with some spending money, a day at Legoland, strawberry picking & jam making, a camp-out in the garden, lunch at a restaurant, a trip to a London Museum (probably the Science Museum), a picnic at the park, a sweetie making session and a fish & chip supper.

Hopefully the holiday kit will make up a little for not going away and we can have some fun days and make her some happy memories. If you wanted to print out some summer holiday vouchers for your children I've uploaded a pdf file. This year I've designed a blank version so that you can write in your own ideas for treats. Download Vouchers

I'm feeling rather unprepared for the school break - not helped by the fact the camera broke this morning (which is why I have no pictures to share today). Anyway, I'll pop in here from time to time when I have the chance but it may not be very frequently so for now, here's wishing you and yours a good summer!

paper for knitting projects

Thanks for all the get well wishes - they worked and I'm feeling a lot better. The only downside of feeling more chipper is the backlog of housework waiting for me and not much of an excuse to ignore it any longer!

When I was scribbling out notes for the bunny trainers recently, it occurred to me that I should have a better system for keeping my notes (I usually jot stuff down in a variety of notebooks and I've lost stuff before). So I had a play and designed some note paper which I've printed out and will keep in a box file ready to do my jottings on.

It occurred to me that this might be useful for others so if you'd like some you can download a pdf of 4 pages here. Download All knitting notes

If anyone thinks of any extra pages that might come in useful please let me know and I'll see if I can help.

Here's wishing you a good weekend (it's going to be a hot one here - too hot for housework obviously!)

sick day

Why is it that mummies aren't entitled to sick leave? Luckily for me I don't get ill too often but when I do all I want is to take to my bed which (as I'm sure everyone else knows from personal experience) just isn't possible when you're a mum. Still, I'm rebelling and after getting the children off to school yesterday I put my jammies back on, made a cup of tea and spent the rest of the day in bed watching dvd's of Northern Exposure and fiddling about with yarn.

I did have quite a productive day in bed - the headless bunny is headless no more, I've finished the first crochet cushion (cheating by just using it as a panel to reface an old, plain cream cushion) and I do feel a bit better. I reckon I need a few more lazy days with no housework in order to build up my strength ready for the school summer break - you'll back me up won't you?

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by the way - it's only a summer cold - nothing serious! thanks x