A Drumroll Please (for lots of reasons ....)

From my human random number selector (my husband) Anna's wonderful book will be flying its way through snail mail to comment #12 very soon - that would be the lovely girls at A Spoonful of Sugar.

I also have to give a very big shout out to Sue at The Portuguese Water Blog - she wrote the nicest things about my knitting - hugely touched. If you haven't visited Sue before - you should - not only are her pooches overly cute - but her posts are adorable and witty.

So here is the news from the Rachael Rabbit Workshop (although there is very much a lack of any sort of work going on at the moment.)

We moved!! We finally moved!! We have a house!! I'm so thrilled. I know that NYC is an amazing city filled to the brim with amazing places, people and things - but I'm just not a city girl - I'm a 'small patch of grass under my feet' kind of girl. So after a 2 1/2 years of searching we finally found a house we both love and we are now in the process of decorating. Here is a picture of what will be my workroom ...... it looks hopeful (or hopeless) no? Currently filled with furniture that is trying to escape the decorating dust - I wonder if it will ever be organized ... let alone used.

And the lack of crafting? I do have a valid excuse - in addition to the move - I'm pregnant again! It only seems like yesterday when I posted news of little baby bunnies arrival. I'm thrilled we will be having another little baby bunny. But that first 13 weeks of pregnancy just WIPED me out. I just couldn't function at all. I don't remember being that tired and grumpy with our first. Maybe it is because I am now chasing around a toddler all day (a toddler who seems to have a never ending battery pack) ... or maybe it was the combination of the move and energetic toddler ... or maybe it was just because every pregnancy is different. Anyway - I was truly pooped - everyday napping when bunny napped and then collapsing in a snoring heap once she was in bed. I feel much better now and I'm even feeling the urge to find a project I can get my teeth into. Perhaps something again with patchwork hexagons? ... knitting in this heat has not been appealing.

Baby Bunny has grown up so very much in the past month - the way she plays has totally changed, the books she likes has totally changed. She is such a little person ...... and I'm a very very proud mother. I recently brought her this book (I'm a Big Sister by Joanna Cole) - she loves it - we read it at least 3 times a day. It has a picture in the book that I feel I have to share with you ... ... I fear this is an all too realistic image. Mummy is still in her PJ's doing heaps of baby laundry, Daddy is nowhere in sight and baby is being 'babysat' by the toddler who we just pray is really going to be 'gentle with the baby'.

Our new baby bunny is due early in 2011.

MIA - Can you forgive me?

I've been totally missing in action in the crafting world for the past couple of months. So many things are happening here at home - exciting things that I shall tell you about shortly. But first - to make it up to you. Here is a splendiferous giveaway.

I met Anna Hrachovec at the Martha Stewart Knitting Show it was clear that Anna was a very talented lady who was going to go to high places with her knitting. Well Anna has published a book and she has offered me one free copy to give away on my blog. How kind is that? The book is more than utterly adorable, the pages filled with witty and cute designs. I shall have trouble parting with it.

All you have to do is visit Anna's website Mochimochi Land and leave a comment here telling me which of her wonderful creations is your favorite design. I'll draw a number at random on the 14th August and post this lovely book to the lucky winner.

Hopefully by then I will have taken a breath, sat down and knitted something to share with you all.

Spring has Sprung

(Note: This post was supposed to be more elaborate but dragging a large knitted dinosaur around Central Park for a photo shoot with stroller, small child and small dog turned out to be more challenging than I had given the task credit for.)

It is spring, the birds are tweeting the sun is shining and love is in the air. Mr. Dinosaurus is looking for lurrve. To hunt down his ideal mate he has put on his best red bow tie ...... he has picked the finest brightest flower he could find (in order to charm an unsuspecting and demure lady dino) ...
... Mr. Dinosaurus is feeling very handsome indeed today ...... time to hail a cab and go to Central Park - some attractive young dino ladies might be out for an afternoon stroll ...
... perhaps some lady dinos will walk past while Mr. Dinosaurus relaxes by the boat pond. He is trying to seem like he is just enjoying the view - but really - he just wants to find a nice lady dino to chat to ...... can you spot Mr. Dinosaurus hanging out on the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art? Maybe some lovely lady will stop to chat about some dino art?Poor Mr. Dinosaurus didn't find love on this sunny spring day. But soon he will meet his new loving family ... and perhaps his dino lady love too?

Cable Cardigan (with a hood no less)

My very lovely friend gave me this knitting book for my birthday.
Her mother-in-law has knitted so many gorgeous cardigan's for her little girl (which I'm always rather envious of) so I was very excited to get 'the' knitting book shipped all the way from my homeland (England.) For anyone that knows the short history of my knitting skills - clothing has not been something I have explored very much. I made a little rose cardigan for baby bunny before she was born and I recently gave up on a potentially gorgeous cable cardigan (for the more grown up size of person.) So this would be only the second piece of clothing I have ever managed to complete.

I asked baby bunny to model for me. The modeling shoot went something like this ....
... rather a lot of blurry photos because (drum roll please) ... on Saturday baby bunny decided she could walk. She has been walking from piece of furniture to furniture for a while now - but now she has really taken off. ALL she wants to do is walk - until she is so tired she sits down with a whimper. It is a whole different ball game with her on her feet. This morning I have already found one plastic cup, a toothbrush and a bar of soap in the toilet. She is so quick ... I didn't even know she had been in the bathroom!

The cardigan was very easy to knit - but like any good amateur knitter I decided I knew best and amended the pattern slightly. I joined the seams of the hood as I knitted instead of sewing them together later ... ... and I knitted the ribbed trim all in one piece - rather than in three ... ... of course I feel like my amendments were a success! Baby bunny certainly looked mighty cute modeling the cardigan. I think I'm going to have to start knitting her some jumpers for this winter.
And my favorite bit? the homemade label! I really hope baby Nicholas enjoys his new cardigan.

Blissful Knitted Squares

My step brother's baby is due today. So far there is no sign of the little one making a prompt exit! I knitted this very quick blanket for the little one (my own pattern - which I will try and write down soon.) I like the simple patchwork effect.I used Debbie Bliss Cashmerino DK Yarn which is so soft and lovely to knit with.

When I first started knitting rabbits (which seems like the longest time ago ...) I was using Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Super Chunky. The yarn was just as lovely, soft and easy to knit with - it seemed utterly perfect for cuddly toys ... but proved too expensive for the multitude of bunnies that then followed.

I'm currently knitting a little cable hooded cardigan for my friend's newborn - in the same DK yarn but in navy blue. Quite shocking of me to actually use a color as I seem to have become a bit obsessed with working in these off-white/cream yarns ... and I could bang on about my minimalist obsession with people like Robert Ryman or Agnes Martin ... but then you might all truly go to sleep!

Baby Bunny's Birthday

Someone just turned one!
Happy Birthday my beautiful girl.

Stash Scraps

Remember this stash? Well it is now substantially reduced due to my desire to bring dinosaurs back into common existence ...
... and now I have very limited stash ... mostly blues ... I found this free pattern from Lion Brand which I have now begun to knit and adapt in earnest. The squares are really quick and easy. The pattern really satisfies my need to use up every last scrap of valuable yarn. My poor sewing machine has seen little to no action (apart from the odd little job such as securing a hem on her weeny tiny person sized jeans.) Baby bunny turns 1 soon - can you believe it? She recently took her first steps alone - although she prefers to walk while grasping your finger tightly and noisily insisting you go where ever she wants to go ...

Crochet your cares away

I've been struggling to motivate myself with my continuous cable border exploration. I find that that long stretch of time needed to really concentrate and make notes is just not available to me! Baby bunny (who is now nearly 11 months old - can you believe it?) is into everything - cupboards, toilets, bags, kitchen trashcan, drawers - anything and everything is of great interest and needs to be explored and explored now!

So I've put down my concentration-needy knitting and picked up my crochet hook. I found this idea on Ravelry and decided to take it on a bit further for the border of a blanket.
The petals are scattered at random on one corner. This method allows you to crochet the flowers as you go - so no messy strands or sewing flowers onto the blanket.

The trickiest bit of the border was working out how many crochet stitches were needed for the sides of the blanket.I used the same sized crochet hook as my knitting needles. For the starter row used 1 crochet stitch for every knitted stitch at the ends of the blanket ("sc into knitted st, skip next knitted st and ch1" repeat to end) ...
... and 7 crochet stitches for every 9 knitted stitches for the sides of the blanket: ("sc into knitted st, skip next knitted st and ch1, sc into next knitted st, skip next two knitted sts and ch1, sc into next knitted st, skip next two knitted st" repeat to end). The corners are made by sc 3 times into same stitch. I hope my scrappy diagram above explains it a little clearer. Once the starter row is complete just keep sc into every st - 3 sc at the corners - adding the flowers as and when you please. I crocheted 4 complete rounds of the blanket - adding flowers on rounds 2 and 4.

January

Our trip to the UK over Christmas was a bit of a disaster. Our flight out was delayed on the runway due to snow some 5 hours. Keeping a small tired little one happy in a stationery plane would be something close to hell. Once we got to England Baby Bunny got really ill (we were about to leave for the emergency room when the doctor said he would see her immediately), then I got sick, then my mother got sick, then my husband got sick ... do you see the pattern? Seeing my 9 month old being sick, being so listless - all she wanted to do was sleep ... well it was utterly heart breaking and rather took the shimmer out of Christmas.

We got home - all utterly jet lagged. It took Baby Bunny about a week to recover - and by this point (after 17 days of bad sleep) it took me another week to recover. Finally I feel about normal! So I have had little motivation to get off my bunny bottom and do anything but slouch in a heap during the quieter moments.

But I am working on another continuous cable blanket - here is a sneak peak at the pattern I am trying to work out ...... working out a 6 strand lattice cable pattern that goes seamlessly around corners is confusing me. And if that last sentence made no sense to you - then you see my point!

And I'm midway through a scrappy quilt ...... must use up every last piece of fabric! I really hope to have something of more substance to share with you soon. Hope you are all surviving the winter weather.