Attic24

Breathing Deeply

Such a trying week here in the Attic. Despite the odd few hours of happy Playtime that I've been telling you about, pretty much everything else has been an uphill struggle. The weather hasn't helped, bleugh, it's been gross. So wet. So grey. So blustery. So yuckety-yuck. My big pushchair has a puncture in the back tyre which I'm waiting for J to mend, so I've been struggling with the small fold-up buggy. Its small wheels are not cut out for the rough, bumpy terrain of our canal-side school run, or an old town composed of many bumpy, cobbled streets. It's been remarkably hard, physically speaking, simply getting to where I need to be. The rain cover on the small buggy is also very inadequate and keeps flapping off. Plus Little B hates being under it, he cries and tries to kick it off. He's also started this really annoying habit of kicking his own shoes off as I'm walking along, so I've been forever stopping (in the wind and the rain), giving him a telling off and putting his shoe on again. It's taken some doing to remain calm, well in fact yesterday I did not remain calm at all and flew into a verbal tiz, shocking many innocent passers-by. Not to mention the poor Little People who are not accustomed to their Mummy yelling in public. Breathe Deeply. Inhale. Exhale. Try to stay calm.

We're heading into some changes to our routine too, which hasn't helped the stress levels this week. The above artwork was made by Little B, it's a painting of the sunshine. It was his first ever painting made at the sweet local Playgroup where he's started 2-hour sessions on a Wednesday and Friday. It's a lovely setting in an old church hall, run by very warm, kind playgroup ladies. It's  almost identical to the sort of playgroup I remember vaguely from my own early childhood. There's something about church-hall playgroups, the smell of them, the sweet modesty of the activities, that remains so constant over the years. A reading corner with piles of cushions and a fold out library of books. Sand to dig in. Painting easels and play-doh tables. Role play activities (a café setting this week), and a weeny trampoline to bounce on. A break for snack time, then some physical activities (bike riding and ball games this week). Then story time and singing. I love it very much.

It turns out that Little B doesn't much like being separated from his Mummy though. He chooses to cry and shout NO no No nO No NO NO NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It has been hard. But I'm told that once I'm gone, he soon calms down and begins to ease into the fun of the morning. It'll take some time but I know he's going to eventually love going there. Eventually. For now I Breathe Deeply. Inhale. Exhale. Try to stay calm.

I left the church hall in a bit of a fluster this morning, I felt quite tattered actually. I felt physically tired and emotionally strung out. So I did the first thing that came into my head. I walked to the nearest food shop (Marks and Spencer), purchased a danish pastry, marched home, made myself a coffee and went outside with it. It wasn't too cold, so I fetched an old cushion and sat at my damp table, drinking coffee, nibbling my pastry and Breathing Deeply. Inhale. Exhale. It felt good.

I looked around my poor neglected little back yard, with it's sad pots full of soggy dead things. Inhale. Exhale.

And I looked up to the sky and noticed that the rain clouds were finally beginning to clear. I was really delighted to see some blue up there, it lifted my spirits enormously. Spring will be peeking in soon, not long now. I think I might splash out some cash and buy some spring flowers to plant into my pots. Yes, it's a plan.

Incidentally, when I went to collect Little B from playgroup this morning, it was great. He was sat waiting for me, full of happy smiles, and the playgroup ladies said he'd had a lovely time. I felt overjoyed to hear of his happy playtime in my absence, and overjoyed to gather him up in my arms for a big cuddle. We stopped off at the market on our way home to buy some flowers. Always fresh flowers on a Friday. The plant man's stall looked incredible today, I wish I'd had my camera with me. There were many, many buckets of abundant spring lovliness! I deliberated for a while over what to get, I was very taken with the glorious tulips (the most amazing orange ones sang out to me) and the bunches of tight blue hyacinths. Oh and of course the daffodils, oh the daffodils looked amazing.

I gave in to the daffodils (2 bunches for £1.50) but then on an indulgent impulse I also plucked out a bunch of the most stunning anemones (£3.50).

Oh, and eh-hem, yes, well, a little extra something also came home with me today. Isn't this little milk jug lovely? It made my heart flutter when I spotted it in a shop window on Monday, and today it made my heart flip clean over when it became mine.

Soooooooooooooooooooooo sweet.

Oh these flowers. Oh. Such beauty! I'm Breathing that beauty in, inhale-exhale. Delicious.

They really have cheered me and lifted my flagging spirit today.

J isn't well at the moment either, and it's added to the stress of the week for sure. He's never ill. He has a hugely strong constitution, a hardy Yorkshire immune system and it's been many, many years since I've seen him so poorly. He's spent the past two days in bed with a very nasty head cold and fever. Poor man, he really has been knocked off his feet. So I've been fussing over him, keeping him supplied with food, drinks and pills (I even made homemade soup and I NEVER do homemade soup remember, so he is very honoured), and trying desperately to keep the house reasonably peaceful so he can sleep. Trying to keep three Little People quiet is very very hard and very very draining, especially in the bustle of our getting-ready-for-school routine. It's been a complete nightmare actually.

Ahhhhhhhh. Breathe Deeply. It'll pass. It. Will. Pass.

Just look at Little B. He sleeps surprisingly well squished into the small buggy on the way home from town, all tucked up under his blanket. But when he woke up he declared he was cold. He took himself to the sofa, got himself all tucked up in the ripple and waited patiently for me to provide Postman Pat entertainment. So sweet. Growing so fast. Two years old and going to Playgroup, crikey. We are fully into Toddlerdom now, no more baby-days.

Well......8.30pm and I am heading to bed with a cup of tea and a magazine to read. There's no place I would rather be.

Wishing you a weekend full of Happy Things, I'm wishing the same for myself. Yes, Happy Things would be good. ♥

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Playtime part II

My sweet Little B, worn out from his morning session at Toddler group, fell asleep in his pushchair during the walk home. So after a quick lunch of poached eggs on toast, I went straight to my desk to carry on where I left off with yesterday's Playtime.

Oh stickers and scissors, how happy you make me! How therapeutic it is to spend some quiet, uncomplicated time folding, sticking and snipping.

This is what I ended up with, a cute little string of papery prettiness.

If you had been a fly on the wall here at number 24, you would have witnessed me rushing about the house with this bunting string, upstairs and downstairs, trying it out in a huge number of places. I really did fancy it along a shelf of some sorts (this image has firmly lodged in my mind), but we are surprisingly short of shelves around here. And nope, the Shelves of Doom are not worthy.

I really do need more shelvedge. Pretty, decorative, brightly painted shelves to display pretty, decorative, bright things. And of course I will need to make mini strings of bunting for my pretty shelves, goes without saying.

Anyhow...........

........this is where the mini sticker bunting ended up, just to the right of where I'm sitting now.

Dangling sweetly above the hooky pen pots.

I love that the light from the window nearby makes a bunting shadow on the wall. Love that.

Ahhhhhhh, what a satisfying afternoon.

I'm thinking I'll make a start with the embroidery-thread-rose-idea during tomorrow's Playtime. Something sweet, frivolous and floral to look forward to.

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Edit to add :: the abstract canvas, beleive it or not, is a very cheap printed plasticky material stretched over a frame, I think I paid about £2.50 for it in one of those "home bargain" type discount shops years ago. There's something about it that I love, although I can't quite put my finger on why. Hmm I wish our walls weren't painted peach.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Playtime

Returning back to routine today, J went back to work, the Little Peeps went back to school and the Kidlett and I went off to sing and bash drums at Musical Tots. It was good. I do enjoy routine, more than I like to admit.

This afternoon, I had a little time to myself :: Mummy Playtime. I had a good smooch with my new soft embroidery threads, purchased yesterday so that I may continue my obsession with making Mini Bunting.

Do you like the colours? I had J and the LP waiting for me in the car, so I picked these out in about 30 second flat. Yanked them off their hooks, pooled them together in my hands, rushed to the till, paid for them, made a little small talk with the shop lady whom I taught to crochet a few years ago, and ran out the door. J still managed to raise his eyebrows, honestly, I swear I must've only been about five minutes.

I chose quite a few pinky colours as I've an idea to crochet some mini roses. Think sweet mini  bunting flags interspersed with mini crochet roses. Ooooooooooooooooooh!!

Something else caught my eye this afternoon during Playtime too. This envelope that arrived a few weeks ago all the way from Malaysia, sitting patiently on my desk, waiting for my Full Attention.

Want to see the Malaysian contents?

Ok.....

It's a sticker set. Found and purchased on Etsy when I was having a little gush over all things Washi Tape.

Just a minute though...lets just nip over to the sofa and make sure Little B is still sweetly in the land of nod............

........ahh yes, sleeping soundly, snoring gently and making little grunty animal noises. Too cute for words.

Right then, it's safe to carry on with my Playtime, uninterrupted.

Lets open up the packet shall we?

Oooooooooooooooooo-la-la!!!!!  Sweet!!!

Twenty five little playing-card sized sticker sheets, don't you just love little things like this? Takes me right back to my childhood, makes me think I am eight years old again. Such joy to be had with stickers and cutesy stationary products!

Can you see that each sticker sheet is pre cut? There are circles at one end, then the rest is cut into two different width strips.

You know what I'm going to do with the strips don't you?

Uh-huh. Mini paper bunting strings, inspired by this and this. This is as far as I got before Little B woke up, but I am already looking forward to resuming during my Tuesday afternoon Playtime.

Thread. Stickers. Scissors.

Peal, fold, stick, snip, love.

Bliss.

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 Edit to add :: the Etsy seller that I bought the stickers from can be found here. You can also find many more similar items on Etsy though, have a look here if you're interested.

 

Late Winter Landscape

A Sunday mid-day walk to enjoy the late Winter landscape.

First picture taken at 12:00.

Last picture taken at 12:46.

Forty six minutes of crystal clear skies, icy cold air, sun dappled water, gentle exercise, beautiful vistas.

Forty six minutes of happy, chattery, laughter-filled family time.

Exactly six months since we were here enjoying Late Summer.

Little B walked this time, with just a short ride on Daddy's shoulders at the end.

My my, how quickly time flies.

♥

 

 

Happy hooky work

I'm just taking a little break from work. I've been happily at it for the past three? four? hours, sitting on the floor of Little B's bedroom, sipping coffee, hooking, writing notes, photographing.

It's the best kind of work I can think of. Happy Hooky work.

I didn't have nearly as much difficulty remembering how to create the Happy Flower as I thought I would. It turns out my memory isn't so bad after all, well not when it comes to hooky things.

The stem and leaves took a little more work than the flower, but I got there in the end. I hope I've managed to do a good enough job photographing the step-by-step instructions so that you won't find it too tricky.

So the Happy Flower has been hooked, photographed, pinned and glued. I'll have to wait until tomorrow until I can unpin it and string it all together as it needs a good 24 hours drying time for the glue to harden.

I'm just going to have a bite to eat in a minute, then I'll begin the process of uploading the photographs and writing the tutorial.

It's going to be lengthy as there are ninety pictures. Uh-huh. Ninety.

What I think I'll do is split it and write it up in three parts.

Part I will be the flower head.

Part II will be the stem and leaves.

Part III will be about making the actual decoration.

Watch this space............................................................................

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:: EDIT TO ADD ::

♥♥ IT's ALL DONE!!!!!!!!! GO HERE TO FIND IT ♥♥

10pm, I've finally finished the tute and I am absolutely pooped. Completely and utterly. I wish you a HAppY TiMe giving this pretty project a whirl.

Enjoy! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz asleep now xxx

 

 

 

 

Out!

Yesterday and today, we've actually been Out! Out the house! Doing Family Things in the outdoors!! Yes folks, we finally managed to get out and about in the fresh air, not once but twice, and it's been brilliant. Brilliant.

Yesterday afternoon, despite the rather gloomy grey, cold weather, we made a spur of the moment decision to walk down the hill, along the canal to the station, get on a train, ride along the line to the next stop and get off again. The train ride itself took less than ten minutes, but it added an enormous amount to the whole experience, especially for our sweet little two year old.

Our destination was a small, rural village not far from the Attic where there happens to be a really terrific playground just a minutes walk from the station. The Little People took their scooters, but there was plenty to keep them occupied here. It's a beautifully designed playground inspired by the Yorkshire landscape with large rocks, wooden sheep and tractors to climb on, stone walls to balance along and lots more besides.

Such a fabulous thing to watch children at play, I adore to see such boundless energy, such joy in using limbs and muscles to swing, climb, jump, run, slide, spin, crawl, leap, bounce, balance, dig, step. Two hours of fresh air and active good fun, it was great to shake off the indoorsyness that we've been experiencing of late.

This morning, after weeks of exceptionally cold, bleak winter weather, we finally saw blue skies and sunshine. After the happiness of yesterday's little outing we decided to head 9 miles out of town to a small National Trust property that we'd always meant to visit (seeing as we are NT members) but had never got around to. This is East Riddlesden Hall, an old, old 17th century manor house.

It was beautiful inside, quite informal, even cosy for a grand house. It had beautiful windows. It also had lots of old, old chairs and other valuable furniture and possessions that were scarily at toddler height and not roped off in any way. It was quite a stressful experience taking Little B through the beautifully laid out rooms. He rolled about on the floor quite a lot, and he touched many things that were labelled Do Not Touch. But the house was quite a modest size and we toured it relatively quickly. I physically exhaled with pure relief once we were out in the fresh air again and Little B could go running freely about.

I expected more of the gardens, but I suppose it is the middle of winter, and many of the information boards standing beside areas of bare earth told us how beautiful it would look in Spring and Summer. One area that made my heart soar was a small Wild Flower garden where the early spring bulbs were already carpeting the grass. Such joy to see the crocus with their petals flung wide open to the morning sunshine!

After such a lengthy spell of freezing grey air here in North Yorkshire, the blue of the sky today gave me an incredible surge of joy. I walked around much of the gardens with my face turned towards the sun, soaking it in, drinking in the rays as if I were parched. I've sooooo missed the sight and feel of the sun in recent weeks.

There was a small but lovely playground in the gardens, and for the second day running I enjoyed watching my Little Peeps do their thing. I never tire of taking them to these kind of places, it makes me feel really good just to stand back and observe them. I remember one of my earliest blog posts was about a visit to our local park, it's such an essential part of life with children isn't it?

And seemingly stripy tights are the outfit of choice for Park Visits, some things don't change much.

After all that outdoorsy stuff, it was rather nice to come inside and enjoy this cosy National Trust cafe for a spot of lunch. We are normally a family of picnickers, but today J declared he would treat us to an indoor lunch, and it was a really nice treat. Sandwiches for the Littlies, homemade soup and crusty bread for J and I. Frothy coffees, apple juice and a generous slab of cake to round off.

I'm enjoying this holiday from routine very much actually, despite the rather moochy start. Tomorrow...........well tomorrow is Hooky Day for me, yaaayyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!! I've (hopefully) secured time to work on the Happy Flower for you, well that's to say that I've arranged for Little B to be taken out with his wonderful grandparents so he'll at least be out of the equation for a good part of the day. I'll still have J and the Little Peeps at home, but they've been told in no uncertain terms that Mummy/Wifey will not be available for normal Mummy/Wifey duties. We shall see. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

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Egg Poaching Knowhow

Oh boy, do you ever know how to cheer me up! Not that I really felt like I was in need of cheering, but you know, last night when I wrote my Nothing-in-particular post I was feeling kind of flat I guess. A weeny bit of the Winter Blahs had set in, no doubt about it. I love that I can use my blog as a little place to jot down my rambling thoughts, it's a very therapeutic thing to do you know. Yesterday it allowed me to pull together a certain number of slightly unsettling feelings to do with my parenting, my slightly below par energy levels, my pondering on whether this house is still right for us. Turns out that for now, yes, all is mighty fine. We are floating/hibernating/resting and that's absolutely ok. Our house is possibly a tad too small for us, but it's absolutely ok cos we love it so.

I was tickled, like reeeeeeally chuffed with your response to my egg poaching skills, thank you, thank you!!! I included the eggy image yesterday simply because it had been on my mind and also followed on so neatly from the gorgeous pics of the Bridal Crown narcissus. Sort of a colour-coded train of thought.

Seeing as many of you asked, I thought I would share J's method.

You need a pan with a lid :: J uses our deep sided frying pan as it's easier to crack the eggs directly into the water when you use a shallow pan. But I've successfully poached in an ordinary saucepan by cracking the egg into a small plastic bowl first, then gently sliding the egg from the bowl into the water.

Boil the kettle, then add the hot water to the pan, you only need about an inch of water, just enough to cover the egg. Then add 2tbs of white vinegar to the water (that's the important bit. The vinegar is Completely Essential). Allow the water to come up to the boil, it should just be starting to bubble, but not at a rolling boil. Now put your egg in, as explained above, you can either crack it directly into the water, or slide it in from a bowl.

The addition of the vinegar is nothing short of miraculous. If you've ever tried to poach an egg without vinegar (and I have) you will know what a disaster it is. I don't know the science behind it, but I do know that the vinegar magically makes the egg white behave itself and stops it from going all chaotic and naughty in the water. Instead of flailing about going all stringy, it sits in a sweet little plump package, all neat and perfect and marvelous looking. What a good egg! Clever vinegar!

Right...as soon as the egg's in the water and looking good, turn the heat off, clamp on the pan lid and time it for 5 minutes. Just five.

In that five minutes, you can pootle a little in the kitchen. Unload the dishwasher, admire your crockery, dance to music. Oh, and get your toasty egg-bed ready too. Cos a beautifully poached egg does need a suitable bed to sit on, and the bed needs to be ready and waiting so that the egg can come straight out the pan when it's done. Timing is everything here.

After five minutes your egg should be poached to perfection. Beautifully creamy cooked white, with a scrummy, softly runny yolk. Lift it immediately out of the water with a slotted spoon and drain it well so that it doesn't make the toast all soggy.

Place the egg ceremoniously on it's bed :: in the case of this morning's breakfast it was a toasted English muffin spread with butter and topped with slivers of smoked salmon. Absolutely delicious, devoured with gusto and appreciation. Simple eating, you can't beat it.

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Nothing in Particular

The days and weeks seem to be flowing gently by with not much happening and not much change here of late. Sort of a continuous stream of wintry day-after-day spent indoors keeping warm. I keep getting a vague wave of dissatisfaction wafting over me, feeling that somehow we should be doing more family stuff, more activity, more something, but the feeling comes and goes in a blink. There and then gone. The family (as far as I can tell) are more than happy to just float in this slow, wintry stream, it only seems to be me who thinks from time to time that we need to jump out! Explore! Go places! Have fun! But like I say, the feeling is there and then gone.

I think these sort of days/weeks are sometimes necessary, a sweet and gentle fallow period when everyone can rest and recharge their batteries. We each seem to be taking turns to do battle with the odd lurgy. Just coughs and colds and a little tummy ache here and there, but instinctively we have slowed down and are allowing this time to pass gently.

Each and every day I give gratitude for my sweet home life, for the fact that we have come to live in such a warm, cosy, solid, happy house. I love this house, number 24. It's quite modest as houses go, a mid terrace with a small footprint, and often we do feel like we could do with more space. We keep wondering whether we should move. We often spend time speculating over property, J and I. Houses with a garden and outside space for Connievan, a bigger kitchen (my dream) and a study (his dream), houses with open vistas and greenery, houses with more, more, more. But every time we think about moving we come back to this basic fact :: we are so happy here. There is an indefinable something which makes this house so special to live in. So we stay.

Of course, this house is just a house, and there is a tremendous difference between a house and a home. I fill this house with love and colour and creativity, with sweet smelling flowers, good food and all manner of pretty things. I make it into Home for me and my family. And if I say so myself, I think I'm rather good at Making Home.

This past week J taught me to poach eggs. Not with any fancy equipment, just with a pan of water and a little splash of vinegar. I've wanted to acquire this skill for so long, especially since I adore the sort of posh brunch you get in posh eateries that include muffins and smoked salmon and these beautifully posh, creamy poached eggs. Hooorraaahhh!! Now I can do it all-by-myself!! I am eating eggs for breakfast and lunch. No stopping me now I have The Poaching Knowhow.

Are you finding this post odd? It's a bit rambly and all over the place isn't it, full of not-a-lot. I am sorry. I've got a jug of bright daffodils sitting on my table this week. They started out as tightly closed green buds, but very quickly unfurled in the warmth of Home.

Such glorious colour and unpretentious beauty. I really love daffodils, most especially at this rather grey time of year.

Can I just say, before I retreat off to bed with my basket full of Ripple and a hot water bottle, that I love that you visit me. So much. Thank you, thank you for stopping by and reading my ramble, especially on a day like today when I am a little run down and am drivelling. When I am full of Nothing in Particular, but I feel like babbling all the same.

Thank you ♥

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Happy Flower Decoration

Goodness me, this particular Ta-dah has been a long time coming! I had to search waaaaay back in my Drafts Folder to find these images which I uploaded a whopping eight months ago. Even though I was/am deeply in love with this particular creative endeavour of mine, I put off sharing it at the time cos I really wanted to make a pattern/tutorial to go with it. And as this is quite a complex pattern, somehow I never found a big enough time slot to make it happen. Also (as is often the case) I visualised, sampled and created the Happy Flower decoration in a complete whirlwind of excitability one weekend. So the pattern never really became a pattern as such, it was all conjured up out of thin air without a trace of evidence left behind. Not one scribbled word or number.  You would think by now that I would have learnt about this sort of thing. Would have learnt to at least jot down a few pattern notes as I work. But no. I still very much go-with-the-flow when I've got an idea bursting to come out.

My Happy Flower wasn't an instant idea by any means, I chewed over the idea of it for quite some time before I actually got around to making it. When I think back to how it came about, I realise a need to credit several inspirational sources. My Creative Mind had obviously been grazing on ideas without me quite realising it. I find the whole business of designing endlessly fascinating. I love the way that my own thoughts/ideas work their way through a Journey of Inspiration before arriving at the Final Destination, and I often wish that more designer/makers would share their journeying process.

So here, if you are remotely interested, is a little bit about this particular Creative Journey of mine. Please feel free to skip over it if you wish, it's very linky I'm afraid..............

First off, I came across some beautiful crochet+fabric flowery decorations made by the talented Emma Lamb. She calls them "flower charms" which really delights me actually. Very charming indeed.

Around about the same time I also fell in love with a sweet flowery crochet picture created by Jacquie.  Funny old thing, this inspiration business. Cos I've long been inspired by the fabulous work of print designer Jane Foster. And reading Jacquie's post, she used Jane's flower picture as a starting point for her crochet version, after reading about Jane's work on my blog. I then came along and picked that all up, twirled it around a bit and carried it onwards to make it my own. Around and around the inspiration goes, weaving it's creative magic spell.

One last piece of the Inspiration Puzzle was this sweet and gorgeous little hanging decoration made by the lovely Meme Rose. More twirling of the Inspiration Wheel....the Japanese Flower motif I was making at the time gave Meme Rose the inspiration to create her lovely hanging. And then in turn, I was inspired by the way she had combined her flower with hearts and beads, and that was it. I was off and running with it.

The above picture shows my first samples where I was working through my idea. I wanted to create a simple flower shape, and try out an idea for a two-colour leaf, possibly then making the leaves and stem together if I could find a way.

I went on to develop the original samples slightly, adding an extra edging row to the flower, and making the stem much longer to accommodate extra leaves (I need Orly Kiely style leaves I declared! Pairs of them in different colours! YES! I have to make it that way, nothing else will do!)

I did also work out a way to crochet the leaves and stem together as one piece which really took some doing, I flogged lots of brain cells for that one! I made the dark green inner stem first, then worked around it in pale green, branching off at intervals to create the leaf veins. The coloured  leaves were then crocheted around the pale green veins, and it actually worked out way better than I had hoped. Result.

For someone who loves to embellish with buttons and beads, my personal button and bead stash is surprisingly small. I am not really a stash-builder, honest I'm not. I think I would quite like to be, but I've just not got around to it.

Luckily, my taste in beads and buttons is not at all sophisticated, and I adore those that are made for children. So when I'm in need of some beady supplies, I just opt for a little light theft and head straight for Little Lady's jewellery making set.

Aren't these weeny little plastic beads delightful? They are very small indeed, just a few millimetres across, but they're really useful for prettying things up in a weeny, colourful way.

There's something very unpretentious, sweet and nostalgic about plastic beads. I  sometimes think I should really grow up a bit and get myself a selection of beautiful coloured glass beads to use in my crafting. One day maybe. But for now I'm more than happy with the cheap and cheerful option.

A little technical bit of natter now, as we need to talk about Stiffness.

This hanging decoration does need to be made with a fairly robust yarn, something that's not floppy when crocheted up. I always opt for my favourite Rowan Handknit Cotton for this type of project, it's perfect when you want good colour, good neat stitches and a little bit of stiffness. For added measure, I pinned out my flower when it was made (wrong side uppermost) and brushed it very carefully with some white PVA glue. I was careful to keep the glue sitting lightly on the reverse side and not to let any seep through the holes to the front. I left it to dry for 24hrs, by which time it had turned hard and crusty and stiff on the wrong side. It meant the leaves stayed sticking out flat and didn't flop forward or droop downwards. It was a pretty important part of making this decoration I'd say.

Pulling the whole thing together was heaps of fun, I had such a great time doing it. I made a little crochet circle and one of my teeny tiny hearts (with an extra edging colour worked in back loops only). I also added a few pretty little plastic buttons here and there, then strung everything together with thread and beads.

There............that's it, all put together.

Hanging loop, flower, stem+leaves, beads, circle, beads, heart, beads.

A long string of colourful hooky, beady loveliness.

Ta-dah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (had to say it!)

I was/am rather smitten with my Happy Flower.

I love the slightly childish element of it. I love that it's so useless. I love that it makes me smile every time I clap eyes on it, even eight months down the line. It really is a Happy Thing.

I knew straight away where I wanted to hang it. There is a piece of wall just inside the door to the living room that has one of my most-favourite pictures hanging on it. Its a textile picture that was given to me for my thirtieth Birthday. The work of a very dear and talented friend who I studied art/textiles with at college in the late 1980's. I thought my Happy Flower would be very happy indeed hanging underneath my Charlotte picture. They sit together beautifully.

Now then my lovely Hooky peeps......I know (cos you keep gently reminding me) that this sweet little project is something that many of you would like to try making for yourselves. I hear you. You know I get huge thrills out of inspiring, sharing and enabling anything of  a decorative, frivolous hooky nature, and it'll be a pleasure to get this pattern/tutorial made for you. But it is quite a complex project. Not so much the flower, but the stem/leaf construction might take a bit of explaining. I will do my level best to un-complexify it for you.

So here's the plan :: next week, the kiddiwinks are on half term hols so they'll be home, along with J. I anticipate that it'll take me a whole day to create the tutorial, so I'm thinking I could smile sweetly at my gorgeous hubby and request some time out of Mummy-duties for a day. Sit myself in the Big Chair in the light of the bay window to hook, photograph and write. I promise you I will try very hard to make it happen. Promise ♥

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Snow Play

We went out to play this morning. We wrapped up warm and walked the five minutes up the road to our local park where we knew from previous years that the Snow Play would be first class. We weren't disappointed, the park looked as beautiful as I remembered it from before. There was a terrific atmosphere with so many excited children, dogs and parents-of-children-and-dogs all out to play. We met and chatted with lots of friends and neighbours, I think half of our street was at the park this morning.

The Little People had a wonderful time with their sledges, they were a complete joy to watch. Such visible excitement on their faces at the end of each long, fast downhill run. Little B was a little bit more tricksy as it turns out he really doesn't like the snow very much at all. It made him cry and he refused to walk in it. Like absolutely, completely threw a wobbly when his boots touched down on the stuff. After much persuading we managed to get him to sit on a sledge so we could pull him to the park (he was happy with this arrangement cos none of his body was actually in contact with the snow). Actually he enjoyed being pulled around on the sledge and eventually after an hour or so he did manage a little bit of walking and a little bit of snowball throwing. It was so funny when we returned home, I took off his hat, mitts, boots and snow-suit and his face suddenly broke into a wide grin of pure relief, as if to say Thank Goodness THATS over with!!! Bless.

Ahhhh, it's been a wonderful weekend here in my patch, full of Winter Joy. Warm, cosy, indoor stuff and cold, exciting outdoor stuff. Perfectly Februaryish. But much as we've enjoyed our snow time, I'm keeping fingers crossed for sunshine and a Big Melt tomorrow. It can all go away now, thank you.

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