Attic24

Artwork in Progress

Do you remember back in October last year I wrote about the delights of treating myself to a little bit of visual loveliness ie buying myself a print from an artist? The artist in question is called Caroline, you can see her card above and get an idea of her style. It's very "me" don't you think?

This was the print I brought from her shop, it's called "Twisty-Twirly Town". Isn't it lovely? I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it. Bright and colourful little houses will forever twang at my heart strings, I am powerless to resist them.

Caroline's work is delightful. She works her magic with papers and glue, I think the correct arty term would be "Mixed Media Collage". It's a simplistic medium for sure, I mean a four year old can snip up bits of paper and stick them down, can't they? But do not be fooled. This work is intricate and time consuming and the designs are deceptively sophisticated. I just adore the way that dozens and dozens of weeny bits of paper can all come together to create such magic. It's beautifully clever.

This is how each of Caroline's artworks begins it's journey, with a simple line drawing to scale (roughly the size of an A4 sheet of paper in this case). Coming up with the design in the first place is of course much more of a process, and often ideas brew for a good while before they get to this stage. Take the above design for example, would you like to know the story behind it?

Well when I first discovered Caroline's work, in amongst all the beautiful flowers and birds I discovered a houseboat, and it immediately made me think of my beloved Connievan. So I emailed Caroline and asked in my bestest, most persuasive email voice if she would ever consider working a caravan picture? I described my dream caravan to her, which included most important details such as a cute, roundy-retro shape, blue and white gingham curtains, strings of bunting and pots of flowers. Sweet Caroline, she listened to me go on, but as she was already busy with a new creation (a gypsy caravan), she kindly and politely told me that I would need to wait.

Ok. I can do waiting I said. And wait I did.

That was until the beginning of last week when I had a surprise email from Caroline, telling me that she was about to make a start on the retro caravan picture we had chatted over last year, did I remember? ReMEMber?? Why of course I remember! How ever could I forget? Will it have blue and white gingham curtains? And strings of bunting and flowers and birds? And pretty please could there be a red spotty jug of flowers somewhere??? Oh I was soooooo excited, I cannot tell you. Caroline emailed me the above sketch of her design and I felt like my heart had been grabbed and squeezed hard. Honestly, I couldn't quite believe how exciting it was to see the beginnings of my her new art work.

During the past week, Caroline and I kept up a daily banter by email, back and forth, sharing the journey of this sweet creation. She would send me email updates  ("I'm planting flowers!") and some pictures of her Work in Progress. It was so much fun! Bless her, she even consulted me on various elements ("the curtains are going to be spotty and not checked, I hope this is ok, I would hate you to get upset by the curtains lol")

Some of the pictures she emailed me of work in progress just made me swoon. Look at the spotty jug of flowers, how incredible, how teeny tiny and adorable!

The spotty jug of flowers (which I had excitedly requested) was placed sweetly on the outside table, along with a cup of tea. Sigh.........perfect. Just perfect.

I began to try and imagine Caroline at work, how it must feel to be her, sat at a desk/table creating this work of art. I imagined her contentedly snipping and cutting and placing, surrounded by acres of colourful papers. I began to feel very curious and a little nosey. I wanted to see. So I asked......

......and this is what I discovered. A sweet, light working space.....

.......and a to-die-for stash of papers! Yum yum!!

I have to tell you that seeing these pictures and reading Carolines regular updates ("ughhhh I am completely brain dead - the concentration just exhausts me so much!!") made me remember the way it is when you create in this way. I know what it feels like to be so deeply involved with a piece of work, because I used to work in an almost identical way with fabric and stitch. It's both exhilarating and exhausting, especially towards the end when there seem to be a gazillion little decisions to make in order to pull it all together successfully.

With this piece of work, it was the wee Birds that were the finishing touch and proved hard to get right. Too much detail can sometimes kill a piece of work, as can the wrong colours. But Caroline is an experienced artist, and she chose to sleep on it and come back to the birds "with fresh eyes". Yes, yes, I remember that trick, it works wonders to sleep on it. Good plan.

So I had to wait an extra day to see the finished piece, the suspense was huge! I kind of felt that we'd been on this wonderful journey together, and now we were nearly at the summit and she was making me wait! Bah, how cruel!!!!! And yet of course I understood.

The pictures that arrived on Saturday, were so worth waiting for though.

Take a look..............................................................................

WOW. WOW!!!!!!!!!!!! Isn't it just the most delightful image? So much fun and happiness and carefree delight in that picture, it captures the essence of caravan holidays in such a perfect way.

I wrote to Caroline to express my happiness, it was actually quite hard to find the words. I wanted to say what a privilege it had been to be taken along on this creative ride, how very much I had enjoyed the whole process. I wanted to say how it seemed to me that she had managed to look into my heart and capture everything I most love about trips away in Connievan :: experiencing the joy of outdoor living, yet feeling so cosy and at home at the same time. Of stars and birdsong and cups of tea and nature and cosy family times. Of fun and happiness. The picture says it all.

Shall I say a little Ta-dah at this point?

Ta-dah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A mixed media collage by Caroline Rose Art, entitled "Settle".

You can buy yourself a print of this fabulous collage in Caroline's shops, either Folksy or Etsy.

I hope you've enjoyed sharing this with me, I felt it was a story worth sharing. I love to celebrate creativity, it makes me so happy. It also makes me want to dash off with Connievan into the countryside, to string her with bunting flags, fill her little jam jar vase with wild flowers and settle down with a cup of tea to wait for the stars to peep out.

Happy Days.

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Edit to add :: thank you SO much for all your sweet words, it's been such a pleasure to find you enjoying this as much as I have. In case you missed it, Caroline left you all a message.....

"Thank you all so so so much for your lovely comments, I am so touched by all of your lovely words about my art. I had such a fun week with Lucy while working on this one and hopefully we will do it again soon!! If you don't see the print in my shop - just let me know - I am trying to keep on top of the sales but sometimes I lose track!!! xxxx"

Poor lass, she has been completely floored by the terrific response to her artwork, I really don't think she expected such a deluge of orders (although I did tell her she would be busy this week!) She is the most kind, sweet, modest lady and she asked me to let you know that she is doing her utmost to keep on top of everything and will get orders out as fast as possible. But please accept that there may be a very slight delay as she catches up with it all, I'm sure you understand. Thank you all so much!

x

 

 

 

 

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.

 

Quietly Creating

Yesterday afternoon, a sweet, blissful, peaceful, Window of Opportunity unexpectedly opened up for me. A time in amongst the usual hectic bustle and noise of family life where everything hushed down and was suddenly still and quiet for a while. Both Little People were out enjoying play/lunch with their respective friends, and Little B (after a 5am start) had fallen asleep on the sofa.

I didn't hesitate. Knew exactly what I would do with my quiet little snippet of Me-time. I would make myself a cup of tea and sit quietly at the table to create. Needle and thread, buttons and bells, stitchy, stitchy.

I decided to add a little ceremony to the proceedings and went upstairs to fetch the candle down from my bedside. For obvious reasons, it's not possible to have lit candles on the table normally, but when it's safe (ie when Little B is off in the Land of Nod) I can indulge. As I was stitching, I found I was talking to myself inside my head, do you know what I mean? I was chatting to myself about my new dotty candles, bought on impulse from Cath Kidston just before Christmas. I thought about how long I had wanted these candles, how many times I had resisted buying them as they are of course a complete indulgence. Expensive and unnecessary. Leave them in the shop, step away. And yet, on balance, the pleasure they are giving me is absolutely unbelievable, and worth every penny. I chop them in half to make them shorter/safer in my little enamel candle holder, so they work out at 50p each. They are so worth it.

That incredibly pretty floral mug you can see there is also from Cath Kidston and was a Christmas present from a sweet and thoughtful friend. It's fabulous. It holds a very large quantity of tea, perfect for accompanying afternoon creative sessions.

Every so often, I would take a breather from the stitching and nip over to the sofa to check on Little B. Soooooooooooooooooooo cute. He had been sitting on the sofa watching Postman Pat, and had literally fallen asleep and toppled over to lay himself down amongst cushions and blankets. He looked adorable, all pink flushed cheeks and dear little fingers and toes.

I think I must've had about ninety minutes of sweet afternoon me-time, enough to complete all my stitching. I spent a little time last night and first thing this morning crocheting the band that runs along the top and strings all the pennants together, and the finished bunting is now sitting on the table. Yes, it's finished!!! The light here today is very poor though, it's dreary, wet and gloomy so not sure I'll be able to photograph it just yet. But a ta-dah will be coming very soon, I can't wait to share it with you.

I'm also working on my Year End Review posts to share with you over the next few days, such fun! It's something I always really love spending time on at the end of the year, it fills me with happiness to see so many visual, joyful memories coming together in one place.

Have a fabulous day, whatever you're up to and whatever the weather, thanks so much for stopping by. See you soon!

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September Mantel

I am most definitely feeling a subtle Autumnal vibe these days, it is seeping slowly but surely into my consciousness as I go about my daily business. At the end of last week when I went to the market to purchase flowers (I had bright zingy dahlias in mind), I came home instead with these beautifully seasonal Chinese Lanterns. Aren't they stunning?

Coming home from the market with a paper wrapped parcel of floral goodies always delivers such a big dose of feel-good. The whole process of unwrapping, admiring, snipping and arranging is hugely therapeutic and I really like that no plastic is involved too. I wish there was more paper wrapping in the world!

I have a nostalgic attachment to these unusual flowers (are they flowers? Or seed heads? Or fruits?) as my Mum used to grow them every year in her garden. She would bring great armfuls of them into the house to display in jugs and they last a surprisingly long time.

I just LOVE the shot of brilliant colour these three stems bring to the room, that orange is stunning in real life it really is. I keep finding myself surprised by them being there, they leap out at me every time I walk through the door, shouting a big HELLO from across the room.

Oooooooooooooo now then, did you by any chance take your eyes away from the orange lanterns and gaze along my mantel to see what else was there? Did you notice my most gorgeously gorgeous painted driftwood sculpture?? Want to see more??

Ta-dah!!!!! I totally forgot to share this with you when it arrived in the Attic in the summer. Isn't it superbly wonderful? Ahhhhhhhhhhh I love it so so so much ♥

See it even has my number on the door as it was made especially for me. It's the work of talented artist Kirsty Elson  who's work I am completely smitten with. I first heard about Kirsty over on Julia's blog and I instantly tumbled head over heels in love with her driftwood sculptures. Of course it was a dead cert that I would love her work as it combines two of my favourite-most-favourite things :: little houses and the seaside. I adore the jaunty little boats she makes, but it was the driftwood cottages that really stirred my heart. Actually to use the word "stirred" is bit under parr as my heart more or less tries to leap clear of my body when I clap eyes on these sweet little pieces of beach art. I experience such an emotional response to them, kind of like wanting to laugh and cry at the same time, do you know what I mean?

Anyhow, overwhelming feelings in response to creativity are something I am quite used to, and I know that I have to simply go with it. So when I was skipping through Kirsty's blog one day and saw this post, I found myself practically hyperventilating. Not only did I spot those sweet little cottages of hers, but some of the sweet little cottages had washing lines attached........and the miniature washing was all stripy and dotty!!!!!!! Jeepers, I nearly fell off my stool!!

So that was how I came to commission my very own driftwood beauty, complete with dotty-stripy laundry, and I love it very much.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm, did you also spot something else on my mantel, something bright and colourful and of a decidedly hooky nature? Actually, you may have spotted three of them sitting sweetly together next to the yellow vase? These pretty little hooky things have some floral decorative bits look........

.........and they were one of my impulsive Must-Make-It-Right-This-Instant projects way back in April. Yes April! That's five months ago!! Oh dear, it seems that I've gotten unbelievably behind with my Ta-dah-ing, it's quite a disgrace.

I'm going to try over the next week to bring myself up to date with all my hooky happenings. Off the top of my head I've got at least three finished, un-shared projects to sing and dance about, so there's going to be a bit of a Hooky-fest coming to the Attic next week. Hope that's ok with you?

See you then, it's going to be fun!

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ps Look out for a special colour-filled post over the wkend to do with yarn colours an' all. Cos I know all you addicts are desperate to know what's staying and what's going. You know what I'm talking about, right? x

 

 

 

 

More Yarn Stuff

Hello! I was just re-reading the knitty post I wrote up last night and it occurred to me that I forgot to include The Sunflowers. I can't believe I left them out as they were one of my favourite things in the exhibition. 

I just love the above photo, it sums up the exhibition beautifully. Can you see how you are immediately captivated by the sunflowers, they're so tall (as tall as me) and so striking! So clever!! So beautifully made!!! But if you keep on looking at the picture, you begin to notice other things. The birdhouse on the wall. The butterflies that have alighted on the window. The little grey mice that are scampering across the top of the radiator. The little grey mice that are scampering along the pipes just above the floor. Ahhh the whole thing was just fabulous, it really was.

Of course I am now dreaming up my own stripy hooky pot of giant flowers. A Big, tall, colourful version of the above. Something wonderful and wacky to stand about the place. I can only imagine what J would have to say about it, The Look that he would give me. It'd be worth making a crazy object just to witness his reaction teehheee. Naughty naughty me.

Some other yarn stuff I've been meaning to share with you is the knitting progress that Little Lady has made in recent months. You may remember the post I wrote in March about her learning to knit, and her very first project which came from the Made By Me book by Jane Bull??

Well pretty much as soon as she had finished her little knitty purse, she began working on the sweet little owl softie shown on page 54. She picked the exact same colour as in the book (cloud blue Stylecraft Special DK) and off she went with great enthusiasm.

It didn't take her long as each row was only 12 stitches long. But somehow the actual making up of the Owl got delayed. We kept saying we would do it, but never actually did. That little strip of cloud blue knitting sat around on my desk for weeks, it even disappeared and then reappeared somewhere else a few times.

Then one day in the middle of the summer holidays, I found it under a pile of magazines and asked her if she would like me to work on it with her.

She was mega excited (I love how she physically jumps up and down and claps her hands when she's excited), and couldn't wait to set to work.

She did all the sewing up by herself with just a teensy bit of guidance in the beginning. She was absolutely beside herself putting the stuffing in, who knew that polyfil stuffing could provide such a thrill?

She ran to her bedroom and fetched the roll of coloured felt that I'd bought her (when I was trying to convince her that stitched felty things were waaaay better than complicated knitty things), and together we selected colours.

Owly eyes were cut out, and a little yellow beak took shape.

Some glue was found and the felt shapes were carefully stuck into place.

We had to leave it to dry for a while, and it was very hard to get her through the waiting.

But later that day, we had a little look to see if it was dry (it was indeed) and Little Owl was finally held up to be admired.

Ta-dah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Awwwwwwwwww, we had a proud little Mummy-daughter Ta-dah moment together and some  excited jiggy-jig dancing took place.

Love was even declared.

Little Owl was named Bernie, and there he sits on the mantel under the Love Heart Twigs. We love him very much. Bernie was originally destined for Daddy's desk at work, but actually we kind of decided we need to keep him here at number 24 for a while.

As soon as Bernie was roosting on the mantel, Little Lady moved immediately onto her next project. She is very like her Mummy you know, her Creative Mind is alive and kickin' up a storm it seems.

So after a great deal of pleading, I treated her to some posh new yarn to work with, her Very Own Stash. Queue more mega-excited jumping and clapping, I do so love her enthusiasm. This yarn is called "Snuggly Smiley Stripes" by Sirdar, an incredibly soft bamboo/wool blend. Gotta hand it to Little Lady, she has great taste in yarn.

So this is progress so far on Project #3. It's going to become a small bag so I believe.

I'm so proud of her. Like really busting at the seams with pride.

Now then........before I go off to The Land of Nod, I'd just like to say a big, huge thank you for all the lovely comments you leave at the end of my witterings. I love to read what you have to say, your collective voices bring me so much pleasure! It's hard to put into words but I am extraordinarily grateful to you all for popping by day after day in order to catch up with my potty little comings and goings. It means such a lot that you take time to write to me.

((THANK♥YOU))

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Blooming Marvellous

When we went Dorset a few weeks ago, I enjoyed a wonderful afternoon drinking tea and eating cake with an old friend, one of my oldest friends actually. We were at school together and then shared a room together when we first left home to go to art school. Amazing to still be in touch twenty five years on, with six children and two husbands between us.

Anyhow, she told me about an exhibition she'd recently been to at Bridport Arts Centre and recommended that I go see it if I could. The exhibition was called Blooming Marvellous and was described as "an intergenerational community knitting/crochet project culminating in a knitted/crocheted 3D garden".

Intriguing don't you think? A knitted GARden?? How could I possibly not go and see for myself?!

I really didn't know what to expect, it's quite a long time since I went to an art exhibition of any sorts. I was excited! And as I had Little Lady with me it felt like quite an adventure to be heading off to experience this together.

It was a bit baffling at first. As everything was visible all at once,  just entering the room was quite overwhelming. There was so much to see, big things and small things, a mind boggling amount to take in.

We began to work our way slowly around the room. We had to crouch down as most of the exhibits were on the floor. But it was an absolute necessity to get reeeeeeeeally up-close as the detail in everything was un-be-liev-able.

Ohh the work! The hours and hours and hours of creative work evident in this exhibition was astounding.

This exuberant floral border blew me away.

I loved the sheer fun of it, the absolute over-the-top, crazy joy of it!

 We crouched and gazed into this cool, blue yarny pool....

....and we circled round and round this buzzy, yarny bee hive.

We oooohhed and aaahhhhhed and mmmmmmmed over this knitty picnic.....

......and paused to appreciate this lush bowl of bright yarny fruit.

Like I say, the teeny tiny details in this exhibition were wonderful. Everywhere you looked there was something to surprise and delight. Tiny little knitted ladybirds crawled along windowsills and up walls. A knitted spider sat in a big knitted web at the window. A knitted owl roosted above a doorway. We couldn't stop smiling at every new discovery.

I think the veggie plot was my absolute favourite bit of all. I thought this little knitted tray of seedlings and seed packets was the cutest thing EVER.

There was an abundant harvest of vegetables.....

....tumbling out of crates and bags.

And can you see in the background there, a knitted shed! How ever many hours must it've taken to knit the side of a shed???!!

Throughout the duration of the exhibition there were regular knitting workshops held at the arts centre, with free patterns and help available to encourage people to contribute a little knitted something. The idea was to inspire people to become involved, to encourage the social aspects of knitting and crocheting together. 

Since coming home and reading the blog about the exhibition, it's become apparent just how many people were involved with it's creation. It was a huge community undertaking. This exhibition is sooooo much more than a collection of quirky handmade objects. The community spirit, the skill and the humour is truly awe inspiring.

Blooming Marvellous indeed.

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Edited to add :: a message from Pauline Stanley, the talented artist who organised this whole project...........

"HI, Just been sent the link to your Blog -it is wonderful and thank you all for writing such lovely things about it. I am the artist who organised this project with 1600 fantistic knitters - the youngest was 2 and the oldest was 99! Many of the knitters had disabilties including visual impairment, physical disability, learning disability and 42 groups took part. The garden is on tour around the UK. It is at Poole at Lighthouse art centre until 15th October and then will go into hibernation for the winter and will be at Durlston Country Park, Swanage in Dorset next Easter, then a casle in Wales for a few months then a museum in Yorkshire. It is avaialbe to hire and i would love some bokkings for it for over this winter rather than have it in storage.

Pauline Stanley 01202 392055"

 

 

 

 

Knitty Business

A month or so ago, Little Lady came home from school with a book she'd chosen from the school library. It was called "Made By Me" by Jane Bull, an author we already know and love. She was very excited by this book and spent day after day reading it cover to cover. She took it to bed with her. She made notes from it. And finally she declared that she really, really, really wanted to learn to knit. More than anything in the whole wide world, she wished to knit.

Truthfully I was not too keen on the idea of attempting to assist her with knitting. Knitting is quite a long way out of my creative comfort zone. I'm not very experienced with the sticks. Hooks yes. But sticks? Uh-uh. Well that's to say that I can knit, and indeed I used to knit a lot as a teenager. I used to knit myself gloves and jumpers and although I cannot quite believe it now, I once knit a cardigan for myself with a cable running up the front. A cable!!! Me doing cabley things with knit sticks, it seems incredible!

Now as well as knitting, this book also covers embroidery and sewing and has some really sweet projects in it.

The sewing pages are a true delight :: beautifully presented and very inspiring.

I loved almost every one of the sewing ideas and would have been thrilled if LL had chosen one of them to have a go at. In fact I even tried to persuade her in this direction by buying her a small bundle of coloured felt squares from a local shop. I enthused a lot about the pretty things she could sew for herself. But to no avail. It was knitting that she had really, really, really set her heart on.

Her desire to learn and her wonderful enthusiasm won me over in the end, and I made her a promise that I would help her learn to knit.

I managed to find some small childs knitting needles in a local shop, and we were all set. We would start out making a small knitted purse, just like the ones on page fifty six. The book has some very good step by step instructions and photographs to explain it all, and without too much trouble we learnt to cast on. When it came to the business of actually knitting I found that amazingly I still remembered how to do it. So between the book and myself, Little Lady was taught the basics. She is a fast learner, and before long she was confident enough to do it without my help.

We spent a truly fabulous morning together :: it was half term holiday and J had taken the boys out for the day leaving us girls at home to do girly yarny stuff together. I was working on The Secret Project (no word yet on when I'll be able to ta-dah that with you, am still waiting for News), and Little Lady was fulfilling her Greatest Wish. I wish you could have seen her, heard her, witnessed the pure joy as her little bit of knitting grew and grew. She kept saying over and over that she couldn't belieeeeeeeeeeeeeeve she was Actually Knitting. I was completely thrilled for her. And I was perilously close to tears...you know how some moments in life seem to become unexpectedly MonuMENtal, even though in essence they are so little? This was one of those big little moments.

Little Lady and her knitting were inseparable for a while. She did it last thing at night and first thing in the morning. She took it with her everywhere and she worked row after row of pretty good knitty. I hoicked back a dropped stitch from time to time, and sorted out some mysterious extra stitches that appeared, but mostly she just managed to do it without help and I felt so proud of her!

Over the past month or so, she worked steadily away at it and we kept on measuring as it grew. It began to get very exciting as she neared the end. Then on Saturday afternoon, she sat on the sofa and declared she would knit four more rows and then it would be Ready To Stitch.

The stitching up of the purse was fun, and she did most of it herself. She stitched on a button, then made a little "finger crochet chain" to form the button loop, then whhhoooooooped with delight when she realised she'd finally finished!!

It was FAB!!!

The little purse is well loved and well used, it's been much showed-off and much admired. And it's the perfect size for holding her lip gloss. Cool.

So that's the story of how Little Lady learnt to knit age six and three quarters.

She's already started her next project (a little blue owl, a present for Daddy to brighten up his work desk).

One FO and a WiP already on the go, that's my girl ♥

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 Edited to add :: a note from Little Lady............

a big thank you for all of your lovley comments, and i realy apreasheat all your lovely thauts!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! TOP TIP!be confident about your work and it turns out lovley,i am really exited about my owl

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Winter Warmth

Hello! We're having a very Wintry week here in my patch, brrrrrrrr it's been sooooo cold of late!

The temperatures have been sub zero day and night which is quite extreme for us Brits :: we are more used to half measures and unpredictability when it comes to the weather and all this constant bitter icy stuff has taken us by surprise.

But no denying the sheer beauty of it as I go slip sliding precariously with the pushchair along the frozen canalside. The snow and ice has made our every day surroundings look like a Winter Wonderland.

Despite the very cold weather, I've been feeling all Wintry-warm this week, it's such a lovely time of year isn't it? Ahhhh I'm having such a lovely, buzzy, happy time, the Little People are in full pre-Christmas swing both at home and at school and it's so joyful getting caught up in their excitement. Only 16 more sleeps don't you know. Quite a horrifying fact when one hasn't actually begun purchasing any gifts, but at the moment the Excitement is managing to keep the Panic in check.

I made it slip-sliding over the ice to the cafe this morning for my knit and natter group, what an enjoyable morning I've had. After missing it for a few weeks due to germs+snow, it was extra lovely to be back with friends, doing what I love best. Slurping and nattering and hooking, it was really good. Like really good. I am still on with my Christmas Decs, I have become quite loopily addicted to making them. Just one more, just one more, I can't seem to stop myself.

I know many of you are loving making them too (yiippppeeee!), there're some absolute beauties appearing in the Attic24 Inspired Flickr group, do go and take a look if you have a moment to spare. Makes me so happy to share with you  ♥ thank you ♥

Just whilst I'm on the subject of sharing, I came across a lovely blog this morning that I'd like to tell you about if you haven't already found it :: it's written by Sara and is called Tangled Happy, it's fabulous!! Labelled as a "crochet pattern collective" there are oodles of creative hooky ideas and lots of links for you to follow. I was particularly smitten with Pips crochet baubles that Sara featured yesterday, wow, what a clever idea that is! Pips tutorials are smashing and very easy to follow, I think I'll be giving those a go when I can put my own ones down for a second.

Something about Wintry weather makes me want to stay home warm and cosy and bake things. Well truthfully my week so far has involved rather a lot of happy time out and about socialising with friends, but Little Man is keeping us supplied with fresh home baking. He baked these buns when he came home from school a few days ago, and as you can see he decorated them beautifully without the need to do boy-things with the little balls. Pheww. They will be fit to offer to visiting relatives then, unlike some of his other baked goods, that's a relief.

My hyacinth on the mantel has reached it's peak now, the fragrance is quite something. Soon be time for us to clear the mantel though and make way for all things Festive, I'm really looking forward to doing that very soon.

A few Christmassy bits and bobs have already found their way down from the Attic eaves, and some pre breakfast Christmas crafting has been happening too. Gosh. Is it really only sixteen sleeps till Christmas??

One lovely thing that has happened this week is that I've been reunited with my Granny Stripe blankie, yaaaaayyyyyy!! J went and did the necessary wintertime stuff with Connievan, prepping her for the cold weather and "putting her to bed" for the winter. I couldn't bare the thought of my beloved blankie spending the whole winter alone, so it's come home for some warmth and family loving. Right now it's being put to good use and makes up half of the roof to a Den Hotel. Apparently if you want to go and stay in the Den Hotel, it'll cost you £500 a night, although Little B is allowed in for free. It's very warm and cosy and intimately s-m-a-l-l in the blankety Den Hotel, but it does have a beautiful, colourful stripy-ripply roof.

See my new cushion up above there too, isn't it wonderful?? It was made by a friend of mine and I couldn't resist it when I visited a little local handmade selling event on Friday. I love it so much, most especially the beautiful felt triangle edging,  yeah, makes my heart go skipetty skip that does.

And looky what I found a few days ago when I was rummaging in my cupboards....my long lost Summer Granny cushion cover. My oh my, I had totally forgotten about this little thing, I started it way back in May and finished crocheting it months and months ago. I even have a delicious turquoise cotton jumper waiting to be chopped up and transformed into the backing. Need to chisel out a bit of time to do that soon, not that my sofas are short of colourful hooky goodness mind you, but you can never have too much of a good thing.

Well, on that colourful note I shall have to love you and leave you for now, I need to go and do foody things in the kitchen.

Stay warm and cosy my friends, and I'll see you soon, probably with a Christmas Tree in situ :o)

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All is Bright (well kind of)

Hello hello hello! Its been quite a weeny while hasn't it? I've missed being here and I've missed you all, truly I have. It feels good to be back.

All is reasonably OK here in the attic, and life continues to be full-on and busy, bright and colourful, creative and homely. Sadly we also have some nasty and unwelcome Germs in residence. Uch. Little Lady was first to fall with a snotty cold and nasty cough, and now Little B is having a bash at it. He also has a chest infection and believe me when I tell you it does not suit him to be poorly. He is the worst patient ever. Grumpy as hell. We've been enduring a lot of crying accompanied by the most eye popping temper tantrums. I had no idea that a 10.5 month old was even capable of  Temper Tantrums, but he is certainly giving it a bloody good go. Poor wee mite, I think he is simply exhausted by it all. Poor Mummy too, she is most definitely exhausted by it all.

So my days this week have been very demanding, and I've found that spending more time at home than we're used to has had it's ups and downs.  Staying warm and cosy as the cold weather sets in has been good. Sofa-time snuggles have been good. Attempting to do everything one-handed with a grizzly baby on my hip hasn't been quite so good (note to self :: in future don't try and make risotto with an ill baby to contend with, it's more trouble than it's worth).

But hey-ho, he is slowly, slowly on the mend and life will get back to normal at some point I guess. I'm looking forward to getting more sleep that's for sure.

The days feel very loooong and tiring to me at the moment, yet somehow time continues to whizz by. My hyacinth bulbs are growing away beautifully on the mantel and remind me amidst the difficult times to stop and be thankful for life's simple pleasures. On the whole I am pretty adept at doing this, but occasionally when life gets tough it's easy to lose sight of all that is good. 

Winter is beginning to well and truly set in here in my patch, brrrrrr it's freeezing here today! In fact, we are forecast snow and oh my lord, it is being eagerly awaited by my two Littln's. They are desperate for it to arrive. Me, I'm thinking that life will get very much harder with snow on the ground, I'll be happy for it to not arrive.

As you can see, the pre-breakfast crafting has gone all seasonal and much snippety-snipping has been going on of late. We have a fair pile of paper snowflakes now, and more and more flurry onto the table each day. I've given up trying to clear it away at meal times so we just sit and eat amongst the paper snow.

I don't really do much in the way of organised craft activities with my Little People, I find they pretty much get on with it under their own steam. I bought this magazine for Little Lady last week, it's full of creative Christmas makes and she is really enjoying taking ideas from it. She asked me to please help her cut out the pieces to make this flying angel, and I was more than happy to oblige....

....she really did a  good job, don't you think? Hoping for some more to happen so that we can hang them up for Christmas.

The view from the Attic continues to look as beautiful as ever. Another three days and we'll be marking our third anniversary of living here at number 24. Three years! Can hardly believe it, three years of watching the seasons play out across these hills and I love it more and more as time goes by.

Five more days and I'll be turning my calendar page :: the above image is the November page and I'll be sad to say goodbye to it actually. But Advent will begin and I am quite ridiculously excited about that! You may remember my crochet advent stars from last year? Weeeell, they are still hanging in place a whole year on (I couldn't bring myself to take them down last year), so all I need to do is locate the little felt numbers. Hmm. That's quite a mission. I think they are squirrelled away in the Attic cupboards somewhere, will need to go and hunt them out.

Right-oh, it's been lovely catching up with you, I'm off to make myself a hot cup of tea with a little bit of something sweet to the side. Quite necessary in this cold weather to have some Sweetness to the Side don't you know.

See you soon, stay cosy ♥ xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Edit to add :: Thursday 12.30pm. It's snowing. @#$e

PS.... for those of you in the UK, I got the magazine from Tesco and it's simply called "Its Christmas!" It says that the flying angels were taken from a book "The Usborne big Book of Christmas things to Make and DO"... see here.

PPS the snow never stuck (yaaay) and we have blue skies and sunshine today, although it is -2 degrees brrrrrr. xxxxxx