Attic24

Yuletide Blanket :: Ta-dah!

The inspiration for the Yuletide blanket came to me in a flash one day when I was noodling over the idea of trying to make something Christmassy. I am probably in the minority here but I'm not a real lover of Christmas time - for me personally I much prefer to celebrate the turning of the seasons, with the Winter Solstice being more meaningful to me than anything religious. And so the idea of designing a Yuletide blanket began to take shape - a blanket that celebrates all that is cosy and seasonal about this time of year. In my mind I began thinking of clementines, gingerbread, spices and mulled wine. Candlelight, fairy lights and a crackling open fire. Pine, holly, ivy, eucalyptus and berries. These are the colours, scents and tastes of the Yuletide season for me and provided a rich source of creative inspiration. Oh, I really fell down a deep and delicious Pinterest hole when I was conducting my Very Important Yuletide Research. I gathered some of my favourite images into the collage above, and immediately my heart was invested.

 

 

As all this inspiration gathering was happening earlier in the year in spring, I had to work hard to get into the spirit of winter. I went out on a woodland walk and gathered in some ivy and small pine branches. I have eucalyptus growing in my back yard, and a quick shopping spree on eBay delivered me some dried orange slices and star anise (which smells heavenly). I was slowly beginning to build a Yuletide colour palette inside my Creative Mind, and after a LOT of faffery I ended up with 12 deliciously seasonal colours.....

This is of course my favourite go-to yarn for blanket making, Stylecraft Special DK. I chose a mixture of reds and greens for seasonal foliage, with some golden warmth added in to represent the orange slices, spices and firelight.

Top row :

♥ Burgundy ♥ Tomato ♥ Gingerbread ♥ Bottle ♥ 

Middle row :

♥ Claret x 2 ♥ Gold ♥ Cypress ♥ Teal ♥ 

Bottom row :

♥ Lipstick  x 2 ♥ Camel ♥ Sage ♥ Kelly Green x 2 ♥ 

The Yuletide yarn pack contains 15 x 100g balls of Stylecraft Special DK (12 colours, with 3 of them doubled up). You can click on the following link to find the yarn pack in my shop at Wool Warehouse...

YULETIDE YARN PACK

My friends at Wool Warehouse do a wonderful job of sending my yarn packs out all over the world, and I am so thankful to them for making this happen with such efficiency. They are a genuinely lovely family owned business and they work incredibly hard making sure that our yarny community is provided for. You probably already know that I earn a small commission on each pack sold through my shop, so I want to take this opportunity to thank you so much for supporting me in this way. I am unbelievably grateful.

Also, you know I always publish my patterns here on my blog for free, but in addition to my online tutorial there is an 8 page full colour A4 printed pattern included in the Yuletide yarn pack. 

Back to the colours....ahhh, there they are look, all stacked up and looking very lush and Yuletide-ish. I always like to make squares with my blanket colours before I embark on the actual blanket making as it gives me a great overview of the palette and helps me to become familiar with how they are playing together. Also, can we just take a moment to appreciate Little Lady's beautifully painted co-ordinating claret nails? She made a very good hand model I have to say.

I adore the Yuletide colours ordered in a pleasing colourwash like this, and I had an idea that some of you might perhaps want to make a colourwash striped blanket in future? Just in case that idea appeals, here is the colour list for the order shown above >>

1. Burgundy
2. Claret
3. Lipstick
4. Tomato
5. Gingerbread
6. Gold
7. Camel
8. Cypress
9. Sage
10. Kelly Green
11. Teal
12. Bottle

It occurred to me a little while ago that not everyone likes to make squares, so I'm also planning to work on a random stripe order for the Yuletide yarn pack. That way you could use one of my existing striped blanket designs with the Yuletide colour pack and hook away to your hearts content. I'm sorry I haven't had chance to do this before now, I just ran out of time. I'll post the stripe order here on my blog later in the week.

I began working on the Yuletide blanket back in April after a LOT of pattern sampling. I'm so happy with the design that I created especially for this blanket, it makes great use of the colour contrasts in this palette and is an absolute pleasure to crochet.

The pattern uses all UK treble stitches so it is beautifully rhythmic and speedy to work up. There is just enough thought needed to prevent boredom setting in, but the pattern repeats are simple enough to provide that essential relaxation factor. It's important to me that my designs are kept simple enough for beginners to feel confident to give them a go, so I always aim to keep the stitch pattern very straightforward. The real skill comes in the colour play, and that's something I am particularly good at - I can make even the simplest of patterns look pretty darn lovely because of the way I bring the colours together.

Of course even I make mistakes - this pattern relies heavily on using colour contrasts so that the spike stitches create little heart shapes in the rows. I didn't always get this right and had to frog back rows which weren't working, but it was always worth the extra time and effort to make those hearts pop out. They're cute, eh?

I worked steadily on my blanket through early summer - it had many outings to the café where I could hook up those long soothing rounds whilst chatting to friends and drinking coffee.

I took it with me to celebrate "Worldwide Knit in Public Day" (believe it or not I'm sat with around 30 other knitters and crocheters in the above photo, but we were socially distanced so I look like I'm all on my lonesome. I promise you I was in great company).

But mostly, summertime crochet took place in my back yard, and I discovered the joy of hooking with my feet up (literally) when my new sun lounger arrived. Oh.....the pleasure was off the scale!

Having never crocheted a giant square blanket before, I have to tell you that I was very quickly in love with the process. Once the first dozen or so rounds were out the way, the crochet rhythm was a delight. And the bigger the square became, the more I was able to lose myself in those lengthening rounds. Bigger rounds means less stopping and starting (and less darning in of ends) and as a result I think this was one of the most relaxing blankets I've ever made. 

Awww.......I see hearts !!! Do you like the way this stripe pattern works?

I hooked up 78 rounds in total for the Yuletide blanket, then set about creating a border to add a  calming effect to the outer edge.

I kept it very simple, using a combination of plain red and green rows to balance out the slight busy-ness of the stripes.

I couldn't quite believe it when I'd finished the blanket and laid it out for the very first time. It measured a very satisfying 150cm square and when I was able to get a good look at it as a whole (instead of glimpsing it all folded up in my lap while I crocheted it) I fell head over heels in love with it. Head. Over. Heels.

It had been hard for me to visualise the effect of this stitch pattern over a large area as I was working on the rounds - like I say, I've never made a huge square before. It really is absolutely stunning I have to say and the scale of it makes it something really special. 

I had been a little worried about the "twisting" tendencies of giant crochet squares, but in the end after 78 rounds there was only a very, very slight twist to the centre of my blanket. I think the spike stitches help to keep everything aligned and I'm happy with how it turned out.

The overall square shape was a little out of whack after I'd finished crocheting, but I knew that blocking would easily take care of it. I washed my blanket on a 30 degree wash, then while it was still damp from the washing machine I spread it out on the Attic carpet and stretched it out gently until it was beautifully square and straight. I left it to completely dry for a good 24 hours and then the following day, this happened....................

 ..............ta-dah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Isn't it rather fabulous?!

Like I say, head over heels in love.

Love love love love love it, with hearts in my eyes.

A few weeks ago when I started working on the printed pattern which is included in the Yuletide yarn pack, I realised I would need a suitable photo for the front cover. I decided it would be fun to pull together some props and conduct a little amateur product styling. I purchased a couple of red pillar candles and some juicy clementines, then went gathering in the greenery. I used the lovely little copper wire lights that usually hang along the mantel, and then finally I lit the fire. It felt a bit odd to light the fire so early in the season but it was a cool afternoon and it certainly did help deliver some cosy Yuletide spirit.

After a lot of creative faffing I ended up with a few photos that I was happy with - if you buy the yarn pack, you'll be able to see the front cover of the pattern and let me know what you think.

As you know, I always like to make a full tutorial to support my patterns with the hope that any newbie crocheters out there will feel confident to give it a go. I think this is a good pattern for beginners to try - the spike stitches take a little bit of getting used to (mainly due to needing a good control of yarn tension) but it really is just UK trebles so the pattern is easy to learn.

I suggest in the tutorial that you work up the first 6 rounds (2 pattern repeats) to get the hang of the way the design works and to check out your sizing and tension - if you're happy with your square after six rounds then you can carry on and make it as big as you like. You can find the tutorial in the usual place over in my left hand side bar, or click on the following link to go straight there >>

YULETIDE TUTORIAL

At the end of the photo tutorial I typed out a traditional pattern - this can be copied and pasted into a word document so that you can save it/print it if you wish.

My little furry assistant was on hand to help with the photography, of course she was. I think she couldn't believe her luck when the blanket was draped and arranged just so, providing her with the perfect fireside spot. I always make a big song and dance about not lighting the fire until Proper Autumn arrives and it's truly chilly enough to need it, but secretly I adored having the cosy warmth of those flames on a dull afternoon in early September. Just don't tell J. Speaking of the husbundo, I have to thank him for working with me on the printed pattern and the worksheet as well - as part of the tutorial you can download a worksheet which lists the colours to help you stay on track with your rounds. He also made me this.......

Yuletide graphic very cleverly made by J ♥

......which I think is rather spectacular. He's a clever so and so.

Well I think that's about all I need to say for now, I hope you've enjoyed this little slice of early festive celebration. Thank you as ever for your enthusiasm and support around my creative projects, I really do appreciate it very. very much.

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Here are the links again for the pattern and yarn kit, and the colour worksheet too....

♥ YULETIDE YARN PACK (contains a full colour printed pattern)

♥ YULETIDE TUTORIAL

♥ YULETIDE COLOUR WORKSHEET

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Early September

Early September is here and as much as I don't want to admit it, I can most definitely feel the slip-slide of summer as it gently  begins to make way for Autumn. This past week we've had the most wonderous warm sunny weather though, a real gift for souls like me who hang onto the summer till the very last moment. I'm still picking sweet peas even though the plants themselves are looking rather dead, I know, how lucky am I? Every time I think it'll be the last bunch, somehow more magically appear and it feels like some sort of summer miracle. The flowers are just so beautifully painterly, like little watercolour studies on each petal. I love them so bloomin' much.

Last weekend when the weather was joyous, we took off across the fields for a walk and made the most of the wide open views. Little B did an awful lot of moaning about the temperature (he's a winter lover and really dislikes any kind of warm weather), but I'm learning how to tune him out when he goes off on an extended negative rant. I loved the sunshine, of course I did, it was hot and wonderful, and the little fluffy clouds and lush green fields made me stupidly happy.

I live for these beautiful sunshiny days in September (well all year round to be honest), and my gratitude was sky high. Leafy tree tops and dappled sunshine - yes please, always and forever.

A few mornings this past week we've started the day under a blanket of grey mist - a little reminder that the seasons will be changing very soon. The above photo was taken just after 9am on Thursday which was the day that Little Lady and Little B were both back in school. I'm still adjusting to this new season of school routines, in particular the fact that I no longer need to leave the house to deliver or collect a child. After 15 years spent walking back and forth with primary school children it still feels very surreal watching Little B set off down the road without me. 

As I'm dressed and ready to start my day when the Little Peeps head out to school, I've found myself also desperately wanting to leave the house at the same time. The routine is so deeply ingrained that it feels wrong not to be out and about by 9am and so I've just allowed myself to do what feels right. Instead of walking to school I walk to the bakery, or to the supermarket, and as soon as I set off I feel my sense of equilibrium settling in place.

The afternoon school run however, oh, I am absolutely thrilled not to be doing that one any more. I am greatly appreciating the luxury of waiting for the offspring to walk in the door by themselves without any physical exertion from me. 

Little B had three whole days of secondary school last week and so far so good. Every day he brought home new exercise books and delivered a verdict on the subjects he'd studied. It's been interesting to hear him chat about his new experiences, and I hope his enthusiasm continues as we trundle through the next six weeks of this half term.

Little Lady is in her final year of school and says she's enjoying being back into a routine and getting organised for what is going to be a busy year of study and decision making. September is always such an important month when you have school age children, it's like breathing out a huge sigh of relief when you didn't even realise you were holding your breath.

Yesterday morning J and I went into town as we usually do every Saturday, to visit the local shops and the street market. During the past year this routine of ours has very firmly set itself in place and I absolutely love it. 

I really enjoy being able to walk into the centre of our little town, taking in the picturesque canal and old buildings and feeling that sense of belonging. Once we've gathered in all the produce and groceries we head to the café to have breakfast, and every week without fail it feels like the biggest treat. I am so grateful for our gentle lifestyle and simple pleasures, for the easy routines that keep us grounded and the happiness that it brings. I consider myself very, very lucky.

Sunday is often a day when we go for a walk if the weather is dry, and this morning I'm delighted to say that we walked as a family of four which hasn't happened in a while. 

We didn't drive far, just a few miles to a neighbouring village to do a circular walk which involved climbing to the top of that craggy hill in the photo above. We do this walk a few times a year and it's not for the faint hearted - the climb is rocky and steep....

....but the view from the top is well worth the physical effort. It feels so good when you reach the top and get to sit down and rest, a mixture of exhilaration and deep relief. We each had flasks with us (hot chocolate for Little B, milky coffee for the rest of us) and some chocolate for revival purposes. Morning coffee with a view, it was mighty fine I have to say.

I've been feeling a bit under the weather this past week, and I admit I found the climb quite challenging as my fitness levels have dropped off over the summer months.

I've made a promise to myself that as from tomorrow (Monday) I'm going to start doing my morning workouts again - they only take 7-10 minutes so really there is absolutely no excuse not to do them. Although it's been pretty nice to skip them over the summer holidays and give my body a rest, I like the way they make me feel and September seems like a grand month to reinstate some healthy routines. It's a reset kind of a month I think.

Tall, tall summer grasses are everywhere in the countryside at this time of year, wafting in the breeze and bringing with them an unmistakable end-of-season vibe. Autumn is around the corner - it's not here yet mind you, so hold onto your pumpkins for a while longer! As you probably know, I like to follow the astronomical seasons which means I celebrate the solstices and equinoxes rather than the first of the month dates set by the weather people. Autumn equinox falls on the 22nd September this year, so still another nine days left to appreciate late summer.

It's been cloudy but mild today and I spent a while sat out in the back yard this afternoon, very aware that my al fresco days are numbered now. The yarden is looking wild and a smidge unkempt I have to say, but I am always so overjoyed to be able to sit surrounded by flowers and greenery that I can easily overlook the straggliness.

I brought in my blankets from outdoor storage today, the ones that have been well used in my back yard and on picnics and outings all summer. They need a wash and a freshen up, so that's on my to-do list this week.

Did I tell you I finished my Yuletide blanket? I think last time I was here chatting I was almost finished but not quite, well, tis done and dusted now and I couldn't be happier. It's such a wonderful blanket, different to anything I've ever made before with it's own unique colour palette and slightly vintage retro feel.

Even thought the blanket is finished, I haven't finished with the colours just yet - I made some little stars to use for photographs....

.....and also the beginnings of a Yuletide Garland for my fireplace. I've wanted to make a winter garland for a while now, and this seemed like a good time to get creative with ideas whilst my head is still so full of these colours. I've been working on some new little designs this weekend - an ivy leaf, orange slices and the beginnings of some eucalyptus leaves (they still need more work). I've LOVED the creativity that has flowed in abundance this past week, I've felt really inspired in lots of different ways.

I've been working on a tutorial for the Yuletide blanket which is my usual full-on photo heavy affair, and I'm confident that I can help newbie crocheters feel like they can tackle this design. I also created an 8 page colour pattern which will be included in the Yuletide yarn pack, so yeah, I've been quietly busy here in the Attic doing my hooky thing.

My friends at Wool Warehouse have also been busy and we are all set for the Yuletide blanket kit to be ready on Tuesday 14th. I'm writing a Ta-dah blog post to share the finished blanket with you, so all links for the pattern and the yarn pack will be included in that post. I think the aim is for everything to be online at 8am on Tuesday - of course I'm ridiculously excited, and nervous and elated and apprehensive, the usual mixed pot of emotions. I really hope you like it as much as I do.

And on that note, I shall bid you farewell, and I'll be back on Tuesday morning with lots of blankety photos to share with you. Thanks as ever for visiting, I appreciate you muchly xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dorset Summer 2021

As many of you may know, Dorset is where I lived and grew up from the age of ten to nineteen. I was born in London but my Mum was Dorset born and so during the first ten years of my life we frequently travelled from the city to the coast to visit her parents/my grandparents during school holidays. I have many good memories of holidaying there as a young child and when the decision was made for us to move there permanently, well, lets just say I thought that my ten year old heart would explode with joy. I had the best kind of childhood living a few miles from the sea, and rural life gave us so much more freedom than we'd had living in a very busy urban environment. Pedalling my old bike down to the beach in the summer holidays is one of my favourite childhood memories - I was telling my own Little People that I really hated wearing anything on my feet when I was younger and often rode my bike (and walked everywhere) with bare feet. I guess it's one of the reasons I love wearing flip flops as an adult, as it's the closest thing to being bare foot in the summer.

I left home when I was 18 after taking my A levels and moved 45 miles along the Dorset coast to Bournemouth to spend a year doing an art foundation course. Living there was even more dreamy as my student accommodation was a mere five minute walk from the beach, oh I loved that year of my life so, so much. After that year I moved north to undertake a three year textile degree at Manchester, and my trips back to Dorset happened three times a year during Christmas, Easter and Summer break. I still loved my summers by the sea - each year of my student life I worked full time at an ice cream shop just a stones throw from the beach at Lyme Regis. Such happy memories for sure. Two years after graduating, I met J - we were both 24 years old and from that point on he always came with me on my trips back to the south coast. The Dorset coast calls to me like no other place on Earth, I always say it's where my soul is at peace and I honestly do experience this as a physical thing. My heart feels it for sure, but I feel like my whole being relaxes with the relief of being back where I belong. It's home.

Sadly, the rest of my family don't have anywhere near the same level of connection as me, and that's OK, I do get that it's a very personal thing. In years past, we would make the 300 mile journey twice a year (Easter and Summer) but in recent years it's become an annual summer jaunt. I try and journey down more often if I can, taking the train and travelling solo. Since my Mum and her partner both died, I feel it's more important than ever to make the most of the time I have left with my Dad. He's 75 and has aged considerably in the past year so I really do want to visit as often as I'm able.

The first morning when we're in Dorset I always experience a huge pull to the sea, specifically the pebble beach and little fishing harbour at West Bay where my childhood memories reside. I love to literally "ground" myself there, sitting directly on the beach to feel it with my whole body. The sound of the waves breaking on a pebble beach is one of my most favourite things to listen to, gosh I could spend hours just sitting, watching the waves and drinking in the coastal sights and sounds. And the smell of it too, the air smells sooooooo good in Dorset, especially in Summer. It's a beautiful mix of salty sea air and sweet meadow grass and I absolutely love love love it.

That first morning we were down at the beach pretty early, I think it was about 8.30 or so. It wasn't planned that way but we all happened to be awake and up early and as Little B declared he was "staaaaaaarving" we decided that a walk on the beach followed by breakfast in a beach café would be just the thing. And it was, it was wonderful! 

The weather wasn't all that great at the start of our holiday, but then we'd been expecting  a mixed bag. Often by the coast there is a persistent "mizzle" (a misty drizzle) - we get it inland here in Yorkshire too, but it's especially common by the sea. It rolls in from the shore and descends on the landscape like a damp grey blanket, obliterating views and generally making the day feel a bit miserable. We did try to make the best of it, wrapping up in waterproof coats and setting out to walk along a pretty deserted Burton beach.

We came across these rock towers which looked amazing on the empty beach....

.....and Little B added a very, very small stone to the highest tower as his contribution. 

One good thing about a mizzly day is that the huge amount of moisture in the air can often settle itself in a surprisingly beautiful way....

....these feathers on the shingle beach literally stopped me in my tracks, they looked like they'd been decorated with sparkling jewels.

Our general plan when we were in Dorset this time was to get out and about in the mornings so that  by mid afternoon we would be free to spend time with my Dad and his partner and enjoy an evening meal with them. Because the weather wasn't really any good for sitting on the beach (or sitting for any length of time outdoors anywhere really), we were a bit stuck for things to do. Little B is at an age where he's pretty hard to please, as nothing seems to be of any interest to his eleven year old brain (with the exception of food). On day two we decided to go for an afternoon walk, following footpaths around Hardy's Monument which are part of the South Dorset Ridegeway. This is high ground with far reaching scenic views....

.....it was just a shame that the views were very wet and non existent. 

Water droplets were plentiful....

....but as much as I loved seeing these jewelled spiders webs, they didn't really make up for the miserableness of the weather. Surprisingly, Little B took it in stride and was in good spirits, he's always been a great walker ever since he was small and toddler sized and that's something I've always been thankful for.

Day three and the weather was dry at last, yippeeeee! It was still very grey and murky, but the damp was gone and so we set out to visit one of our favourite places - Abbotsbury Subtropical Gardens. We've been visiting these gardens for many years, ever since the Little people were very small. It was as beautiful as ever, it's such a well maintained garden with truly stunning areas of planting, a great mix of ancient woodland and different garden areas with winding pathways to explore.

I think I must photograph these giant gunnera leaves every single year - they stand at around 6ft tall and this year for the first time Little B was able to reach up and touch them. My, my, that child is growing at such a pace, he's just one inch shorter than me now.

Little B says his favourite part of the gardens are the lily ponds which are home to lots and lots of very large goldfish. There is a little metal dispenser which will turn you out a handful of fish food for 20 pence, and it's one of those family traditions of ours that we just have to do. There was no way we could visit and not feed the fish. They played their part and dutifully came to the surface to snaffle the little pellets, much to Little B's delight. Sometimes, in his unguarded moments I still get a glimpse of the child he used to be, but honestly it's rare these days. I bloomin' love it when it happens though, truly.

We'd taken a picnic lunch with us in the hope that the weather would warm up and allow us to enjoy eating outdoors and I'm happy to report we were not disappointed. We stopped off at our favourite West Bexington beach which was beautifully quiet and peaceful....

....and spent a few hours enjoying the sound of the waves as we ate. I'd made us chunky ham, cheese and salad sandwiches using a freshly baked French baguette, with crisps, grapes and apples. Oh, and a bit of chocolate to finish off because good chocolate is always needed to round off a picnic in my opinion. Eating outdoors is one of my favourite things to do on holiday and even a humble picnic is elevated to something special when eaten on the beach.

Later that same day we made a last minute decision to eat our evening meal at the beach too - we were on a roll with al fresco eating and it seemed like a good thing to do. 

We stayed local and drove the few miles down to the harbour.....

.....and took our paper wrapped fish and chip dinner down to the beach to eat with a view of the sea.

We even had a couple bottles of cold beer (J and I have started enjoying alcohol free beer, and it tastes really great I have to say). As you can see from the above photo, it was a bit on the chilly side so I ended up underneath my picnic blanket which I can't say I was unhappy about, I do love a bit of crochet blanket comfort!

Once it got too cold to sit still any longer, Little B and I took a brisk walk up to the top of the west cliff to take in the view. It was a lovely way to round off our day spent outdoors - two meals eaten on two different beaches, yup, I was extremely happy with the way the day had panned out. 

Waking up on the next day we were greeted with a glowering sky and light rain which made me sigh long and loud with utter disappointment. It was a Saturday, so after after a bit of a ponder we decided to head into Bridport to be true "holiday makers" and enjoy the hustle and bustle of the street market. Even in the drizzly rain we figured we could make the best of it, find a cosy café and enjoy a morning coffee. By the time we arrived in town the rain had just about stopped and it was great to see the market thriving in spite of the cool unseasonal weather. We chose a very teeny tiny independent café which had tables and chairs on the pavement and enjoyed a really good frothy coffee with a wonderful slab of homemade coffee and walnut cake. My spirits were most definitely lifted and as the weather seemed to be improving minute by minute we made a spontaneous decision to head six miles along the coast to a little seaside place from my childhood.

As you can see from the above photo, the weather really got it's act together by the early afternoon and we arrived at the cute little seaside village of Charmouth under a blue, sunny sky. Yayyyyy, happy, happy, happy me!!!!!!!!

It's been many years since we've been to Charmouth beach, and I'd forgotten just how charming and unspoilt it is. There is very little here - a small café, a tiny shop selling fossils and a heritage coast centre. Oh, and some beach huts too, looking beautiful in their subtle minty shades.

Just like all the other beaches we visit in Dorset, this is part of the famous Jurrasic Coast World Herritage site and is very well known locally as being the place to go for fossils. The sound of many little hammers tapping at rocks is very distinctive and beach combing and treasure hunting is a very popular activity here. When we were visiting, the tide was low and so there was plenty of space on the beach for us to wander along and see what we could find.

I really liked seeing more rock stacks here on the beach - I think they are fabulous and I love that people take the time to create them for others to enjoy.

I just had a bit of a search in the depths of the interweb to try and find some information about rock stacks - I really just wanted to know whether stacking rocks was an actual "thing". It seems as if it is indeed a world wide artistic pastime and I found this link ((here)) which has some fabulous photos. Ahhhhhh, see now I really, really wish that I had tried my hand at creating one myself.....sticking that activity at the very top of my must-do list for my next visit to the coast. 

And while I'm on the subject of stone stacking, if you have three minutes to spare I really think you'd like this video on YouTube of Swedish artist Jonna Jinton working her magic. I discovered Jonna's YouTube channel last year during the height of pandemic lockdown and binge watched every single one of them. The way she tells her story through video and music is absolutely breath taking and very moving, I can highly recommend it.

Back to beach life, and the natural beauty of Charmouth beach had me captivated from the start. I used to come here quite often as a small child because I had a great Uncle and Aunt who lived here, and it's where I first discovered the joy of hunting for sea glass which has been a life long passion of mine.

Naturally, J and the Little People have been influenced by my obsession with beach combing over the years and it's one of those activities that is guaranteed to keep even the youngest engaged for quite a decent amount of time. You can see him in the above photo, intently scanning the shore for sea glass "treasure". Little B has  a highly competitive nature which amuses me no end because I am the absolute opposite - I have a very passive personality and deliberately avoid any kind of competitive activity. 

We had a discussion about what colours of sea glass would be considered rare  - on the south coast, red/orange is the rarest, closely followed by cobalt blue. Well, once the challenge was set there was no stopping that child of mine and the hunt was on. It was a true delight to sit my behind down on the warm pebbled beach and watch him go to work, he was relentless in his search. The joy and pride on his face when he proudly presented me with not one but two pieces of beautiful cobalt blue sea  glass was priceless - awwwww!! My heart felt like it wanted to explode.

We spent a wonderful few hours on the beach that afternoon, content with the simple pleasures of sitting and strolling in the warm sunshine, gathering in our small but precious collection of sea treasure to bring home.

It's early evening now, and we are settled in Lady B's beautiful walled garden to enjoy some light refreshment. We had planned to cook dinner in the garden - fabulous steak burgers from the local butcher which has become pretty well known after appearing on the television (apparently it's Britain's oldest family business, dating back more than 500 years). Unfortunately the fine weather didn't last for us, but J did a brilliant job with the barbecue in the rain.....sigh......such is our fickle  British summer time. I try not to let the poor weather get me down, but sometimes it really does suck.

Our last morning in Dorset looked promising and we were gifted some warm, dry weather to end our holiday, thank goodness for that. My heart was happy, and we set out early to take a last walk by the sea, heading back to West Bay to walk along the clifftops. I've been enjoying this walk for most of my life and have many, many layers of memories here - the feeling of nostalgia is a palpable thing for me any time we make the steep climb up the east cliff with it's sweeping views of familiar coastline.

It's only a few miles to walk, but there are a couple of steep ups and downs as the footpath winds its way over the rugged cliff tops....

,,,,before dropping back down to sea level. The return walk is along the shoreline, and on this morning it was absolutely beautiful. 

It was still quite early (around 9.30 I think) and only a few dog walkers were out and about - I love it when you feel like you have the beach to yourself, which is quite a rarity in August.

These vertical sandy cliffs are pretty impressive and I always love to be at sea level looking upwards, marvelling at the fact that just a short while ago we were actually walking along the very top of them. It blows my mind every single time, without fail.

All the climbing, walking and fresh sea air meant that by the time we trundled back to the harbour we all felt more than a little ravenous. Little B is coming through a pretty major growth spurt right now and as a result is constantly complaining that he is about to perish from starvation.

After three failed attempts trying to find breakfast at our usual haunts (one unexpectedly shut, one fully booked and short staffed and one not opening until lunch time), we ended up at Sladers Yard. I'd been here once before for coffee - it's a very unassuming old place from the outside (a historic rope warehouse) but the building has amazing character. Inside is a mixture of art gallery and café, and outside there is rustic wooden seating in a sheltered gravel garden where you can eat if the weather allows.

As it turned out, the weather chose to behave and it was warm and sheltered in this secluded little spot. We had such a gorgeous breakfast (great coffee too) and I was really glad that our last bit of the holiday felt so joyful. Little B was in raptures over his fluffy, freshly made pancakes (which probably just settled into his feet, his appetite is seriously impressive), and I enjoyed my go-to fave of poached eggs on sourdough toast which was lush. Gosh, all this talk of food is making my hungry!

We drove home later that afternoon after saying our goodbyes to family, and I made a promise to my Dad (and myself) that I would try and return in the Autumn. It was a good holiday all in all, I mean, we had some tense moments and I'm very, very aware that the easy, laid back family holidays we enjoyed when the Little People were young are pretty much a thing of the past now. I can't help but feel a bit sad about it, but at the same time I can see that we are entering a new phase of parenting where J and I will begin to rethink how/where we spend our holidays in future. It's quite an exciting thought actually, so I'm holding onto that and doing my best to embrace the changes. Who knows what next year will bring?

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ps..I've just had a look back in my archives to my first ever post about our Dorset holidays, right at the start of my blog in Spring 2008. The Little people were aged 5 and 4 back then, and Little B was not even a notion......my my, how the years do whizz past xx

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

August Moorland

If you've been visiting me in the Attic for any length of time then you will probably be familiar with our regular walks on the moorland. It's a quick jaunt for us as it's only about 7 miles away and takes no time at all for us to drive out of town and up, up, up the windy road to "the tops". It's one of those places where we often go to take a quick stroll along the stony track to breathe in some fresh air and long reaching scenic views. It's a blow-the-cobwebs-away kind of a place and I love it in all seasons - even in winter when it is wild and windy and freeeeeezing cold and the predominant shade is brown. There is something beautifully energising about being so high up with the landscape stretched out for miles in all directions.

When the weather allows and we feel like a more energetic outing, there is a 6 mile circular walk which takes in both the lower and upper reservoirs. You park the car at the side of the road and follow the broad stony track as it wiggles it's way across the huge expanse of Barden Moor. It's quite tough going from time to time and I usually find myself huffing and puffing as the track winds it's way quite steeply upwards, but the uninterrupted views are most definitely worth it. If you are ever in the area and want to visit the moors, there is a map ((here)) which shows you the exact location - parking is marked with a blue P symbol close to the cattle grid on the wiggly road that crosses the moor.

August is by far my favourite month to walk here, especially when the weather is good. The colour of the water looks so beautiful when the sky is bright blue, but it's undoubtedly the vast swathes of purple heather that steal the show. It really is breath taking and continues to inspire me year after year after year. 

I expect a good many of you will remember the Moorland blanket which was my Crochet-A-Long project in the winter of 2016/17. I took the above photo four years ago after the CAL had finished and I really do love it - the colours worked out so beautifully, both in the blanket itself and in the photo. It makes me laugh to myself because I know that Little Lady is behind that blanket, standing on a rock with her arms stretched high above her head to keep the stripes at the right height! Happy memories of time and place which is one of the many, many reasons I love my blog and my blankets too. Both are excellent keepers of precious memories.

And finally, the above photo was taken by J on his phone using the panorama setting - you can click on the image and it will pop up in a larger window for you to view it a little better. It gives a good impression of that delicious feeling of openness that you get up on the moorland which I love very much. It's wonderful to live in an area with access to high places, there is something very special about being closer to the sky which always makes me feel energised.

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Saturday Thoughts

I was sat in the café this morning waiting for my eggs on toast to arrive, and as I quietly sipped my Outrageously Good coffee I found myself thinking of you. And for the first time in a while I photographed my coffee to share with you as I realised I've missed you and wanted to say hello. HELLOOOOOO!!! I hope you're doing OK and enjoying  your days, whatever shape they are taking right now.

Here in Atticland life is bobbing along and our long six week summer holiday is rapidly coming to an end - only nine days left for Little B before he has to truss himself up in a shirt, tie and blazer for the first time and head off to a brand new school. I think it's safe to say that we've all enjoyed the relaxed pace of the summer, but I know I'll be more than ready for some new routines and structure once the school year begins again next month. 

After a bit of a cold snap this week, the weather finally got its act together today and it's been beeeeeeautiful. So so good to feel the warm sun on my face and drink in all that blue sky goodness up above. We decided to drive up to the moors and walk, well you've got to make the most of these sunshiny days when they roll around because they are precious indeed.

It's heather season right now and oh my word it was stunning up there on the tops today. I took a ridiculous number of photographs because the colours and the light and the utter summeryness of the views made me completely giddy. I'll show you some more images in another post, I think you'd enjoy them. Of course I cannot in any way walk up on the moors in late August without thinking of my Moorland blanket (photos of that can be found ((here)), the heather and the yarny stripes are so closely interlinked in my mind.

Talking of yarny stripes, The Yuletide blanket is almost finished and I've absolutely loved every moment of making it. I'm working on the final rounds of the border at the moment and I really can't wait to show you what it looks like when it's all laid out. 

It's funny because this time last year I was obsessing with the flowers and dried grasses in the meadow, drinking in that summery colour palette and planning out my Meadow Blanket stripes. This year, my colours are all about cosying up by the fireside and celebrating the winter season and the contrast between the two is quite something. Ahhh, isn't colour wonderful? I spend a good portion of every single day thinking about it, my Creative Mind never really sleeps I don't think.

Despite my creativity being winter-focused this week, I'm still very much enjoying the floral colours at my disposal. The sweet peas continue to give me blooms, even though the plants themselves are looking very straggly. I picked these stems two days ago....

....and am enjoying them enormously. The scent is pure summer perfection and I couldn't love it more.

Last week we were away from home, yes yes, we finally made it down to Dorset! We picked up our new car in the morning and in the afternoon we drove the three hundred miles south. We had mixed weather but it didn't stop us getting out and about every day enjoying much loved familiar places.

It was so so good to be there, I honestly can't tell you how much I've missed the sea and longed to be "home" again for a while where my soul is truly at peace. We stayed for five nights so quite a short trip really, but this year for the first time we left Little Lady behind so we didn't want to be gone all that long. As you might expect, I've got plenty of photos to share with you and I do really enjoy writing up my holiday posts so that future me can look back and read them. I'll make time to do that soon while the memories are still in full focus.

I've really noticed this week that the seasons are slowly beginning to change and our days are becoming shorter again. I've been lighting my wax burner beside my bed in the evenings - both the cosy candle light and the wafting scent makes me feel beautifully relaxed. I'm currently inhaling the gorgeous scent of "Sweet Orange and Geranium" and it's just so lovely, calming and uplifting.

Well on that sweet note I'll love you and leave you for now, I've just remembered I've got to go outside and water my pots before it gets dark so I best toddle off and see to that. I hope you've had the loveliest of days - back soon!

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The Flora Granny Square

There is nothing like a stash of yarn arranged in a pleasing colour order to lift my spirits, it's honestly such a beautifully simple visual thing that delivers a huge dose of feel-good. As you might expect, I was always that child who obsessively arranged her pens and pencils in rainbow order, in fact I've been pretty obsessed with colour all of my life.

I've been sitting on this yarn since the spring, well not literally sitting on it, more like stroking it, playing with it, arranging it and rearranging it, as you do. You might remember the little spring blossom twiggy project I made in March using this yarn? It's Stylecraft Naturals Organic Cotton which I'd describe as a fine DK weight. It really is lovely to work with, it's a soft, matt yarn, smooth without being slippery is that makes sense and it hooks like a dream. I really love it and the fact that it's a natural and organic product makes it something extra special.

Something else to share with you is my new set of organic cotton yarn pegs which are almost as divine as the yarn balls. This is not my handy work (I'm way more haphazard with my winding skills), they were made by the lovely Jane who runs a great little yarn peg business on Etsy. Her shop is called Bauhinia Crafts and I can highly recommend her yarn pegs which are gorgeous. They come in their own storage box and are so neatly wound and labelled - she has quite a few different Stylecraft yarn ranges as well as some other popular brands.

I continue to find yarn pegs amazingly useful little tools-of-the-trade, in fact I would say they are one thing that I couldn't be without when it comes to designing and planning crochet projects.

The Flora Granny Square is a new design which has a flower as it's central motif. You might recognise the flower as it's an adaptation of a pattern I created years ago called Flora's Flower. It took a fair bit of messing about creative design work to figure out how to go from a flower shape to a square shape, but after a whole afternoon spent hunched over the table with my hook and yarn, I managed to create something I was very happy with.....

....ta-dah!!! I love how it turned out, I think it's a really sweet little variation of a granny square and I could quite easily see it multiplied and turned into a beautiful blanket or throw. 

The Flora Granny Square uses six colours, and I had loooooooads of fun coming up with pretty mini colour palettes for each square.

I think if I was making a larger project I would be inclined to make all the flowers first, just for the giddy pleasure of having them to play with. A whole pile of colourful hooky flowers, just imagine how insanely satisfying that would be?! 

I designed and made these squares to tie in with Granny Square Day which is an annual celebration hosted by Simply Crochet magazine. As such, the main aim of these squares is to provide beautiful photographs for Instagram - it might seem a bit odd to those of you not familiar with Instagram, but trust me, there is a very vibrant and engaging crochet community within the little squares of that app and I really enjoy contributing to it. 

My granny squares will become part of a giant granny square collage created on Instagram under the hashtag #grannysquareday2021, it's such a unique and clever idea and every year it never fails to blow my mind just a little. 

The majority of the visual beauty will happen today over on Instagram. Simply Crochet have also put together lots of inspiration and free patterns on their website if you want to have a look ((here)). It's all good, square fun!

Of course, I can never just make something new and keep it all to myself, that would never do. I love to share my ideas and inspire you to get creative, so yes, yes, I've made a photo heavy step-by-step tutorial for you.

You can find the tutorial for the Flora Granny Square over in my left hand sidebar, or click on the following link >>

❤️ FLORA GRANNY SQUARE TUTORIAL ❤️

There is also a PDF version of the pattern for you to download/print free of charge, click on the following link >>

❤️ DOWNLOAD FLORA GRANNY SQUARE PATTERN ❤️

I wanted to show you the above photo for reference - the square on the left is made using the organic cotton and measures 10cm. The one on the right is made using Special DK acrylic yarn and measures a slightly larger 11cm. Both are lovely, although they do feel very different. I used a 4mm hook for both.

I'm debating now what to do with my little pile of squares and how many more to make - I have a few ideas, of course I do. I thought about making a cushion cover, or perhaps something like a mini table runner or table mat? What would you make with these 4 inch squares? Maybe I'll just keep making flowers until I have a whole bouquet, then square them up and see what comes of it. It's been ages since I've had an open ended therapy-project on the go - pure hooky pleasure.

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Thank You, Thank You

Thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart for all your wonderfully supportive and empathetic words in response to my last post. Thank you so, so much for sharing your thoughts and personal experiences, I can't actually put into words what it has meant to hear your collective voices echoing back to me with so much kindness. I wish I could give each and every one of you a jam jar posie of yarden flowers to cheer up your table, but hoping a virtual one will surfice.

I don't have a huge amount to share with you right now, but as I ease myself back into the business of blogging again I thought you might like to see some visuals from my week. Nothing of note really, it's been a week of slow ordinariness here in the Attic with the exception of a broken car, a postponed holiday, and the purchase of a new car which has been quite exhilarating in a rather stressy way. We are a one-car family who tends to own rather inexpensive used vehicles which we run and run and run until they die, so we are used to dealing with car extinction from time to time. Our latest purchase is only five years old which makes it the newest car we've ever bought, ever. Hopefully it means we can be mobile again next week and our trip down to Dorset will actually happen this time, our third attempt this summer. All digits and extremities crossed.

The above photo is in no way car related, just a random picture of my breakfast. I think I uploaded it to  remind me to tell you that I'm still trying my best to eat wholesome and clean, failing quite a bit on the refined sugar front I admit, but hopeful that it was just a passing slump. It's amazing to me how much our dipping hormones can induce a very severe sugar craving which honestly feels like an addiction at times. Last week I ate an unholy amount of chocolate, but this week I've managed to dig deep and show more restraint.

I wanted to briefly say re the menopause and HRT etc etc, that I don't want to keep going on about it, but I think I would like to keep you posted on how I get on in the future, in case it might be helpful for others going through similar? I recently found Dr. Louise Newson's website (the Menopause Doctor) a massive help, and in particular ((this video on YouTube)) which is a fantastic, informative and easy to digest explanation of menopause, hormones and HRT. OK, that's all I want to say for now, but yes I'll let you know when/if Future Me (the joyful, energetic version) finally makes an appearance. Here's hoping.

Walking and spending time amonsgt the greenery continues to help me cope, and I've been enjoying the summer woodland very much. We've had a lot of very heavy rain during the past few weeks, real torrential downpours and thunderstorms as well as days with endless wet wet wet from dawn to dusk. The smell of the damp in the woodland has been incredible, and the usually gentle streams and waterfalls have been raging. The pathway in the above photo we've nicknamed "the cardio steps", it's a pretty steep climb and we always aim to do the whole assent in one go, collapsing on the very well placed wooden bench at the top. I do enjoy a bit of an al fresco workout, it gets the blood pumping and reminds me I'm alive and well.

We've been doing the usual kind of summer holiday things here this week, such as school uniform shopping and café breakfast pancake eating. Little B will start at secondary school in September, so we had to go and purchase the whole kit and caboodle for him. It was super sweet though, because Little Lady is working a summer job in the school uniform shop so I was able to have her run around and fetch me all the things from the very long list of requirements. It was relatively painless, although having said that we've still got the torture of finding school shoes, trainers and rugby boots to fit Little B's incredibly wide feet. Sigh. I might need to bribe him with another pancake stack for that tricky expedition. 

In crochet related news, I have a confession to make. During the past few months when life has been at the rockiest of rock bottoms, I wasn't able to crochet very much, if at all. Weeks went by where I couldn't seem to find the will to pick up my hook, and that's how I knew that I was in trouble. This week has felt a little easier, and I've managed a round or two most days - these rounds are now huuuuuuuuuuuuuge because I am nearing the end and it takes quite a long time to go all the way round now. I'm so happy with this blanket, it's a joy to crochet and the festive spirit which I really wanted to capture with the colours and pattern is just lovely.  I don't have an exact launch date for the Yuletide yarn pack and blanket pattern yet, but it will be early September I hope, all being well.

I crocheted three bees last weekend, as a favour for a friend. She's knitting a cushion for family who have a connection to Manchester, and wanted to include a couple of buzzing bees as they are the emblems for the city. I happened to see a pattern for a wall hanging in Simply Crochet issue 111 and thought the bees would be perfect so I offered to do the hooky for her. They turned out really cute, if a little on the large side. I used Stylecraft Special DK and a 3,5mm hook.

And finally, yesterday I managed to find my creative mojo which has been missing for quite a while, so a huge sigh of relief all round. I set up a makeshift photography desk on my coffee table and settled on the floor to work. It's been quite a long time since I've felt inspired to do anything like this, and do you know, it felt fanTAStIc to be back doing my thing. It wasn't a spontaneous event though, there was a plan and timeline as I've been working on a new granny square design to tie in with Granny Square Day which is this coming Sunday 15th. I was asked to be an official ambassador this year, so I figured it was a good opportunity to come up with something new to share.

I actually designed this square back at the end of June I think, a day when all of a sudden an idea for a flowery square had popped into my mind. I used scraps of Stylecraft Special DK to work out the initial design, but when it came to making up some squares for an actual project, I switched over to cotton. I absolutely love this cotton yarn, it's the new Organic Cotton DK from Stylecraft which is absolutely wonderful to work with, especially for small decorative projects. 

I'm making a full photo tutorial for my new square which I've named the Flora Granny Square, and I'll be publishing  the free pattern here on my blog at 9am on Sunday 15th for Granny Square day. Most of the visual celebrations will be taking place on Instagram, so if you have that fabulous little app on your phone, then do check out the hashtag #grannysquareday2021 on Sunday, it'll be a true feast for the eyes. 

Well, I think that's all for now, I'll be back on Sunday with more granny square photos and the pattern if you fancy a little bit of  flowery, squarified hooky playtime. See you then xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

 

 

With Love from Me

Hello my friends, thank you so much for popping by to visit, and I'm sorry that my window has been closed for such a long time through these intense summer weeks. I just want to reassure you I am alright, I haven't been ill or fallen off the face of the Earth, but I have been struggling with my general health and wellbeing which has seen me hit a very low point in recent months.

Despite me writing about my life and sharing it with you over the past 13 years, I do feel a bit shaky talking about such personal health matters here in my public space. It's not an easy thing to do, and I've been feeling very vulnerable in general I guess, especially as my emotions are extremely erratic right now. Hence the silence here for the past month and a half while I tried to gather myself together enough to be able to articulate my thoughts for you.

So to put it bluntly, all this angst is down to my crazy menopausal  hormones which continue to lead me on a difficult journey through my early fifties. The downward slope has been depressingly horrid to be honest. But it's not all doom and gloom. After much internal debate, research and advice from my doctor I've decided to take the leap with HRT and hope that I can haul myself out of the grey depression that has plagued me this year. I am keeping everything crossed that there will be light at the end of the tunnel for me in the near future, crikey, I really need that light to shine again. 

Last week I uploaded a whole load of photos to catch you up with my summer time, so I'm going to try really hard to find the words to share with you very soon. You are never far from my thoughts I promise you, I think about my blog every day, many, many times a day and tell myself that it's OK to just come back when I feel able. I appreciate your understanding more than I can put into words, and I'm sending you all lots and lots of love. 

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Back Yard :: 2021

It's about a month or so since I purchased these little pots packed with floral potential and brought them home to the Attic. It's always such a thrill for me to do this (on the years when I pull my finger out and make it happen at the appropriate time) and this year was no exception. Oh, the J-O-Y in the choosing, in the imagining of it all! I loved picturing the colour combinations in my mind and anticipating a whole summer full of living, growing colour right outside my back door.

Before I could get stuck into the actual planting, I had some tidying up to do in the yard. For those of you who aren't familiar with my outdoor space, let me tell you it is teeeeeeeeeny. It's a very, very small L-shaped enclosed yard - there is a square of paved space directly outside my kitchen door which measures 2.5 m², that's part of it in the above photo. Then we have another even smaller area which measures approx 2 m x 1.5 m and that bit sits just underneath my equally teeny tiny kitchen window. So yeah, not much room to play with at all. It's west facing which means we get the sun in the afternoon, although there are parts of the yard which are in permanent shade all day. I'll show you some more photos as we chat along so that you can maybe get a better idea of the space, but when folks talk about small gardens, they actually have no idea what small really is until they've seen a Victorian terraced back yard.

Once upon a time I lived in a 2nd floor flat backing onto a high speed railway line, and believe me, a small back yard where I could sit in the sun and sip a mojito surrounded by flowers would have been heaven to me back then. So I try very hard to be thankful for this space, to appreciate it and not feel too envious of those who have grassy gardens with trees and wildlife and abundant borders.

Anyhow - an afternoon was spent shifting our dilapidated furniture about, sweeping and de-weeding the rather ugly concrete slabs and getting rid of an accumulated pile of gardening bits and bobs which were no longer fit for purpose. Then it was time to plant up my pots - these are all many years old but are still mostly intact so I simply changed out the compost and gave them a bit of a clean up.

Ahh....that's looking a bit better, a few colourful crochet blankets always makes everything look better!

We had an old folding hardwood chair down in the cellar so we dragged that up to put in the very small space at the end - this is the spot that gets the sun throughout the whole afternoon and it's very sheltered and warm there. I really wanted a lovely comfy chair to be there as it's one of my favourite places to sit, so I measured the space and started to have a look online for something that might fit.

The warm sunny weather was enticing us all outside, including Little Lady who decided that a spot of sunbathing might help her revision along (I know, teenage logic, don't bother questioning  it). As you can see, sunbathing options in our back yard were very basic - a picnic blanket on the hard concrete floor was pretty much the only option. 

Did you notice that I said "was", as in past tense? Uh-huh, well after I had a few mojitos tucked away I confess I went a little cray-cray with some online shopping......

....and this ↑↑ landed in my basket. Oh boy. Please say hello to the Allibert Jaipur Sun Lounger with Graphite Grey Cushion, and picture my face when a huuuuuge box arrived on the doorstep and I had yet to inform J of my purchase. Luckily all was well, and although J said I was "absolutely mad" for purchasing a giant piece of plastic, I was positively overjoyed with it.

I mean, just look how well it fits, and imagine how warm and comfy this tiny space is now...just perfect for some sunny afternoon idling with a spot of crochet in my lap.

The above photo shows where the lounger sits in relation to the shady table and chairs - you can see we don't have much privacy, actually er, we have zero privacy. I guess I've learnt to accept it as part and parcel of living so closely with our neighbours in a terraced row of houses, but I really would love to add some height to our boundary wall and gate so that we can relax a little bit more in our small outdoor space. 

Despite the lack of privacy, I've been getting on just fine with the business of lounging around in the sunshine. I've been making very good use of my new giant piece of plastic seating and let me tell you I LOVE it. Absolutely love it. It's just a delight to sit with my feet up in this little sunny nook, an escape from the house and a bit of time to be alone with my thoughts for a while. I've had one or two afternoon naps here too, well I did have to try out the lounger in it's fully flat position to see how well it worked....I can confirm it works a treat. The only downside to having this one delightful piece of furniture is that I have to share it with Little Lady. We haven't (yet) had to fight over it but that's not to say that I haven't found myself on occasion waiting impatiently for her to get too hot/bored with sunbathing so that I can have my turn.

During the past month, my flowers have really started to fill out the pots. Most of the flowers are situated on top of the wall as they get full sun that way, and it gives me a smidge of extra privacy from folks walking up and down the cobbled back street just on the other side.

I water with a watering can which is a bit slow and laborious but it does mean I can add a liquid feed to the water once a week to keep the flowers blooming well all summer (I hope).

I'm waiting impatiently for the "prolific cascading" which is supposed to happen with some of these flowers...come on, come on!!

Two weeks ago I realised I had one large empty pot to fill, and I started to ponder what to plant in it. I wanted something tall/climbing as the pot sits in front of an ugly drainpipe, so I decided in the end to try growing something edible. I settled for climbing french beans as the blurb on the packet said that they'd have pretty purple flowers so I thought it was worth a try. I planted a handful in a pot indoors on 11th June....

....and six days later, ta-dah!!! How quick was that?! It was extremely exciting I have to say, the thrill of seeds growing into actual real plants never gets old.

I didn't have any tall sticks to hand, so I made some string supports (tied to the top of the drainpipe) for my beanlets to help them in their journey upwards. I'm hopeful for flowers and beans later in the summer that will cover up the pipe, I'll keep you posted. Also, you can see how fast my sweet peas have grown in the blue pot there - no flowers yet, but we do have buds. Super exciting times in the back yard. Buds!!

I love the ritual of stepping out of the kitchen door every morning to check on my flowers and see how they're doing. By the way, I'm still managing to keep with my morning routine in which I get myself out of the house at 7am each day for a brisk "wake-up walk". I'm pretty sure that I've now set that habit for myself (trying to remember when I first began? Ok, found it, it was 24th March so three months ago - is it a habit now then? I think it must be.)

I have to say it's really lovely coming back down my cobbled street at the end of my morning walk and seeing my pots looking so blooming pretty. I'm really happy with myself for making that happen. Well done me.

I leaned right out of my bedroom window to take the above photo for you, so you could better appreciate the small-scale of my yard. Teeny-tiny indeed. Incidentally, the big black box thing there is a very handy storage box which I purchased alongside my sun lounger. Oh, J had a LOT to say about that I can tell you. But it's such a good thing - it means we can easily store blankets and cushions and other gardeny bits that we want to keep dry. And like I said to J, it's waaaaaaay cheaper than a shed, plus you can sit on it or use it like a table. Versatile and useful.

And I leaned very precariously out of the bathroom window to show you the little bit of my yard where my lounger sits. 

So there you have it, it's all bit a rough and ready but it does make me happy. At some point in the future if we decide that this is going to remain our home for many more years, we'll spend some money making this into a proper courtyard garden I think. I have lots of ideas (of course I do), but for now I'm content to enjoy what we have.

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Spring Bank Staycation

Before I launch into this next instalment of bloggy chit chat, I wanted to let you know how much I appreciate the time you take to write me comments. I enjoyed reading your words on my last blog post so much, your kindness and empathy really made my heart squeeze, and I am so grateful for you all. Thank you.

The past few weeks we've been back into the swing of our everyday school routine, but the week before that we enjoyed some wonderful holiday time. It already seems like a distant memory despite only being three weeks ago, but I wanted to write about it here on my blog because it was honestly one of the most enjoyable half terms weeks I can remember in a long while. It was the very end of May and into the start of June and after many weeks of unseasonably cold, grey weather, we were gifted with some very welcome warmth and sunshine for the holiday week.

As you can tell from the title of this post and the familiar woodland scenes, we weren't off galivanting anywhere for our holiday week but enjoying something of a homespun staycation* instead. The spring bank week is always a time when I crave an away-from-home holiday, preferably beside the sea if I can make it happen. In years gone by we would take the caravan away during this break, and there is a big part of me that really misses those simple family holidays. Ohhhh, I've just had a little jaunt down Memory Lane to our first Connievan trip at this time of year......awwww, tiny baby toes!! Little B was only 6 months old at the time, the sweetest of memories for sure.

*A staycation is a play on the word "vacation" and means spending time off in or near your own home, rather than traveling to another location.

So yes, as I was saying, in normal non-pandemic times I would do my utmost to plan a trip away for us during this week, but this year we felt that staying home was the best thing to do. And do you know what, it was absolutely brilliant. Having the word "staycation" inside my head meant that I really did approach the whole week in full blown holiday mode. I ditched all my carefully built routines - no alarm, no workouts, no real agenda other than to rest, relax and have fun.

I happen to live in a small town which is used to welcoming holidaymakers all year round, and so it's pretty easy to occasionally pretend that we are part of the holidaymaker crowd. We can stroll along the canal, pootle about the quirky old streets at leisure, pick up ingredients for an impromptu picnic or an evening barbecue, and settle ourselves down in the sunny garden of a little café to drink morning coffee in the sunshine. Relax, sit back and enjoy the moment because we are are on holiday, and doesn't it feel good?!

On the occasion that included the above ridiculously, outrageously good coffee, we were having a little morning refreshment on our way to the market, as is our usual Saturday routine. The weather was warm and sunny and we were able to sit out in the lovely little café garden which greatly assisted with the holiday vibe. Not long after we'd sat down, J took a phone call from Little Lady asking us if we were at the café and if so, could she come and join us? As we live a mere hop and a skip away, within ten minutes we were joined by both Little Lady and Little B, both freshly tumbled out of bed and in need of some refreshment to kick start their day.  Little B was still half asleep (he honestly had his eyes still half closed) but he made short shrift of a berry smoothie and some hot buttered toast and jam which perked him up no end. It was just such a lovely thing, to have their unexpected company on a sunny Saturday morning, and it made me so happy.

The sunny weather and holiday vibe put me in the mood for a holidayish drink, and I got it into my head that I would very much like to sit around in my back yard and sip a cocktail. Once this idea popped into my head I could not dislodge it, so off I went to purchase the ingredients for one of my all time favourite cocktails - a Mojito. Oh. My. Goodness. I can't tell you how much I adore this drink. It takes a fair bit of effort to make it as you need to squeeze a million fresh limes which is surprisingly hard work. I followed an online recipe and made my own sugar syrup (basically equal measures 1:1 of sugar and water, stirred until dissolved). Once the squeeeeeezing and syrup making is done, then creating the mojito is a breeze. Fresh mint leaves in the bottom of the glass, then add in roughly 1:1:2 of sugar syrup : fresh lime juice : white rum. Muddle the mint around with a spoon to release the flavour, then add in lots of crushed ice and a splash of soda water.

Ahhhhh, the smell of this drink is like the best of everything summery, and the taste is just the perfect combo of fresh, sweet and sharp. Love love love it. 

I made virgin mojitos for the Little People, and we thoroughly enjoyed our cocktail hour, sat out in the back yard with a blanket or two to take the evening chill off. We had music playing, and it was just the loveliest end to the day - I'll definitely be adding Make Cocktails to my summer holiday to-do list.

This time of year calls to my light-loving soul and the looooong days feel absolutely magical to me. The fact that it doesn't get dark until after 10pm in June makes me insanely delighted with life, and evening walks become not only possible but a truly wonderful thing indeed.

I took these photos one evening when it was the three of us spending time in the park - myself, Little Lady and Little B. The time stamp is 9:02pm and as you can see it was utterly beautiful out there with the sun just in the process of dropping behind the trees. It was a very spontaneous outing, the Little People came to me and said they wanted to go to the park for a while, so I grabbed my beloved granny stripe blanket and the Little Peeps grabbed a frisbee and off we went right there and then. I think this was one of the nicest things about this particular holiday, that I got to spend some really great time with the Little People...actually, more to the point, the Little People seemed to really want to spend time with their Mum and Dad haha!! At ages 17 and 11, they are becoming increasingly independent in how they choose to spend their time. 

Believe it or not, I actually wrote myself a to-do list for my Staycation week which is very unusual for me. To be fair, it did include things like "go on a picnic" and "mojitos" so it wasn't all that arduous to tick things off. Top of my list was to tidy up the back yard, and this also included a trip to buy flowers and compost, and possibly some new garden furniture. Last year my back yard space remained in a state of hibernation and gentle decay and I think the only thing I planted were a few petunias that a friend gifted to me. So this year I wanted to make more of an effort because even though this outside space of ours is teeny tiny, it's still a place that I enjoy sitting in and it makes me happy when my pots have colourful flowers in them instead of straggly weeds.

I absolutely love the process of choosing and buying a collection of summer annuals to fill my pots with, especially as we always go to the same place each year. You may remember in past years me talking about "the plant man" who had a stall on the market selling pots of growing flowers as well as buckets of cut flowers (dahlias in particular were one of my favourite things to buy from him every week)? Well sadly he no longer brings his cheery flowers to the market but he does run a beautiful little garden nursery with his wife and I love to support this kind of small local business. It's about 8 miles away in nearby town across the border in Lancashire (somehow feels very liberating to Cross The Border these days), so it's necessary to involve J as he's in charge of transport around here. This year we also had the Little People with us, so it was even more fun than usual - I might have mentioned before that Little B absolutely loves flowers and bless him, he was so excited to help me choose. As you can see in the above photo, I went for a hot palette of pinks, purples and reds and stuck to my tried and tested favourites - geraniums, daisies, verbena, little petunia-type trailing flowers, snapdragons and lavender. I also always buy a few trays of trailing lobelia too, as I LOVE the way this looks when it flowers - I chose the deep blue sapphire colour which should look amazing alongside all the hot pinks, reds and purples of the other flowers.

J helped me to give the back yard a good tidy up and a sweep - I decluttered all of my "gardening" paraphernalia and we got rid of a fair bit of accumulated rubbish and broken things. It felt good to have a bit of a clear out and we decided to move the table and chairs into the corner this year to give us a little bit more space for flowers. We really desperately need some new furniture (I've been saying this for years and years) as our chairs are now very unsafe to sit on, but I'm still trying to decide what I want out here. I'm thinking maybe some slightly more substantial chairs which are more loungey, with a low coffee table instead of normal height table? Not sure - garden furniture is so ridiculously expensive isn't it, and as usual I'm in a spin of indecision with it.

Anyhow, after two whole days of working out here, I'm really happy with what I've done and how it looks without spending too much money and making use of what I already had. I've taken quite a few photos of my pots and the back yard in general, but I want to share that in a separate post I think. Also....aren't snapdragons just the most enchanting flowers?? I don't think I've ever had them before, but I'm thinking I've been missing out, they are delightful. 

Although our staycation week was mostly spent at home, we did manage to take a day trip (ticking off the "picnic" on my to-do list). Just recently I've been really hankering after a trip to the west coast, to visit Silverdale and Arnside. Sometimes the memories of old, familiar places call to me so strongly that I get a little obsessed about wanting to revisit. We haven't been to this coastline since 2015 which was our last caravan trip (sadly I didn't manage to document that trip on my blog, but I do still have all the photos on my laptop). If you've been visiting with me for a while then you may remember how much we used to love staying at the Youth Hostel in Arnside when the Little People were small (post from waaaaaay back in 2008, and also in 2013). Silverdale is also a really special kind of a place, well the whole area is very unique and so unlike anywhere else I've ever been, kind of sleepy and quaint and old fashioned and completely unspoilt. I absolutely love it there and couldn't wait to be back. 

The day we picked to go, the weather was grey and overcast with the threat of rain hanging in the air, but it turned out to be pretty good weather for walking. We parked the car in Silverdale and set off to walk a 6.5 mile circular route, planning to stop half way round to eat our picnic lunch.

It's a lovely walk and involves quite a bit of steep woodland climbing in the beginning, but after a while you emerge from the trees and can take in the sweeping views of the coastline. 

This is a tidal estuary coastline (the river Kent which runs into the wide expanse of Morecambe Bay) so it's not the sea as such....

...., but there are beaches with vast sandy mudflats and wide open watery views.

It's a curious mixture of beach and riverside, with grass and flowers growing on the huge expanse of sand. It always feels and smells so good here, like damp, salty, earthy, grassy mud? I wonder if you can imagine it?!

We stopped to eat our picnic lunch on a little wooden bench overlooking the water and it was just the nicest thing, I do love picnic lunches very, very much and want to have lots of them as we head into the summer season. I'm putting it firmly on my summer to-do list.

The walk continues to follow the line of the water....

....with the pathway climbing up above the shore onto low cliffs, twisting through ancient looking trees. It's so tranquil somehow, and I love the combination of woodland with coastal views. 

We walked through some beautiful meadows too, and at this time of year the wild flowers are looking so, so pretty.

Almost at the end of our walk and we were all feeling a little weary by this point- 6.5 miles isn't that far really, but with the steep climbing in the beginning I could certainly feel it in my muscles. Only one thing for it - head off in search of refreshment!

We drove the few miles from Silverdale to Arnside and it was exactly as I had remembered it in my mind. It's a very unspoilt little place that doesn't change from year to year, and I love it for that. It's perfectly suited for some very slow-paced pottering which really should include a combination of coffee/cake/ice cream while you breathe in the expansive views.

There's a very small stone jetty with wooden benches which make the perfect refreshment spot. I really enjoyed my coffee (but you knew that already, right?) and it was just a relaxing time to sit and appreciate the moment with J and the Little People. It was late afternoon by this point and the weather had gotten quite cold, so we took a short walk along the shoreline before jumping back in the care and heading homewards. 

It was such a good day out, and I really enjoyed the company of the Little People, who really aren't all that little any more. I especially treasure the time spent with my gorgeous Little Lady, because at age 17 she could quite easily have chosen to stay at home or gone out with friends instead of walking and picnicing with us. I love her company, she is such an easy young person to get along with and I do know I'm very lucky to have such a close friendship with her.

I'm very aware that if you are reading this blog without knowing my back story, you would assume that I only had two children. My eldest will turn 19 at the end of the summer and so technically is no longer a child, which blows my mind on a regular basis. He's still living at home right now but leads a very independent life - he comes and goes as he pleases, goes to work, to the gym, to his driving lessons and out with his mates, and every so often we'll have a passing conversation or two. I'm hoping that soon enough things will fall into place for him and he'll be ready to get going with the next phase of his life. 

Awww, just look at this sweet, sleepy kitty, I do really love having her around and I think she likes having us around too.

Early June turned out to be be so, so beautiful and being outside for a lot of the time felt amazingly good. I'd almost forgotten the joy of outdoor living (May was really a huge disappointment in the weather department) and love love loved every minute of breathing it in.

Well, this has turned out to be a much longer post than I originally anticipated, I hope I haven't bored you. I uploaded the photos about ten days ago and have been writing in stops and starts over the course of the past week or so. I'm keeping fingers crossed that there is at least some sort of story-flow because I'm not editing or going back over anything - what you've just read is the spontaneous blurb that my mind deposited onto the page. I will be back again soon I promise, hopefully with a bit more clarity and togetherness. I would really like to show you more of my back yard (now named the Yarden after I discovered the hashtag on insta) and some of my recent decluttering success moments. You've no idea how proud I am to actually have decluttering moments to talk about...major life win.

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