Attic24

Dahlia Blanket CAL :: Part 3

When I was first thinking about creating a blanket inspired by dahlias I spent a huge amount of time online researching them. I found myself absorbing as much imagery as I could lay my eyes on, literally drinking in the visual beauty of these flowers and all the intricacies of the colours. Feeling creatively inspired is one of life's true pleasures and not something I take for granted I can tell you. I appreciate it so much, and cannot imagine how my days would feel without this constant drive to seek out creative inspiration and in turn to gift it back into the world. It really is a wonderful, wonderful thing.

In addition to my online dahlia searches I also browsed endlessly  through the pages of books, magazines and catalogues. My absolute favourite of these are the seasonal Sarah Raven catalogues - I've ordered from Sarah Raven in the past (I bought my sweet pea plants from there) and so automatically receive the latest catalogues through the post. Of course, you can find all of this information on the website ((here)) but in this digital day and age there is still something very lovely about looking at actual pages made of paper, well I think so anyways. 

The latest Spring catalogue plopped onto my door mat a few weeks ago, and as it's prime dahlia tuber buying season the pages are filled with an abundance of floral colour.

Sarah arranges and groups the huge number of dahlia flower varieties by colour which I thoroughly approve of, and these pages really are a feast for the eyes. I can highly recommend a dreamy flower gazing session (good chocolate and a mug of coffee optional) and you can request a free Spring catalogue to be delivered to you if you live in the UK, or download a copy to browse on your device. Find the info ((here)).

I originally had the idea of grabbing some scissors and cutting up one of the catalogues to create a real-life collage of flowers to help me put together my Dahlia colour wheel. I am a big fan of old-school design methods and scissors, paper and glue always satisfy me way more than an online Pinterest board. As it turned out, I was able to curate a beautiful palette from images stored inside my brain and I think I did a pretty good job. I love the gentle balance of the Dahlia palette very much, there is just the right amount of light and dark and a good balance between flamboyance and subtlety. It makes me SO HAPPY!!!! :) 

For those of you who've decided to jump in and join the CAL, I hope with all my heart that these colours are making you happy too, and that you're enjoying your growing stripes? They really do brighten up the gloom of these short, dull winter days that's for sure. 

I was catching up with my online friend Teresa a few days ago and loved seeing her delight in these colours as much as I do. I know that she loves flowers so it was fun to see that she'd made her floral stripes into her phone background, doesn't it look lovely?

As much as I adore these bright, warm colours, I do appreciate that they aren't for everybody. As you know I love to encourage you to stretch your creative wings and follow your own path if you prefer - the main objective of the CAL is to gather us all together to make something lovely, colourful and yarny, so I thought you might enjoy seeing some beautiful Spike Stitch blankets that have caught my eye as I've been jaunting around the interwebs. These blankets all use the same Spike Stitch pattern that I created especially for the Dahlia colours, but in alternative colourways.....

^^^ Darlene chose to use the Dune colours.

^^^ Jen has gone Coastal with hers.

^^^ Sarah is taking a Woodland walk for her blanket,

.^^^ Tonya is going for the jackpot with not one, not two but THREE small blankets!!! She is using Sweet Pea, Sunny and Dahlia yarn packs and I think they look stunning all together.

^^^ Jenny is creating a Dahlia colourwash, but choosing to soften the whole look by adding silver stripes in between the colours.

^^^ Valerie is taking a similar approach but has chosen a bold blue to contrast with her dahlia shades - I'm really looking forward to seeing this grow, it's already looking very striking.

^^^ Helen has chosen a strong palette of blues and greens for hers....

^^^ Michelle is also using a lovely cool palette of blue tones.

^^^ Heather is going for bold repetition with five colours and I love those pops of orange.

^^^ Denise is making a beautiful rainbow (so happy looking!)

I've also seen some really lovely mixed palettes using up oddments of stash and random happy colours.....

^^^Jo^^^

^^^Kathe^^^

^^^Maria^^^

In contrast to the multi-coloured mixed palettes, Susan is using just three colours to make a baby blanket. I think the simplicity of this approach is very striking with the Spike Stitch, the white really makes the other two colours pop.

Jan finished a baby Dahlia blanket which is great going for just over two weeks and I think it looks amazing.

                                              Photo Credit : Felix & Felicity     

I thought it was worth reminding you that my CALs are always very relaxed, and all patterns and colour info will remain free on my blog indefinitely for you to dip into as and when you are ready. There really is no rush, so please remember to find the joy in the journey no matter how fast or slow. You will have excellent company along the way (especially if you are a part of the "Hooked on Attic24" Facebook group) so I hope nobody ever feels like they are being left behind. There will always be somebody following after you, even if others are streaking ahead!

This week is part 3 of the blanket stripes, and this will take you just past the half way mark. It's a really lovely point to reach when making a blanket as the essence of the design should be fully coming into play. It's the time when a piece of crochet begins to actually look and feel like a blankety thing, and that is always worth celebrating!

I know from what I've been seeing on social media this week that so many of you take joy in photographing and documenting your blanket journey, and that makes me really happy. If you get a moment, you can take a scroll through the #dahliacal posts on instagram ((HERE)) to see what I mean, it's just so glorious!

As well as it's dashing good looks, I hope you're also enjoying the feel of your Dahlia blanket? Isn't it just so super-squishy??! The texture of this stitch is very lovely and creates such a cosy crochet fabric, it makes the DK yarn feel thicker and more cuddlesome somehow.

^^^ So full of summer feel-good!

Here is the colour info for Part 3 of the "MIXED STRIPE" Dahlia Blanket, we're making 18 stripes in total this week.

After a couple of requests I've added in a reference to the pattern row for each stripe this week, to help you keep a track of where you're at.

So the numbers in brackets indicate which rows of the pattern you need to refer to.

Click (( HERE )) for the printable worksheet.

34. Lemon : (pattern rows 3 & 4)

35. Blush : (5 & 6)

36. Boysenberry : (3 & 4)

37. Magenta : (5 & 6)

38. Tomato : (3 & 4)

39. Saffron : (5 & 6)

40. Powder Pink : (3 & 4)

41. Fuchsia Purple : (5 & 6)

42. Shrimp : (3 & 4)

43. Claret : (5 & 6)

44. Fondant : (3 & 4)

45. Lipstick : (5 & 6)

46. Spice : (3 & 4)

47. Lemon : (5 & 6)

48. Pomegranate : (3 & 4)

49. Boysenberry : (5 & 6)

50. Blush : (3 & 4)

51. Lipstick : (5 & 6)

If you are making the Colourwash version of the Dahlia blanket, this week you will be needing five colours in total.

You'll be rounding off the yellows (Saffron and Lemon) and introducing the soft pink tones (helllloooooo Powder Pink and Apricot). Blush comes in for the very last stripe, ready to lead the darker pinks next week.

These soft floral colours work amazingly well together and are extremely harmonious. 

I really hope you enjoy their light playfulness after the hefty heat of the reds and oranges at the start.

Isn't it looking delicious? Tilly seems to think so......

....and I honestly love how the stripes are playing along together as we gently shift from dark to light.

Photo Credit : Floret Flowers

^^^ I had to share another one of Erin's gorgeous Dahlia photos with you (such a lot of love for the Floret Insta feed!), I just adore the colour play so much. Totally inspirational, and a very yummy way to drink in the beauty of Dahlias.

So here is the colour info for Part 3 of the "COLOURWASH" Dahlia Blanket, we're making 18 stripes in total this week.

Remember there are 2 crochet rows for every stripe.

The numbers in brackets refer to the pattern rows, to help you keep a track of the pattern repeats and how each rows starts and ends.

Click (( HERE )) for the printable worksheet (please note that the colourwash list is on page 2).

34. Lemon : (pattern rows 3 & 4)

35. Saffron : (5 & 6)

36. Lemon : (3 & 4)

37. Apricot : (5 & 6)

38. Lemon : (3 & 4)

39. Apricot : (5 & 6)

40. Lemon : (3 & 4)

41. Apricot : (5 & 6)

42. Lemon : (3 & 4)

43. Apricot : (5 & 6)

44. Powder Pink : (3 & 4)

45. Apricot : (5 & 6)

46. Powder Pink : (3 & 4)

47. Apricot : (5 & 6)

48. Powder Pink : (3 & 4)

49. Apricot : (5 & 6)

50. Powder Pink : (3 & 4)

51. Blush : (5 & 6)

^^^ Finally, I wanted to show you Ingrid's blanket as it totally stopped me in my tracks yesterday when I saw it on Facebook. Ingrid is following the Repeating colour order, working the colours in a "mirror repeat" and I can't tell you how much I love it. She has completed three repeats so far and I think it looks absolutely stunning.

I hope you have fantabulous week with hook and yarn, and that the joy of these summery colours lifts your spirits and makes you smile. Have lots of spikey fun!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

🌸 DAHLIA YARN PACK

🌸DAHLIA SPIKE STITCH TUTORIAL

🌸DAHLIA PRINTABLE PATTERN

🌸 DAHLIA BLANKET INTRODUCTION

🌸 SNEAK PEEK of BLANKETS

🌸 CAL PART 1 

🌸 CAL PART 2

 

 

 

 

 

Dahlia Blanket CAL :: Part 2

Don't you just love how the sight of colourful flowers can instantly lift your mood? I think floral colour therapy is most definitely needed in these bleak midwinter days when the skies are heavy and grey and there is a dullness settling over everything. January needs all the help it can get, and I know that surrounding myself with bright colours and immersing myself in the warmth of our online community helps me enormously. Summer seems so far away, and yet I look at my dahlia photos and am instantly transported back to that bright field of flowers and can vividly recall the sheer happiness of that day. 

So how has the week been for you? Have you been enjoying some top notch Dahlia colour therapy? Aren't these colours so impossibly joyful and brimming with summer feel-good? I've been spending a lot of time pootling through social media this week, keeping an eye on things and watching so many of you starting out on your own Dahlia blanket journey.

The "Hooked on Attic24" facebook group has been buzzing with excitement, and I would like to say a massive thank you to the admin team who moderate with such enthusiasm and do a terrific job of keeping such a large and vibrant group ticking along so peacefully. There is a huge amount of kindness and friendship there, please do pop over and join in if you are CAL-ing along with the Dahlia colours and would like some company.

I'm hoping that at the end of week 1 you are well underway with your stripes and that you are enjoying the new stitch pattern? From what I've seen on social media, the new Dahlia Spike Stitch has gone down a storm, and I'm so happy you're enjoying it. It's a great pattern to whizz along with and produces such a satisfying, blankety-feeling piece of crochet - it definitely has the squish factor!

I've been so impressed with all the tension samples I've seen too, with so many of you taking the time to decide on the feel/drape of the blanket you are creating as well as the overall look and size. To me, this is really important and greatly adds to the quality of the finished blanket. 

I hope you're all being good and darning in your ends as you go along, it's really the best way when you've got ninety-nine stripes to tidy up. Remember to keep the stitches at the end of each row un-darned so that you'll be able to wiggle your hook in when it's time to work on the border.

Last Friday when I published the Spike Stitch tutorial, I completely forgot about making a stitch chart for you. I know many of you find this helpful when a little extra visual clarification is needed, especially with regards to how the different rows repeat, and how to offset the spike rows. Luckily for all of us, J got straight down to work and translated my pen and paper scribbles into a very neat chart which you can see above. I've also added it to the tutorial so that it's there for reference should you need it.

I love everything about creating and hosting my CAL projects each year, but one of the nicest things is getting to join in with all the excitement online. It's been the best thing seeing so many hundreds of photos popping up on Facebook and Instagram (#dahliacal) and even the pre-CAL preparations made me stupidly happy!

Emma (photo above) cut out the colour names from the free printable sheets and clipped them to her balls to keep a track of the colours which I thought was a very clever idea....

....and Debbie also used the printed names to make a yarn sampler card.

Joanne added yarn snips to her work sheet to keep a track of her stripes which I think is brilliant. I have to say, it's been lovely to see the new worksheets in action and I'm glad that you've found them useful.

I've read so many messages telling me how much you are enjoying the Dahlia colour palette and how these colours are helping to brighten up your days. I know exactly what you mean, I feel it too!

During this past week I've managed to gather together a collection of photos from social media which showcase the different patterns being used with the Dahlia yarn pack. It always amazes me how different the same set of colours can look when they are worked in a slightly different way.

Amy has chosen to work a Dahlia Cosy Stripe.

David has chosen his favourite go-to blanket pattern, the Neat Ripple.

Lynn has chosen the Seashell Stripe for her blanket.

Viv is starting out on a Neat Wave Dahlia journey.

It's the Hydrangea Stripe for Lotte...

...and Sherrie is making Hexagons with her Dahlia yarn pack (really looking forward to watching this one grow!)

Kaz has created another beautiful square Harmony blanket as a gift for a dear friend, and I think you'll agree it's absolutely stunning.  She added in two additional shades (cream and candyfloss) to make 17 colours in total, and "mapped" each colour to a corresponding shade in my Original yarn pack. She was then able to use the formula I created for my Summer Harmony Blanket to allow the dahlia colours to gently sweep across the blanket. At the end of February, Kaz will be releasing a PDF file to list out the colours she used for each of the one hundred squares in her blanket - I'll be sure to let you know where you can find all the information if you fancy creating your own.

As well as all these Attic24 patterns being used, I've also spotted some other gorgeous stitch patterns which are going to make the most stunning Dahlia blankets.....

Darlene is using the popular "Willow Block" pattern from Jan Eaton's book ((this one)). She's chosen a soft green shade to edge them with (SSDK  in Meadow) and I'm really looking forward to seeing the blanket begin to form.

Angela has chosen a V-stitch ripple....

....and Anne is using the "Modern Granny Stitch" by Daisy Farm Crafts (free pattern here).

Kate has wowed me with this glorious photo, isn't it fabulous? She's making her Dahlia blanket using the "Sunburst Granny Square" pattern by Prescilla Hewitt which is free on Ravelry (find it HERE). This is an inspired choice - the sunburst motifs really look like Dahlias!

Laura is a brilliant crocheter and some of you may know her on Instagram as "@GoslingandPlumb". She created her very own pattern for the Dahlia, appropriately called the "Dahlia Square" which you can find in her Instagram Story Highlights ((HERE)). I am so excited to see this grow over the coming weeks, I think it's going to look amazing.

When I was working on Part 2 of the Dahlia blanket it was back at the end of the Summer and I had the pleasure of crocheting outside in my little back yard. I always select the order for the stripes by using my trusty yarn pegs, playing with them, arranging and re-arranging them until everything looks balanced and harmonious. I love working in this way, it's very visual and delightfully old-school, which always makes me feel absurdly happy. Once I've settled on the order for the colours, I stick little yarn snips to a piece of paper with sticky tape (even more old-school!) and this stays in my yarn bag and acts as my colour-map.

There's honestly nothing nicer than sitting quietly in the warmth of a sunny afternoon, hooking up some colourful rows as your mind wanders a little. I know right now that this is just a dream (January isn't exactly the time for al fresco hooky, unless you're in the southern hemisphere), but I hope that perhaps these beautiful floral colours might help to deliver some summer vibes inside your home.

Once part 2 is underway, you should begin to feel that your crochet is becoming less of a scarf-like thing and more of a blankety-type thing, which is good! You will hopefully be able to drape it a little and marvel at it's squishability....

....spread it out and delight in the colours as they dance and sing their happy summer song.

Tilly is always on hand to perform a Quality Control inspection here in the Attic, she never ever misses an opportunity to steal the limelight. 

At the end of Part 2, you will be exactly a third of the way through the blanket with 33 stripes complete. Doesn't it look lush?!

So here is the colour info for Part 2 of the "MIXED STRIPE" Dahlia Blanket, we're making 18 stripes in total this week.

Click (( HERE )) for the printable worksheet.

16. Tomato

17. Fondant

18. Lemon

19. Shrimp

20. Claret

21. Blush

22. Spice

23. Fuchsia Purple

24. Apricot

25. Saffron

26. Pomegranate

27. Magenta

28. Powder Pink

29. Boysenberry

30. Lipstick

31. Spice

32. Apricot

33. Pomegranate

If you've decided to embark on the Dahlia Colourwash blanket, this week will bring in some delicious oranges and yellows to balance out the depths of the reds from last week. You'll be using 4 shades for part 2 - Tomato, Spice, Saffron and Lemon.

Truthfully, these aren't my favourite Dahlia colours (the pinks are my personal faves), but they do add a gorgeous lightheartedness to the overall colour palette. They bring sunshine and warmth.....

.....do you see????? How beautifully the colour wash is instantly lifted by the addition of the yellows?!!!

Thank you Tilly, I know you love your QC job. Do you like the way the Colourwash is looking as it grows? I adore it I have to say, it pleases me on so many levels. It's quite subtle as you are creating it stripe after stripe, but as soon as you stand back and view it as a whole it's deliciously bold, which pretty much sums up the character of Dahlias. Sometimes delicate and subtle, but more often exuberant and bold. I love it!!

So here is the colour info for Part 2 of the "COLOURWASH" Dahlia Blanket, we're making 18 stripes in total this week.

Click (( HERE )) for the printable worksheet (please note that the colourwash list is on page 2).

16. Spice

17. Tomato

18. Spice

19. Tomato

20. Spice

21. Tomato

22. Spice

23. Saffron

24. Spice

25. Saffron

26. Spice

27. Saffron

28. Spice

29. Saffron

30. Lemon

31. Saffron

32. Lemon

33. Saffron

I haven't seen many "Dahlia Repeats" on social media just yet - the above blanket is Silvi's and she has just completed the first set of 15 stripes in the repeating colour order. I think it's going to look stunning as it grows, don't you?

Well I really hope this week brings nothing but goodness to your door, and that Dahlia colour therapy continues to make you smile......have fun!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

🌸 DAHLIA YARN PACK

🌸DAHLIA SPIKE STITCH TUTORIAL

🌸DAHLIA PRINTABLE PATTERN

🌸 DAHLIA BLANKET INTRODUCTION

🌸 SNEAK PEEK of BLANKETS

🌸 CAL PART 1 

 

 

 

Dahlia Blanket CAL :: Part 1

Hello, and welcome to the start of a brand new decade, and the beginnings of a very colourful new blanket journey. I know that many thousands of you are joining in with the Dahlia Blanket Crochet-A-Long (CAL) and I am so very happy to have your company. It's going to be a beautifully bright start to 2020 that's for sure!

You will probably remember me telling you all about the inspiration behind the Dahlia blanket at the end of last year? If you missed that introduction post, you can find it ((HERE)). I've been in love with dahlias for many, many years - their flamboyant nature and vibrant colours never fail to make me happy and lift my spirits. I figured that if the flowers make me feel so smiley, then putting those colours into a blanket would be a very good thing indeed. It would be a blanket of Summer Cheerfulness!

As is usual for my blankets, I've chose fifteen shades of Stylecraft Special DK for my Dahlia blanket

Top row, left to right...

🏵️ magenta 🏵️ fuchsia purple 🏵️ shrimp 🏵️ apricot 🏵️ powder pink 🏵️

Middle row, left to right...

🏵️ boysenberry 🏵️ pomegranate 🏵️ spice 🏵️ lemon 🏵️ blush 🏵️

Bottom row, left to right...

🏵️ claret 🏵️ lipstick 🏵️ tomato 🏵️ saffron 🏵️ fondant 🏵️

You can find the Dahlia yarn pack in my shop at Wool Warehouse, click on the following link...

❧🏵️DAHLIA YARN PACK 🏵️❧

For those of you who have already got your yarn ready and waiting, I really hope that you've been enjoying the colour palette. I am so in love with it! There is a lot of heat in this palette as we move through the reds, oranges and yellows and into the pinks and purples. 

Before you take your paper bands away from your balls, please remember to make a note of the colours so that you don't get into a muddle. A few of the shades can look very similar, especially under artificial light (Fondant and Blush in particular). I always use my trusty yarn pegs, but you could simply attach snips of yarn to a piece of paper with some sticky tape and write their names down.

Ruth has made some very sweet little sampler squares to keep a track of her colour palette...

And Charlotte has punched some holes into an index card to keep her yarn snips in order.

However you like to do this, it's an important first step in preparing for the CAL and helps you to become familiar with the colour names.

If you've made any of my blankets before, you know that I always like to encourage you to make up a small tension sample before launching straight into the blanket. This helps you to feel comfortable with the pattern repeat, but more importantly to work out your own personal crochet tension and the best hook size to use. 

Stylecraft Special DK uses a 4mm hook as standard, but I've found that the Dahlia Spike Stitch works better if it's not too tight. I'm a tight crocheter myself, so I've moved up to a 5mm hook to stop my crochet fabric becoming too stiff. If you've made my blankets before, then you will probably have a good idea of what hook size suits you best for this yarn. Remember also that it's generally a good idea to make the foundation chain using a bigger hook size, then drop back down again when you begin to crochet the rows. 

Working a tension sample doesn't take that long as it's only a small piece. Make a chain of 27 then work up 8 rows of crochet. The width should measure approximately 16cm across.

If it's a cm or so bigger or smaller, it's not too much of a problem really, the sizing is an approximate guide so please use your own judgement.

If your sample measures waaaaay bigger and feels all floppy and loose, then you will need to switch to a smaller hook. Alternatively, you can reduce the number of starting chains when you make your blanket (keeping a multiple of 4, plus an extra 3) to ensure you achieve the correct width and don't run out of yarn.

If your sample feels tight and stiff and is coming out way smaller, switch to a larger hook size. 

I created my usual photo-heavy, hold-your-hand tutorial to help you crochet your tension sample and learn how to work the Spike Stitch. You can find it by clicking on the following link >>

DAHLIA SPIKE STITCH TUTORIAL

And due to popular request, I also made a simple written pattern that you can download/print if you don't need the step by step help and prefer to have a traditional printed pattern to pop in your bag. You can find it by clicking on the following link >>

DAHLIA BLANKET PATTERN DOWNLOAD

In the tutorial, I also included some help with darning in ends for this particular blanket which I hope you find useful.

Once you're happy with your tension sample, you can get wiggly with those first few rows. The pattern gives you starting chains for different sizes of blanket, so although I make my blankets a standard 120 x 180 (single bed size), you could easily make smaller or bigger versions if you prefer.

When you work the first stripes of your blanket, it's a good opportunity to check your gauge again and make sure you're on track. The best way to do this is to use digital kitchen scales. There will (mostly) be 7 stripes of each colour in the Dahlia blanket and as you can see from the above photo, I'm using approx 11g of yarn per stripe. This means 77g of yarn in total from a 100g ball, leaving enough left over to work a border.

I'm going to list the first set of colours for you in just a moment, but first I'd just like to reassure you that all CAL posts will remain on my blog indefinitely so you can dip into them whenever you need. Please don't worry if you miss a week or fall behind with your hooky, you can go at your own pace and you certainly won't be alone.

Here is a rundown of the CAL schedule :

Friday 3rd January - part 1 - working  a tension sample, choosing the right hook size, stripes 1-15.

Friday 10th January - Part 2 - stripes 16 -33

Friday 17th January - Part 3 - stripes 34 - 51

Friday 24th January - Part 4 - stripes 52 - 69

Friday 31st January - Part 5 - stripes 70 - 87

Friday 7th February - Part 6 - stripes 88 - 89

Friday 14th February - Catch up week (darn in those ends!!)

Friday 21st February - Part 7 - the edging and a grand Ta-dah!

Following on from the success of the Sweet Pea blanket last year, I decided to also make two versions of the Dahlia blanket. Both blankets have the same number of stripes and use the same fifteen colours, but they each have their own signature. On the left is the "Mixed Stripe" and on the right is the "Colourwash. I love them both, but if you backed me into a corner and forced me to choose, then I would say that the Colourwash pleases me just a smidge more than the mixed bunch.

You can see a sneaky preview of both blankets by clicking ((HERE)), although I know some of you prefer the surprise element!

The Mixed Stripe is inspired by the glorious and huuuuuuge bunch of dahlias that I brought home with me after my trip to Halls in Northumberland last September. You can see lots more photos of that wonderful place in my Dahlia blanket introduction post ((HERE)).

The riot of hot summer colour really does remind me of walking in that sunny dahlia field, it was an experience that I will never ever forget. The bright medley of colour is just so impossibly joyful, don't you think?

This is what the very start of the mixed stripe blanket looks like with the first fifteen rows complete. Please note that I managed to colour co-ordinate my hand knit socks for this photo, but I'm sure you noticed that straight away.

So here is the colour info for Part 1 of the "MIXED STRIPE" Dahlia Blanket.

Click (( HERE)) for the printable worksheet.

1. Boysenberry (Foundation chain & rows 1 & 2)

2. Pomegranate  (rows 3 & 4)

3. Blush (rows 5 & 6)

4. Lemon (rows 7 & 8)

5. Tomato (rows 9 & 10)

6. Claret (rows 11 & 12)

7. Magenta (rows 13 & 14)

8. Powder Pink (rows 15 & 16)

9. Fondant (rows 17 & 18)

10. Apricot (rows 19 & 20)

11. Saffron (rows 21 & 22)

12. Spice (rows 23 & 24)

13. Lipstick (rows 25 & 26)

14. Shrimp (rows 27 & 28)

15. Fuchsia Purple (rows 29 & 30)

photo credit : Floret Flowers

The Colourwash version of the Dahlia blanket was largely inspired by the work of Erin Benzakein who runs the most amazing flower farm in the US called "Floret Flowers". I'm a massive fan of Erin's work, her website and Instagram page is an absolute visual paradise for floral colour lovers and is unbelievably inspiring. 

Photo Credit : Floret Flowers

Erin very kindly gave me her permission to share these photos with you (thank you so much Erin), but do please go and feast you eyes on more of her beautiful dahlia photos ((HERE)). There is also a wealth of information on the Floret website for anybody who fancies growing their own dahlias, it's something I aspire to one day.

I had a play with my own bunch of dahlias and ordered my yarn colours into a pleasing wash of colour. I started with the deep reds and oranges, moved through the more delicate yellows and pale pinks, then transitioned to the deeper pinks and finally on to the purples.

So for the first part of the colourwash, we start with the deep reds and coppery orange tones.

These are very hard colours for my camera to capture so I'm sorry if the shades all look a bit samey in these photos. In real life they are strong and beautiful and the wash of colour is a little more obvious than these pictures suggest.

It's a bold beginning and I love the drama of it!

Here is the colour info for Part 1 of the "COLOURWASH" Dahlia Blanket.

Click (( HERE)) for the printable worksheet.

1. Claret (Foundation chain & rows 1 & 2)

2. Lipstick  (rows 3 & 4)

3. Claret (rows 5 & 6)

4. Lipstick  (rows 7 & 8)

5. Claret (rows 9 & 10)

6. Lipstick  (rows 11 & 12)

7. Claret (rows 13 & 14)

8. Lipstick  (rows 15 & 16)

9. Tomato (rows 17 & 18)

10. Lipstick  (rows 19 & 20)

11. Tomato (rows 21 & 22)

12. Lipstick  (rows 23 & 24)

13. Tomato (rows 25 & 26)

14. Lipstick  (rows 27 & 28)

15. Tomato (rows 29 & 30)

A little note to say that the Colourwash stripe order is designed to be worked across 99 stripes in total to create a 180cm length, and isn't therefore suitable for smaller or bigger versions.

I know quite a few of you fancied creating a "REPEATING STRIPE" or a "mirror repeat" using the order that appeared on my sampler. So here is that colour order for those of you who wish to create a REPEATING STRIPE for the Dahlia blanket. Starting from the bottom of the photo and working towards the top, as follows:

1. Claret (Foundation chain & rows 1 & 2)

2. Lipstick  (rows 3 & 4)

3. Tomato (rows 5 & 6)

4. Spice  (rows 7 & 8)

5. Saffron (rows 9 & 10)

6. Lemon  (rows 11 & 12)

7. Apricot (rows 13 & 14)

8. Powder Pink  (rows 15 & 16)

9. Fondant (rows 17 & 18)

10. Blush  (rows 19 & 20)

11. Shrimp (rows 21 & 22)

12. Pomegranate  (rows 23 & 24)

13. Fuchsia Purple (rows 25 & 26)

14. Magenta  (rows 27 & 28)

15. Boysenberry (rows 29 & 30).

After stripe 15, you can either go back to colour 1 again and repeat, or work backwards through 14, 13 etc and work the colours in reverse (this produces the "mirror" effect).

Well, I think that's about all for this week - remember you can share photos or questions on my Facebook page, in the "Hooked on Attic24" Facebook group, or an Instagram (use the hashtag #dahliacal).

Have a fabulous, happy hooky week my lovelies!!!!!!!!!

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🌸 DAHLIA YARN PACK

🌸DAHLIA SPIKE STITCH TUTORIAL

🌸DAHLIA PRINTABLE PATTERN

🌸 DAHLIA BLANKET INTRODUCTION

🌸 SNEAK PEEK of BLANKETS

🌸 PART 1 COLOUR WORK SHEETS

 

 

In December

❆ In December we had a lot of rain, but there were also some welcome sunny days to lift the spirits.

❆ In December I made the most of the good weather days and enjoyed the quiet, pared back stillness.

❆ In December I tried to remember to stop every so often and look up.

❆ In December our winter season well and truly arrived.

❆ In December I got a bit giddy over the wintry perfection of frosty moss (like you do).

❆ In December I felt grateful for my morning walks to school along the canal.

❆ In December I turned my face to the sun at every opportunity.

❆ In December I often walked home from the shops the Long Way, just for the pleasure of being out in the fresh air and stretching my legs.

❆ In December I enjoyed pottering around the familiar streets of my town.

❆ In December I constantly searched out bright spots of colour amongst the greyness.

❆ In December I enjoyed the arrival of seasonal produce - specifically nets of whole nuts and boxes of leafy clementines.

❆ In December I remembered how much I love eating fresh fruit every day, especially zesty citrus and the lush flavours of more exotic offers - mango, kiwi and passion fruit all in my belly!

❆ In December a small miracle occurred and I actually remembered to buy the candy canes in the first week of the month.

❆ In December, for the first time EVER, I listened to the Little People and we decorated the house for Christmas on the First Day of the month. It was the best decision, and I am now converted.

❆ In December I crocheted 24 Teeny Tiny Stars (pattern here) and 12 Tassel Baubles to make a Festive Garland. I also photographed a tutorial for the tassel baubles but completely ran out of mental energy when it came to editing the forty-plus photos and writing it all up. I'm so sorry. Running-out-of-energy seems to have been the general underlying theme of my life just lately.

❆ In December I did actually manage to complete my Festive Garland and hung it in place mid month. I absolutely adore it I have to say. I still fully intend to share the pattern and create the tutorial for you, once all Dahlia happenings are under way. I'm so sorry that I haven't been very good at keeping up this year.

❆ In December we had some truly beautiful skies to start and end our days.

❆ In December I embarked on something of a personal healthy eating crusade and I can already feel it doing me good. I've cut right back on caffeine and alcohol, upped my daily water intake and am making a conscious effort to give my body all the good stuff it needs. My general health and well being hasn't been great this year, but I am trying to do what I can to help myself.

❆ In December I spent a lot of time in cosy cafés, including some lovely outings with Little B. He seems to really enjoy coming along with me when I go shopping or run errands in town, especially when we squeeze in a quick refreshment stop along the way.

❆ In December we had our first snow day on the 15th. It wasn't a huge amount, just enough to give us some winter feel-good for a day without too much disruption.

❆ In December I shook off my natural desire to stay cosy indoors and ventured out to the park at first light to take in the snowy scene. The light was very weird indeed, with a pinky purple hue cast over everything. It was eerily beautiful.

❆ In December I took the train to The City to do some Christmas gift buying a week before the big day. I carried a mild dose of anxiety along with me, but despite my usual lateness with this kind of thing, all ended well. I am just a last minute person and no amount of mental resolve seems to change my natural patterns.

❆ In December I also very much enjoyed shopping locally, using our thriving high street and supporting small independent shops where I was able.

❆ In December I enjoyed the daily ritual of lighting the Advent candle when we sat down to our evening meal. Little B was in charge of lighting and extinguishing, and he carried this out with great ceremony.

❆ In December I walked in the woods with Little B on the shortest day of the year, gathering in some ivy as we went. Poor boy, my chopping made him nervous ("Mum, is it actually illegal to do this?") but I assured him that with the huge abundance of ivy growing along the pathways, we were OK to remove just a little bit here and there. I added in sprigs of rosemary and eucalyptus snipped from my back yard pots, and wove the whole lot around a wire wreath frame (this sort of thing) to make a simple Solstice wreath.

❆ In December I quietly celebrated the Winter Solstice, enjoying the scent of greenery and a new red berry candle.

❆ In December we thoroughly enjoyed our before-Christmas time. The Little People finished school on the 20th, and the fours days that followed were spent gift wrapping (I wish, wish, wish I could manage to do this earlier, but alas, old habits die hard), gathering in food and drink supplies and generally idling about. We completed our two "Christmas Eve" jigsaws which is a Christmas tradition that I love, and I enjoyed the relaxed pace of holiday days spent at home.

❆ In December we enjoyed a quiet, happy Christmas day at home just the five of us. It was bloomin' lovely too. Little B (who is almost ten) still believes in the Big Fella in Red (possibly for the last year?) so we made the very most of the magic. And for the first time EVER, our day started at the late hour of seven o'clock which was hugely appreciated, we've had so so many years of very early starts on Christmas morning.

❆ In December we managed a walk through the woods on Christmas morning. We left The Big Teen in bed, but Little B and Little Lady came with J and me, and I enjoyed it very much. There was weak winter sunshine and lots of mud, oh, and chocolate too.

❆ In December we also went for a walk on Boxing day, venturing out in the cold winter to stroll along the riverside at Bolton Abbey. It was a tad bleak if I'm honest, a biting wind and low murky cloud, but nevertheless it felt good.

❆ In December we faced some tough times with family. J's beloved Dad was in and out of hospital, and we were beyond grateful when he was able to come home on Christmas Eve. He's slowly recovering and we are awaiting test results which are a very real concern to be honest, but not much to do at the moment except remain positive.

We also lost my Mum's partner Grandpa B unexpectedly, he took a fall a few weeks before Christmas and died shortly afterwards. He and my Mum were never married but they did share thirty years together and I've felt very sad saying goodbye to that part of my Dorset family life. 

❆ In December I worked on my upcoming Crochet-A-Long, which starts tomorrow! Yay!!!! It's such a blessing to have this to look forward to as we start the New Year, and I'm very excited to see it all finally unfold. I work on my CAL projects for much of the year (I start around May time) so they are a big part of my life, even though most of the planning and creative work goes on quietly behind the scenes. This will be my sixth annual blanket CAL (previous blankets were Cosy, Sunny, Moorland, Woodland and Sweet Pea, 2014-2019) and I absolutely love the crochet community that has grown around it. It makes me so happy, and a teensy bit proud too.

Well that pretty much brings us right up to date, and I'm so happy that I was able to chisel out time to make a December catch up post to share with you. Waking up at 4.30 am does have it's advantages sometimes!

I've got some things on my mind that I'd like to chat about, but today isn't the day for that. Today it's full-steam Dahlia prep, so I'd better get back to it......I'll be here in the morning to fling some floral colour at you!!! Haha!

Wishing you all a fantastically happy New Year and New Decade, may 2020 be filled with joy and sparkle, colour and creativity, love and kindness. 

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Eve

It's Christmas Eve and finally I am settling down for the night and breathing out.

I'm so sorry not to have been here very much of late, I've had such a difficult month with one thing and another and it's taken all my effort and positive energy to get through the days and hold everything together. This isn't meant to be doom and gloom, I am OK, I've got some things to chat about but I'm not quite there with untangling my thoughts just yet.

I'm going to enjoy these slow days at home now with my family, and hope to be back here in the Attic with a good ol' catch up on the other side of Christmas.

Wishing you all a wonderful Yuletide, I hope you are surrounded by love, light, sparkle and joy.

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Teeny Crochet Stars

I've been feeling really upbeat and festive this week, and I've got the Little People to thank for it I'm sure. Their enthusiasm for decking the halls as soon as we turned the calendar into December seemed to light something up inside me and I'm LoViNg all the colour we have going on here as a result. Sparkle too, oh, I am LoViNg the glittery bits very much indeed.

Inspired by the tree and all the festive decs, I bought some new yarn - this is Ricorumi Lamé DK, the cutest little 10g balls designed to work alongside their current cotton Ricorumi range. It's deliciously sparkly, and although it feels a bit on the rough side, the prettiness more than makes up for the scratchy factor. 

The above ten shades of Ricorumi formed part of the bespoke colour palette I created for my French crochet retreats earlier this year. They are very "me" and I adore them. When I decided to make some teeny stars for a garland, they were the colours I immediately reached for....

....and this is what came off my hook. A super cute 3 cm star, worked on a 3.5mm hook. It took mere minutes to make, and the resulting satisfaction was really rather high. After working for so many months on my Dahlia blankets, it's been a delightful change of pace to work on small things at speed. Such fun! Once I'd finessed the pattern (it came out of my head very spontaneously), I scribbled it down on paper and immediately reached for the sparkle......

.....awwwww!!!!! These little diddy stars came out smaller than the cotton version, measuring just 2.5cm across. I can't honestly say I liked working with the lamé (it's a tad splitty) but just look at them?! So festive and cutesome.

Being that this pattern is so easy and quick, I wasn't sure whether it was worth making a tutorial, but I did it anyways. You see, when I get excited about making something, my immediate thought is to share it with you, so that's what I'm doing.........and the pattern is all ready for you........yipppeeee!!! Click on the following link to find it...

⭐ TEENY TINY STARS ⭐

Hoping you might find a use for these dinky little stars....

....I've strung a few onto a thin golden thread and hung them along my mantel, but this is only temporary. I'm working on a Festive Garland and have been making lots of stars for it today, I'm using Stylecraft Special DK and I can't wait to show you what I've been up to. 

I'm so excited by it, and there is nothing better than a happy Creative Buzz. More soon (I'll have another tutorial for you soon too).

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⭐ TEENY TINY STAR PATTERN ⭐

 

 

Festive Crochet

Well aren't those flowers ↑↑↑ just utterly glorious?? They're for you by the way, a visual treat to say thank you for all your wonderful comments after my big floral Dahlia post a few weeks ago. It was an absolute delight to read them all and as always I am grateful for your enthusiasm over the projects that I dream up and share here.

It's three weeks until the Dahlia Blanket CAL begins on 3rd January. I've really enjoyed seeing my palette of happy floral brights appearing in homes all over the world during the past few weeks - social media is wonderful for bringing us this connection via our screens. Thank you to everyone who has jumped on board and bought a dahlia yarn pack from my shop at Wool Warehouse, I'm super excited to have  your company on this journey. Next week I'll be writing a preparation post with some general information about the Crochet-A-long (CAL), but really there isn't a lot to do in advance of the blanket beginning, apart from a little light swooning over the colours. Aren't they just yummy?! I can't get enough of them.

Anyhow, dahlias aside, would you like to see a bit of the festive crochet I've been doing recently?

Apologies for the blueness of the above photo, that's what afternoon light looks like in my house at this time of year. This is page 18 of Simply Crochet magazine issue 90, it's not the current issue but the one that was out last month. You can read more about it ((here)) with links to back issues and digital ones too. 

I absolutely love love love this collection of crochet projects, it's titled "All is Bright" and uses a striking palette of colours (black, white, red, magenta, pale pink, turquoise and soft lime) to evoke a Scandi folk feel. So it's not overly Christmassy, but still has something of a jolly festive look to it.

I was especially drawn to the folksy birds ↑↑ which seemed to call to me from the pages of the magazine, begging to be brought to life. The bird on the right was designed by Sarah-Jane of Flo and Dot and is actually a free pattern, how lovely is that? Go ((HERE)) to find it on the Simply Crochet website.

The birdie on the left was designed by Kate of Make Me Roar Design.

All the decorations in this set were made using 4ply cotton and a 2.5mm hook so it's quite fine and fiddly crochet work. To be honest I really have to be in the mood to contemplate fine-and-fiddly, and a few weeks ago the time was right. It was a dull, grey Saturday afternoon and I felt the need to crochet something colourful and frivolous, just for the joy of making.

The catalyst was an image I saw on Instagram, of this lovely bird made using a slightly stronger palette of bright colours. Oh the colours can SO make or break the appeal of a project don't you think? If you want to see, hop over to Julie's "Little Woollie" insta page ((here)) and you'll instantly see what sparked my interest!

I decided to use scraps of Stylecraft Special DK and a 3.5mm hook for my bird, knowing that he would most likely turn out to be a sizeable brute. Inspired by Julie's colours, I picked out a similar palette which you can see above.

From the top :: Turquoise, Aspen, Grass Green, Pistachio, Gold, Fondant, Bright Pink, Lipstick.

The pattern is beautifully written and very, very clever I have to say. You have to be familiar with amigurumi technique, in particular the art of changing colours multiple times in one single round - yes, it is very fiddly I'm afraid and you do need to properly concentrate and count like a crazy counting thing, but the results are well worth the effort.

The bird is made in three sections - first you make the head and neck...

... then you crochet four tail feathers and join them together to complete the colourful tail.

These two pieces are then crocheted together......

....which I thought was very clever indeed. This gives you a chance to stuff the head and tail before joining a new colour and crocheting the rounded belly all the way down to the bottom.

If you know Kate's work, you'll know she often includes a fair bit of stitch detail on her characters. I happen to love woolly stitching on crochet and really enjoyed myself with this bit - there are stitches around the eyes, and a whole load over the entire belly. It gives such a beautiful decorative finish I think.

Oh, hello monstrous bird!!!

Aren't you a rather lovely Ta-dah moment?!

As predicted, using a 3.5mm hook and DK yarn, this isn't so much a delicate hanging decoration as a substantial free-standing one.  He measures almost 6 inches tall (14 cm) but that's OK, I'm quite happy to find him a spot where he can perch his sizable belly..........

....awwww, welcome to the Attic mantel Mister Bird!

The mantel is in the process of being Decked for Christmas and I have to say he looks very much at home sat there. You may remember in my last post that I talked about being persuaded by the Little People to decorate the house on Sunday 1st December this year? Well......I'm rather thrilled to say that I dug deep, unearthed some energy and actually made it happen - go me! I dragged six boxes down from the Attic eaves (The Big Teen helped which I was grateful for) and do you know, I'm so happy that we did it. The Little People were fully involved, and it was super lovely, especially as Little Lady has been very unwell this past week with a horrendous bout of tonsillitis and has been in bed for days on end. It seemed to really cheer her up on Sunday, we played Christmas tunes and got into the spirit of twinkly lights and shiny things.

I'll take some photos in the next few days to show you how it's all looking.

The one thing that is still missing from my mantel is my Festive Garland, which is plodding along and happening very slowly. The plan is to make a mixture of natural things (holly, berries and mistletoe) mixed in with some brighter decs, and I'll be stringing them together in the same way as I did for my Autumn Garland. I'm starting with Jolly Holly as I already have a pattern for that - leaf production makes a lovely portable project (I've been hooking up leaves on a train journey as well as at the café).

I pulled together a selection of greens (Stylecraft Special DK in Bottle, Kelly Green, Cyprus, Teal, Pistachio and Grass Green), and of course Lipstick for the berries.

As you can see, it's still very early days for this garland, although I have made more berries since I took this photo. 

You can find the Jolly Holly pattern ((HERE)) and the pattern for the berries can be found as part of my Autumn Garland post (I'm going to add this info to the holly tutorial when I get chance, so it's all in one place). 

I need to try and think about a mistletoe pattern at some point, I think it'll be pretty easy to work out those simple leaf shapes?

For the colourful decorative bits in between I'm going to make some simple round ones using a pattern I designed a few years ago for Crochet Now magazine. I've just been back into my bloggy archives to find the photos, and have enjoyed revisiting my festive colour choices.

I'm really liking the tasseled one (and it's a super neat way to deal with the yarn ends) so I think I'll go with that. From what I can remember, this is a really quick and easy pattern to make in 5 rounds (the 5th round joins two circles together to make double sided decs).

Oh, I just had a thought - I wonder if you'd like the pattern? As it's been two years since the magazine was published I'm free to share it now, so I could format a printed version for you if you'd like to try it? Its a great use for all those little odds and ends of colourful yarn left over from other projects, and an excuse to dig out some pretty buttons too.

Right, I'm off to sit by the fire for a while, I've gotten chilled sat at my desk by the window here.

Hoping all is cosy and bright where you are xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

 

 

 

Autumn Still

I wanted to show you a few little festive crochet things I'm making at the moment, but as I was uploading the photos to my blog earlier I realised that they were really pretty terrible and not fit for show. It's the light you see, or rather the complete lack of it. During the past week I've been taking a few photos here and there as I've been playing with festive colours and hooking up some rounds, but unfortunately the camera made everything look really sickly. Candle light just doesn't cut it, as lovely as it is during these dull grey days.

I shall try again tomorrow when I'm hopeful things might be a bit lighter and brighter. To be honest, I'm in a state of mild shock over the fact that I actually have festive makings coming off my hook in November when really, it is still Autumn in my mind. I am still loving on my pumpkins and little acorns! However, the Little People have spoken with great authority this year and have declared this Sunday 1st December will be the day we Deck the Halls and the Autumn guff will be packed away. Never in my life have I decorated for Christmas this early - we usually wait until ten days before kind of thing, but not so this year. I fear that if I make them wait they will stage a chaotic intervention and I don't really have the energy to deal with the fallout. So Advent and The Tree will all happen both at once this weekend, I will do my best to make it a joyful occasion.

One of the things I've been making this week is a new festive garland for my mantel, to take over from the Autumn one. So far I have the grand total of 3 berries and 9 holly leaves so it's definitely a young WiP, but I'm hopeful that I'll have it finished in time for Winter Solstice which is on Sunday 22nd December this year. I'd love to know if you have anything festive on your hooks/needles at the moment? Anything Christmassy or Wintry?

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Dahlia Blanket CAL :: Introduction

Good morning! If you're here looking for the new Dahlia yarn pack, click on the following link to go straight there >>

❧🏵️DAHLIA YARN PACK 🏵️❧

If you'd like to read on and find out the inspiration behind the Dahlia blanket, I've got lots to show you.....

I've been so excited to share this creative journey with you, and to show you just a little of what I have been obsessing over during much of this year. My head has been so full of floral colour that there hasn't been a lot of room for anything else, but honestly I wouldn't have it any other way. My colour palettes and crochet blankets are always at the forefront of my creative thinking and I pour a huge amount of emotional energy and passion into them. Nobody could ever accuse me of being half hearted about my projects that's for sure - I'm always a 110% kind of person, all in and full to overflowing.

I have to tell you that pretty much as soon as we finished up with the Sweet Pea CAL back in February, I was already craving more floral inspiration. I adored making the Sweet Pea blankets and found myself pondering endlessly on the idea of creating another floral inspired blanket. I noodled over a few different flower options (tulips, zinnias) but very quickly settled on one of mt all time favourites - dahlias.

Photo Source : Sarah Raven

I've been a massive fan of Sarah Raven for many years, and her plant catalogues bring me a huge amount of visual joy. Her range of dahlias are absolutely breathtaking and if you've got a minute, I can highly recommend popping onto her page and scrolling through the collection just to breathe in the colours. Take a little look then hop back here to the Attic........

https://www.sarahraven.com/flowers/bulbs/dahlias 

.......wasn't that beautiful?

Now I did fantasize about turning our shabby little overgrown allotment plot into a full-blown Sarah inspired dahlia patch but in all honesty I am just not that good at growing things. I tried planting some tubers but forgot to protect them and they were mercilessly devoured by slugs and snails pretty much as soon as their delicate shoots appeared. So after much heart ache and deliberation I decided to abandon the idea of big flowers and grow some miniature dahlias in back yard pots where I could keep an eye on them and protect them with organic, wildlife friendly slug deterrent. I loved having them in my yard over the summer and picking a few small stems to have on my table was wonderful.

If you've been visiting the Attic over the years, you will be familiar with my enduring dahlia crush - market dahlias have kept me very happy for many years (just found this post from 2009). I love having fresh flowers in the house and the more colourful they are the better.

I am very lucky to have real life friends who are very much better at growing stuff than I am, and was thrilled one day at Coopers Café when I was gifted with some beautiful stems wrapped in newspaper. Oh, the joy! I can't put into words how fabulous it is to be given something like this, it was just the best feeling ever.

As you can see from the above photo, Judi's home grown newspaper wrapped dahlias were absolutely gorgeous and I adored having them in the house. I also had a jolly good play with them when I was teetering on the edge of choosing a dahlia inspired colour palette - you just can't beat having real life inspiration at the tips of your fingers.

As well as feeding my brain with real life flowers and a tonne of images on the internet, I took plenty of inspiration from this fabulous book too.

{ "Dalias" by Naomi Slade }

This book is really beautiful with the most eye catching photography...

....there is also lots of practical advice about growing dahlias, as well as page after page showcasing all the different varieties of dahlia that you can get your hands on.

However, the best inspiration can always be found where there are experts involved, so I spent some time surfing the web trying to find out where I could go to see how the professionals do their dahlia growing.

I discovered a small nursery up in Northumberland where they have been growing and breeding prize winning dahlias for almost one hundred years. Imagine that?!!! Established in 1921, Halls of Heddon is a small family run business, specialising in dahlias and chrysanthemums. During August and September you can visit the nursery in Heddon-on-the-Wall to see their growing field in full bloom, oh yeah......what a trip that would be!!!! Can you just picture me in such a place????

So on a sunny Friday in mid September, J and I made the one hundred mile journey north to see what we could find.

Oh.

My.

Goodness.

Nothing prepared me for the dizzy reality of seeing more than 10,000 dahlia plants growing in one place.

After parking the car we started out exploring the covered areas first. These were like huge open sided sheds with clear plastic roofing, designed to allow the air to circulate but protect the floral blooms from the wind and rain. 

This is where they grow all the big blowsy flowers, the ones that take your breath away with their size and flamboyance.

Many of the blooms were bigger than I had ever seen in my life.....

...look......

...!!!!!!!!!! Bigger than my HEAD!!!!!

These are known as Dinner Plate dahlias and honestly they absolutely blew my mind. 

The outside field was filled with hundreds of different varieties and hybrids in every dahlia-ish colour you can imagine. 

Row upon row of the most stunning flowers....

....it was quite overwhelming (in the best possible way).

I just love the sheer joy of dahlias, they are so vibrant and charming and never fail to make me smile.

I don't know how long we spent wandering up and down the rows in the early afternoon sunshine....

...but it was one of the happiest and most inspirational days I can remember in a long while.

J snapped the above photo on his phone, of me crouching down amongst the flowers taking photographs. I was pretty giddy I have to say, barely holding it together.

I took soooooooooooooooooo many photos, I just couldn't seem to stop myself.

238 images to be precise.

I am trying hard not to bombard you with a humongous amount of dahlia overload right away, so here is just a teensy-weensy sample of what found its way onto my camera....

Ahhhh, so much floral colour and beauty, quite overwhelming really. I'll show you a lot more in the coming weeks as we get ready for the Dahlia CAL....you've been warned - flower spam will be hitting the Attic!

Once we'd finished in the field, I decided to try and see if I could purchase some cut flower stems to take home with me.

I didn't have to look very far as there were already a good number of stems freshly cut that morning, waiting for me to do a crazy happy dance around them. 

I think I had real hearts in my eyes when I saw this little lot!

I tried hard to think about my yarn choices right there on the spot, and how the flower colours would translate to Stylecraft Special shades (oh, you know I'm pretty accomplished at doing that). I picked out the stems one at a time, placing them in a bucket to make a real life floral colour palette. It was such good fun and I think I did pretty well!

My precious cargo was tucked safely in the back seat of the car ready to travel one hundred miles south. We had such a beautiful drive home, coming off the main A1 and driving over the top of the Pennines instead. Let me show you...

...it was such a lovely, memorable day, better than I could ever have hoped for.

But of course, the end of the day trip wasn't the end of the dahlias for me.
Do you want to see what came home with me?

OK............here you go......

................WOWSERS!!!! Aren't they just STUNNING? 

I was so so so so happy to have these flowers to play with...

...oh my heart. Aren't they delicious?!

By the time I had these flowers at my disposal, I had already chosen the colours I wanted to include in my Dahlia blanket. I still had a huge amount of fun playing around though, arranging the flowers into something of a colourwheel.....

....what do you think? I didn't quite get the deep red right (my camera makes the dark red flower look very dark) but I absolutely love the sweep from dark to light and the way the colours all seem to belong to each other.

Building colour palettes is something that makes me so happy, it's feeds my creative soul in a way that often takes me by surprise. It's fun and exciting, and so very satisfying when after a lot of playtime (often over many months) it all comes together to create the most beautiful visual harmony. I love it so much!

As is usual for my blankets, I've chose fifteen shades of Stylecraft Special DK for my Dahlia blanket

Top row, left to right...

🏵️ magenta 🏵️ fuchsia purple 🏵️ shrimp 🏵️ apricot 🏵️ powder pink 🏵️

Middle row, left to right...

🏵️ boysenberry 🏵️ pomegranate 🏵️ spice 🏵️ lemon 🏵️ blush 🏵️

Bottom row, left to right...

🏵️ claret 🏵️ lipstick 🏵️ tomato 🏵️ saffron 🏵️ fondant 🏵️

You can find the Dahlia yarn pack in my shop at Wool Warehouse, click on the following link...

❧🏵️DAHLIA YARN PACK 🏵️❧

These colours are extremely harmonious together, mainly because they all sit very closely together on the hot side of the colour wheel. They blend and sing especially well when arranged in this particular order ↑↑ and I really love the way the colours instantly transport me back to that warm, sunny flower field. 

For my Dahlia blanket, I'm using an easy variation of a Spike Stitch which I think suits these colours perfectly. I wanted something that would echo the flower petals and I'm really super-happy with it.

This is a great stitch to crochet, a really clever construction which makes it very easy to see where your hook is going on each row. The counting is minimal (yay!) which makes it easy to keep on track, and I would definitely say this pattern is a good'n' for beginners, or for those looking for some soothing rows to sit on the sofa with.

I'll be sharing a full photo tutorial for this spike stitch on my blog at the start of the CAL in January. I'll also be creating some printable pattern sheets for those who don't need all the photos and prefer to have a traditional paper pattern tucked in your bag (or downloaded and saved to your tablet/phone).

Having these colours in my yarn bag has brought me so much pleasure over the past few months, the vibrancy of the shades has really lifted up my spirits. By the time we come into the start of the New Year, I'm sure that they are going to feel even more special, bringing sunny warmth into the grey of our winter months.

I want to let you know that I've been working really, really hard on trying to get a head start on my Dahlia blankets so that I could show you just how well the colours work together. Similar to the Sweet Pea, I've worked the fifteen Dahlia colours in two different ways - there is a Mixed Stripe (the colours worked in a "planned random" order like a big bunch of flowers) and a Colourwash (the colours ordered in a dark-light-dark sweep from top to bottom)

I haven't quite finished the mixed stripe blanket yet, but there is enough of it to give you a pretty good idea of how it'll look.

Both versions are stunning I have to say, the colours are just gloriously uplifting. If you are struggling to decide which blanket you like best, I've created a little sneeky peek for you. You don't need to look if you'd rather keep an element of surprise, but I know from last year that many of you prefer to have a look at the blankets before starting the CAL to see how the colours are playing.

CLICK HERE to download Dahlia blanket SNEEK PEEK!

Now, for those of you who are "Planners who Hook" (Or Hookers who Plan), I've got sticker news for you! My lovely friend Rachel who owns EllieBethDesigns has worked her magic with my Dahlia colours and designed a special sticker sheet for the Dahlia CAL. I'm sorry the above photo isn't the best (such low light levels here), but the colours really are lovely in real life.

The art work she's used is just beautiful as you can see, the dahlias look soo pretty! Rachel's shop is taking a weeny break right now but the good news is that next Friday 29th November her shop will reopen for her famous "Bright Friday" sale. This means a generous discount, yippeeee!!! I'll give you the direct link here on my blog and on social media closer to the time, but do bookmark her shop if you don't already know it >> {https://www.elliebethdesignsuk.com}

❧🏵️DAHLIA YARN PACK 🏵️❧

I really am obsessed with these yarn colours and the way they look all together, and I'm so so excited for the blanket to begin. Just a reminder that there is no need to sign up for this CAL - it's all very relaxed here in the Attic so all you need to do is gather your yarn together and join in when the pattern is released in the New Year.

I'll be writing more about the CAL a little closer to the time (just over six weeks until the CAL starts), but here is a quick round-up of information for you :

♥ The Attic24 DAHLIA CAL will will run for 8 weeks in total, beginning on Friday 3rd January - that'll be the day when the pattern will be published here on my blog and I'll give you all the information you need to get started. I'll then give weekly updates every Friday throughout January and February 2020 so that we can make the most of weekend hooky time.

♥ There will be a full picture tutorial here on my blog for the new Spike Stitch pattern. Each week I'll share the colour stripe order for the two different versions of the Dahlia blanket I'm making (Mixed Stripe and Colourwash)

♥ The DAHLIA YARN PACK contains 15 x 100g balls of Stylecraft Special DK and is enough to make one blanket/throw. There is no printed pattern included in this pack, all pattern info will be here on my blog, with updates every Friday throughout January and February 2020. 

♥ The Dahlia blanket will measure approx. 120cm x 175cm. You will need two packs if you wish to make a larger/double bed size blanket. I'll give starting chain/pattern guidance for those of you wishing to make larger (or smaller) blankets.

Thank you so much as always for your friendship and encouragement for my blankets, both here on my blog and on social media too. I appreciate it deeply, right down to my toes.

Thank you, thank you xxxxxxxxxxxxx

ps a note about my yarn packs - I am thrilled to be working with Wool Warehouse who do an absolutely amazing job of enabling crocheters all over the world to join me in my ongoing colourful blanket making. I earn a commission on all the Attic24 yarn packs sold through Wool Warehouse, and I am truly grateful to everyone who supports me in this way. Thank you so much. xxx

 

 

 

With Hindsight

Hello!! So good to see you all, and I'm happy to be back here in my space after not quite feeling up to it in recent weeks. Today I've been pondering on my "re-entry" into Blogland, more specifically how to explain my absence or even whether there is any need to explain at all? There isn't a whole lot that I can tell you to be honest - I'm not sure exactly what has been happening inside my crazy brain, but something hasn't been quite right.  I hadn't actually made a conscious decision to take a break, I simply didn't feel like I had the mental and emotional energy to sit and create a decent blog post. Suffice to say, with hindsight perhaps I should have left you a little note here to let you know all this, rather than just disappearing. I am sorry that I didn't think to do that.

A dear lady commented on my blog yesterday asking "Is this blog dead?" - crikey, I was hit full force with a massive dose of guilt reading that, feeling like maybe I was unintentionally killing off my precious blog. No, no no! No deaths here in the Attic I promise you, just a necessary deep snooze period. It's needed every once in a while, a step back, a gentle decompression after a low or busy time. 

It's been three and a half weeks since my last post so not a huge amount of time in the overall scheme of things, especially not considering the eleven and a half years that I've been sharing my life here.

We had our half term week right at the every end of October and into early November. It was a wonderful, simple time I have to say, lots of easy days spent cosy at home with kids and pets snuggling up all over the place. I even found time to sit and read my magazines, the November issues which arrived shortly after Yarndale when I was in no way ready to think November-ish thoughts. I save my magazines to open when the appropriate month rolls around these days, and I find I enjoy them so much more.

Halloween and Bonfire night came and went, the usual child-orientated stuff taking place here. Little B and I carved a pumpkin each, and we had hoards of trick or treat children ringing our bell for a solid two hours. We had sparklers and a modest box of supermarket family fireworks for November the 5th - the Teens were both out with friends so it was just me, J and Little B oooohing and aaaahing over the sparkly, smoky pops and bangs. 

I finished a pair of socks which had been on my needles since the spring and I'm so happy with them! The yarn is West Yorkshire Spinners Signature 4 ply and the colour is called "Seascape" which floats some major colour boats for me. Seascape is one of four colourways designed by my friend Christine the Sock Queen and this one is by far my favourite. It was inspired by the colours of seaglass, so of course I simply had to have my feet in those coastal stripes. I adore them and find myself craving a cold, breezy beach walk whilst wearing them. It's on my list.

We've been walking when the weather has allowed, taking Little B and sometimes Little Lady to wander our favourite countryside pathways. The woodland at Bolton Abbey was looking especially beautiful at the end of October, all glowing and golden and uplifting. 

Closer to home and I've been appreciating the colours of the season in the trees and hedgerows as I've walked to and from school and town. 

Our clocks went back an hour at the end of October and our days are rapidly shortening now (it's just under 5 weeks until the Winter Solstice). I've been struggling with the low light levels and long hours of darkness, my mood is definitely affected by it and I've noticed it more and more as I've gotten older. I light candles and use a daylight lamp (when I remember) but I find myself fantasizing about trips abroad where the sun is still shining and there is light and warmth to be found at this time of year. I hope one day.

Getting outdoors and walking is one of the best tonics, and I've loved it so so much when the sun has shone for us.

The combination of fresh, crisp cold walking with warm, cosy café refreshments is hard to beat in November, such pleasure to be found in our local area on days like this.

Last year I recall that November was mild, but not so this year. We've had many frosty mornings with below zero temperatures for the school run.

Mostly I walk at speed during the mornings, delivering Little B to school in time for the bell, whizzing around the supermarket  then power walking home in the chilly air ready to unpack the shopping and get on with chores and work. Every so often I come out of the supermarket not feeling quite ready to go home, and so I walk the long way back along the canal and through the park.

It's an opportunity to take in the very familiar sweep of grass and woodland that sits just a five minute walk from my door. It's a window into the seasons too, the trees telling the story of where we are in the year. Right now in mid November we still have some leaves hanging on in there, although another week and I reackon most branches will be bare. Winter will be creeping in soon enough.

I walked home from school today at 4pm, stopping to catch my breath at the top of the street (it's a heck of a climb up at the end of the day). The setting sun was casting a beautiful ruby glow over the hilltops and it made me glad (just a weeny bit) for our shortened days.

Hyacinth bulbs are in the house this week - yipppeeee for small (but perfectly wonderful) seasonal pleasures! I adore this seasonal ritual, and love that in the eleven years since I've lived in this house that hyacinths have become A November Thing. Gosh, it makes me so happy, right down to the ends of my toes. They are in a metal Christmas pot as that's how the supermarket is selling them this year - I have pondered taking them out and putting them into a stripy Cornishware bowl, but with only 37 days till Christmas it seems I may as well embrace the Festive theme. I'll have bulbs on my mantel right through till April, so plenty of time ahead to have springtime bulbs instead of festive ones.

It's been so cold here the past few weeks that we've had our central heating on during the daytime when J and I have both been home. Our sofa sits in front of the living room radiator and it's become Tilly's favourite place to sleep. Often she is sprawled full length along the sofa back, with legs draping and head lolling. The combination of rising heat and cosy crochet keeps her content and in a sleepy kitty stupor for hours on end. There is something so heart warming about seeing a cat cosied up on top of colourful crochet, don't you think?

Talking of colourful crochet, during the weeks when I've not been sat at my desk, I've been sat on the sofa crocheting. A real lot of crochet has been happening in recent months as I've been obsessing (to the point of weirdness) about this colour palette of gorgeously warm and uplifting colours. This is my new Dahlia colour palette, inspired by one of my favourite flowers and I can tell you that the colour therapy it delivers is second to none. The dull Autumn days have been brightened considerably by these bright summer shades and I honestly can't get enough of them.

There will be a new Dahlia yarn pack coming very very soon, along with a beautiful new blanket pattern which I'll be sharing here on my blog for my annual Crochet-A-long (CAL).

I'm using a new stitch pattern which is loads of fun to crochet - super easy and relaxing to do, with minimal counting and a very easy intuitive construction. It's a great pattern for beginners, or for those of you like me who need some low-brain-matter therapeutic rows to amble along with during the evenings.

I'll be sharing a lot more about the Dahlia blanket here on my blog on Wednesday 20th November (oooo, yes, it's very soon indeed!). I've got so many inspiring photos to show you - when I say I've been obsessing, I really do mean it haha!! 

I've been making two different versions of the Dahlia blanket (hence the huge amount of crochet time needed) - all will be revealed on Wednesday. 

And on that bright and breezy note, I shall love you and leave you as I head back to my hook and yarn. See you in a few days time for some floral feasting!

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