Attic24

Daily May # 23

Day 23 :: Fri-yay!

Another week has passed and here we are at Friday again, my 4th one so far in May (with one more still to go). Another sunny day and our usual early walk through the lush woodland to kick start the morning with some green-leaf energy...

....and then an impromptu detour down through the slowly wakening main street of town. We'd decided to pick up some take-out coffees and take them to the canal basin to sit on a sunny bench amongst the ducks and pigeons. It was really a enjoyable little moment in time, and all before 8am.

I spent the morning with my yarny tribe of friends which is always an absolute pleasure-fest and I treated myself to breakfast today. I went for a Greek yoghurt and granola bowl which was all kinds of yummmmm and filled me up right through till the mid afternoon.

There were single sunflower stems in glass vases on the table and they were gorgeous!

I had a surprise package through the post from Stylecraft Yarns today, a ball of their newly released festive sock yarn. It was hard to photograph, but can you see that it has a very subtle sparkly thread running through it? This colourway is called North Pole, and if you go to the website and click on each colourway, you should get a little swatch pop up to show you how it'll look when it's knitted up. There are six colourways to choose from and I like them all, although it really is far too early for me personally to think about the C word.

As you know, J has Friday afternoons free from work so we often go out together which makes it feel like the weekend starts early. We had food shopping to do, so I suggested we drive a little way out of town to pick up some free range eggs from the farm before we went to the supermarket. This farm is high up on the side of a hill leading up to the moor tops, just a few miles away from where we live. 

We picked up a dozen large eggs for £3, and honestly they are worth every penny because the yolks are rich and they are as fresh as they come. I'll try and remember to show you next time I cook one, I do appreciate a good eggy egg.

Just a bit further up from the farm you reach the very top of the moor with the most spectacular 360 degree views. There are parking spots and many miles of footpaths across the open land up here, but today we just stood for a while and drank it all in.

And look what was growing and in full fluffy bloom up there.....cotton grass! So much cotton grass! It was quite breezy and the little floofy cotton tops were swaying and moving like they were dancing, it was absolutely mesmerising to watch.

Rather than driving back the way we came, we turned off to the right and drove down this very narrow, hilly lane. Down, down, down with breathtaking views all the way to the valley bottom.

And then a quick pit stop into a lovely old pub which sits conveniently at the side of the road. There is a lovely terrace at the back, and inside it's very old and cosy, a real traditional Yorkshire place that is very well respected locally for its food. I had a small glass of vino which seems to be the thing that I do on Friday afternoons in May, and it was delicious, a light, fruity rosé which made me feel like I was on holiday somewhere in southern Europe.

Dinner tonight was quite exciting because we decided to light up the barbecue and cook some burgers in the yarden. J is always in charge of any kind of cooking that involves flames, and I'm the one who does all the accompaniments. I fried onions, made seasoned potato wedges and a homemade burger sauce and sliced up cornichons and tomatoes. We'd bought proper brioche burger buns and they looked so unreal, in fact my whole burger looked like a digitally enhanced fast food advert and really made me laugh. It was bloomin' yummy though, and lovely to once again eat outside.

Just like last Friday, I have the wonderful luxury of sun dried clean bedding to look forward to, what a delight. My bed is all made and I have a fresh little posie of flowers on my bedside table, ahhhh, I shall be flolloping into those poofy pillows in about five minutes tops, I am ready for some horizontal time now after what feels like a full day of doing all the lovely things.

Ok, I am saying goodnight, my sundrenched cotton bed is calling......see you again tomorrow :)

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

 

 

 

Daily May # 22

Day 22 : Thursday

I felt like having a slow day today, an easy jaunt through the hours, but also a day of much needed gentle productivity. For the first time in ages I made myself a to-do list because I've noticed that during the past two months I've been feeling quite scattered and important things have been starting to slip through the cracks. Most of my list involved worky type admin (boring but necessary), so I decided I would take a few hours in the morning to be out and about, then come home and put myself into work mode.

I walked into town via the churchyard because my lovely Little Lady told me she'd seen some irises growing there that she knew I would like. She doesn't hang out in churchyards by the way, but her walk to and from work cuts through this particular one, and it's beautifully looked after by the parishioners. To my delight there were indeed some spectacular and very large bearded irsies in the flower borders of Trinity Church and I enjoyed their bold colours very much.

I mean, what's not to love about these flowers? They are a bit show-offy perhaps, but with such stunning good looks they really deserve to be seen. Incidentally, I usually find the combination of purple and yellow very harsh and my brain really doesn't like to see them together when I'm designing and working with yarn. But in iris form, these colours just work, don't they?

After the iris excitement I needed a sit down and a coffee, so I took myself into a newly opened café bar right in the centre of town. This is a large place in an old building which used to be Barclays bank and is now owned by the Lounge chain who have a few hundred "lounges" all around the country. The decor inside is eclectic and full on, with lots of vintage art work, lampshades and mirrors and more than it's fair share of funky wallpaper. A mismatched assortment of furniture which all effortlessly looks good together, and a fantastic recycled wooden floor which looks like it used to belong in a school gym. I really like it, it has a cosy charm about it and a relaxed vibe, although to be perfectly honest the coffee could have been better. It was a proper milky brew, as they say here in Yorkshire, and this girl likes her coffee Strong, with a capital S.

I'm pleased to inform you that once I got back home and settled down to work, I managed a fair few ticks on my to-do list. Emails and expenses and receipts and messages and important dates/future plans all got pulled into line. And afterwards, some rather drastic crochet.

I say drastic, because my latest blanket has been giving me a headache and after working twenty four rounds and leaving it to stew for a while, I decided it needs some adjustment. And by adjustment, I mean completely starting again from scratch. Uh...yeah...well....I am not faint hearted with these kind of things and once the decision was made I rolled up my cardigan sleeves and got stuck straight in. I'm altering the pattern to give the whole design a bit more breathing space, and also I've decided to try turning after each round to prevent the inevitable wonky lean that can happen with large crochet squares. Once I make good progress and am happy with it, I'll show you properly what it looks like. I'm loving it by the way, even though it's not behaving in a prim and proper way, it's got energy and good feels and I know that it's really going to be wonderful.

Today the weather was very much cooler than yesterday, and after many glorious weeks of sunshine I understand that we are approaching an inevitable downturn. Rain is forecast from the weekend, and I know we need it, but oh I have so enjoyed the sunshine light and clear blue skies of May.

Last night after dinner I pulled J away from his laptop and we drove a few miles out of town to a nearby village to take a walk around the small reservoir there. It's a walk we've done a lot over the years when the Littles were small and it's a place I feel drawn to when I need a dose of watery blues.

It was between 7 and 8 o'clock and the sun was still in full shine but with that distinctive end-of-day glow that makes long shadows. We strolled slowly around the water's edge, and listened to the gentle lapping of the water against the small sandy beach.

I was delighted to see a whole big patch of native yellow flag irises looking incredibly vibrant in the end-of-day sunlight, they were actually glowing. How beautiful these flowers are, can you tell I'm a little bit obsessed?

It's so nice being out and about with J, and it struck me that we walk together almost every day and never seem to run short of things to talk about. He makes me laugh, that's for sure.

The weather this month has been utterly spectacular and I sincerely hope that we haven't just had spring and summer all rolled into one super short, glorious season. I want more please - more warmth, more light, more sunny deliciousness. I'll be so sad if the damp cool grey hangs around for too long. I'm manifesting more golden sunshiney days, willing for them to return because I am in fact solar powered.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

 

Daily May # 21

Day 21 : Wednesday : ten happy things.......

# 1 :: early morning walk through the woods with J, always a happy start to my day.

# 2 :: the whole of the downstairs smelling like an upmarket florists shop because these stocks are putting out one helluva scent.

# 3 :: the sound of the wind blowing through the tall branches of the pine trees at the end of my street.

# 4 :: admiring these clematis flowers in a neighbouring front garden, as big as my face.

# 5 :: crochet blankets and vintage patchwork cushions and outside sunshine afternoons.

# 6 :: looking up into the blue sky and spotting a teeeeeny tiny little cloud which looked like a ♥.

# 7 :: spending my afternoon crocheting in the sunshine, and feeling immense gratitude for my "working" life.

# 8 :: sun bleaching an old white top to give it a new lease of life and loving the the crisp, air-dried feel of the cotton fabric.

# 9 :: buying the good (expensive) tinned tomatoes and loving how insanely good they taste.

# 10 :: cooking from scratch to feed my family, and choosing to eat out of bowls on our laps outside in the yarden. Tonight I made a bacon, sun dried tomato and spinach orzo pasta bake (with the extremely good tomatoes) and it was delicious.

x

Not pictured, but also contributing to my overall happiness....

♥ coffee and a catch up with a good friend

♥ booking a last minute 2 night short break for next week (it's school hols)

♥ feeling very proud of my three Little Peeps who are all working hard and very happy, settled and content at the present time

♥ an after dinner jaunt to enjoy the evening sun (I'll share those pics with you tomorrow).

May continues to be everything I hoped it would be and I don't want it to end.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

 

 

Daily May # 20

Day 20 : Tuesday

Another glorious spring day with blue skies and sunshine the whole day long, gosh this weather makes me feel happy in my soul! J and I walked up the steep hilly streets at 7 o'clock, and along the track where the verges are full of tall swaying grasses and pretty cow parsley.

Into the dappled sun/shade greenery of the woodland, just look how lush and green it's looking....so much wonderful light, vibrant colour, fresh growth and spring energy.

Strolling towards home, the canal water was incredibly still and the reflections crystal clear. One of my many visual obsessions is fixating on these upside down reflected scenes, they fascinate me beyond what I can put into words.

My morning was spent drinking coffee, trying to decide what to make for dinner, shopping for the ingredients for the aforementioned dinner, and doing laundry. It's the ordinary life stuff which makes up my days, and I'm grateful that I can engineer my time to fit these things in at leisure. I don't clock-watch my mornings, and that simple luxury is not lost on me, I appreciate it very much.

I took some more photos of my Flowerpress Mandala to share with you.....

.....here it is next to the Blue Yuletide one I made recently. The Flowerpress Mandala is quite large, measuring 23 cm / 9 inches across.

I showed you my collection of Ricorumi cotton balls on Day 14 when I was first having a play with mandala making last week. I've had this yarn for quite a long while and the ball bands are long gone, so it's not really possible for me to give you the exact colours I used.

However, did you know that Wool Warehouse have recently launched their own range of pure cotton yarn under the Yanrsmiths name? It's a collection of DK weight cotton in 50g balls which would be perfect for mandala making, but most importantly the cotton comes in the same 120 shades that exist for both the Create and Merino DK yarns. That means the same 120 shade numbers and colour names are matched now across all three ranges which is honestly incredible for us colour loving yarny creatives.

You can find it online ((here)).

I had a go at picking out the shades that closely matched my Flowerpress Mandala - I couldn't match it exactly but I think the colour palette of nine colours is very pretty....

.....and would be good for crocheting all sorts of pretty bunting, garlands or flowers as well as mandalas.

In the above photo, the yarn balls are Ricorumi, and the yarn pegs below are my Yarnsmths colour match, just in case it's helpful.

Lucy's Spring colour palette in Yarnsmiths Cotton / Create / Merino DK :

3251 : Steel Blue ♥ 3256 : Duck Egg ♥ 3181 : Hint of Mint

3186 : Celery ♥ 3140 : Mustard ♥ 3124 : Ginger

3426 : Dusky Peach ♥ 3390 : Fondant Pink ♥ 3380 : Rose Pink

I've got fresh flowers on my table this week, and I confess I chose them because the pale pink looks SO good with my new mandala. I know the colour matching is a bit over the top, but I'm owning it and loving it and it's making my heart happy. Plus, the stocks....my goodness....they smell.....

......DIVINE!!! Oh, and Ta-dah!!! A little moment for my Flowerpress Mandala doing it's pretty thing in situ.

You can also see my new vase which cost £2 from Morrisons supermarket. Two pounds, I could not believe it quite honestly. See how amazingly good the pink shades look together? I was right, wasn't I?

The flowerpress pattern is all written (I eventually found the paper with number scribbles, it was folded up with my knitting). I haven't made a full tutorial as this was a very spontaneous make with lots of frogging and scribbles and I didn't have the mental capacity at the time to stop my flow and take proper step-by-step pics. I've still included quite a few photos to help so I'd call it a partial hand-holding, and I'm pretty confident that it's very do-able even for those of you who find pattern reading a challenge.

J is going to make me a PDF for the pattern but he's been very busy today and says he'll make time to sort it out for us tomorrow. He's a good man, and I've promised to fetch him a flat white as payment. So no printable/downloadable pattern right at this moment, but I've put the pattern online for freeeeeeeee for you to access now. I can highly recommend a little bit of creative yarn play as it's so good for the heart and soul. ENJOY!!!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

oh....yes, it would help if I gave you the linky, wouldn't it?

You can find it in my alphabetical pattern list under "Flowerpress Mandala"

FLOWERPRESS MANDALA FREE PATTERN

I'll let you know when the PDF pattern is ready tomorrow, and I'll add it to the tutorial page xxx

 

 

Daily May # 19

Day 19 :: Monday

Day nineteen of beautiful May and I wish the hours would stretch and slow everything down just a smidge. With only twelve days left of my favourite month this year, there is no time to waste and I want to breathe in and enjoy every moment. I think I do pretty well with my days on the whole as I'm very into mindfulness and being present in the moment, but still I feel the racing of time.

I was thinking about my calendars earlier on today, I have two artist calendars on the go that I absolutely love, and thought I'd share May's images with you. The one above was a gift to me from my lovely friend Emma, and it features twelve flower paintings by artist Vanessa Bowman who's work I have loved for a long time. I have this calendar hanging in my dining room and often find myself gazing at the flowers, her patterny style and use of colour really makes me happy.

I also have a slimline calendar hanging in the hallway which is my writing-on calendar where I attempt to keep a track of birthdays, appointments, holidays etc. I buy myself this one every year and it features paintings by artist Jo Grundy. Her work is very evocative of seasonal country living and her colours often seem to be in tune with my own monthly observations.

May = golden yellows and bright greens :: yes, absolutely.

Today has been a day where I got to 6pm and had absolutely nothing visually inspiring to share with you, other than my calendars. J and I spent the morning at a bathroom showroom place trying to get to grips with the phenomenal number of choices that need to be made when renovating this small, well used room in the house. We are excited to be thinking about a new bathroom as our current one is really not faring too well, but my goodness, the decision fatigue is major.

I did make a veeeeeery good family meal this evening though, and that has been the extent of today's creativity. It was a recipe I adapted and cobbled together from various ideas I found online (a chicken/rice bowl with a homemade satay sauce) and it was honestly the yummiest thing, I can't stop thinking about how good it was.

After dinner I felt the need to get out of the house and took myself down into the meadow for a stroll. The golden light was wonderful (as it has been for weeks now) and I enjoyed being out and about and emptying my mind as I walked. I needed to dislodge the thermostatic mixer taps and general bathroom overwhelm from my brain, empty it all out into the buttercup meadow so that I stand a half decent chance of getting some sleep tonight.

I walked a bit further than usual, heading into the wild part of the park where there is a long hedgerow of mature elder trees. As I was thinking about it being Day 19 earlier, it occurred to me that June will be here in twelve days, and June means elderflower cordial season will be upon us. As you can see above, the flower buds are looking great, which makes me excited for the floral froth to come.

I'm sorry today's dairy entry has been a bit dull, the whole bathroom thing has taken a lot of my mental energy today and hasn't left me much to play with.

Tomorrow I'm going to write up the Flowerpress mandala pattern to share with you which I hope you'll find inspiring. Ahhh, I need to remember where I put that piece of scribbly paper with the numbers written on it.....where can it be? And why am I like this? Why can't I use a notebook like a normal profesh designer type person? Ditsy is the word that springs to mind.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

Daily May # 18

Day 18 :: Sunday, a visit to the gardens at RHS Harlow Carr

An early out-the-door this morning so that we arrived at HC just before it opened. It gets very busy at the weekends, so we've learnt from experience that it's better to arrive in good time and beat the queues. We had two out of three Offspring with us today which is always a pleasure, and I continue to really appreciate that at ages 15* & 21 we are lucky parents to have their willing and engaging company on these simple outings.

*Yes, Little B is fifteen years old, and yes, I am constantly surprised by this fact.

Into Harlow Carr and straight to the cafe, uh-huh, we are that kind of family that is apparently fuelled by caffeine. Cappuccinos all round, along with some very good bacon breakfast rolls and then all was well and we could commence the business of full garden appreciation.

We started our walk through the woodland areas where the rhododendrons were in full bloom.

In the shady, dampish woodland borders we found the most beautiful candelabra primulas in flower too.

There are lots of different colour variations, and many of them are hybrids which have actually been created at Harlow Carr (I'm not much of a gardener, but I think being unique hybrids makes them rather special). I made sure to tell the Offspring to take a close look and appreciate their specialness.

In mid May, HC is a little bit between seasons, as most of the spring bulbs have finished flowering but the summer flowers haven't yet started. Many of the large floral borders are still in their greenery stage waiting for their turn in the summer when this garden really comes into its own.

However, the garden is large and divided into many different areas of interest, so there is loveliness to be found at all times of the year.

I loved the alliums which were blooming in the teaching gardens....

...and this long Mediterranean inspired border seems to always look good all year round.

The newly created alpine area is slowly being planted up (it's been in rocky creation for a good long while), and the huge variation of tiny colourful flowers was wonderful to see.

Now.....it will come as no surprise to you to hear that I had been keeping my fingers crossed for some Iris action, because of course it is the flower of the moment and I appear to be obsessed with these blooms as of one week ago.

And you will be delighted to hear that irises were indeed blooming at HC and ooohhhhhhh, they were STuNnINg!!!!

I LOVED this huge patch of naturalised irises growing in quite a wild and wonderful way in a meadow setting...

....but there were many borders throughout the garden where irises of different varieties were taking centre stage.

This big swathe of deep and dark blooms was only just beginning to flower, but oh-my, can you just imagine how stunning it'll look when it's going full throttle?

The fam were very patient with me as I dawdled and drooled over the intense beauty of these flowers, I think they are absolutely wonderful.

Haha, I created a little collage for you (and for me) so that we can really get some Iris Magic into our brains. Beautiful, aren't they?

I wanted to show you my dress, because I went through hell and back trying to iron the bloomin' thing this morning. It's an old one bought many years ago, heavily discounted in an end of year sale (it's from Cornish brand Seasalt). I love it very much, but it's an absolute 'mare to iron as it's cotton and lined and the lining is semi-stitched in and rumples terribly. Plus I don't actually own an ironing board which adds a whole new level of difficulty to the de-creasing challenge. But anyways, I wore it today and felt fancy and loved seeing the sweet floral bottom edge swaying around the flower borders as I walked. Also - background wisteria looking mighty fine and matching my cardi rather nicely.

When you've had enough wandering/bench sitting/flower admiring in HC and it's time to wend your way back to the car, the exit takes you right though the garden centre and gift shop. I have to tell you, the garden centre is magnificent; pricey, but magnificent. The plants for sale are absolutely stunning and of the highest calibre of planty health and vitality. I always see a gazillion plants that I would love to give a home to, and in today's jaunt it was the super pretty foxgloves....

....and the breathtaking lupins which stole my heart. The lupins were so utterly perfect they didn't look real.

I told myself I was not going to buy anything, but then spotted some pots of sweet pea seedlings at the perfect stage of readiness for planting out and I had to have them. I haven't really done any planting in my yarden for the past two years and it's looking very unkempt, but I really want to give it some tlc and plant up my pots with lots of floral colour for the upcoming sitting-out season. Sweet peas will be heavenly, I really can't wait.

If you ever pay a visit to HC, you know you absolutely have to pop into Betty's bakery and buy something to bring home, it's the law. Usually for us it's their famous Fat Rascals, two of them pictured above. They are deceptively large (bigger than my palm) and can be sliced up or cut into quarters then buttered (and jammed if you like) to have with a cup of tea or coffee. A little treat to remind you how good it is to spend the morning looking at flowers.

I also got tempted in the RHS gift shop because hello, favourite chocolate brand. This flavour is very summerish and tastes a little bit like turkish delight, it's really very delicious, well, all their chocolate is.

I so enjoyed our visit to Harlow Carr, I always get a long-lingering injection of inspiration and feel-good after being surrounded by so much natural beauty and colour.

Once more for the iris appreciation.....you're welcome!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

 

 

 

Daily May # 17

Day 17 :: Saturday

♥  a welcome slow start to my day with a coffee and some knitting in bed

♥ our usual weekend jaunt into the town to shop at the market, calling at the café on the way home to have coffee and breakfast

♥ I love unpacking my bags of produce when I get home from the market - this week I'm excited for British grown asparagus, beautiful peppers and a huge haul of cherry tomatoes on the vine (I bought four loooong strands of them!)

♥ walking along the canal on my way home from the shops

♥ I still find myself endlessly inspired by the canal boats that come and go

♥ look at the painted details on the front of this one, so jaunty and jolly!

♥ another gorgeous day here with bright blue skies and sunshine and I spent the whole afternoon sat outside with J. I bought a bottle of alcohol free sparkling rosé to try for the first time and it was absolutely scrumptious (it was the Kylie Minogue one)

♥ my hands reached the perfect knitting temperature (it was 21 degrees) and the stitches almost made themselves

♥ when the sun went down behind the rooftops I suddenly felt chilly - time to move indoors and cosy up with the kitty for a bit of early evening comfort. Look how huge she looks when she's in deep-sleep-dead-weight mode!

♥ 7:30 and I felt like getting out to really enjoy this glorious May evening. We drove up onto the moors and strolled along the track just to breathe it all in and drink in the views

♥ listening to the sound of the breeze and the moorland birds calling - curlews, a cuckoo and some grouse. What a wonderful way to spend an hour, so thankful for the simplicity of life when it looks and feels like this

♥ us ♥

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

 

 

Daily May # 16

Day 16 :: Fri-yaaaay!!

Day sixteen and we've just clicked over the half way point in our Daily May Diaries. I'm really enjoying the gentle routine of sitting down each evening to take a look at the photos I've taken throughout the day, and thinking about how to tell you the story that goes with the images. Daily blogging is an incredibly mindful activity because it really does force me to stay present in the day and take notice of my surroundings in a creative way. So a view isn't just a view, it's colours and light and emotion that I want to share with you. I tend to see the world in a creative way (colour/light/perspective/texture) as this is how I'm wired, but there is definitely a gentle art to composing/framing a pleasing photograph worth sharing, and then finding the words to go alongside.

Anyhow, all that I meant to say was that I'm enjoying being here :) and thank you for your comments which I get so much pleasure from reading each day.

Today I woke up and felt immediately full of Fri-yay energy and it was lovely! I slept well (a solid eight hours) and it was good to feel a little of my natural energy buzzing back again. I don't know if you've been able to tell from my blogs but this week hasn't felt easy, I've been quite tired and very hormonal so my mood has been a bit on the low side. But today - today I feel like me again, hallelujah.

I was meeting good friends today for breakfast, coffee and all things chatty and yarny and it was such a feel-good morning. I have to tell you about my Flowerpress Mandala because I don't know why but my brain has found this pattern so bloomin' hard! It's simple maths and multiples, and yet I absolutely could not get it right yesterday. I frogged countless times and thought I'd finally cracked it, then when I got it out today and started working what I thought was the final round, I realised I'd got it completely wrong. One hundred is not divisible by three, no matter how much I wished it was so. Nope. More frogging, and a harrumph, and out came my knitting instead.

My friends were all creating the most beautiful things around the table today, so I asked them if I could show you....

....left over sock yarn being made into delicate little solid granny squares to add to a Battenberg blanket....

....a pair of socks in progress....

....a crochet baby blanket using a whole lovely mix of Stylecraft Special colours, worked in this mesmerising moss stitch chevron pattern....

....and some beautiful one inch Liberty hexagons being hand pieced and stitched.

Such an uplifting way to spend a few hours, good coffee, some great conversation, lots of laughs, and all the while the pleasure of gentle crafting. Happy, happy, happy Friday.

J always finishes work at 12.30 on a Friday but we don't tend to make advanced plans for the afternoons. It's very much a decision of the moment after we've eaten lunch - what's the weather like and what do we feel like doing for a few hours? Today we decided to stay local and walk our well trodden path up the hilly streets, along the track and into the top of the woods.

With a day of blue sky and full sunshine, the dappled woodland was absolutely stunning, with watery light-filled reflections to make me swoon.

Such an easy but beautiful stroll, bringing us out at the top of town where we could go and buy the food we needed to make dinner, and then time for a little Friday afternoon tipple.....

....outside in the sunny garden of the Woolly Sheep Inn. I have a small 125ml of sauv blanc and it's just enough to give me that relaxed ahhhhh feeling, and makes me feel like I'm on holiday. I think that if you can feel like you're on holiday during an ordinary weekday afternoon, then you're winning at life.

On Friday's I'm generally off the clock in the kitchen as the offspring take care of themselves, and sometimes J just does himself a ready made curry if that's what he feels like. Today we both felt like having a salad bowl, inspired by the meal we had when we ate at Swim in Lyme Regis last weekend (we both had the Japanese rice bowl which was incredibly good). We cheated a bit and bought a ready made salad/grain bowl from M&S to share, and then added extra ingredients to it. I roasted some tenderstem brocolli and asparagus, added in some extra edamame beans and wholegrain rice, then we topped it with flaked salmon and garlicky prawns. The grain bowl came with a little pot of yoghurt/tahini dressing which was really tasty, so I'm now on the hunt for some knockout salad dressing recipes, the sort you could toss through grains/rice/roasted veggies/mixed salad and love it to death. Any ideas on this front, do please share in the comments.

It was a treat to eat outside in the yarden, we don't have an outdoor table any more but we do have a very comfy sofa and chairs with squishy cushions (covered in crochet blankets of course). I don't mind eating on my lap, especially when it's bowl food and a fork, and honestly this meal was all kinds of yummmmmm.

I settled down to do some crochet this evening, and pulled the mandala out of my bag where it sat looking suitably naughty with it's one hundred stitches that don't divide neatly by three. I ended up adding in an additional increase round which actually worked beautifully because I used that delicious mustardy gold colour. So then I had one hundred and twenty stitches and that definitely does work for the final set of petals - hooray! It looks a bit raggedy in the above photo as it still needs ends darning in and then a gentle steam spa treatment, but I couldn't wait to show you. I'm going to write up the pattern so I can share it with you, the notes are scribbled on paper so all's in hand.

And now....now it's 9:30pm and I'm suddenly very ready to be horizontal. Friday is my clean sheets day, and I'm happy because I had the good sense to make my bed before sitting down to chat to you, I'm so grateful I did that. And joy of joys, it was air dried on the washing line and smells of sunshine, and I put a small posie of flowers on my bedside table too. Simple pleasures are so important in life, they bring joy to the everyday.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

Daily May # 15

Day 15 :: Thursday

Today I had a slow morning doing slow things. I walked slowly and sedately down to the doctors surgery to go and stand on one of those machine things that measures weight, height, heart rate and blood pressure all at once. Thankfully I can report that my inner workings are pretty good and the numbers read as they should. Phew, it's always something of a relief to step out of those situations with a good feeling, I'm very grateful for my general good health. Afterwards I really, really needed a coffee and time to just sit and be mindful and grateful, and to restore my equilibrium.

The rest of the morning was taken up with food shopping, laundry, emails and general idle faffery - I don't know how I seem to arrive at 1pm and not really know how the morning slipped past.

I spent the afternoon following on from yesterday and crocheting a larger Flowerpress mandala. Hooking, frogging, counting, re-counting, multiplication, scribbling pattern notes and losing myself in these super pretty cotton colours. I love what I've made (just one final round still to complete) and will be writing and sharing the pattern in case you too want some flowery mandala prettiness in your life. Ten out of ten recommend for a dose of feel good creativity.

I cooked a simple pasta meal for us this evening and felt a bit discombulated because J's not here and he's always here (he's out at a work do which extended to an evening meal at some fancy restaurant). As I missed my morning walk today I decided to potter out this evening instead, because these light, bright spring evenings are more than a little bit magical and deserve to be enjoyed.

I had Little Lady with me for company, a time for us to chat and catch up and for her to tell me about the things that are occupying her mind of late. She is a deep thinker, and like me she processes things in a very internal way. However, I find that every so often it really helps to bring things out in the open and walking in nature is a great way to kick start the offloading.

The wild garlic is over it's peek now and slowly starting to fade, but this also means that the scent is at its most intoxicating. I love it when it's like this, it makes the air almost taste edible.

May is such a beautiful time in the woodland, the greenery is next level fresh. We climbed up the steeply stepped pathway above the waterfall which is always good for getting the blood pumping and making me very aware of keeping up my general fitness. I weirdly really enjoy climbing steps and I've no idea why, but there you go, I'm adding it to my veeeeeeery long list of quirks.

We sat for a while on the wall at the top of the hill and looked out over the quiet town, taking in our house nestled in it's terraced row. In the quiet of the early mornings and evenings we can hear the sheep baaa-ing from this field as the sound carries out across the treetops to our street. It's a lovely reminder of our semi-rural location and makes me appreciate how lucky I am to live in a town surrounded by hills and trees (and sheeps).

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

Daily May # 14

Day 14 :: Wednesday

Today has been a day for some gentle creativity and colour therapy, aaaallllll the colours. At the time I reached for my bag of cotton yarns I had no idea what I was going to make, only that I had the urge to play and wanted to tap into the joy of making something just for the pure pleasure of it.

I made a Flowerpress flower....

....then circled it and loved the way it looked.

I added a few more neat rounds of double crochet and loved it even more.

I've had a few questions about the blue mandala mat that currently sits on my table. This is a smaller version of my Yuletide Mandala pattern which is free ((here)) on my blog, and there is more information about the blue version ((here, scroll down to find it)). Doesn't the little Flowerpress mandala look cute alongside it??

I thought it would look very pretty underneath my little ink bottle flowers, and yes, I think I was right. I enjoyed my happy making very much, and now want to make a slightly bigger one with some different stitchy rounds....not right now though because after a bit of a scattered, ditsy day I finally feel relaxed and ready for zzzzzzzz. I'm adding Mandala Making to tomorrow's to-do list.

In other news, I found a really lovely simple glass vase in the supermarket today for the princely sum of two pounds (I'll take a better photo of it to show you tomorrow). The irises are obviously overjoyed with their new watery setting because they've started to open their petals, oh I do love them so. I'm invested pretty heavily in their welfare it seems, and can't wait to check in on them first thing in the morning. Sweet things.

After the little Flowerpress mandala was made, I couldn't stand the jumble of balls any longer and set about creating some order. Ahhh, that's better! What better way to feel good than to play around with colour, it's definitely my kind of therapy. The yarn is all Ricorumi DK which I really love for decorative projects, and as you can see, the variety of colours is wonderful (there are 80 to choose from).

The balls are dinky 25g minis which is appealing for all sorts of reasons, mostly because it means I can gather in a decent design palette without spending a small fortune. I wish we had access to this size of ball (in these great colours) in alternative fibres - small 25g balls of acrylic (or merino) would be fantastic, don't you think? Just imagine the design potential if I could put together a kit containing 48 colours! The mind boggles (in the best possible way).

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx