Attic24

Blogtober 2023 :: Day 4

There's been a very autumnal feeling in the air today, and I wore my flower scarf when I went out this morning. It wasn't especially cold but I just felt like being wrapped in the comforting woolyness of it somehow. To be honest, I forgot how very warm this scarf is (it's a merino/silk/alpaca blend yarn) and I overheated somewhat, so I'll maybe hold off on the shift to outdoor Autumnal clothing for a little while longer.

I went out for coffee mid morning, a quiet solo date by myself today. I do enjoy taking myself out for coffee, and if there happens to be a little sweet treat on the side as well, I'm very content indeed.

After my coffee I needed to go and buy some food, so I walked along the canal to the supermarket. I don't take this walk for granted, I feel so lucky that my local shops are all within easy striding distance and I can often avoid traffic completely. The canal is still busy with boats coming and going, and I love this big, wide colourful barge that has turned up with its collection of flower pots on the roof.

Although the trees are still leafy and green at the moment, I've noticed that leaves have already started to fall as we edge slowly into autumn.

Leaves and feathers are irresistible to me, I just cannot stop myself from picking them up and twirling them around as I walk. I actually don't know anybody else who does this in real life - maybe you do?! Please tell me if you do, if you carry feathers home, or arrange leaves in your fingertips as you walk along? I'd like to think I'm  not entirely alone with my weirdness.

I continue to be invaded by germs, urgh, it's very tiresome. Just a cold, nothing sinister, but I am over it already. When I got home from the supermarket I realised it was lunch time and I'd only eaten a Portuguese tart, so I made myself some porridge in a big chunky soup mug. I know my porridge always looks very lumpy because I usually have a lot of fruit going on in there. Today was sultanas, sliced banana and chopped pear, with a smattering of seeds on top for good measure. First porridge of the season and it was oh-so-comforting. As you can see, I ate it in bed like a sickly child feeling sorry for myself, but I can't deny the utter comfort of climbing back into bed in the middle of the day. 

In fact, I've been in bed all day, and I am still here in bed now, chatting to you at 8pm. Oh, I did get up for a few hours to prepare, cook and eat dinner, and see to some laundry, so it's not been all germy slouching about.

What I did do this afternoon was work bloomin' hard on getting the Starbright tutorial finished off properly. It's been a BEAST of a thing to create - over six thousand words I do believe. And what with all the snot and general foggy tiredness, well, I'm sure there must be some errors in there but I've really done my bestest. Please do shout if you find anything glaringly wrong or confusing and I'll fix it.

You can see I wasn't alone in my working bubble - Miss Tilly came to snooze some hours away with me and it was pretty lovely to have her company.

Yesterday I also managed to write up the V-stitch pattern as well. It's very straightforward so I didn't include any photos (I think I might add a few in tomorrow though, just in case they help) - I'm thoroughly enjoying my own stripes and managed to add one more this afternoon as I was waiting for the potatoes to cook.

So if you have a yarn pack arriving, or you are pulling from your stash or shopping local, then everything is now online for you to get started on your Starbright journey. Oh, maybe I should give you the links? I added them to the Starbright Ta-dah post from yesterday, but you can find both tutorials over in my left sidebar, in that long alphabetical list of  patterns.

S for Starbright Blanket and V for V-stitch Stripe Blanket.

STARBRIGHT TUTORIAL

V-STITCH PATTERN

I hope you've had a lovely day ... don't forget to talk to me about leaves and feathers ... and anything I can help you with that's Starbright related. Much love from my bed to yours xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

 

The Starbright Blanket :: Ta-dah!

Good morning! If you want to go and grab a Starbright yarn pack, here is the link to Wool Warehouse >>

STARBRIGHT YARN PACK 

And if you're after the free pattern and photo tutorial, here is the link to it (it's in my sidebar listed in alphabetical order)

STARBRIGHT BLANKET TUTORIAL

Please do read on if you'd like to find out more about the blanket design and drink in lots of colour!

Hellooooo, and thank you so much for being here to share this merry and bright Ta-dah occasion with me. I love to chat to you about the creative things that have been occupying my time, especially if there is a tangible source of inspiration behind the colour palette I've been immersed in. You can be sure that by the time you read my ta-dah posts, I've been obsessively designing and crocheting with these colours for many, many months - this particular colour palette has been jigging about inside my mind for more than a year now.

As you can see above, I gathered together some photos to give you an idea of the colour inspiration behind the Starbright blanket. I dreamed of a blanket inspired by those delicious weeks in December when decorations and twinkly lights take centre stage. I began to think a lot about the excitement of it all, about those nostalgic, child-like feelings that always surface when the month of December comes around and you realise all of a sudden that Christmas isn't too far away. It's everything I love about the festive season - the lights, decorations and bright colours which bring so much joy into the house. With these nostalgic feelings in mind, I chose colours that celebrate the winter season in the most joyful way I could think of. 

A lot of my inspiration for Starbright came from my own childhood memories and so there wasn't anything that I could photograph or look at. Memories of the old christmas decorations that would be unpacked year after year after year. The mismatched collections of baubles and the fairy lights with their brightly coloured plastic flowery petals. Strings of foil garlands which pulled out in a concertina of intricate folds and cuts, and brightly coloured foil stars which hung from lampshades and shelves. And a big round tin of colourful foil wrapped Quality Street chocolates (always a highly anticipated gift from my Grandad).

In the town where I grew up, every shop along the high street would display a small living christmas tree above the upper storey window, strung with brightly lit, multi coloured festoon lights. I LOVED those lights - I don't think trees are decorated like this any more, but the lights were always so bright and colourful due to the large bulbs. It meant that walking or driving through the town in the weeks leading up to Christmas was incredibly joyful, oh, I can still picture it so clearly in my mind and I absolutely adored it.

My idea for the Starbright colour palette was to create a background of deep blues as a nod to the dark winter skies, then light up those blues with all the bright shades that exist in my memory of childhood Christmases.

Lights in the dark if you like. 

You can see my colours here - heavy on the blues because I wanted that feeling of cosy nights and clear starry skies. I added in some greens for the evergreens and trees that we associate with christmas, and then a handful of festive brights to really bring the whole idea to life. Taking these rich, bright shades and setting them against the deep blues of a starry night sky makes this a blanket full of Winter Magic.

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

Top row :

♥ Gold ♥  Magenta ♥  Fuchsia Purple ♥  Pomegranate ♥  Lipstick ♥

Middle row :

♥ Apple ♥ Kelly Green ♥ Empire ♥ Teal ♥ Bottle ♥

Bottom row :

♥ Turquoise ♥ Aster ♥  Lapis ♥ Lobelia ♥ French Navy ♥

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

STARBRIGHT YARN PACK 

There is a whole backstory to the Starbright blanket design which I won't bore you with - suffice to say I went through a LOT of failure to get to the blanket that I'm showing you today. Stacks of samples and partly made and abandoned squares. A whole ginormous, massive HEAP of really wrong colour decisions resulting in three months of work being thrown in the bin (literally - the whole lot went in the kitchen bin). I started again from scratch with a fresh bag of yarn - the above photo was taken on 22nd July on the first day of our summer holiday in Northumberland when I was just about to start Starbright V2.

I'm very happy with the square pattern I designed -  a star in the centre, radiating out into simple v-stitch rounds. I wanted the square to have something of a vintage bauble look, and the zig-zag of the v-stitch reminds me of those concertina foil garlands, do you know the ones I mean?

I planned to start each square with a jolly bright centre and finish with some of the darker blue shades - I was trying to create something that described lights shining out into the dark.

The above plate was my summer holiday crochet - eighty one little starry centres.

The stars soon turned into baubles.....

....and on through the weeks of summer I turned the baubles into colourful squares.

The above photo shows the squares with the first three colours complete (there are 6 colours for each square).

I really, really love seeing a blanket journey evolve like this, it's such a thrill to have this idea inside my head and to witness it literally come to life in front of my eyes.

You'll notice that at this point, all the squares are very colourful as I've kept the darker blues to be used in the outer rounds.

The squares continued to grow....

.....and grow.....

....and grow, until they were at the stage where they were ready to join.

Now this is where the hard work really starts - it's really hard to explain to you just how difficult this process can be, and what a humongous amount of concentration and creative vision it takes to make these colour decisions on the fly.

Using the join-as-you-go method means that I need to try and imagine what the joining colours are going to look like before I actually make them. I also need to do things like make sure I use each colour an equal number of times, and separate squares that are too samey...so many decisions to make. My method is to use the floor, and make little yarn twists to represent the colour of the joining round. I place the yarn twists alongside each square, trying to balance the colour placement, and making sure that I can visualise them working. It's hard! Reeeeeeally hard!!

But I go forth with confidence, joining, joining, joining, and hoping and praying that it's going to look as good in real life as it does inside my head.

I work out from the centre because I'm trying to move the joining rounds from light to dark. Lighter in the centre and radiating out to the darker blues and greens around the outside.

The kitty oversees all decision making and work in progress, testing the quality of my workmanship at all times.

It's worth mentioning that it's inevitable that I make colour mistakes with this process, and so I leave all my joining tail ends dangling in case I need to perform surgery. I think I frogged out four squares in total, removing them completely, remaking them with better colours and then joining them back in again.

Finally, I had joined all 81 squares (they are arranged in a 9 x 9 format for this blanket) and began the task of darning in those dangling ends. Luckily for me I was at the café with friends while I tackled this bit so it wasn't too painful, but in normal circumstances crocheting a square blanket, I would always, always darn my ends in as I go.

I LOVE the join-as-you-go method and have used it in most of my square blanket designs. It's so neat and means that the blanket comes together pretty quickly.

So shall I give you a few numbers to roll around in your mind?

81 squares in total. 

6 colours in each square. No two squares are the same, they are all different.

That makes 486 colour decisions in these squares......and I am SO PROUD of it!!!!!

The border keeps the v-stitch design and is worked in the darker shades of blues and greens. This creates a  grounding framework around the squares and settles the whole design down a bit - those squares are pretty rowdy and shouty and need a bit of calming.

The little red border at the end was a last minute decision and I love the way it adds a final zing of joyful spirit.

Ahhhh.........it really is more than a little bit lovely.

As always, as soon as I darned in the last end, the blanket was put into use. My blankets don't get folded up and put away, no, no, they get to become a part of family life right from the start. It quickly became a firm favourite with the Little People and I can't tell you how happy it makes me when I see my blankets being used and loved by my family.

Oh - I took this photo yesterday and wanted to show you - I held my blanket up to the window to let the light shine through to highlight the stitch pattern. Isn't it lovely? I really like how the stars look like they are shining.

Miss Tilly didn't wait a second to road test the newly completed blanket - she was literally on it in an instant, as soon as it touched down on the sofa. I love the way cats just assume you are spreading out a blanket for their personal comfort and use. That look on her face that says well of course you made this just for me, I expect nothing less!

I want to show you how the whole blanket looks now, so you can see the play of light and dark, and the shine of the colours out from the centre.....

............TA-DAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am immensely proud of this blanket, it has proven to be a real challenge for me with my depleted concentration levels and not an easy make by any means. I mean, the actual crochet bit was easy-peasy, but the endless decision making was not. 

But just look at it - isn't it a beauty??

I honestly adore it, and part of me can't believe I actually designed and made it. I did it! And I love it and I'm so bloomin' proud of it.

So. STARBRIGHT. It's done and I love it, and now I'd love you to love it too.

There is of course the yarn pack which contains 15 balls of yarn as well as a 12 page A4 printed pattern.

STARBRIGHT YARN PACK AND PRINTED PATTERN

You will need a 4mm hook as standard, but you can go bigger or smaller if you know your crochet tension. I think this pattern looks and feels better if it's kept on the tighter side.

The join-as-you-go method is written into the printed pattern, but there is also a full photo tutorial here on my blog to help you along with it.

STARBRIGHT TUTORIAL

I often get asked if my patterns are suitable for beginners, and with Starbright I'd say that yes, it's a good one for adventurous beginners to try. The actual stitches are easy (mostly just UK trebles and chains), but you do need to be able to hold a good, even tension, and you do need to concentrate with making squares!

And then of course we have the ends to deal with. Please don't groan......darning in ends is all part of the blanket making journey, and I'd really like you to adjust your mindset when it comes to tucking those ends away. Think of it like this - you are darning love into your blanket with every colour change, and ensuring that it becomes an heirloom that will stand the test of time. My method is to darn as soon as I snip, NO EXCUSES. Scissors and needle stay together, and as soon as I cut that yarn, I thread it straight onto my needle and darn. it takes just a few seconds. Seconds. It's not an endless, thankless task if you do it this way.

STARBRIGHT STRIPES

Now I know that not everyone loves squares like I do, and some of you would prefer to work on a striped blanket where you have an easy run of it up and down those long rows. I hear you - I love the ease of stripes too, and the way that they provide a really therapeutic and mindful crochet experience. So last week I worked up a sampler to see how these bright winter colours would look as a stripe. OH. MY. GOODNESS. I hadn't been expecting to fall head over heels in love, but unexpectedly it happened.

I knew as soon as I took the above photo that I would be making my own striped blanket. I mean look.......

......WOW!!!!! This is my skinny sampler which has 105 rows. It's how I like to sample a stripe blanket so that I know for sure the colours are going to balance and play nice with each other.

It's safe to say that these colours together are powerful - this is going to be a power-stripe! It's rich and vibrant and joyful, if a little bit on the boisterous side. Gosh, I do love it.

I started out on my next blanket journey as soon as I'd finished my sampler, I couldn't wait to get going.

I'm using the same v-stitch as I used for the Starbright squares and the border - it's a simple v-stitch which is compact and doesn't have chain spaces, so it makes a nice dense crochet fabric. I'm working two rows of colour for each stripe so it's not quite so zig-zaggy, but half the number of ends to darn in. I just couldn't face one-row stripes.

This pattern is very, very, very easy, so there won't be a photo tutorial for it, just the written pattern. Of course you don't have to use the v-stitch if you don't want to. I have twelve other stripe patterns to choose from, so if stripes are calling to you, then choose whichever pattern pleases you the most.

Click on the following link for the V-stitch pattern >>

V-STITCH PATTERN

The graphic below shows the 105 stripes I made in my sampler, it really is going to make a glorious blanket. 

Now depending on which stripe pattern you choose, each pattern will have a different number of stripes (because the height of each stripe pattern varies). I'm going to aim for 99 stripes for my v-stitch to make my blanket 175cm long. You can choose to make as many stripes as you have yarn for, in whichever pattern tickles your fancy.

Here is a run down of my stripe patterns, and the suggested number of stripes to make a 6ft length.

♥ Starbright v-stitch :: 99 stripes

♥ Neat Wave :: 115 stripes (as used in the Moorland Blanket)

♥ Woodland Ripple :: 105 stripes 

♥ Seashell Stripe :: 100 stripes (as used in the Dune blanket)

♥ Spike Stitch :: 99 stripes (as used in the Dahlia blanket)

♥ Springfrost Stripe :: 95 stripes

♥ Cosy Stripe :: 90 stripes

♥ Granny Stripe :: 90 stripes

♥ Meadow Stripe :: 90 stripes

♥ Hydrangea Stripe :: 88 stripes

♥ Neat Ripple :: 84 stripes

♥ Easy Eyelet Ripple :: 84 stripes (as used in the Harbour blanket)

♥ Trellis Stripe :: 84 stripes (as used in the Sweet Pea blanket)

I hope this pattern/stripe info is helpful - all patterns (including starting chains etc) are in my sidebar in the usual place, I expect you will already be familiar with many of them and will have a favourite.

I made a worksheet for you so that you have the exact colour order that I'm using for my stripes. Click on the following link to download/print.

STARBRIGHT STRIPE WORKSHEET 

There are 105 stripes listed on the worksheet, but obviously depending on which pattern you choose, do remember to stop when your blanket reaches the length that you want!

The other thing I've done is make up a sampler with the Starbright colours ordered into a sequence which loosely follows the colour wheel. I think this repeating stripe would make a fantastic blanket and if you like the look of it, here is the order (from bottom to top) :

1. Aster
2. Turquoise
3. Empire
4. Bottle
5. Kelly Green
6. Apple
7. Gold
8. Magenta
9. Pomegranate
10. Fuchsia Purple
11. Lipstick
12. Lapis
13. French Navy
14. Teal
15. Lobelia

You can see how different the same fifteen colours can look when they are ordered differently. I much prefer the higgeldy-piggeldy energised version on the left, but I can also see the appeal of the calmer, more ordered colourwash version on the right.

If you like the idea of making a colourwash blanket, I created a worksheet for that too. It has 99 stripes, so would be suitable for a shorter stitch pattern like the v-stitch, or the seashell (Dune) or Springfrost stripes would also work well.

STARBRIGHT COLOURWASH WORKSHEET 

Well, I think that's all for now. Thank you so much for reading all about Starbright, I hope you enjoyed the colourful visuals and a little peek into my creative working process.

STARBRIGHT YARN PACK

STARBRIGHT TUTORIAL

V-STITCH PATTERN

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Blogtober 2023 :: Day 2

Blogtober Day 2 :: Monday

I wanted to share these photographs with you, taken just over a week ago towards the end of September.

It was a spontaneous after dinner trip, in response to a very sudden urge to get outdoors and grasp the last hour or so of daylight before night descended. We used to walk round this reservoir a lot when the Little People were much smaller as it's only a few miles from home. It's just the sort of easy destination that will encourage J and the Littles to follow my lead and head out of the house in the evening, purely for the pleasure of experiencing the sky and the light and feeling a little less trapped by the advancing dark hours.

We spent about an hour here, taking photos, listening to the geese calling, throwing pebbles into the still water, bench sitting, chatting and enjoying each others company. The levels of joy I feel when I get to see my Teens enjoying simply being outdoors in nature is wonderful, and I feel it will serve them well as they grow into adults. I give myself a virtual gold star for that bit of consistent parenting over the years.

I took the Starbright blanket with me, literally grabbed it off the sofa on my way out the door. The light wasn't really good enough to take many decent photos of it, but I absolutely LOVE to see a bit of colourful crochet set against a landscape backdrop. I'm so looking forward to sharing the Starbright blanket journey with you tomorrow - it's going to be a brightly coloured affair, you can be absolutely certain of it.

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Blogtober 2023 :: Day 1

Blogtober Day 1 :: Sunday

I think I mentioned last week before I dashed off to Dorset that the start of October would see me opening my Attic window to you every single day. I'm excited to be joining in with Blogtober again - a blog post every day during October. This will be my third year taking part in this rather crazy challenge as I did it in 2020 and again in 2021, missing last year because I was away in Carcassonne during October which put daily blogging just out of reach. I'm genuinely looking forward to it, even though it's not an especially easy thing to do, and I hope you'll be able to join me as I chit chat my way through these early autumn days.

Today's photos are from our morning walk at Bolton Abbey. It's been a warm, grey, and very humid day and there was an eerie low mist hanging above the surface of the river when we arrived to walk. It felt a bit gloomy in the woods to be honest, with very low light levels and everything damp and soggy....but it still felt remarkably good to be out there breathing it in. 

I've been feeling especially tired the past few days after my lengthy travel hours to Dorset and back, but I'm happy to be home again and easing myself into a brand new season. Autumn isn't my favourite, but I do try and embrace the beautiful changes in nature and the cosy vibes at home as the days shorten.

I hope you've had a lovely day whether you've been out and about or cosying up at home - see you again tomorrow...

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Well, Life Happens

Sometimes life happens at top speed and all you can do is hang on for the ride and hope that at some point the pace will slow and become a little more manageable. That's where I'm at in this month of September, and yeah....I'm hanging on in there.

I'm squeeeeezing this blog post into the tiniest of time gaps - digging out a niche so that I can touch base with you before I leave for the train station in ooooo, about 45 minutes. 

It was the autumn equinox on Saturday and to celebrate, I bought myself some sunflowers. Four glorious stems for £4, and yes, they made me very happy indeed.

The crochet bag in the photo above is called the "Island Bag" and is the project I designed to teach on my recent two crochet retreats in Madeira. Such a joyful bag which now carries so many beautiful memories of time, place, and gorgeous people.

I cut some eucalyptus to pop in with my sunflowers, and it still blows my mind to think that I have an actual eucalyptus tree growing in a big pot in my yarden. I haven't killed it, and it's thriving and reaching for the skies, and it's my very own tree. I adore it.

So yes, I was in Madeira for the second time earlier this month, a lush week spent crocheting and jaunting around the island with the loveliest ladies. It was such a treat, the tropical warmth and light really does suit me down to the ground.

I came home last week (yes, only a week ago, I can hardly believe it) and hit the ground running. I finished off the final few rounds of my Starbright blanket border just in time to spend some gruelling hours/days glued to my laptop while I worked on writing out the pattern. It's the part of making crochet blankets that doesn't hold much joy for me, but the end result is always worth it a million times over. It means I get to share my designs with you, and have the privilege of seeing you enjoy making your own blankets. It's worth the pain of a lengthy Word document.

STARBRIGHT - this is the name of my latest creation, and there is a long story to go with this blanket. I don't have time to tattle it out to you just now, but I'm looking forward to sharing it with you next week. It's a delicious colour palette which has helped save my sanity as I've had such a trying few months dealing with my Dad's health.

The past few days I started work on a striped blanket using the same fifteen colours and ohmygosh it is absolutely beautiful. You can see in the above photo I'm working my sampler, but I started on an actual blanket yesterday because, well, I need the therapy quite honestly.

Starbright yarn kits with printed pattern included will be in my shop at Wool Warehouse next week - six more sleeps.....eeeeep! I'm the usual bundle of nerves and excitement. This blanket represents a lot of emotion for me, it's like my heart is laid out there in those squares.

Tuesday 3rd October, 8am I think. I do really love a good all singing, all dancing ta-dah moment.

Off I go again in a very short while, back on the rails for yet another jaunt down to Dorset. My goodness, it's a lot. My Dad's health has deteriorated a lot in the past few months and here I am trying to make the hardest decisions for his wellbeing. Dementia is totally rubbish, in every way.

I'm going for a short trip this time, just a few days to sort out some emergency stuff, so I'll be home at the weekend ready to work on the Starbright tutorial and get everything ready for next Tuesday.

Sorry this is so rushed.....I'll chat to you more next week

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ps it's the first of October on Sunday and I'm going to be here each day to give you a colourful dose of Atticness - Blogtober of course......that's good news I'd say? x

pps I really gotta dash, my train leaves in half an hour and I need to eat something first. Byeeeeee xxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

Summer Speed

Hello! Just popping in very quickly in amongst wrapping a big parcel, making a packed lunch, sorting laundry, dashing out to the shops, and packing for a few days away (and trying to remember to breeeeathe). Life is busy. Sometimes hectic, but mostly just the kind of normal busy that comes at this point in the summer. Haircuts and new school shoes, outings and a birthday and mini holidays. Squeezing the most out of the last week of the summer holidays, making memories, and prioritising family time. The latter isn't easy, both J and I have been very busy with work lately - lots of problem solving for him and obsessive crochet for me. My new blanket is coming rapidly towards the finishing line, although I'll be glad of a few days rest now because my hands are very sore (arthritis in my joints).

I was away for a week down in Dorset earlier in the month and that wasn't easy, but still, I did try to make the most of my time close to the sea. Things with my Dad continue to be highly emotional and more than a little stressful, so much happening and I don't feel prepared for any of it. 

I desperately want to squirrel myself away somewhere peaceful and quiet to write here more, to share, to connect with you all again, you maybe don't know it, but you are my therapy, and I've really missed being here. I crave solitude and quiet thinking time, but there just isn't the opportunity. Solitude is a scarce commodity at this time in my life.

Anyhow - so sorry this is rushed, I am in a rush. I've got an hour to get packed and ready and I'm still in my pyjamas haha!

We're off to the seaside today, so life is good. I'll be back to share with you as soon as I can carve out a niche of time

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Little Zippy Bags :: Ta-dah!

Aren't zippers amazing little things when you actually stop and think about it? While I've been making these bags I've been zipping the cute little coloured zips back and forth and really appreciating their cleverness and usefulness. I haven't made many things with zips really, because sewing them into fabric (or crochet) always seems to be an overly complicated affair and just a step too far. That is why, when I hit on the idea of using a ready-made zippered bag, it seemed like such a GrEaT idea! Crocheting around the bag so that the zip is already inserted AND you have a ready made canvas liner.....well my goodness, that just sounds like loads of crochet fun waiting to happen without any of the sewing stress.

I think I mentioned before, I bought a pack of these small canvas pouches a few months ago. So when I had the idea to crochet around them, I already had everything I needed to jump in and try it out while the inspiration was hot and my Creative Mind wanted to explode with excitement.

The bags measure 21 x 12 cm (pencil case or make-up bag size) and I adore the different coloured zippers. I got them on Amazon - there are loads of different listings for them, but these ones are similar ((HERE)).

I decided to use Ricorumi DK and I love this cotton yarn for decorative projects. It comes in dinky little 25g balls, so you can really have a good load of colour play going on for an affordable amount of money.

My method of attaching the crochet to the bag starts with this ↑↑ a line of  chain stitches worked directly into the zipper with a sharp Chenille needle. It's a neat idea because the chains are spaced to simulate a crochet foundation chain all around the zipper, and can be crocheted into very easily....

......do you see? That's a round of double crochet worked into the stitched chain to form the beginnings of a stripe-fest.

I worked rounds of double crochet in back loops only to give a lovely surface texture.

The rounds are worked upwards, but also inside out.....eventually you will flip the crochet back down.....

....so that the right side is showing and the stripes completely cover up the canvas from the top down.

Wheeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

It's LOADS of fun playing with colours, and I love the slightly crazy clash of it all.

There are 26 little rounds in total, and because this is only a small thing and not a giant blanket, they whizz off your hook in no time. In my tutorial I teach you how to create an invisible join at the end of each round so that the whole thing is seamless, it really is neat.

Me being me, I couldn't resist a little added floral decoration....

....so I made a Polyanthus flower, a baby flower with a little French knot centre and a couple of leaves.

Oh, and as a little bougie extra, I also added a slender tassel to the zip.

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

Oh, my heart fell hard for this little stripy bag!

The one pictured behind with the turquoise zipper followed immediately after the first one, I was deep into obsessional territory by this point. I started the second one in exactly the same way, but the stripes are made with half trebles worked into the spaces between stitches which give a wider stripe but keep the dense kind of look.

On Monday I decided to try out this pattern with my extensive stash of Stylecraft Special DK, just to see how it compared to the cotton. These small balls are all leftovers from making my blankets and they make a wonderful working colour palette for stash-busting projects.

I used some fresh floral shades of SSDK and really love how it turned out.

I added a layered flower for a bit of extra something-something (I used my Triple Layer flower pattern, but only made two layers instead of three). Actually I think the stripes on their own are enough, but I just can't seem to stop myself with the flower thing.

The inside of these canvas pouches are little bit primitive because the edges of the zips aren't concealed inside, and the overlocked seams of the canvas are also visible. But I don't really think it matters too much, and they are certainly practical little  bags for storing your crochet hooks and bits and bobs, or for holding small things. I'm currently using one to keep tissues, paracetamol and a lip balm in my everyday rucksack which I use in place of a handbag (It's THIS one, in case you wanted to picture it)

Comparing these two finished bags (SSDK acrylic yarn on the top, and Ricorumi cotton yarn on the bottom), I have to say I prefer the look and feel of the cotton. I think the texture is very pleasing and I think it would be more hard wearing too. But as so many of you have probably got leftovers of Stylecraft Special tucked away, then honestly there is no need to purchase cotton - use the stash you have! Each stripe of SSDK only uses ONE GRAM of yarn, so less than 30g for the whole bag.

Do you feel inspired? Would you like to give this a try? Be warned....they are very addictive little things, and real time stealers too. You won't be able to step away once you get whizzing along on those stripes!

As promised, I've made a  full photo tutorial to show you step by step how to go about this project. It includes links to the canvas bags and other bits you'll need, I hope I've managed to explain myself OK.

The tutorial is free to use, and you can find it in the left hand sidebar list as usual. The following link will take you there >>

♥ ZIPPY BAG TUTORAL ♥

Well that's all from me for now - I'd love to hear what you think of this project and I hope if you give it a go that you enjoy the creative process. Happy hooking!

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♥ ZIPPY BAG TUTORAL ♥

 

 

Hooky Retreat Update

I'm just back from spending a week by the sea in Northumberland, it was just the tonic I needed and I've come back feeling beautifully rested and refreshed. While I was away, I had an update from the lovely folks at Stitchtopia to tell me that my much-asked-for UK crochet retreat was online and ready for booking.

I had made a promise to myself that I would announce all my 2024 retreats here on my blog before putting the links out on social media, to give you my lovely blog readers first chance to book if you wish to.

My first UK retreat will be in April 2024 and will be held at a beautiful country house hotel in West Yorkshire. The location has been chosen to include a visit to my friends at the Stylecraft Mill which I'm really happy about, it's a wonderfully inspirational place to visit for sure.

So the retreat will run as a 3-night long weekend, arriving Friday afternoon, spending Saturday and Sunday crocheting with me, then a visit to Stylecraft on Monday morning before departing at lunch time.

I haven't designed the project yet, but we're going to be making a floral wreath which will include some new patterns. The wreath kit (yarn and a wreath base) will be included - I'll be putting together a bespoke colour palette for us to work with which is always good fun.

If you are interested in coming to Yorkshire to crochet in a beautiful location, all the details are online >>

https://www.arenatravel.com/holiday/west-yorkshire-crochet-retreat

>>EDIT<<  1st August - all places got booked up super quickly and the April retreat is now SOLD OUT. If you would like to be added to the waiting list, please telephone Arena Travel on 01473 357 036 . We are working to secure a couple more dates with the hotel and Stylecraft so there should be more spaces opening up for additional retreats. ((thank you)) xx

While I'm here chatting, I want to let you know that this week I'll be working on the tutorial for the crochet zippy pouch which I started making before I went on holiday. I can't wait to share it with you, it's just a bit of fun really, and I think always lovely for me to gift you these free patterns and ideas so that hopefully you'll feel inspired to create something joyful. It's my mission in life, to inspire creativity - I absolutely live for it!

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Away and Back

Hello, hello, hello, I'm baaaaack!!! Maybe you didn't even know I'd been away, but I did indeed journey far away from the Attic (1526 miles to be precise) and now I'm home again trying to navigate myself gently back into normal life. Did I tell you I was going to Madeira? I think I might have mentioned it in passing - I was teaching a crochet retreat with Stitchtopia and it was absolutely, utterly and completely wonderful. Oh, I LOVED my week in Madeira, it's such a lush and beautiful island with a sub tropical climate and the sunny warmth did me a lot of good. The above scene was part of the expansive vista out of my floor to ceiling bedroom window, and I snapped that photo on my first morning....imagine lying in bed and waking up to that view, it was honestly the loveliest thing. 

Me being me, I took a ridiculous number of photographs during my week flouncing around that beautiful island. I just had a look and did a quick count - 369 images, seriously, I need to get a grip. I'll try and get them into some sort of order and work out the best way to share my Madeira experience with you. I have so much I want you to see!

Three and a half days out of the week were workshop days, and I was teaching a crochet project to a group of fifteen lovely ladies. I created a bespoke yarn kit and designed something brand new, but I'm going to wait and show it to you a bit later in the year. The reason being, I have a second group of ladies coming to Madeira with me in September and I don't want to spoil the surprise for them. I feel it's OK to show you some of the touristy outdoor things we did, but I do want to keep the crochet element under wraps for now. Suffice to say, it all went really well and the feedback I received from the ladies was glowing so I feel like I did a pretty good job. I was reminded what a privilege it is to be able pass on knowledge and inspiration, it's truly my passion to inspire creativity and share my love of colour. How lucky I am.

I arrived back home last Thursday night after a long travel stint - a coach, a plane and three trains which was roughly twelve hours on the move. Oh, I was missed it seems! My Little People were so happy to have me back and I got the biggest hugs when I stumbled in through the door. The kitty was waiting for me too, and J of course, yes, I think he was VeRy pleased to have me back and be relieved of domestic duties. He does a terrific job when I'm away, combining his high tech professional  world with additional cooking, shopping, laundry and the general parenting stuff required for a school age child. I'm very grateful I have to say.

I found I was quite tired for a few days after all that excitement and travelling, so I spent my weekend pottering around quietly, seeking out pockets of stillness and calm. Apparently it rained a lot during the week I was away and my sweet peas seemed to suddenly come alive. I'm only picking small handfuls, but they are so precious and fragrant. 

I like to put them in a little jug or small glass bottle and then I can move them around the room with me so that I catch the scent wherever I happen to be sitting. A divine summer pleasure.

I enjoyed reconnecting with my little patch of home turf at the weekend, even though it's been pretty grey and wet for a lot of it. We strolled around town, visited the market, walked along the canal, through the park and I took time to appreciate the visuals of my daily life. Sunflowers in painted pots on top of a narrowboat roof - I do live in a really pretty place.

I snapped the above visual for my Instagram stories on Sunday morning as I was waiting for the barista to froth up my cappuccino. I absolutely love going out for coffee, did you know that about me already (??!! kidding, of course you knew, I tell you often enough). A Sunday morning coffee always feels just that extra bit special to me, it's a slower pace with more time to sit and sip and chat with the fam (J and Little B with me on this occasion). We shared some cinnamon swirl pastries and it felt indulgent and pleasurable and just down right lovely.

I'm taking time to make nourishing food for myself this week after an awful lot of indulgence while I was away. Hotel food, what can I say? It was abundant, tempting, full of variety and extremely hard to be moderate really. I ate and drank a lot more than I'm used to and now I'm trying to regain some sort of balance - I'm enjoying it actually, and enjoying cooking again too after the luxury of not having to do it for a week.

Yesterday was damp and humid and as J and I both have Mondays free from work, we drove to Bolton Abbey to walk along the river.

The riverbanks are a wild, tangled mass of tall summer grasses and wild flowers at the moment and it's such a joy to see. There were masses of these glorious purply-blue flowers (Meadow Cranesbill) which are so pretty - that violet colour is stunning.

On Sunday afternoon something very rare occurred. VERY rare indeed. Shall I tell you? Well, I was here in the house pottering about and suddenly realised that the house was unusually quiet and for the first time in a very long while I was all alone. The big two kiddos were away at a muddy music festival, and J had taken Little B to go and play pool, so it was just me and the kitty in a silent house.

Peace. Solitude. Space.

I was lost for a while, wandered up and down the stairs a few times, folded a pile of laundry, ate a banana, talked to the kitty and then suddenly out of nowhere I was hit with an overwhelming desire to create. I dug into the Cupboard of Doom, pulled out my stash of Ricorumi cottons, and pulled together a spontaneous bright summer colour palette. I had this idea I wanted to try out, something that I'd been thinking about for a while, and a quiet Sunday afternoon seemed like the perfect time....

....can you see what I'm up to? I've had this stack of plain canvas zipper pouches for a while, I bought them a few months ago with the idea to crochet little flowers and things to appliqué onto the front. But somewhere along the line I changed my mind and thought about trying to cover all of the canvas with crochet stripes. I had a play, and with some trial and error I eventually worked out a way to crochet into the zipper at the top, then build my stripes downwards. 

Oh. My. Goodness. Such fun!! Such colourful, stripy, happy, creative hooky fun! It's been a long, long time since I felt this overwhelming urge to design and create just for the joy of it, and I can't tell you how good it feels to have my spark back.

This is as far as I got on Sunday, but today is Tuesday and I've since finished the first pouch and started making a second one so that I could photograph the process for a tutorial. I'm excited about this crazy little project, and I'm excited that I'm excited, if you see what I mean. For a lot of this year I've felt like my spark might never return which had me all kinds of worried.

Anyhow.....I've got a busy few days ahead because we're off on a little holiday on Friday and I want to try and write about Madeira before I go while it's still fresh in my mind. But I'll  see if I can manage to create a photo tutorial for this crochet zipper pouch idea - if I can't make it happen this week, then definitely when I come home from my jolly.

Well I think that's about all my news for now, thanks as always for calling in for a catch up. Life's good, isn't it?

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Joyful June

We are almost at the end of this early summer month and hand on heart it has been an utter dream. The weather - ohhhh - the WeAtHer!!!! It has been perfectly perfect, really hot and sunny and light and bright. And then after a good few weeks of parched dryness we had some terrific summer storms with giant claps of thunder which shook the whole house, and I mean literally, the house ((shook)). It was quite scary at the time, possibly the loudest thunder I have ever heard in my entire life. We've also had some wild downpours, bringing us the most lush smell of summer rain on dry ground. I've loved it, the heat and the sun and the rain and the smell of it all, it has made me so bloomin' happy.

We've still been trying to get out and walk every morning at 7am, but these past few weeks it's been harder than usual for us to wake up in time. I think it's because J and I both suffer from hayfever and the pollen has been very high in this hot, humid weather. The first weeks of hayfever season do kind of knock the wind from your sails and we've both felt unusually tired even though we've been sleeping very well.

But on the mornings when we are up and out, it is so, so beautiful in the woodland in June, the greenery is in full tilt and the slant of sunshine through the leafy trees makes my heart sing.  

These long, hot golden days have drawn me out in the evenings too, even though honestly I've had so little energy to spare. Little Lady often pulls me from my slump on the sofa and I can't resist when she is so keen to have my company.

I mean, eight o'clock in the evening and it looks like this ↑↑ - I would give anything to experience this in midwinter! So outside I go, making the most of these deliciously long, bright summer evenings.

Summer views out over the town as we stroll home from the woodland, gosh, I do feel so lucky to have all this on my doorstep.

It's almost been too hot to walk through much of June (and by that I mean the sort of walking that eats up the miles), but J and I have done a little bit. Mostly local ambles across the fields and down quiet lanes, time to stretch out our muscles and chatter together about this and that. 

The kitty has been flopped out all over the place, sometimes lolling over the furniture but often times she's taken to hiding away under my bed which I guess must be a cool spot for her. Did I mention it's been hot??? ;)

Our routines continue to flow through these early summer weeks - Saturday morning trips to the market where the fruit and veg is abundantly ripe and lush. I ate a lot of asparagus this month.

The strawberries are especially good at the moment and we are eating our way through punnets and punnets of them each week. I'm not big into ice cream, but last week I had a craving for it and bought a small tub of plain vanilla, mainly to have with strawberries. Oooo, it was stupidly good, I had kind of forgotten the deliciousness of good vanilla ice cream with very ripe strawberries.

On Friday mornings, I like to try and walk to the bakery if I have time before 8am. It's not very far to walk, less then ten minutes each way, and I can walk part of it along the canal. The bakery is just over this wooden bridge and across the road to the right there.

I like to treat the Little People (who are no longer little) on a Friday, because I think to myself that this is the kind of mothering that might stick in their minds when they are grown. When I was growing up, we used to have croissants once a year at Christmas, and if my Mum had gotten up early to go to the bakery to fetch me fresh pastries for breakfast on an average Friday, I would have been absolutely beside myself with the luxury of it. I tell this tale to my Little People of course, and in return I do receive genuine thanks and gratitude which I believe are the foundations for true happiness.

Spending lots of time outside in our modest little yarden, and enjoying the simple pleasure of unpegging and folding warm, fragrant, sun dried laundry. The joy of it never gets old.

We had our town's annual charity Gala, the usual  procession of decorated floats, walking entertainers and marching bands passing the very end of our street as they made their way to the park. It's such an old fashioned tradition and a bit faded nowadays I suppose, but always touches some deep rooted memories I have of experiencing many carnival processions as a child. Here in Atticland, the tradition of a charity Gala is positively ancient, with the very first one being held in 1901. As well as the entertainments, there is always a travelling fairground set up in the park, and at precisely 10pm on Saturday night there is a free firework display. I'm a sucker for fireworks and absolutely love the dramatics of an aerial display, it really was excellent this year.

A few weeks ago my good friend Christine came to visit from Winwick for the day which is always a lovely thing. As the weather was far too warm to be doing yarny things inside a café, we opted for a walk at Bolton Abbey instead.

Eeeep, it was hot! With hindsight it was maybe far too hot for a five mile walk, but as much of it was through shady woodland we thought it would be OK. It was a moderately sweaty affair, and I was really glad when the bridge came into sight and I knew that a a sit down and some much needed refreshment was in my near future.

I opted for old fashioned Victorian lemonade, and at the last minute I decided that I really, absolutely needed to top up my energy levels and picked out a generous slice of Victoria sponge. My very Victorian refreshment combo was exceptionally good I have to say.

Don't worry though, I have still been drinking coffee right through the recent summer heatwave. Spending Friday mornings in the company of good yarny friends continues to be a true highlight of my weeks and I love my "Coopers" times so much. The past few Fridays I've been knitting instead of crocheting because none of my current crochet projects are particularly portable or sociable.

I cast on these "Frost" socks at the beginning of March, so I was keen to get them finished up and off my needles.

I'm happy to report that a) they are indeed finished and off my needles, and b) they fit like a dream and feel amazing on my feet. Obviously June hasn't in any way been sock weather and my toes have been permanently living an airy, sock-free life. But my newly completed socks did get a wash, a blocking session, and then a try-on which is the law when you finish knitting a pair of handmade socks. If anyone is remotely interested, the yarn is an old, hard-to-find Regia yarn, the "frost" colourway designed by Kaffe Fassett. I purchased from a lovely little online company called KnitUK. The sock pattern I always use is the beginner-friendly Basic 4ply Sock by Christine at Winwick Mum.

Hmmm.....what else to tell you about the joys of June? Flowers are featuring in my daily life and I am thrilled by them as always. The climbing rose is blooming in my front garden ....

....and in the yarden the first sweet peas have flowered. I was late planting the plantlets so they are still quite small and straggly, but they are so good at popping out floral abundance even when the plants themselves look less than stellar.

The first flowers had very short stems and in all honesty I felt very guilty snipping them because it seemed a bit cruel to strip the plants. But I know from experience that the more you cut them, the stronger the plants will grow and more flowers will be sure to follow. Plus there is the obvious bonus of this.............

..........the most uplifting, joy-inducing jug of flowers on my table, making me ever so ridiculously happy. Love love love love love times a gazillion. There is nothing nicer than a small homegrown posy in a jug - well maybe a large homegrown posy might be nicer, but I was still delighted with the humble nature of this small arrangement. Absolute Joy in a Jug.

Summer Solstice came last week and it was the usual emotional affair for me. I find this particular day in the year so full of feels - gratitude, joy and relief for the abundance of daylight, but also the rather sinking realisation that days will now get shorter. As my darling husband delighted in telling me, and I quote - "It's all down hill from here. Soon be Christmas". Well bloody hell, what can you say to that?!!

Anyhow, I ignored his harsh, winter-loving words and went forth into the evening to marvel at the very lightness and beauty of it, and to drink in the knowledge that at this time of year the sun sets at a quarter to ten in the North of England. Wowsers, it's absolutely lovely out there in June.

I had Little B with me on this Solstice jaunt - 9.42pm in the above photo as we were strolling home from the meadow together. We'd been on a little walk around the fields to see if there were any elderflowers still blooming because it's been a very early, short season for these precious flowers this year and I feared I might have missed them.

I had no need to worry because we found a whole hedgerow of trees still in flower, so we went together the very next day to gather some in.

So pretty! 

We managed to snip enough to make 3 litres of cordial (recipe in this post, scroll down to find), so all was fragrant and floral and zesty in my kitchen for a while last week. We're all really enjoying this delicious summery drink and I have lots of small bottles of it stashed in the freezer.

I'm well aware that I've had very little to share with you on the creative front this year, and I feel weirdly sad about it, like I'm letting you all down a bit. As you know, my annual crochet-along finished at the end of February and ever since then I've been in a real dither with my creative endeavours. 

However - stuff has been happening in the background, in slow, stuttering stops and starts. In April I created a colour palette for a new blanket which is a square design - I think I might have shown you a few little bits of it here and there. It's been a challenge to find the necessary focus and concentration to tackle this blanket, but I have a September deadline and I hope to be able to show you some progress once I've actually done a bit more work on it. Right now it's just messy piles of part-made squares which don't really make much sense!

Overlapping that, I had to then create another colour palette ready for my next annual CAL, as it's necessary for me to work five months in advance when choosing my colours with Stylecraft. So I was working hard on that last week, and I'm happy to say that as I already had the spark of inspiration in my mind, the stitch pattern and colour palette came together like a dream. Following on from the beautifully muted Springfrost colours, this next one is rich and colourful and I am so so excited about what I've chosen. 

And finally, this week has been all about preparing for my upcoming crochet retreat to Madeira (I fly out next Thursday), and yet again I'm so sorry that I can't show you what I've been working on. All this invisible behind-the-scenes stuff is very boring, isn't it?!

Do you like the sky in the above photo? It was a-maz-ing to stand underneath it, I felt a bit like I was going to fall into it, sort of like a reverse kind of vertigo. 

Well.....this has turned into an epic blog post, over two thousand words of ramble about the month of June. I am never short of things to yak on about it seems. I wonder how you've been, and hope that there have been plenty of joyful moments for you during this lovely mid-year month. Drop me a line or two and tell me what's been making you happy of late, I do really enjoy reading all about life at your end.

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