Attic24

Autumn Snaps :: October 2022

Thank you for all the kind words you sent my way after my blog post yesterday, it's been something special to receive so much feel-good from you all and for me to digest your wise words and take your advice. I've been thinking a lot about my blog today, and remembering how much I love to create and share my stories here in this space - blogging for my own pleasure has always been my priority since day one and that hasn't changed over the years. Having said that, I've learnt that I do still need to give myself permission to take a break when I need it, and to place value on time spent away from my laptop. I need to remind myself that it's not a failure if I miss some weeks here and there, especially not given the length of time I've consistently shown up to open my Attic window - over fourteen years now, one hundred and seventy seven months and counting. I'm really proud of still being here, writing about my life as I moved out of my thirties, through a whole decade of my forties, and now into my fifties.....oooo.....I'm feeling a smidge emotional, I had better get a grip and start chatting about leaves!

Autumn leaves.....aren't they just the best little gifts from nature? Right now the trees are bare and the leafage is just a memory, so it's been lovely to dig back into my photos from two months ago and find some lovely seasonal colour to share with you.

October was a month for visiting Bolton Abbey, I think I went at least three times maybe more. I love to spend time in the woodland when the seasons are changing - the first rush of bright green leaves in May, and then the beauty of the Autumn colour shift in October.

In October I had to admit that my toes were cold and put my sandals to sleep for a while. It's no hardship really, because >>hello<< cosy, stripy handknit socks and my beloved Fly London boots. Believe me, it's a heavenly combination and I can highly recommend both. If you need to learn about knitting socks, then Winwick Mum will hold your hand with her free beginner tutorials. And if you are in the market for some uber-comfy leather boots to house your stripy socked feet, then I can point you in the direction of my Fly London chelsea boots ((here)). I've got two pairs, the purple pictured above (they are a lovely deep dark reddish colour in real life) and the green ones, and this is their fifth winter. I love love love them.

Speaking of hand knit socks, in October I made a real effort to finish off the pair that I cast on in August.

They came off my needles and onto my feet after I got back from France and was feeling the chill, and I'm so happy with them. The yarn is from the Regia Design Line range by Kaffe Fassett and the colourway is called "Moor". It's quite hard to find this range of sock yarn now so you need to hunt around in your local yarn shops or online. I found mine at a small indie online store called KnitUK which is fabulous - the yarn came beautifully packaged with real care and attention. You can find it ((here)). I've just actually ordered the "frost" colourway as it reminds me of my Springfrost blanket. I admit I do get a bit of a buzz out of matching my socks to my blankets, all those colourful stripes are perfect eye candy I have to say.

I've grown to love Autumn in recent years and the colours in nature are a big part of the enjoyment for me.

It's a habit now for me to spend as much time as possible outside throughout the year and I walk a fair bit in the course of an ordinary day. I find it extremely good for my mind, and I think that walking might be even more beneficial for my mental health than for my physical health (although clocking up 15,000 steps a day certainly does some good for the old bod).

I love that there is always beauty to be found, and I am very tuned in to finding it.

My photos are certainly full of all sorts of random things that have caught my eye (most of which I share with you), so I hope you enjoy seeing things through my goggles.

Another photo from Bolton Abbey...I've just remembered that one of the reasons I took so many visits in October was to do with friends visiting or local friends wanting to walk there with me, and for us to see the moon.

Yes, the moon......

......ta-dah!! This amazing installation was hanging inside Bolton Abbey priory church for a few weeks in October and it was wonderful to be able to see it a few times while it was there. It measures seven metres in diameter and features detailed NASA imagery of the lunar surface. It's amazing to think that each centimetre of the sculpture represents 5km of the moon’s surface....it really is a bit awesome.

The "Museum of the Moon" is a travelling exhibition which moves around the world so maybe you've already seen it, or perhaps it will be dangling in a place near you next year. You can read more about it ((here)).

During October I was mainly fixating on my Springfrost blanket and working on sampling and preparation for the crochet-along kit to launch in November. I have to say that in the run up to the reveal of a new blanket it really does take over so that it's hard to think about very much else.

But looking at my photos I was reminded that I also had this round cushion on the go too, and it often came to Coopers with me on a Friday morning. I'm not sure if I've shown it to you before - I started it when I was in France and it's made using the leftovers from the Fireside blanket (12 shades of Stylecraft Highland Heathers). I've almost finished it, but the cushion pad I bought is a bit larger than I thought (I bought 18 inches diameter instead of 16 inches by mistake) so I still need to work some extra rounds for it to fit. 

October was the start of the leaves beginning to fall, and they continued to gently tumble right through November. It's kind of a bitter sweet time in some ways, the true end of summer with the constant visual reminder that the year is falling away.

We had our half term week towards the end of October and it was a gentle week of rest and relaxation for us here. We did manage a couple of day trips which were soooo good, but I'm going to share those in another post because really I took way too many photos to shoe-horn them into this one. Pumpkin season came and took over for a while, I don't think I've ever seen so many huge piles of them in the shops, or such a variety to choose from.

With my own Little People growing up, the rituals of celebrating Hallowe'en are slowly slip sliding away. Little B was only momentarily interested in the pumpkin carving and although his ears perked up at the mention of sweeties, he didn't really want to be involved this year. I carved my pumpkin quietly in the afternoon and enjoyed the gentle creativity....

....and in the dark of the evening we did have a large number of Littles calling by for treats. My pumpkin was much admired which gave me a ridiculous amount of pleasure, so I do think it's still a lovely thing to do to round out the end of October.

Well, I think that's about all for now, I hope you've enjoyed my rambles. I'll take a look at November next and see if there's anything of interest to show you - ooh, I did take a few days away to the seaside in November, so maybe I'll share some of that with you. A little bit of salty sea air is always good for the soul. 

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The Here and Now

Hellloooo......hello, hello!! I thought it was high time I re-opened my window to welcome you back into the Attic, thanks as always for taking the time to visit. It's been a few weeks of my sleep being off kilter and my chatty voice refusing to come forth, so I've needed to withdraw a little and patiently wait it out. I've also just come back from a week away, as in properly AWay-away, a fully fledged holiday where I disconnected from life online and spent some wonderful time with Little Lady just the two of us. I'll tell you more about that another time as my writing voice is still a bit croaky. It's sometimes harder than you might think to come back to blogging after a break, so for now I'm keeping it simple and sharing some simple photos from the here and now. 

J and I ventured out into the freeeeezing cold for our usual walk at seven o'clock this morning. There was a stunning full moon shining bright as we set off, the last full moon of the year. I still really love being out and about at this time of the day while the town is still quiet and sleepy, and of course in winter there is the added bonus of seeing the sun rise which always feels very special.

Later on in the morning I needed to call at the supermarket and decided to walk down through the park instead of taking the road.

When I mentioned it was cold I really wasn't kidding, it was minus three degrees in these photos taken mid morning. 

 But look how beautiful it all is, ooooo, these bright, sunshiny, cold, frosty days in December make me so happy!

The canal was frozen for the first time this season, and I suspect that it's going to stay icy for a little while yet. Even though I am a summer loving soul, I do really appreciate it when the weather does the exact right thing for the month we are in (I call it "seasonal correctness"). Today was exactly that, a day that felt truly Decemberish and the simplicity of it made me really happy.

I came home from the supermarket with the food that we needed, plus one or two extra items that wriggled into my basket by accident. A wooden box of leafy clementines and a beautiful bouquet of flowers - the latter was an absolute bargain and therefore totally irresistible. Would you believe me if I told you this bunch was originally priced at £18? Seriously, I kid you not. I rescued it from the reduced bucket and paid the bargainous sum of £2.70. To be fair they were a bit on the wilty side when I bought them, but with a fresh drink of water they have perked right up so I feel pretty delighted to have them on my table.

Being rather disconnected from online these past few weeks, I've inevitably fallen behind with a bit of admin. I spent the afternoon sat at the table drinking hot water with lemon and honey and getting caught up with emails, accounts and organising my photos. I hate leaving my photos swilling about in the online cloud, and feel much happier once I've downloaded them and organised them into folders on my laptop. It's usually something I do every couple of days, so I'm glad to have finally caught up with the last month. 

The kitty has been glued to me the past few days since I came back from holiday, she really does seem to miss me when I'm away. Every time I sit down, she is right there attempting to sit on top of me and pin me to the furniture. 

Ahhhh, do you know what, it's so good to be back here chatting with you again, I'm enjoying stringing my words together and sharing snippets from my day, the things that have made me happy. I was looking at my photos earlier as I was organising them and realised my blogging diary has so many gaps through October and November - sigh - I try hard not to feel bad about it, but I do sometimes feel like I'm failing when my blogging becomes erratic. There is then the dilemma whether to try and perform something of a catch up, or to just leave the words and images in the past and carry on marching forward with current stuff. I don't know really - what do you think? 

I'd love to hear from you in the comments - tell me what's what, what's making you happy, whether you'd like to see November bits from me or whether you are all wintry now and racing forward to Christmas? Nothing festive happening here yet aside from some mini mince pies in the house, I really am behind with life it seems. Ah well - I'm doing it my own slow way, and I think I'm OK with that xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

 

 

 

Springfrost Blanket :: Introduction

Good morning!! If by any chance you've come to the Attic looking for the new Springfrost yarn pack, click on the following link to go straight there :

♥ SPRINGFROST YARN PACK ♥

I always really look forward to these posts where I introduce you to a new blanket because it means I can finally share what's been taking up so much space in my head of late. It's a huge relief for me actually as I'm a very open person when it comes to creativity and I find it really, really hard keeping things under wraps. So ((yay)) for today, when I can spill the creative beans!

Most of you probably already know about my annual crochet-along (CAL) which takes place at the start of January every year - this will be my ninth CAL blanket. Last year I wrote a blog post about all my crochet along blankets, so if you'd like to see what previous years have looked like, that post is ((here)). If you are new to the Attic and are wondering what on earth I'm going on about, I'll give more specific details about how the CAL works at the end of this post.

The idea for this colour palette started to form back in March when I was working on my Winter Garland. Do you remember it? The garland was a collection of crochet flowers and leaves in soft, muted winter shades with a touch of spring warmth and I fell head over heels in love with the colours.

As you know, I'm hugely inspired by nature and the seasons, and although I'm a summer-loving soul I can always find the beauty in every season and every type of weather (well, mostly. Drizzle and low cloud is a challenge). 

I actually love the winter months when temperatures fall below zero and we have a heavy frost, it can be incredibly beautiful and inspiring.

Here in Atticland our winters are very long. Take the above photo for example - May this year and even though the spring flowers were blooming we were still getting hard winter frosts. It remained soooooo cold with nights falling below zero and it felt like Spring never really had much of a chance to get going this year. It was very pretty out there, but brrrrrrrr, not really what you would expect spring to feel like.

Because our spring arrives very late, the arrival of the first early flowers is a real cause for celebration. Snowdrops are the first, bravely showing up in February when the weather is still doing crazy winter things. 

Then we look forward to the very early blossom. You can see in the above photo that sometimes these sweet little flowers have to brave a bit of snow and ice, but they don't seem to mind.

Early spring blossom is just the loveliest thing, so delicate and uplifting, it never fails to make me happy.

The colours of the land and sky at this time of year are amazingly  beautiful. The freezing cold weather covers the grass in sparkly frost and the morning sun glows soft and golden.

The early morning skies are often tinged with pink, and I really enjoy getting outside to walk and breathe it all in.

I hope from my photographs that you can get a feeling for how this colour palette came together in my mind. I began to imagine pale pinks, soft blues and frosty greens, with an undertone of cool white and silvery grey. A blend of winter and spring when the weather is still oh-so-cold but nature is gifting us the first flowers of the changing season. It's a quietly joyful colour palette, celebrating the first signs of spring after a long, cold winter.

As with all my colour palettes, I do a huge amount of faffing and deliberation when putting together a collection of colours which will eventually become a blanket. It's a lengthy design process for me, but it's one of my most favourite things to do. Quite simply, I get a massive amount of joy from creating with colour, oooodles of happiness!

The Springfrost colour palette is obviously much paler than my usual choices (it couldn't be more different from last year's Harbour palette) but I love the sweet gentleness of it. You might also be amused to know that this is the very first time I've ever used white in a blanket, and I'm mostly over the internal struggle of it (! if you know, you know !)

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

Top row :

♥ Lincoln ♥  Duck Egg ♥  White ♥  A Hint of Silver ♥  Mushroom ♥

Middle row :

♥ Pistachio ♥ Spearmint ♥ Blue Marl* ♥ Parma Violet ♥ Powder Pink ♥

Bottom row :

♥ Meadow ♥ Cloud Blue ♥  Baby Blue* ♥ Wisteria ♥ Pale Rose ♥

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

♥ SPRINGFROST YARN PACK ♥

* a little note about two of the colours I've chosen - on the left is Baby Blue, and on the right is Blue Marl. You might not be familiar with these shades as they are from the Stylecraft "Special for Babies" range. This yarn is compatible with the usual Special DK and crochets up in exactly the same way....and for this particular colour palette, the pale wintry shades are absolute perfection.

During the course of the past four months or so, I've been working on stitch pattern ideas for the Springfrost blanket. Endless samples have flown off my hook, ideas worked and re-worked, tweaked, frogged, modified and abandoned. When I sample stitch ideas, I don't look in books or at patterns that already exist (well very rarely) - my method is to sit with my hook and "doodle" with the yarn to see what comes up. Sometimes I might have an idea of something already in my head, other times I start with a basic stitch that I already know and attempt to grow it into something new. It's a fun process, a bit frustrating perhaps, but with my years of design experience I know that if I just keep going, eventually something will bloom and feel just right.

I deliberately keep my patterns simple because one of my true passions in life is to inspire crochet beginners to embark on a blanket journey. I use the most basic of stitches, put together in a way that creates something interesting but also very easy to learn and create. For those who are experienced hooksters, my stripe patterns gift you with a whole load of mindful therapy - you're welcome! Personally, I love love love to get lost in a stitch pattern, to allow my mind to quiet while my hands work familiar, repetitive, rhythmic stitches. Absolute bliss.

The Springfrost stripe is a very simple two row repeat which is easy to learn (prefect for beginners) and is worked using UK treble crochet. The resulting surface texture is absolutely delicious - just look at those soft, pouffy, bobbly, squishy lines! This blanket feels beautifully cosy and I can tell you that it's almost impossible to resist stroking it.

Of course I'm reaaaally excited for this crochet-a-long, it's such a lovely thing to look forward to in the New Year once the sparkle of Christmas is behind us. Just a reminder that there is no need to sign up for this CAL - it's all very relaxed here in the Attic so all you need to do is gather your yarn together and join in when the free pattern is released on 6th January.

It's just over seven weeks until the CAL starts so there is a bit of a wait for the pattern, but here is a quick round-up of information for you :

♥ The Attic24 SPRINGFROST CAL will will run for 8 weeks in total, beginning on Friday 6th January - that'll be the day when the pattern will be published here on my blog and I'll give you all the information you need to get started. I'll then give weekly updates every Friday throughout January and February 2023 so that we can make the most of weekend hooky time.

♥ There will be a full picture tutorial here on my blog for the new Springfrost stripe pattern. Weeks 1-6 I'll share the colour order for a set of stripes (around 18 each week). Week 7 will be a catch-up week (darn in those ends!), and the final week 8 will be all about the border.

♥ The SPRINGFROST YARN PACK contains 15 x 100g balls of Stylecraft Special DK and is enough to make one blanket/throw. The blanket will measure approx. 120cm x 175cm. You will need two packs if you wish to make a larger/double bed size blanket. I'll give starting chain/pattern guidance for those of you wishing to make larger (or smaller) blankets. This colour palette and stitch pattern would make beautiful baby blankets, so you could definitely make two of those from one yarn pack if you wished.

♥ There is no printed pattern included in this pack, all pattern info will be here on my blog, with updates every Friday throughout January and February 2023. 

♥ All CAL instalments (pattern and colour info) will remain FREE on my blog into the future so that it's there for you to access at a time that suits you. You don't have to squeeze your blanket journey into 8 weeks if you don't want to - take your time and work at your own pace.

♥ Something I often get asked - can you use your own colours, or use one of my other yarn packs and still join in with the CAL? The answer is YES, of course you can! I appreciate that many of you will probably already have yarn that you want to make use of, and I really look forward to seeing your creativity with stash busting. Perhaps you may not care for these soft pastel shades and want to use one of my brighter colour packs instead, and that's absolutely fine too.

All in all, you've probably guessed that this is a relaxed crochet-along project and the main aim is for us all to enjoy crocheting together. It's such a lovely way to start the New Year, and I hope you'll look forward to it as much as I do.

Before I go, I just want to say how grateful I am for my continued partnership with the lovely folks at Wool Warehouse, they really are fabulous. We've been working together since 2014 and they are just the loveliest people, a true family business who genuinely care about their customers. And for full transparency, I do receive a commission for every Attic24 yarn pack sold through Wool Warehouse, so thank you ever so much for your support, I appreciate it more than I can say.

Well I think that's about all for now, and I hope these soft, pretty colours have inspired you to plan a new blanket journey with me.....roll on January!!

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♥ SPRINGFROST YARN PACK ♥

 

 

 

Carcassonne Crochet Retreat :: Part 2

A few weeks ago I posted a blog all about my recent crochet retreat in the south of France (the post is ((here)) if you missed it), and I really enjoyed sharing the project that I designed and taught to the guests during our week away. We stayed in a really lovely four star hotel right in the heart of the old walled city of Carcassonne, and the week was a perfect mix of crochet and leisure time, and of time spent indoors and outdoors. Four days of the week we were based in the hotel retreating with our yarn and hooks, and two days were spent out and about on organised excursions.

Carcassonne is a very, very very old medieval town and there is much to learn about the life and history of a place that spans across many centuries. 

The history is more than a little bit mind blowing - in fact, Carcassonne has about 2,500 years of it and has been occupied in different ages by Romans, Visigoths and Crusaders. It's a walled citadel built high up on a hill, and you can see in the above photo that it's constructed with two sets of stone walls. 

The outer walls and towers are incredibly well preserved to say how ancient the town is, and over the years there has been a fair bit of restoration carried out to keep it in such good condition.

The walls are around 3 kilometres in length with 52 huge towers, and this is about the only thing I can remember from the ninety minute guided tour we had of Carcassonne.  We had a wonderful young French lady tell us all about it and she was extremely good at explaining the intricate layers of history that surround a place this ancient. It's just that my memory doesn't really hold onto that depth of information any more, but if you are at all interested, then Wikipedia can fill you in.

I just loved being there to soak in the ambience, and to appreciate how lucky I was to see such a famous and historical town with my own eyes.

There are four entrance gates which allow you to pass through the impressive stone walls and enter the old town inside. On the morning that we arrived, our coach dropped us outside the walls, and we walked through the main gate (pictured above) to reach our hotel - I'll never forget the >>wow<< that I felt seeing the old streets for the first time.

It was almost impossible to photograph our hotel because the streets were all very narrow and the buildings tall, but you can see part of it in the above photo on the right hand side. It was a gift staying in such a central location (I think there are only two hotels inside the walls), and at every opportunity I spent time walking around and soaking in the atmosphere.

The above photo shows the main square which was just a few minutes walk from our hotel, and the place where we went most days to eat lunch (and dinner too). Oh my goodness, it was such a pleasure! I mentioned in my first post that we were exceptionally lucky with the weather and during early October we were treated to temperatures in the high twenties. Imagine that?! For this sun-loving soul living in the cool north of England, this kind of sunny warm weather is the stuff of my dreams.

I can tell you that I really, really enjoyed my food in France. Lunches were a relaxed, leisurely affair and I especially enjoyed eating outside in the sunshine with a cheeky little glass of chilled rosé wine to help things along. A had some amazing salads (hello, warm melty goats cheese) but I think my two favourite and most memorable lunches were the above French onion soup (it tasted absolutely incredible, and I had it twice)....

....and snails! I've eaten snails before, many years ago in Paris when I was on a student art trip, and they are an interesting thing to put in one's mouth. In all honesty, I think perhaps I enjoyed mopping up the melted garlic and herb butter with my crusty bread a little bit more than the actual snails themselves, but it was a wonderful culinary experience for sure.

Carcassonne is an extremely popular tourist destination and I can imagine that in the height of the summer season it would be insanely busy. In fact, that's just reminded me of something else I remember from our guided tour - the numbers. Apparently there are only 47 residents living within the old city walls, but the town receives almost three MiLLioN visitors every year. That's rather a lot, isn't it?!

Luckily for me, October was a perfect month to be there and it was possible to really enjoy the unique atmosphere of the old streets without the crowds.

I absolutely loved walking around the streets - I abandoned my map pretty early on when I realised that I actually couldn't follow it (I kept getting lost no matter how hard I tried). 

I discovered that it was more fun to just meander along random streets, turning corners here and there and allowing myself to relax into the "lost" feeling. Eventually I would end up either back where I started (quite literally walking in circles), or popping out between buildings and suddenly recognising where I was.

On the day of our guided historical tour, we decided to leave the high old walls behind and descend down to the lower and newer part of Carcassonne. It took about half an hour to walk....

....and we discovered that the new town was just as delightful and full of character as the old town.

We arrived just as the morning market was coming to a close which was a bit of a shame as we only caught glimpses of a few stalls....

....but it was as beautiful as you would expect.

The lower part of Carcassonne has a huge town square complete with a fountain and a multitude of places to eat and drink. I find this sunny outdoor lifestyle so appealing and enjoyable, and at times I felt like I was existing inside a film or a travel brochure. It was pleasure overload!

It was a stunning afternoon (around 28 degrees I think) and the walk back was slow and hot. We crossed over the wide river....

....then began the slow climb back up the hill to the old walls. It was lovely though, very scenic and a really nice balance to the rather intense days of indoor crochet concentration.

Our second day of excursions took us by coach to another beautiful medieval town called Mirepoix.

There was no agenda here, just the opportunity to spend some hours pootling and enjoying the place.

I'm not really much of a shopper (although I do quite like browsing), but many of the guests really enjoyed all the little independent boutique shops here in Mirepoix. All along the ground floor underneath the arches there was a mixture of shops and cafés...

....lots of things to see and tempt you to part with your Euros.

I am much more of an outdoor tourist and would rather spend my time looking at trees and buildings and views than the inside of shops.

Mirepoix had some very beautiful and picturesque streets...

....and some delightful refreshment opportunities too.

I enjoyed a morning coffee, and then later on....

...a really incredible hot chocolate. You see that glass full of whipped cream?

Yup, alllllllll that cream went into my hot chocolate and it was possibly one of the richest, sweetest and most indulgent drinks I've ever experienced.

In the afternoon we were taken to another small town to visit a textile museum - this was mostly focussed on natural dyes, spinning and weaving techniques. It was interesting to learn about the importance of textiles in the region and see some of the very early spinning and weaving machines in action. 

There were many times during the week when we really enjoyed the beautiful little walled garden at the hotel. It was such a peaceful oasis and a lovely place to spend time.

Often we would find ourselves drawn there in the lull before heading out for our evening meal, enjoying the last of the sun and the company of lovely crochet friends.

I have to be honest and say that as much as I really loved teaching and being a part of the group, it was quite an intense experience and usually by the time 5 o'clock rolled around I was ready for a recharge. I would often head out by myself at this time to soak up the beauty of Carcassonne...

....and I think these quiet, early evening strolls were some of my favourite times.

It was impossible not to fall in love with Carcassonne, it was just so ridiculously beautiful!

I found that by the end of the week I really, really didn't want to leave. 

I loved being somewhere that was so unique and picturesque and I absolutely LOVED the dry, sunny, golden warmth. I mean, of course I'm sure I would have enjoyed it in dull grey weather too, but the gift of a hot, blue-sky week in October was appreciated so very much. Did I mention that I didn't want to come home?

After seven wonderful days I had no choice but to get on that plane and fly north back to England, and look, we brought the sunshine with us! London looked amazing from the air and although I still had some long hours of travel ahead, I was full of gratitude for the week I'd spent in France.

Well, I really hope you've enjoyed seeing a little more of my French trip - I've tried hard not to waffle too much and believe me when I tell you I'm only showing you a fraction of the photos I took. Haha - you've had a lucky escape!

The retreat was organised by Stitchtopia craft holidays which is part of a much larger travel company, and I can't recommend them highly enough. Everything is very well organised and each group is led by an experienced tour manager so you feel very well looked after. 

Hopefully very soon I'll be able to share news of my 2023 crochet retreat, it's exciting to think that I've got something so lovely and pleasurable to look forward to next year. A week of sunshiny crochet and beautiful views? Yes please!

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x Carcassonne retreat post : part 1 x

 

 

 

Friday

Hi all

Just testing out a blog post, to see if my photos load - Typepad has really been in bother this past week and I admit I've been both frustrated and worried. This is the first time it looks like it might be working again for me - please could you leave me a quick comment below, so I can see that it's all working - thank you so so much for your patience, and hopefully I can write some more to you over the weekend xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Typepad Issues

Morning my lovelies

It's Tuesday morning here in rainy North Yorkshire and I'm hoping this little bit of text reaches you. I just wanted to let you know that Typepad is having some issues and I'm so sorry to those of you who are trying to access patterns, or who simply want to see my photos. All Typepad blogs are suffering after a scheduled technical update at the weekend did not go well, so all we can do is wait it out I'm afraid.

Keep all your digits crossed!

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Carcassonne Crochet Retreat :: Part 1

Spending a week in the south of France in early October sounds pretty dreamy, don't you think? The sunny warmth, the amazing views and the relaxed atmosphere, it was everything I'd dreamed of and so much more besides.

So would you like to know how I came to be standing and gazing at the above view? Well five years ago, I was asked by a travel company if I would like to be one of the "craft experts" on their popular Stitchtopia craft holidays. As the name suggests, the holidays and retreats are all about textiles, and honestly, the more I learned about the quality of the trips and how well they're organised, the more I knew that I would say YES to pretty much anything. Spend a week in a French Chateau and teach colour and crochet to a group of lovely ladies? Join them on scenic excursions and partake in wine tasting and the such like? Sit and crochet in the sunny garden of a chateau in the French Alpes surrounded by beautiful mountain views? Yes, yes and YES please.

As it happens, when my first retreat launched in the summer of 2018 it sold out within the first 24 hours, and with a growing waiting list I was asked if I would consider doing a second week. So in the Spring of 2019, I went twice to France and did indeed get to stay in a chateau and taste wine and view scenic views and teach crochet - and it was absolutely WOnDErFUL.

The following year, I was due to go and tutor two different groups in Madeira but we all know what happened to travel plans in 2020. The trips were postponed to the following year.....but sadly with the world still in disarray, they too were cancelled. So I still haven't managed to visit Madeira, but in amongst all the chaos of postponed and cancelled holidays, another French retreat was planned for me, which is the one I finally got to take up earlier this month. Hurrah for life finally getting wings again!

The above photo is us - the Stitchtopia Attic24 crochet retreat of 2022. We had just arrived in France after a yawningly early start (Heathrow airport at 4.30am? Yes, it was that kind of early). In the middle of the front row you can see me looking all smiley and blooming ridiculously happy to be feeling waaaaaarm and sunshiney and south-of-Francey. In the back row on the far right is Allison who is the Tour Manager, and she's been with me on all three of my retreats.

Most of the ladies are from the UK, with the exception of one lady all the way from Sydney in Australia and another from the US. Some of them were new to these kinds of retreats, and some had already been on other crafting holidays over the years. It was also a real joy for me because out of the twelve guests, 7 of them had been with me in France in 2019, so I guess my teaching must be OK if they were game enough to come back for more?!

We were spending the week in picturesque Carcassonne, a very ancient medieval walled citadel high up on a hill. We were lucky enough to be staying in one of the handful of hotels right inside the old walls, which meant a short stroll through one of the old stone gates, along the most atmospheric cobbled streets and right into the heart of the old town. I will never forget seeing it for the first time - the above view gives you a flavour of what the main streets of Carcassonne are like, and I could honestly not get over how lucky I was to actually be staying there.

Our hotel was ancient (as you would expect from a medieval town), but the internal modernisation was beautifully done. There was so much character - old stone walls, tiled floors, wonky staircases, twisty-turny little corridors - if you want to take a peek, you can look at the hotel website ((here)) to see some photos of it. Walking into my bedroom made me feel like I was walking into a French film - something about the height of the windows and the way they open fully to welcome the outside in....oh, I fell instantly in love with the Frenchness of it all. 

Isn't the view dreamy? I was very lucky to be looking out over the garden from my bedroom and loved the stately lines of tall trees and the bell tower in the distance (with bells that struck on the hour). You can see the low single story building on the right of the photo? Well that was our crochet classroom for the week....

....it had many doors opening directly out to the garden and was the perfect setting. You won't really be able to tell from the above photo, but the week we were there we were blessed with insanely great autumn weather. Loads of sunshine, and beautifully hot days averaging around 25 degrees. When it rained, it came in the night - heavy downpours which made the mornings feel really fresh and clear. It was utter perfection.

We had six full days in France, four of them were filled with crochet and the other two were designated sight seeing days. Breakfast each day was a truly delicious affair - strong café au lait (yaayyy!), and a mouth watering selection of pastries and cake (yes, I discovered that cake for breakfast is a thing in France), rustic breads, continental meats and cheeses, fruit, nuts, yoghurts and granola...oh my goodness. Such a treat, and definitely a great way to start each day.

In the weeks before going to France, I worked on designing a teaching project especially for this retreat - you've probably already seen and read about the Bouquet Cushion (the post is HERE if you missed it). I used the above collection of mini-balls as my starting point and designed a circular cushion....

....and I really love how it turned out. There are twenty four rounds of crochet on each side, and I used the pattern to teach elements of colour design. I have an arts background and in my four years of training (art foundation diploma, followed by a 3 year BA degree in textiles) I learnt a great deal about colour. It's a vast subject with a lot of theory and science behind it, but when I teach I do try and keep it practical and simple and specifically tailored to work with yarn and crochet. We used the colour wheel and learnt about blending and tonal values, and about how to create harmonious colour contrasts and balance. 

On the days that we were in the classroom, we split the day in two. Morning sessions ran from 10 to 12.30, then there was a two hour lunch break (essential in France as lunch is a sociable, leisurely affair). Afternoons ran from 2.30 until 5pm.

I loved teaching my project, and I loved watching it come to life in their hands. The ladies were all good crocheters but were keen to learn some colour confidence from me - I guess choosing colours and learning what works can be challenging and not something that everyone finds easy.

I took the above photos at the beginning of day 2, so this is after the first full day of crochet. You can see the centre of the circles are all about soft colour blending, and then we worked with harmonious contrasts for the outer part. Learning about colours that jump forward and those that recede, those that dominate and those that add a gentle touch.

It was funny because I kept reminding the ladies that this was a retreat as opposed to a classroom, and that they were free to take breaks, use the garden, stretch their legs, drink coffee as often as they wished.....and yet my goodness, they worked HARD! 

Our lunch breaks were well earned I think, and I know I certainly enjoyed this part of the day very much. Although it was October and the holiday season was starting to quieten down, there were still plenty of tourists around and the cafés and restaurants were buzzing with happy folks enjoying their food in the sunshine. Tables and chairs which spill out onto sun-dappled, cobbled squares is an aspect of southern European life which I absolutely adore. Oh, I LOVE eating outside in the sun and it seems so far removed from our cool, damp British lunch time culture which is very much a cosy, indoor affair.

Every day once I'd finished my lunch, I took a little bit of time just to wander around and soak in the atmosphere of old Carcassonne. As I have zero sense of direction and can't read a map to save my life, I inevitably spent most of my time wandering in a semi-lost daze. However, I soon realised that being in a walled citadel had it's advantages because most of the little streets went round in a circle of sorts, so it was fairly easy to eventually find my way back.

Carcassonne is a ridiculously picturesque place and I took a LOT of photos during my lost wanderings, but I'm saving those for another post.

Back to the crochet and we are jaunting through the week now, with glorious circles of colour taking shape everywhere you look.

It  was so inspiring to see how much confidence grew as the days passed....

....and I loved watching the ladies become bolder with their colour choices.

On the last day of the retreat, most ladies had managed to complete both sides of their cushion and started working on their floral decoration. 

I'd created patterns for three different types of flowers, some berries, and two different sizes of leaf, but left the final design and composition of the floral bouquets open to interpretation.

I appreciate that there is maybe a little bit of apprehension held in the notion of becoming the Designer of a project. It's one thing to follow a pattern and maybe choose one or two colours here and there, but getting to be in the drivers seat for all of the colour choices in a project could be a little bit daunting?

The ladies on my retreat exceeded all my expectations, and with my help and guidance throughout the week they produced some really glorious work. I felt so proud of them, especially those who had started the week saying that they couldn't "do" colour and had seemed very unsure about all the decisions I was asking them to make. I can tell you in all honesty that they all did terrifically well....you'll see for yourself in a bit when I show you some of the finished cushions.

Even with the five hours a day we were spending in the classroom, the crochet didn't stop once five o'clock ticked around. One of the joys of being in a warm, Mediterranean climate was the fact that we could sit outside in the early evening and enjoy some golden hooky time. It was absolute bliss! In the above photo, I'm sat in the hotel garden working on my own cushion using leftovers from the Fireside blanket. What you can't see in the above photo, just to the left, is the bottle of sparking wine that had been popped open, and the lovely ladies I was spending time with.....all of it combined to make a wonderfully chatty, laughter-filled happy hour.

Crochet is such a wonderfully portable project, it really is the perfect thing to have in your bag when you are out and about. There is nothing nicer than sitting in a beautiful place and chatting to friends while your hands are quietly creating with yarn. In the above photo we were out on a day trip, spending time in a gorgeous little medieval town (I'll show you more in my next post) and had stopped to have a morning coffee. It was a delight for me to see my cushion design "out in the wild", and to to know that the ladies were enjoying it so much. Well, I really hope they were enjoying it - haha - maybe they just felt like they had to get some more rounds in?!

Throughout the week, I made sure to take time each day to go around the room and share everyone's progress. I think we can learn a huge amount by working alongside others but also learning to view our own work with an objective eye so to speak. However, even though we'd been looking at each others work every day and discussing the progress, it was still a wonderful surprise to see the cushions all together at the end of the week. 

WOW, they looked FanTAStic!!

Here we are on the last day, all happy and hookered out!!

↑↑ This was the first cushion to be crocheted together and declared finished, and it received a well justified round of applause and a beautifully glorious ta-dah moment in the hotel garden. Bravo Donna!!

Since we've come home we've carried on our crochet chatter via WhatsApp and I've really enjoyed celebrating the visual ta-dah's. Don't the finished cushions look amazing? They've turned out even better than I could have imagined, and I think it's so interesting to see how such different cushions came from the same pattern and the exact same collection of yarn. They each have their own personalities and represent a lot of joyful creativity, and I'm so happy that I was a part of the journey.

So - how do you think I enjoyed my week in France?? Do you think it made me happy right down to my toes? If you answered "yEs" then you would be absolutely right - I enjoyed it so so much that I really didn't want to come home! I remembered how much I enjoy teaching, how fulfilling it is to watch one of my own designs come to life before my eyes, and to see how much pleasure and confidence it can give to others. And of course it was pure bliss being transported up through the clouds and deposited somewhere warm and sunny for a while - that sunshine and clear golden light made my heart and soul insanely happy. 

I hope you've enjoyed this little insight into what a Stitchtopia crochet retreat with me looks like, it really was a super experience from start to finish. In my next post I'll take you walking so that you can see more of Carcassonne, it's honestly one of the most picturesque and atmospheric places I've ever been to. 

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ps, I've had lots and lots of requests on my social media for details about future retreats and how to find out about them. I'm going to be doing another one abroad next year and am just waiting for confirmation of the dates and finalising details before it's released on the Arena Travel website. I'll be sure to tell you as soon as it's available for booking, both here on my blog and on my Facebook/Insta pages too. Maybe you might be tempted to come with me for some sunshine hooky next year?! xx

 

 

 

The Bouquet Cushion :: Ta-dah!

A cardboard box containing fifty eight dinky little balls of yarn in a mouth watering palette of colours. I wonder what passes through your mind when you look at the photo above? Does your heart beat just that little bit faster? Do you start to immediately imagine all the things you could make with those delicious little balls of temptation? Or do you just like to gaze at the colours and sigh with pleasure? For me, it's all of the above. Plenty of contented sighing for sure, but also a fountain of ideas which does indeed make my heart skip a beat or two. So. Much. Potential!!

In case you've not come across this collection of yarn before, let me fill you in. It's a mixture of two popular yarns by the Dutch brand Scheepjes and the yarns are called Stone Washed and River Washed. They are a neat mixture of cotton and acrylic (it's a 78/22% blend, so feels very much like a super-soft cotton with a slightly woolly feel). Both balls come as standard 50g balls which you can find at retailers who stock Scheepjes yarn, and this box contains miniature versions of every colour available.

The balls are quite weeny as there is only 10g of yarn wrapped up here, but as that equates to approximately 26m in length it goes a surprisingly long way. I can tell you that it's wonderful to crochet with, a real delight. It's soft and works up quickly, and the blended nature of each shade means that it's perfection for any type of colour work.

At this point, I should explain that I bought this box of yarn with a very specific project in mind - it was to be used as the starting point for a retreat workshop that I was going to be teaching in the south of France. When I teach these kind of retreats, I like to give the guests a decent palette of colours to work with so that I can include colour theory and planning as part of the creative process. And the project? Well, for this retreat I decided on a circular cushion cover which essentially gave us two large circles to crochet - plenty of opportunity for colour play.

The pattern I settled on is a larger adaptation of the Yuletide Mandala and as you can see it's a super design for colour work. For the centre of the cushion front I deliberately wanted to focus on colour blending to create a soft, graduated circle of colour. I chose to use shades of blue (above), but I also crocheted some alternatives to demonstrate how to use the colour wheel when choosing which shades to blend...

....on the left I blended yellow, greens and turquoise, and on the right I blended orange, reds and purples.

The idea was to create a centre for the cushion that would act as a soft, blended background for some extra decoration.

This is my finished front - a blend of cool blues for the centre, then a jolly mixture of random brights to bring it all to life.

Once the front was finished and I'd written down the pattern and made sure all the maths was working for each round, I immediately made a start on the cushion back. I was in a frenzy of colour bliss working up these bright and cheery rounds...such fun to crochet!

Ooooooooo, isn't it lush? I love love love how the second circle turned out....

....and here they both are together. Eeeeep, such happy crochet!!

I think I used around 40 different colours in total, just in case you were wondering.

Now, remember how I mentioned that the blended blues on the front would have some added decoration? Well, of course it had to be flowers. Yes, a cute little bouquet of pretty blooms!

I designed some new flowers especially for this project, and I think they turned out beautifully.

I hadn't really planned how to arrange them at this point, I just made a collection of flowers, leaves and berries that I thought would work well together and took my time playing with them.

The long tail ends are left on purpose as they are used to stitch the flowers to the cushion....

....which was a really enjoyable part of the process for me. I do love a bit of quiet, mindful stitching from time to time.

Let me show you how it looks once everything has been stitched in place.....

....ooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!! Look how pretty!!

I tried to keep the flower arrangement from being too symmetrical which is harder than you might think. I wanted it to look a little bit random somehow, as if I'd just picked a posy from the garden and plopped them into a little jug.

The cushion measures around 40cm across, and the joining method includes a very cleaver button closure so that you can pop a cushion pad inside and remove the cover for washing in future. It took me aaaaaaaaaages to work out how to do this, and I'm so chuffed with how it worked out!

I used small 10mm clear buttons which sit neatly in between the two scalloped edging layers. So happy with the neatness of it!

I ordered a 45cm round pad to fill out my cushion and make it all plump (from Amazon here) and I was really excited to take the Bouquet Cushion all the way to France for its official moment of ta-dah-ness.

This is the reverse which turned out so bright and jolly.......

....and here is the floral front which honestly I love so, so much. Ta-dah!!!!!!!!!!

Getting to photograph it in the beautiful hotel garden was such a pleasure - the clarity of light in the south of France is something special I can tell you.

I was in France for a week with a group of super-lovely ladies, twelve guests in total. We had four days dedicated to crochet and I don't mind telling you that I was a little bit nervous on that first morning. Nobody had seen my cushion at that point, and the yarn was a surprise too.....eeeek.....I hoped with all my heart that they would like the project and would be happy about being colour designers.

In my next post I'll share my retreat experience with you, so you can see how I took this project from the Attic to Carcassonne, and what the ladies made of my design. Hint- it was WONdeRfUL!!

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ps a little note about the pattern - I created the Bouquet Cushion as an exclusive project especially for the retreat. And so for the time being it will remain with the ladies who came with me to France and won't be published online. Thank you for your understanding x

 

 

Home into Autumn

Hellooooooo to you all, how have you been? It feels like a good long while since I was here chatting to you but that's mainly because I've been away from home, and I think time away often moves at a different pace to the normal, everyday sort of tick-tock time on the home clock.

Actually, this time last week I was still travelling, making my way from the south France to London, then up along the backbone of England all the way north to Yorkshire. It took thirteen hours in total, a coach, a plane, the underground and two trains, with some weary walking up the hill at the very end. 

I've spent the last week resting quite a bit and easing myself back into gentle home routines. It's been a pleasure to allow my days to gently unfold and soak up the quiet, comforting homely vibes here at number twenty four. 

There has been a distinct chill in the air this past week and honestly, it has felt really beautiful. I've often said that I am happiest when our English seasons run true, and so far autumn is feeling wonderfully autumnal. Happy me!

It was my birthday last week and I celebrated fifty four trips around the sun. I had coffee with my good friend (we have a standing date at a favourite café every Tuesday morning) and she gave me a card, a little wrapped present, a bag of pears and a solitary beetroot (complete with roots and soil attached) which she'd dug up from the community veg plot on her way to the café. It was the funniest gift which made me double over with laughter, and that reminds me I really do need to cook it! I think I'm going to roast it in the oven. She also very kindly gifted me the most stunning bunch of fragrant stocks and I inhaled their sweet, peppery scent all the way home.

Don't they look lovely? Stocks and a muddy beetroot - what more could a girl want, eh?!

My birthday was on Wednesday and the day was bright and blustery, perfect for a lunch time stroll. 

J doesn't often take a proper lunch break when he's working (something which we often argue about), but on this day he made time  to come to the woods with me. We had Little Lady with us too, and I must say I am really, really loving the fact that I still have her at home for the time being. 

The leaves are just beginning to fall in the woodland and although it's still mostly green in the treetops, there are lots of leaves now on the ground. There is seasonal beauty all around, and I am absolutely here for it.

We are continuing to manage without our central heating, and I'm kind of getting used to the house being a bit on the cold side. I can't say I like it that much (I take after my late Mum, and really don't like to feel cold), but I am coping. I'm dressing in multiple cotton layers, adding a thick jumper when I need it, woolly socks constantly on my feet and blankets, blankets and more blankets. If I'm sitting, then I'm covered in at least two blankets. I shall be known as Lucy Layers this season. Thank goodness for the fire, my gosh I worship this thing, it brings me immense pleasure and comfort and I absolutely would not be without it.

Since I came home from France, I'm taking even more pleasure than usual from my every day views. I really do love where I live and looking at it as if I were a visitor is something I do quite often. Do you do the same I wonder? Or is this just another of my weird and wonderful habits?!

I walk along this narrow road beside the canal almost every day as it's the quickest route into the centre of town, and it's such a sweet way to observe the changing seasons too. 

On bright days when the sun has felt juuuuuust about warm enough for us to sit outside, J and I have had our morning coffee al fresco. There are a couple of small bistro tables outside our regular coffee shop and I've really enjoyed having the October sun on my face as I slurp my frothy coffee. These small pleasures bring such a lot of joy to my days.

I don't really have much to say about the above photo to be honest! It was an afternoon walk to the supermarket to pick up a few bits that we had run out of. The flowers caught my eye as I walked along the tow path to Tesco, and my immediate thought was to take a photo so that I could show you. Blogging is such a deep-rooted way of life for me that I very rarely stop to question myself over it. Take a photo of a boat with some flowers to share with the twenty thousand strangers who visit the Attic every day (give or take a few)? Completely normal.

I almost forgot that in between the slow, mundane, restful days at home last week, I took off on a very quick jaunt. Good job I snapped a photo of the platform or else I would have forgotten! So yeah...three days after returning from France I was back on the trains again, but a quick journey this time just over to York to visit some of my dearest friends. It was a reunion with the ladies who kept me sane during those very early new born baby days, celebrating twenty years of motherhood and friendship. It was honestly the best night, so full of laughter that I had to work hard not to actually pee my pants. I count myself very lucky to have these kind of friends, it's something special to be able to pick up with each other over the years and feel like no time has passed.

I haven't had chance to chat to you much about the Fireside blanket which launched about a month ago. But I just wanted to say a massive, heartfelt THANK~YOU to everyone who bought a yarn pack and started out on this cosy blanket journey, it's been wonderful for me to see so many new blankets taking shape in recent weeks. I know that many of you are new to using Stylecraft Highland Heathers yarn and it's been great to hear how much you've liked it. 

My own blanket is in constant use and it's the perfect size to wrap around my shoulders (my name is Lucy Layers, remember) or cosy across my legs.

A few days ago I came across a photo on Facebook which made my heart skip a beat, and I knew I had to show you.....

......what do you think?? Isn't it BEaUtiFuL??? It's made using the twelve Fireside colours following my random stripe order which you can find ((here)). The pattern is the Seashell Stripe (which I used to make my Dune blanket) and I think it looks absolutely stunning. Amanda, if you are reading this, I just love love love your blanket, thank you so much for sharing on Facebook, what an inspiration.

At the moment I'm using the leftovers from my Fireside blanket to make a circular cushion and I am absolutely crushing on the colours all over again. They somehow look different when in a circle, a bit brighter and more lustrous? Is lustrous a real word or did I just make that up...hahah....I kind of want to say Lush-trous?!! 

Anyhow, this is the second side of the cushion and I'm almost finished so I'll show you later in the week when it's done. I started the project when I was in France as I needed something fairly easy to work on in the teeeeny gaps of time when I was free from teaching and wasn't out walking and falling in love with stone walls and cobbled streets.

Speaking of France, I had a wonderful, amazing time teaching on my Stitchtopia retreat and I fell a little bit in love with beautiful Carcassonne. It was ridiculously picturesque and atmospheric and I took a gazillion photos which I've spent aaaaaages organising and editing over the past few days.

I'd like to share my trip with you, if you'd be interested to see what an Attic24 Crochet retreat looks like? It was pretty colourful (of course) and there was lots of crochet and coffee and beautiful views and the sunniest sunshine.....more soon!

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September Seasonal Shift

September was such a lovely month here this year, an absolutely perfect mix of summer and autumn. This seasonal shift has caught me by surprise in the best possible way, and I have to say that one week into Autumn and I am really loving it.

Early September still felt very summery with warm, dry weather and many days of sunshine. My toes were certainly happy :)

Little B went back to school in the second week of September and setting an alarm again after the ease of the summer holidays was a bit of a shock to the system. I do enjoy the school routine though, and once the youngest, noisiest child is out of the house for the day a rather delicious quietness settles on the home front. 

The kitty has wanted to be close to her humans just lately and in the quiet of the morning I really enjoy her cosy company. She's not a cat that you can entice onto your lap very easily, so these kind of snuggles are always very much on her terms and it's lovely when she decides I'm the place to be!

I bought summery flowers for my table and gave our downstairs living room a bit of a tidy up and a refresh. I don't mind telling you that I was very lazy over the summer months when it came to housework, but there is something about the back-to-school vibe which returns the focus to home routines.

I continue to really enjoy my weekly yarny meet-ups at the café and in September I was obsessed with knitting these socks. I managed to finish one sock down to the end of the toes, and the second sock is ready to start with the heel I think. I had to put them away while I concentrated on creating the Fireside tutorial, but with the colder weather snapping in I really want these socks off my needles and onto my feet. It's firmly on my to-do list.

Middle of September I was gifted some beautiful produce from my friend's allotment plot which almost made my cry with gratitude and delight. A punnet of the most delicious sun ripened tomatoes and a bunch of flowers for drying so that they'll last right through the winter months.

Such beautiful late summer colour wrapped in newspaper, a nostalgic reminder of my childhood too as my Mum used to grow these flowers on her allotment.

I made a caprese salad for my lunch with some of the tomatoes and ooooohmygosh it was ever so good. Such simple, fresh flavours and a real taste of summer.

This was a sunny Saturday afternoon walk around local fields and lanes because it was just too nice to stay indoors.

 I stood for ages watching that tractor ploughing up and down the side of that huge hill, it was crazy satisfying to observe the slow but pleasing toil of it somehow. I remember also thinking that the colours of the landscape in mid September perfectly matched the seasonal shift from summer to autumn.

I love this view as we get near to home after our walks out to neighbouring villages. We live in quite a hilly area of the town and I love to see all the old Victorian terraced streets following the contours.

We had some really beautiful weather once we'd passed over the autumn equinox, the sort of bright, clear skies that invite you to walk just for the pleasure of it.

I found myself wandering through the park and up to the farm shop one morning, just to get a feel for the season and see what was fresh and inviting. Lots and lots of baby pumpkins greeted me as I walked in the door, leaving no doubt about the season we are now in. Bye-bye summer.

I didn't buy baby pumpkins, but I did buy chocolate. This is one of my favourite local chocolates made in York and I just love it. I love the packaging and I love the gorgeous flavours they come up with - dark chocolate is my preference and this Blood Orange Gin flavour did not disappoint. Crikey it was insanely good.

Some days have felt very much more autumnal than others, and although September was a pretty dry month we did have our fair share of the damps. Low, low cloud pressing down on the landscape....

....spinning teeny, tiny droplets of water into the hedgerows and over everything, us included.

Other days were just amazingly golden and gorgeous, I mean, look how StUNning this light is!! Seven o'clock and the sun is just rising over the hilltops at this time of year, my goodness it really is something special to be out in the world at that time of day.

A gorgeous reward for those early alarms and a reminder that a brisk morning walk is so, so, so good for the mind and soul as well as for the body.

I am still wearing my sandals on days when it's dry and not too chilly, but I often find that by mid afternoon my toes need a little snuggle time. So far we've managed to keep the central heating off and have been making very good use of the crochet blankets and woolly layers as the temperature continues to drop. I light the fire most evenings now, and am truly embracing the cosy vibe of the autumn season.

So here we are into the beginning of Autumn and summer is most definitely over for another year. I've got an exciting trip coming up though, and I'm hoping for some wonderful, warm sunshine which will be such a treat. On Monday I'm going to be travelling south, all the way down to south west France in fact to spend a week in the medieval walled city of Carcassonne (pictured above). This is a working holiday for me - I'm travelling with Stitchtopia and will be teaching on a crochet retreat with a lovely group of ladies, and I'm pretty bloomin' excited I can tell you.

I'll look forward to catching up with you all once I'm back here in Atticland, I will probably have one or two photos to show you from France.........! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx