Attic24

Sungold Blanket CAL :: Part 3

Here in Atticland this week it has been snowy, icy and absolutely bloomin' freezing and I've found myself looking back at these beautiful summery photographs and trying to remember what sunshine warmth actually feels like. It seems so long ago when I was walking in this glorious garden on a warm, sunny morning in early September, feeling so inspired and uplifted by all the colours. 

Following on from last week, today I'm sharing some more photos to show you in a little bit more detail where my colour inspiration came from. I chose these three shades to bring a rich warmth to the colour palette - think of it as the summer garden when it's tilting towards a very subtle seasonal shift into Autumn.

The wide flower beds at Harlow Carr are a mass of perennial flowers which make up the bulk of the planting. Tall, generous clumps of blooms all mixed together in a glorious patchwork of colour. The flowers shown above are Heleniums and I love them so much!  They come in a few different hot, spicy shades but these deep orange ones always catch my attention. The colour is absolutely stunning. 

This year I was really captivated by the tall sunflowers growing in the kitchen garden, oh, the colours! They were not the usual bright yellow flowers, but instead a whole range of orangey, coppery and deep red colours. I took lots of photos and knew that I would have to include these shades in the Sungold colour palette. I think Stylecraft Copper and Tomato are a really good match for the colours in these sunflowers and they perfectly capture that late summer vibe.

^^ Another glorious sunflower...isn't this colour amazing?  I had been unsure about including red in the Sungold blanket, but in the end I chose to go deep and I think Stylecraft Claret has really given a beautiful richness to the colour palette.

It's been wonderful for me to see so many of you falling head over heels in love with this colour palette along with me, thank you to everyone who has shared their photos on social media this month. The photo above caught my eye on Facebook yesterday, and Stacey added a comment saying....

"These Sungold colours are just so cheerful and jolly! Bringing a smile to my face on chilly days."

I couldn't agree more Stacey! I ADORE how colour has the power to instantly lift our mood, and it's one of the reasons I absolutely love designing and making blankets - they are such perfect objects for colour-play!

During the past few weeks I've been gathering together a whole heap of inspirational Sungold photos from Facebook and Insta, in fact I have so many (thank you, thank you) that it's been hard to know how to organise them. Here are a few that I think you'll find very inspiring, and I'll share some more in the coming weeks.

^^ Stephanie bought her Sungold yarn pack in November like many of you did, but she loved the colours so much that she decided not to wait for the Crochet-A-Long. She started out on a Ripple blanket journey, choosing her own mixed colour order and WOW, doesn't it look fabulous?! 

^^Nichola also refused to wait for me (!) and managed to create a whole blanket before the CAL even started! She chose the Spike Stitch (which I designed for the Dahlia Blanket) and ordered the colours herself,  it really turned out beautifully.

^^ I think there are currently a few "Sungold Yuletide" blankets in progress (Suntide?!), but this lovely photo shared by Jane really caught my eye. The Yuletide square pattern has proven so popular since I designed it in 2021 and it seems to look amazing in all of my colour palettes.

^^ Sonia has done something wonderful with her Sungold yarn pack and is creating a rectangle version of the Yuletide pattern. What do you think, isn't it clever??! She has written and shared her rectangle version of my pattern on her Ravelry page if you are interested in giving it a go.

^^ Lynn is also working her colours into a rectangle blanket and I absolutely LOVE the boldness of this simple granny stripe. I think it makes the colours really sing.

^^ Donna is being her usual brilliant self and taking the Sungold colours on a wonderful blanket journey which is hugely inspiring. She is using the popular "Retro Daisy" square design and followed a tutorial on YouTube to learn the pattern. There are many variations of this pattern out there, so if it sparks some inspiration for you just search for "Retro Daisy Granny Square" online.

^^ As soon as I saw this blanket journey starting out I knew it would be spectacular. Isn't it glorious? HayleyJane is using the Sungold colours to make one of Helen Shrimpton's brilliant designs - it's called Revelation, and you can find all the details on Helen's website "Crystals and Crochet"

^^ Here is Revelation in closer detail, it really is a stunning pattern and looks amazing in these rich Sungold shades. The design will eventually become a big square blanket and I can't wait to see it grow. Thank you HayleyJane for sharing this with us on Facebook, it's amazing.

Here in Atticland we have been spending the past week trying to keep warm with temperatures sitting well below freezing, and I've been so thankful for our open fire. At the weekend I lit the fire just after lunch when I knew I would be spending an extended time right beside the hearth.

The pleasure of these easy, soothing rows seems to increase every week, and I fall more in love with this blanket with every passing stitch. It's just so, so, so pleasurable!

A few hours after I'd settled on the floor with my crochet, I was joined by the kitty, oh, she did make me laugh! Rather than try to sit on my legs (obviously not quite comfortable enough), she decided to squeeeeeeze herself into the gap between me and the hearth. There wasn't really enough space but she decided to just plunk herself there regardless of how squished she would be. So sweet.

So here we are at Week Three of the Sungold Crochet-A-Long, lets take a look at how the blanket is growing...

In week three we are adding another 18 stripes and will be coming to the half way point of the blanket.

At the end of week three you should start to feel your crochet actually feeling like a blanket. You know when it gets to that certain length where you can drape it over your legs as you work and begin to feel the cosy comfort of it?

^^Here it is look, 51 stripes of sunny gorgeousness!!! 

At this time of year when we've got very low, winter light it can be a challenge to capture colours well in photographs. But there is something about the Sungold colours which makes them look amazing no matter how grey the light is - this blanket sort of glows?!! It really is a joy, I can't describe quite how happy these colours make me feel....

....I mean, it really is so full of HAPPY!!!!

I hope you're feeling the happy vibes too, and that every time you sit down to add a few stripes you are getting the glow effect. It's a really good feeling, isn't it?!

Okay...time to look at this weeks stripes.....

There are 18 stripes for you to play with this week, beginning with Tomato and ending in Sage.

Shown above is the colour info for Part 3 of the Sungold MIXED STRIPE Blanket. Remember each stripe is made up of two rows of crochet. Click on the following link for the printable worksheet...

♥ PART 3 MIXED STRIPE WORKSHEET 

^^ this lovely photo was shared on Facebook by Samantha, and I thought you'd like to see how the Sungold Colourwash is looking after two weeks. Isn't it wonderful? In parts 1 and 2 we worked up through Magenta, Boysenberry, Claret, Copper, Tomato and a touch of Gold.

In part 3 you'll be adding in the sunshine!!! One Tomato stripe, then full sun through Gold, Dandelion and Lime....

Shown above is the colour info for Part 3 of the Sungold COLOURWASH Blanket. Remember each stripe is made up of two rows of crochet, so when you work the triple bands of colour, this will be six rows of crochet.

Click on the following link for the printable worksheet...

♥ PART 3 COLOURWASH WORKSHEET 

A reminder for those following Kaz and making a  Sungold Harmony blanket - there are weekly downloads for the colour info and you can access these for free on Kaz's Insomnia Crochet webshop, A huge THANK YOU to Kaz for all the work put into this, I know it's being appreciated by hundreds of you all making your own Sungold Harmony.

Wishing you a terrific week full of happy colour therapy - enjoy every moment spent with these stripes sitting in your lap!

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Links for you all in one place......

♥ SUNGOLD YARN PACKS 

♥ LACY SHELL TUTORIAL

♥ SUNGOLD BLANKET PDF PATTERN

♥ SUNGOLD BLANKET INTRODUCTION

♥ CAL BLOG POST PART 1 (stripes 1-15)

♥ CAL BLOG POST PART 2 (stripes 16-33)

♥ PART 3 MIXED STRIPE WORK SHEET

♥ PART 3 COLOURWASH WORK SHEET

January Days

It's Thursday afternoon and I really should be writing my Sungold CAL post ready for tomorrow, but as you can see I'm here on this page chatting to you instead. My CAL post is patiently waiting in draft-mode because I suddenly really missed writing my normal, every day blogs, you know, the ones that don't really have much substance to them but tell the gentle story of my day to day life.

As it happens, I don't have a huge amount to tell you but I didn't want this brand new month to skitter on by without some sort of acknowledgement. I gathered all my January photos together yesterday and the general overview is a mixture of outdoor views/winter weather and colourful crochet stripes....does kind of sum up my days rather well come to think about it?! 

My white hyacinth is finally in flower on my mantel and it smells so good, a really pretty sweet perfume that lifts my spirits when I get a waft of it. As predicted it didn't flower in time for Christmas, but then maybe having it blooming into a new year month is better than it belonging to the tail end of the old year? 

Two weeks ago we were still in new year holiday mode, but we also had a birthday in the family. It was good timing because J was still on holiday from work so we were able to plan a day out to celebrate Little B's fourteenth birthday. We went on the train to Leeds and it was just the kind of easy outing which ticks so many boxes with a teen. We went clothes shopping with him because he is very minimal when it comes to clothes and wanted to add to his one solitary pair of trousers. We had great success and he managed to find exactly what he was looking for (black, slim fit cargo trousers) - it's such a relief when clothes shopping for the offspring goes well because honestly it can be a very dismal experience otherwise. So yeah, he now has two pairs of trousers instead of just one lonely pair of jeans and I think he's happy about it. A bit hard to tell with Little B, he is very minimal with his words as well as his clothes.

We had a fabulous lunch out at The Alchemist, it's one of Little B's favourite places to go for a drink because they have a good selection of non alcoholic cocktails. I found myself thinking back to when he was born (it's impossible not to reminisce on kids birthdays), and struggling to comprehend how fourteen years can have passed. How do I have this larger than life boy who looks so grown up and asks to go to a cocktail bar for his birthday lunch?

Aside from birthdayish things, January has been all about easing gently back into routine....

.....walking familiar paths....

...and spending time in much loved places that provide a sense of comfort and familiarity. I do really appreciate the gentle routines and habits which I have built over the past few years, the ones that stay the same week after week and yet still feel so good. 

On Wednesday last week my slow stay-home routine was upended because I had a meeting to go to out of town and found myself setting out to commute there by train. I am mighty glad that this happens only once in a blue moon because it hit hard! Setting out at 7.30am when it was still dark, and then the stress of the trains being delayed and connections being missed and getting myself into a such a fluster with it all.

I arrived two hours later in West Yorkshire, the weather misty, grey and damp. You can see in the above photo, over to the left there is a tall chimney and a solid old mill building beside it? That's where I was going, to the home of Stylecraft yarns.

It was a wonderful day, a time to discuss plans for the future (theirs and mine) and get all over giddy about colours. I have been sworn to secrecy so I can't spill the beans and tell you what the yarny future holds (well not yet anyway) but I came away feeling very excited and inspired.

Other than our trip to Leeds and my trip to the Stylecraft Mill, January has been slow, gentle and home-based. I've really been enjoying the simple pleasure of lighting the fire in the afternoon and settling down to hook up some colourful stripes. Having a crochet blanket on the go at this time of year is honestly such a joy and I can't imagine a January without it. I'm looking forward to sharing some more photos with you tomorrow.

We've been in a very wintry cold snap this week with some snow and hard frost - it's been great! I much prefer these cold, clear, crisp winter days to the dreary, wet grey weather that plagued us through December. This is much more my thing, well,  sunshine will always be my thing.

Almost a month since Winter Solstice and I am really starting to notice the extra daylight in the mornings and evenings now. It's glorious to recognise that the real darkness of winter is behind us and we are slowly heading towards longer, lighter days. Happy, happy, happy about that!!! 

It's been lovely to chat - do tell me how your January is looking and what things are making you happy, I'd love to know.

For me - candlelight, floral scent, family time, routine, colour, yarn, crochet, fireside loafing, frothy coffee, crisp winter walks and the glow of sunset.

Simple pleasures xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

Sungold Blanket CAL :: Part 2

Friday is here and I don't know about you, but I feel like this has been one speedy week, over in a blink. I had every intention of coming here mid week to chat to you, but the days somehow just slipped away and now here we are doing all things Sungold again. I hope you've had a good week, a return to routine for many of us I expect as work and schools all started back after the festive pause.

During my CAL months I spend a lot of time in the land of Facebook and Instagram because the online socials that surround my blanket projects are absolutely brilliant. I love to immerse myself in the crochet community and feel connected to you all via our bags and baskets of brightly coloured yarn, it's one of the loveliest things I can think of. I hope you've been enjoying these glorious colours, and that in some small way they might have helped lift your spirits? I've seen many enthusiastic and happy posts all over socials as a great many new Sungold blanket journeys began during the past week, my goodness it makes me soooooo happy, right from the top of my head to the tips of my toes and into my very soul.

These happy, summer-floral shades are really rather lovely, aren't they? They are perfect for this time of year when the predominant shade out there is g-r-e-y and we all need some cheering up. They are a reminder that even when we can't see it happening, we know the seasons are slowly turning and that the flowers will be back again soon enough.

If you've completed part 1 of the Sungold CAL, then you will have used all fifteen colours in your new blanket. I took the above photo to give you a little insight into how I usually think about my colour palettes, because I always think it's interesting to see how designers work. I like to arrange the colours together in groups of three - my Creative Mind is an awfully messy, tangled place most of the time but occasionally it really requires balance and calm order for it to feel at ease. 

I'm not kidding when I tell you I have hundreds of photos from the summer gardens at RHS Harlow Carr, taken across the span of many years. Hundreds upon hundreds of images which capture family outings, picnics, gentle strolls, excited children, and a great deal of floral appreciation. Oh, so many photos of flowers! You know, I think I am rather obsessed with flowers, and they've provided me with a huge amount of creative colour inspiration over the years.

I wanted to try and find a way to share my photos with you during the Sungold weeks without bombarding you and making you dizzy. After a bit of deliberation, I decided that a great way to do it would be to focus on a particular colour group each week.....beginning with the beating heart of the Sungold palette....golden, sunny yellows.

The late summer borders are full of golden yellow flowers and they look incredible when woven into the floral patchwork of the garden. 

Stylecraft Special has some really great shades of yellow, but it's not a colour I find especially easy to work into a colour scheme. I find yellow to be a very dominant, attention seeking and shouty colour, and it needs careful handling for it to be kept in check. But oh my goodness, isn't it glorious?! It is warmth and sunshine and joy, happy vibes in abundance.

I chose my favourite yellow Stylecraft shade (Dandelion) and added two additional colours to complement it - Gold and Lime. Now I know Lime isn't a yellow, but it does sit very closely to the golden shades in the colour wheel and I love the way it so effortlessly bridges the gap between the yellows and greens. I think these three colours together really give the whole blanket it's sunshine vibe, and I know they make me smile every time they are on my hook.

As you know, I'm working my own Sungold blanket in real time and I'm currently just one week ahead of you in the CAL. My default hooky place of choice this week has been the sofa and it's where you can find me every evening after family dinner is finished and the kitchen is clean and tidy. Usually between seven and nine this is where I am settled, keeping warm with the fire lit, piled up with blankets and the comforting weight of the kitty on my legs. It's nothing short of blissful. I work on 3 stripes a day, just gentle, therapeutic, easy hooky, immersing myself in the calming rhythm and letting my mind daydream and wander where it likes. 

Now I want to talk to you a little bit about those annoying, dangly things that are messing up the glory of my beautiful stripes. Yeeeeesss, we are going to chat about THE ENDS. My usual method is to deal with my ends immediately after I finish a stripe - snip and darn, no excuses. But this past week when I've mostly been crocheting in the evenings I've found that my eyes have been quite tired and sitting on the sofa isn't an idea location for precision darning. I also lost my needle into the depths of the sofa not once but twice, and so I decided that I would change my approach and do my darning during the daytime when I can sit at the table and see what I'm doing properly. I do this every day, so there are never too many ends to deal with at any one time, just the ones created from my crochet the night before.

I am deliberately making the darning into a little bit of a slow, mindful practice, and I want to encourage you to do the same. Good coffee and a scented candle are optional but recommended. Darning isn't the chore that so many people make it out to be, it honestly isn't. Well at least it shouldn't be.  It's a way to finish each stripe with a bit of gratitude and mindfulness, darning love into your blanket in a way that ensures it will be around and in good shape for many, many years to come.

It occurred to me a few days ago that maybe many of you aren't using the right kind of needle for darning your ends, which would make life much harder than it needs to be. I was chatting with Christine about this, because it was a bit of a light-bulb moment for me - the type of needle you use for darning crochet makes a HUGE difference. Traditionally we are taught that a darning needle should have a slightly rounded, blunt end, because when you darn ends into a knitted fabric, you want the needle to pass smoothly underneath the stitches without splitting the yarn. Right? That's the knitty way, as confirmed by my Sock Queen friend Christine.

In crochet, it's the exact opposite - we want a thinner needle, sharply pointed, because we want it to split the yarn! I recommend searching out a CHENILLE needle as they have an eye large enough for wool and a lovely sharp point. You need to know your needle numbers too - large eye needles are usually numbered 18, 20, 22, and 24. The eyes get smaller as the numbers increase (which does seem a bit backwards) - so you want to get your hands on a number 18 chenille needle (shown above) as the eye is the perfect size for threading DK weight yarn. You can find them on Amazon (HERE)) - search for "chenille needle number 18". 

With the Sungold pattern, you should be darning your ends along the tops of the shells, passing your needle through the chains of the stitches which run along the top of each row. This way you aren't adding bulk to your rows, but instead you are invisibly weaving your ends so that they become part of the stitches. With a sharp chenille needle you can split the yarn and weave directly into the stitches you've crocheted, and this creates a very strong, invisible finish.

I also highly recommend Double Direction Darning (DDD). By this I mean you darn in towards the centre of the blanket first (shown above), then reverse and darn back the way you came, splitting the yarn threads as you go so that your tail end effectively becomes a part of the crochet stitches. You don't need to darn far either, just pass your needle as far as it feels comfortable (again, look at my photo above for clarification), then turn and go back the way you came.

You will be snipping off your ends at the outer edge of the blanket (which means they will be covered by the border later on), and the DDD means they are very unlikely to wiggle out.

I took the above photo to show you my edge where the darning has happened. You can see it's a little bit uneven, but it's certainly not distorted or bulky, and any little bumps will be hidden once you crochet the border.

I hope this additional darning chat and info has helped - I really want you to enjoy every single nano-second of this blanket journey, and take pleasure in creating something well made.

So....lets take a look now at the next bit of the Sungold blanket, the next set of glorious, scallopy stripes.

........there you go..........don't they look GOOD???!!!

With part 2 you will be completing the first third of your blanket (thirty three stripes) and the colours will be singing beautifully.

When I'm ordering my mixed stripes, I try very hard to resist the lure of the rainbow but it's not easy. The temptation is strong because our brains are pre-programmed to recognise this natural harmonious order and be in love with it. Every so often I give in, and in part two of the Sungold I created a claret-tomato-gold sequence which I absolutely love - haha!! It's the simple pleasures in life which can make us happy! I hope you enjoy stripes 19-21 too, you'll have to let me know when you've done them.

This colour palette continues to really float my boat, and I hope you feel the same way. They are impossibly happy and joyful, and remind me so much of summer time which as you know is my favourite season of all.

This week (and for the next three weeks) we are aiming to complete 18 stripes per week. Remember it doesn't matter one bit if 18 is too much and you have a busy life, make one stripe a week if want, just take your time and enjoy the journey.

Shown above is the colour info for Part 2 of the Sungold MIXED STRIPE Blanket. Remember each stripe is made up of two rows of crochet. Click on the following link for the printable worksheet...

♥ PART 2 MIXED STRIPE WORKSHEET 

I've seen many of you have chosen to do the colourwash version of the Sungold, and next week I'll be sharing some of your photos here on my blog.

Shown above is the colour info for Part 2 of the Sungold COLOURWASH Blanket. Remember each stripe is made up of two rows of crochet. Click on the following link for the printable worksheet...

♥ PART 2 COLOURWASH WORKSHEET 

And of course we mustn't forget the squares....I know a good many of you are following Kaz and making a Sungold Harmony square blanket, and it's very exciting to catch sight of progress in the Facebook groups. You can join the "Hooked on Attic24" Facebook group to join in with the Sungold Harmony gang, or visit Kaz's web page (Insomnia Crochet) where you can get the colour charts each week of the CAL.

Well I think that's me all typed out for now, I just don't seem to be capable of making short blog posts. Thank you so much for reading all my blurb, and for joining me here in the Attic. I do so appreciate your company.

Have a wonderful week xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

ps links are all down below for easy finding x

♥ SUNGOLD YARN PACKS 

♥ LACY SHELL TUTORIAL

♥ SUNGOLD BLANKET PDF PATTERN

♥ SUNGOLD BLANKET INTRODUCTION

♥ CAL BLOG POST PART 1 (stripes 1-15)

♥ PART 2 MIXED STRIPE WORK SHEET

♥ PART 2 COLOURWASH WORK SHEET

 

 

 

Sungold Blanket CAL :: Part 1

HELLO, and welcome to the start of my gloriously bright and colourful SUNGOLD Crochet-Along!! It makes me so happy to begin the New Year with some wonderful colour and gentle, relaxing crochet, I honestly can't think of a better way to spend time in January. Most of you will have read all about the Sungold blanket by now and will know what I'm on about, but if you are new here (a big warm hellooooooo to anyone who is newly landed in the Attic), or if you missed my previous Sungold posts, you can read all about it in my introduction blog post >>

♥ SUNGOLD BLANKET INTRODUCTION

The Sungold colour palette is inspired by my visits to the beautiful horticultural gardens at Harlow Carr here in Yorkshire. It's a garden which is bursting with colour, most especially in the late summer when the beds are overflowing with flowers in bloom. I'll be sharing more inspiration photos each week as the CAL unfolds, because of course I enjoy us making a blanket together, but also l l-o-v-e the idea of taking you on a virtual stroll along these garden paths.

I've been playing with the Sungold colours for many months now, and they are honestly so, so beautiful together. If you love this colour palette and wish to have your own Sungold playtime, the yarn pack is available to buy from Wool Warehouse. I've chosen fifteen shades of Stylecraft Special DK >>

♥ STYLECRAFT SUNGOLD YARN PACK

This year I worked with my friends at Wool Warehouse and put together an alternative Sungold yarnpack using their own in-house Yarnsmiths brand. The yarn is called CREATE DK, and it's a wonderful alternative to Stylecraft if you fancy trying something new. You can read more about Create DK in my post ((here))

Creating two yarn packs for the same colour palette was pretty straightforward - obviously it wasn't possible to match the colours in an identical way as each range is unique, but I think I did a pretty god job of pairing them up. I thought it would be helpful to give you a full list for reference, so here are the fifteen Sungold colours in both ranges >>

Stylecraft Special DK       Yarnsmiths Create DK

Lavender                                    Lavender                        

Proper Purple                            Amethyst

Plum                                            Plum Purple

Boysenberry                               Pink Berry

Fuchsia Purple                          Vintage Pink

Gold                                             Antique Gold

Tomato                                        Paprika

Copper                                         Copper

Claret                                           Claret Red

Magenta                                      Sugar Plum

Dandelion                                   Mustard Yellow

Lime                                             Olive Green

Lincoln                                        Light Sage

Sage                                             Spearmint Green

Cyprus                                         Dark Sage

Whenever I start out on a new blanket journey I do like to be intimately acquainted with my chosen colours, and I find the best way for me to do this is to use my yarn pegs. I really enjoy playing with them, but more importantly they do serve a very useful purpose. Once you take the paper bands off your yarn, it's important that you know the names of the colours so that you avoid any mix ups. In the Sungold colour palette for example, I've found it's very easy to mix up the two pinks (Boysenberry and Fuchsia Purple). 

You don't have to make yarn pegs of course - any way you want to make a note of the colours is fine. Helen (her photo above) made a lovely, simple paper shade card which does a wonderful job.

For those of you who have made CAL blankets with me before then you will be familiar with the schedule. If this is your first time, here is a quick rundown of the weeks....

Today you have access to the pattern which remains free and accessible here on my blog for ever so that you can use it whenever you like. Each week I'll be giving you a list of stripes so that you can work on a portion of the blanket, and we aim to make 15-18 stripes a week. Don't worry if this isn't do-able for you, you can absolutely work at your own pace and take a decade to do it if you need to! 

♥ PART 1 : stripes 1-15 - that's what we're going to look at today

♥ PART 2 : stripes 16 - 33 (12th Jan)

♥ PART 3 : stripes 34 - 51 (190th Jan)

♥ PART 4 : stripes 52 - 69 (26th Jan)

♥ PART 5 : stripes 70 - 87 (2nd Feb)

♥ PART 6 : stripes 88 - 99 (9th Feb)

♥ PART 7 : catch up (darn in those ends!) (16th Feb)

♥ PART 8 : the border (25th Feb)

As always, I've created my usual photo-heavy tutorial to help you crochet your tension sample and learn how to create the Lacy Shell stripe. If you are searching for it in my sidebar list, I've named it "Lacy Shell Stripe". You can find it by clicking on the following link >>

♥ LACY SHELL STRIPE TUTORIAL 

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

♥ SUNGOLD PDF PATTERN

I know that some of you may find the thought of crocheting and counting a looooooong wiggly chain and then crocheting that first row a bit daunting. Here are a few tips to help you get off to an easy start...

1. use a bigger hook size to make your chain, then switch down again to work your first row. You can go up two half-sizes to open up the chains a little (eg if you're going to use a 4mm hook for the blanket, make the chain using a 5mm).
2. take your time, and plan to make this first row when you can sit quietly and be completely undisturbed as you count and concentrate on the pattern.
3. make sure you have good light to start your blanket.
4. use stitch markers. You will need to have an accurate chain count for this to work, there is no room for errors. Make your chains slowly, evenly, and place stitch markers at regular intervals, say every 25 chains. This way, if your mind suddenly goes blank (it happens), or the cat distracts you and you lose count (also a distinct possibility in my house), you only have to go back as far as your last stitch marker. I also place stitch markers when making my first row of trebles (as shown above), just to help me be sure I've got it right.

If you are new to my patterns, I want to reassure you of their ease. I deliberately design with beginners in mind so that newbie hooksters can feel confident taking on a large project. And for those of us who are blanket making veterans, my designs offer some top-notch, relaxing hooky therapy. The Lacy Shell is a delightful pattern, it's an easy-breezy two row repeat which is very visual and easy to learn. I'm confident that once you've completed the second stripe (which forms the pattern repeat) then you will be off and flying and more or less crocheting with your eyes shut.

OK....shall we take a proper look at the first set of stripes now? I can't wait to show you how the beeeeeeautiful the Sungold colours look when they come together in this lovely scalloped design......

....eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep, I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is part 1 of the Sungold blanket which has fifteen stripes, using all fifteen shades.

I knew instinctively before even starting this blanket that the colours would come together like a dream, and I was right. The overall effect is just lovely - it's uplifting, joyful and just the right kind of bright. It has summer vibes in abundance which is something I really wanted to achieve with this collection of colours.

The Lacy Shell pattern I designed for the Sungold blanket is such fun to crochet, it uses simple stitches to create a gentle scallop which looks far more complicated than it actually is. It's an easy pattern to learn, and once you get going with these stripes it's pure hooky pleasure all the way.

Here is the colour info for Part 1 of the Sungold Blanket. Remember each stripe is made up of two rows of crochet. Click on the following link for the printable worksheet...

♥ PART 1 MIXED STRIPE WORKSHEET 

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

2. Proper Purple (rows 3 & 4)

3. Gold (rows 5 & 6)

4. Copper (rows 7 & 8)

5. Cypress (rows 9 & 10)

6. Boysenberry (rows 11 & 12)

7. Lime (rows 13 & 14)

8. Lincoln (rows 15 & 16)

9. Plum (rows 17 & 18)

10. Lavender (rows 19 & 20)

11. Claret (rows 21 & 22)

12. Sage (rows 23 & 24)

13. Tomato (rows 25 & 26)

14. Dandelion (rows 27 & 28)

15. Fuchsia Purple (rows 29 & 30)

NOTE : If you are making a larger double/king blanket with two yarn packs, you will need to crochet some extra length. There will be an extra set of stripes given in part 6 for you to add on if you wish.

YARNSMITHS CREATE DK >> to make things a bit less complicated each week, I've decided to only list the Stylecraft colours that I'm personally working with to make my Sungold blanket. For those of you who are using the Yarnsmiths Create DK pack, you will find the colour list on the PDF worksheet. Here...let me show you what I mean......

^^ This is what the PDF worksheet looks like, you can download it and print it and keep it in your yarn bag. Each week there will be a sheet like this for you to download, so you can use it for both the Stylecraft yarn pack and the Yarnsmiths yarn pack.

♥ PART 1 MIXED STRIPE WORKSHEET 

When I make my samplers for my blankets, I always like to order the colours in a beautiful rainbow-ish colourwash, as shown above. I think it really shows off the colour palette in an inspirational way, and in recent years I've made colourwash versions of my full size blankets too. I know many of you love the Colourwash colourways, so I do try and work out a colour order if the palette will work well in this way, and the Sungold colours are perfect for it. I haven't had time this year to make a sampler like I usually do, but I can show you a graphic image if you like?

^^ isn't it luuuverly?!

My wonderful J has made a PDF worksheet for this Sungold Colourwash version, so if this is calling to you and you'd like to order your colours in this way, then you can go right ahead. I'll give you a worksheet each week alongside the "mixed stripe" version.

♥ PART 1 COLOURWASH WORKSHEET 

Now when you work the colourwash version, there will be some stripes which are single (2 rows), some double (4 rows) and some triple (6 rows) - remember you don't need to fasten off if you are creating double or triple stripes, you can just carry on across four or six rows of crochet, does that make sense? So for example, when you start the colourwash blanket you'll make your foundation chain in Magenta, then follow the pattern using Magenta for the first four rows (a double height stripe)

Something else to mention - the colourwash version is designed with a full 99 stripes (175cm) length in mind, so it won't be suitable for making a smaller sized blanket. If you have double yarn quantities you can increase the width if you like to make a double/king size, but the length is set at 175cm. I hope that all makes sense.

And finally - SQUARES!!!! I know it's a lot to take in, and maybe THREE different versions of one blanket is over the top but you know I do believe more is more. I LOVE to encourage and inspire creativity and am always on board for sparking ideas and lots of hooky, colourful joy.

My talented friend Kaz is working this Square harmony version as a CAL in one of the Attic24 Facebook groups, so if this design appeals to you, please do join the Hooked on Attic24 Facebook community. There is also a way to access the CAL info if you aren't on Facebook - pop over to Kaz's online page ((HERE)), and each week you'll be able to get the instalments for free. Thank you so much Kaz x

Well I think that's all for now...there's been a lot of information to share with you this week as we get started with this glorious new blanket journey. I hope it all makes sense and whichever yarn pack you are using, and whichever version of the Sungold blanket you are choosing to do, I hope you can find everything you need. 

I really enjoy having so many of you making a blanket along with me  and remember I'm right here with you doing my own CAL blanket as I'm only one week ahead of you!!! It's a bit crazy but I LOVE being a part of the CAL community so much.

Please do share your photos on social media as I'd love to see how you get on - you can share on my Facebook page, or use the hashtag #sungoldcal on Instagram so I can find you.

Wishing you a week full of happy moments with hook and yarn!

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♥ SUNGOLD YARN PACKS 

♥ LACY SHELL TUTORIAL

♥ SUNGOLD BLANKET PDF PATTERN

♥ SUNGOLD BLANKET INTRODUCTION

♥ PART 1 MIXED STRIPE WORK SHEET

♥ PART 1 COLOURWASH WORK SHEET

Yuletide Season 2023

Hey - hi - hello - happy new year !! 

I thought it was high time I dusted off my laptop (literally) and opened up my attic window to let some fresh air blow in. I've been hibernating it seems, content to shuffle about in my own little world enjoying the Yuletide season and grounding myself in my real life world for a while. Don't get me wrong, you know I adore our online community, but every so often it's good for me to gently disconnect from my digital world for a bit and take a rest.

I've had a super-relaxing few weeks spending quiet time at home with J and the Little People. I know it's a bit ridiculous that I still refer to them as Little People because they are anything but little these days - my two boys (age 21 and almost 14) are enormous humans compared to my short five foot three self. Our school holidays fell very late this year and Little B didn't break up until Friday 22nd. On the plus said it has given us this whole week at the start of January where we are still in holiday mode and it feels like a luxury to be able to start the year in a deliciously slow way. Back to school next Tuesday.

J decided to take a full two weeks off work to coincide with the school holidays which has been so, so nice, I can't remember the last time he took such a long holiday. There was a part of me which desperately wanted to take advantage and organise some sort of New Year holiday or short break away (the sea is always, always calling me) but nobody else wanted to do anything so I had to quieten myself down and accept the reality. In hindsight I realise it has been the right decision and there is a lot to be said for gentle, slow, stay-home days where the focus has been on rest and relaxation. 

The photos above were all taken in the late afternoon in mid December, which shows how very long our dark hours are at the moment. The first two images were around 4pm, and the one just above where you can see the moon is 4.30pm. I was looking at it just now and wondering what on earth I was doing walking along that particular stretch of road as it was getting dark, and then remembered I was heading to the pub with Little Lady for a cheeky pre-dinner drinky. So often it catches me by surprise that I have these wonderfully mature, grown up offspring now, I somehow keep forgetting that. 

I decorated late and slow for Christmas, the tree went up on Sunday 17th and other decorative bits and bobs happened in stops and starts over the following week.

I enjoyed the tree just as much as ever, the familiar clash of colours and decorations gathered over two decades of family life. Nothing new on the branches, but I've come to adore the sameyness of our old Christmas tree and the nostalgic memories that pour forth from its branches. It's been an absolute joy to have my latest blankets around too - the Starbright colours make me so, so stupidly happy. Colour-filled happy nostalgia is the very essence of Christmas for me I think.

Unpacking my homemade Christmas decorations is always a bit special and I love the quiet rediscovery of them each year. This is my Festive Garland from three years ago (the blog post and free pattern is ((here)), ahh, the colours are just so good!

I didn't take very many photos of my mantels this Christmas, but they are the same kind of thing that I do every year. I don't really go all out with my mantels, I have fairy lights and candles on there all year round so I simply add just a few decorative things along with the garland change. 

Winter Solstice was a day later than usual and fell on the 22nd which was the same day the schools finished for Christmas so it felt like a lovely time for quiet celebration. I lit a Clementine scented candle and made a small ivy and eucalyptus wreath to go around it, and it was just enough. I've learnt over the years that it's only me who cares about celebrating the four turning points in the year as the rest of the family don't share my love of the seasons. So these days I resist the urge to drag them all into it, and just go about my own personal little rituals which have meaning to me.

For quite a few years now I've been treating myself to a special festive bouquet, usually timed to arrive for the Winter Solstice. This year I decided not to use the usual online letterbox flower company (their festive bouquet had flowers in it which I didn't really like all that much), but instead I went to a local florist shop in town. I told the lady what I liked - mainly foliage and berries with some bold red flowers so long as they weren't carnations (!) -  and she said she would need an hour to make something up specially for me. I honestly was a bit nervous as this is a real indulgence and I only ever buy myself expensive flowers once a year. But my goodness, the bouquet they created for me was stunning! You can see in the photo above, I had just collected it from the florist and the single Amaryllis stem has five beautiful buds just about to burst open....oh I was soooo excited that they included one of my favourite blooms. In fact, I never realised that you could buy an actual amaryllis stem in a florist shop?

Over the Christmas week the flowers opened....

....and I couldn't love them more. In fact, two weeks on and the bouquet is still looking really good - I've thinned it out a bit and re-cut the stems and I reckon it'll be good for another week yet. What a wonderful treat I gave myself.

Christmas day itself was wonderfully relaxed, just the five of us taking it easy, enjoying good food and drinks and simple family time. I know I've said my Little People are no longer little children, but every year they do seem to delight in the same traditions that we've built throughout their childhood. One of those is party poppers at the dinner table - does anyone else do this? My kidlets absolutely love them, and there is always a competition between them to see who can get the perfect aim with the streamers over the lampshade.

We had old fashioned Christmas crackers with paper hats, jokes and little gifts inside. This origami frog was made by the Big Teen who has always loved paper folding since being young. I've kept the frog on my mantel, a little memento of a wonderful Christmas time full of simple traditions.

Something else we did a lot of this Christmas was jigsaw puzzles. Again, this is such a strong, long standing tradition carried forward from my own childhood. There is something so enjoyable about sitting at the table on a quiet morning to work on a jigsaw, the slow simplicity of it really makes me happy. All the family join in too, the Little People and J, all of us taking turns over the course of a day or two. We favour the smaller 500 piece puzzles which can pretty easily be completed in a day - we have two Christmassy ones which we bought many years ago, and this year I also purchased a new one.....

 

.....Nutcraker Magic. Oh, this one was SO MUCH FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was interesting all the way from start to finish, and the puzzle pieces themselves were so, so good to fit together, do you know what I mean? When there is zero wiggle room and every piece just plunks in place in a really tightly, satisfying way? Well, this puzzle delivered peak jigsaw satisfaction, can ten out of ten recommend.

I can honestly say that these quiet days at home have been restorative in the true sense of the word. I've spent a lot of time on the sofa wrapped in colourful blankets, passing the time doing nothing of note. Sometimes reading, sometimes snoozing, sometimes watching easy films which the Little People chose, and sometimes just daydreaming and allowing my mind and body to be completely at rest. It's been absolutely bloomin' lovely. 

The weather has been awful really. I honestly think it has rained almost constantly for about three weeks now, so much water falling and everywhere so waterlogged and sodden. Of course I've still been out and about as my lifestyle involves a fair bit of daily walking, but it's been very uninspiring out there.

The woodland paths are exceptionally wet, more like little streams than footpaths, so it's been wellies for the win. 

It's not been possible to get into the countryside for walking because fields and paths are just mud slides at the moment. But last weekend we drove out into the Dales to see how the river was looking at Linton Falls.....

.....this river is always impressive but right now it is mind blowingly full. It was exhilarating just standing near it - the noise of it was incredible. 

One day last week we decided to go to Salts Mill, it's been a while since I've been and amazingly we realised that J has never been. Not ever?! Surely he has?! But no, in the sixteen years of living here it's always just been me and the Little People who have visited and I was keen to show him what he's been missing.

It was so beautifully decorated for Christmas, and although it was busy it still felt very restful and just a wonderful place to slow down and spend idle time. We took our time browsing the whole two floors, taking it all in and marvelling at this incredible building. J and I both share a love of art materials, so I knew he would adore Salts - it has a massive art shop section full of pens, pencils, paints and all manner of creative inspiration (he bought new pens, I knew he would)

The Home shop was looking glorious, it's always very special at Christmas time with a lot of effort put into the displays.

I mean, just look at this ^^ isn't it beautiful?

It was a really enjoyable family outing - top notch browsing and then a late pub lunch down by the river in Saltaire village. Wonderful, wholesome holiday stuff.

I bought a few cards from Salts like I always do, they have a very extensive selection of artists cards there. I fell in love with the above image titled "the Strollers" by Dee Nickerson - it reminded me so much of our many visits to Saltburn over the years, and honestly I am madly craving a visit to the coast right now. Maybe sometime in January I will just go off for a few days like I did in October, the call of the sea is running strong.

I packed Christmas away yesterday, boxed it all up for another year. My Starbright blankets are staying though, I can't bring myself to lose the joy of those colours in this season of low light and greyness.

Creatively I've been in a bit of a lull during the past few weeks. I've been slowly, slowly working on my new Sungold stripes which I'll talk to you more about in a moment. I did pull together the above collection of yarn balls before Christmas though, and I sat for a few solid days and crocheted some Christmas gifts for friends. It was a fun thing to work on a new design, sitting and hooking and stitching something new - I'll show you next week what I made because I think there could be a new pattern to share which you might enjoy. 

So Sungold stripes - oh, they are looking so so so GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm not going to spoil the surprise because you will see them soon enough when the Sungold Crochet-Along begins.....ToMoRRoW!!! Eeeppppp.....it's come around all of a  sudden and I have much still to do. Thankfully I had the sense to get the pattern all written up a while ago and J (love him) has already made the charts and worksheets and PDF things for you, but my job for today is to pull together the tutorial. And by pull together, I mean I need coffee first and then I am photographing and editing and uploading and writing and checking and checking some more. Always so last minute, but it's just the way I am.

If you are joining in, then we shall be getting going on Friday morning - I think between 9 and 10am tomorrow I should be ready to sing and dance with you......see you then!

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Starbright Stripe Blanket :: Ta-dah!

It's been a few months now since I introduced you to the Starbright colour palette at the start of October, and I've been thrilled to see so many of you enjoying it. Starbright is such a delightful mix of deep night sky blues and jewel brights, and I think I'm possibly more in love with these colours than ever. Maybe it's because we are so close to Christmas now, but these merry shades really lift my spirits and bring to mind so many things I enjoy about the festive season.

I made this collage of images to share the inspiration behind my colour choices - it's a palette full of childhood nostalgia and memories of old Christmas traditions and joys. Twinkly lights and crisp cold nights, foil wrapped chocolates and shiny baubles, brightly coloured tinsel and over-the-top garlands. 

You can read more about my design journey and the making of the original Starbright square blanket in this blog post >>

★ STARBRIGHT SQUARE BLANKET TA-DAH!

As much as I ADORED making my Starbright square blanket, I've learnt over the years that not everyone shares my love of square designs. The ends, oh the many, many dreaded ends! And the joining process, ooooohhhhh it's just all too much of a faff! I hear these cries all over social media when there is a square design in the making! So I always make the effort to offer an alternative option for all you stripe lovers and it's a wonderful thing that my yarn kits and colour palettes are so versatile.

I created two worksheets for the Starbright stripes and the graphic images are shown above. On the left is the mixed stripe and this is my preferred choice. On the right is the colourwash version and I know this beautiful ordered stripe has been loved by many of you. 

I hadn't intended to actually make a striped version of the Starbright blanket myself, I was only planning on whipping up a sampler to demonstrate how well the colours could work in a stripe. However, as my sampler was growing I began to fall hopelessly in love with it. So I did the sensible thing - I purchased a second Starbright yarn kit for myself and as soon as it arrived I started out on my own stripe journey.

These easy v-stitches have such a therapeutic ease about them that it's impossible not to love the hooky relaxation they deliver. The joyful colours add another layer of pleasure, and I can honestly say that I have been smitten by this blanket right from the very start.

Throughout October it gave me such a lot of comfort, coming with me on various train journeys and times spent away from home.

I also spent many happy hours hooking those relaxing V's with friends at the café, and despite October being a very difficult month for me, I do have a lot of happy memories woven into those stitches.

Most of my stripes were crocheted at home as the autumn season grew colder, and these cosy times spent snuggled up with the kitty were nothing but blissful.

Slowly my Starbright stripes grew....

....the stripes becoming more and more blankety as October gave way to November.

By the start of December I was almost finished - in the above photo I only had a handful of stripes left to make and I was very excited to start thinking about a lovely little border to finish it off.

I ended up making 90 stripes in total, so six stripes for each colour. 

I designed a simple border using mostly blue shades because I felt like the exuberance of the stripes would benefit from some calm around the outer edge. If you remember the finished Starbright square design, I used this same colour recipe with that blanket too. The little pop of red is a nod to the Christmas inspiration and I think it adds the perfect finishing touch.

As you can see above, I chose six colours in total, and I used less than 20g of each colour.

I understand that the contrasting red might not be everyone's choice, so it's perfectly OK to swap that out if you wish. In the above photo you can see I removed the Lipstick red and replaced it with Turquoise instead.....

....and this gives a much quieter feel to the border. As with all my designs, please do feel free to change the colours around as you like, I'm not precious about these things and very much support individual creativity. 

I love this border! It's similar to the "Spot on" border I designed many years ago, but with more rows either side to make it a little more substantial.

It's just sooooooooooooo cute! The little blobs of red make my insides flutter, I love the effect very, very much.

When I was spreading out my blanket to take a full photo for you yesterday, I realised that it was the first time I'd actually viewed it as a whole. Mostly it's spent its short life folded up in my bag, or scrumpled up on the sofa, my blankets are extremely well used and it appears that we're not really a neatly-folding family.

It's a lovely feeling for me as the designer and maker to have a quiet little ta-dah moment all to myself before I share it with anyone else. It's a bit special to finish a whole blanket that has spanned across a couple of seasons, and I admit I felt a bit emotional. I feel like me and the V's have been through a lot together (it's been to Dorset and back three times), and well, I do love how well it turned out.

Let me show you.............

................Ta-da!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm so happy with it. I think the combination of the bold colours with the zig-zaggy V-stitch pattern is just right, and although it's not an obviously festive colour palette, I can't help but see baubles and fairy lights when I look at it.

The border pattern is straightforward, and uses all double crochet and chains (that's sc for those who use US crochet terms).

I've written up the pattern and added it to the V-stitch Stripe page so that all the instructions for this blanket are in one place. It's written as a tutorial with some photos to help, and I'm sorry I haven't had time to create a printable version for you yet. I hope that's ok, that you won't mind accessing the tutorial online for now, only I didn't want to delay publishing it for you.

You can find it by clicking on the following link (you'll need to scroll down through the tutorial to find it as the border comes after the stripe instructions>>

★ V-STITCH STRIPE TUTORIAL

I'm really enjoying living with these two Starbright blankets on my sofa, and later today they'll be joined by the Yuletide blanket too. I'll try and remember to take a photo of them in residence to share with you - I'm really looking forward to seeing how they look when the tree is up and the fairy lights are twinkling.

Thank you for your patience if you've been waiting for this border pattern to finish off your own Starbright stripes, I'm sorry I took so long. Enjoy this last happy part of your stripy journey!

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Here are all relevant links in one place.....

★ STARBRIGHT V-STITCH TUTORIAL

★ STARBRIGHT YARN PACK

★ STARBRIGHT SQUARE TUTORIAL

★ STARBRIGHT SQUARE BLANKET TA-DAH POST

 

 

All Good Things

Loving these early mornings that start out clear and bright - can you spot the crescent moon up there?

I zoomed into the first photo to show you the view out across the town in more detail. I love living in a place where there are hilly streets and far-stretching views.

The canal stayed still and frozen for almost a week, the boats wedged in by the ice. There were skating ducks and the swans spent a lot of time waddling around on the tow path taking up space.

A gorgeous red sky on Sunday morning, I dashed out in my pyjamas to capture the beauty on my camera. It was so fleeting, there and gone within a few minutes and I was so glad I made the sprint to the end of the street to see it (not easy in crocs).

Welcome to my Gender Reveal party......it's a girl!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes, we have pink in the house and it's so bloomin' soft and pretty and delicate. I've decided to fill my Christmas mantel with white flowers - hyacinths and paper whites - although I fear I won't have enough time to make it happen. It'll probably just be green leaves and buds, but the promise of white blooms will be there at least.

I bought myself a new bowl, a big, wide, shallow porcelain thing that I'm absolutely obsessed with. I snapped it up for £3.50 from a local shop that is about to close down and I am using it and washing it on repeat as I attempt to eat every single meal out of it. Do you know the design? It's an oldie but a goodie - Portmeirion "crazy daisy" which I believe is now sadly a discontinued line. 

I went out for coffee with a friend yesterday, to a little indie café in town that I often forget about but really should visit more often. The coffee is outstanding (it's roasted on site in the "micro roastery") and the man who owns the place is a very talented barista. I mean, how could you not be seriously impressed by a coffee that has a swan gliding across it??

Sungold yarn packs - out of stock for a while due to a missing colour that got held up out there beyond our little island. But now they are in my shop again and selling like the proverbial hot cakes. Hot Yarn. If you fall in love with these colours (it's an easy fall) and want them in your life, then do go and snaffle a yarn kit before they are all gone again.

https://www.woolwarehouse.co.uk/attic24/attic24-sungold-stylecraft-special-dk

The Crochet-A-Long begins three weeks on Friday, it's all very exciting and I am so, so looking forward to it.

We had this fantabulous photo to swoon over this week when Kaz posted her finished Sungold Harmony on socials. Woah. It's so juicy and happy and sunkissed and divine, isn't it? I adore it, absolutely love everything about it. So stripes or squares, the choice will be yours in January if you're Sungolding along in the new year.

And last but not least.....Starbright stripes. My v-stitch blanket is finally finished, I completed the border over the weekend and I love love love it. I used 6 colours, keeping the tones similar to the Starbright Square blanket border. That pop of red makes me crazy with joy, but if it's not working for you then of course you can switch it out and tone it down by using another colour that is less poppy.

I took some photos as I was making the border and am currently half way through writing up the pattern for it, so am hoping to have that shared tomorrow (thursday) ready for you to hook over the weekend if you are waiting. If you want to check your yarn quantities, I used 16-18g of the blue shades, and less for the pops of red (approx. 13g for that round), so hopefully you'll have enough to go around. I'll share some proper ta-dah photos with you tomorrow, the finished blanket looks wonderful, if I do say so.

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Feels Like Winter

In my humble opinion, the end of November should really still have an autumn feel to it, because in all honesty our winters are long enough when they span from December to March. This year however, winter came howling in at the end of November and snatched away any hope of a gradual seasonal shift. Yes, it's safe to say there's been nothing remotely gradual about the early arrival of winter this year, and the sudden icy freeze came as a bit of a shock.

Despite the freezing chill, it's been beautiful out there, a real gift to have days (yes, multiple days!) of blue sky and sunshine.

These photos were taken in the middle of last week during the final days of November, and as you can see it looked and felt very, very much like winter. The temperatures stayed on the low side, and waking up to a minus four icy start was bracing.

You've probably gathered by now that I walk a lot in my day-to-day life, and I am not generally put off by the weather. I mean, I much (much, much) prefer walking when it's bright and sunny but getting outside to walk at least once a day is a non negotiable part of my wellness routine, rain or shine. I usually have two walks each morning, the first one is a fast "wake-up walk" at 7am with J, and then the second one I usually take on my own as I head out to do our daily grocery shop.

This second solo walk is much slower, and I love to take my time. I find that walking is a wonderful opportunity to practice mindfulness, and for me personally, my morning stroll is often a time of mental clarity and creativity. It's a time when I absorb my surroundings, often stopping to really look at things in detail....

....it's a wonderful practice, to consciously slow down and spend time appreciating the seasonal details of nature.

Taking daily photographs has become a way of life for me now, after so many years inhabiting Blogland. I just can't imagine going through life in too much of a hurry to stop, appreciate and photograph the things that inspire me.

Frost is such a beautiful thing, a sparkly dusting of winter magic which makes even the dullest plants look enchanting.

On this morning I was actually on route to the supermarket, with a spur of the moment detour around the meadow and along the canal bank. I am so thankful that I have such freedom in my days that allows me to spend time outside....

....I'm someone who needs a regular sun/light fix and I feel my whole soul craving it if I go too long without.

We had our first dusting of snow last week, it wasn't much, just a soft sprinkling that made the landscape look beautiful.

The canal froze over too, always a sure sign that winter is most definitely underway. I took a slow, slip-slidey walk to Coopers café on Friday morning, it's a highlight of my week and I always wake up on Friday's with a happy heart.

It was extra special last week because I had friends visiting, so my stripy Starbright was not alone for long.....

.....awwww, I had the best kind of yarny company! I LOVE the above photo, it's the three of us sat around the table laughing and chatting and eating caramel shortbread and yarning along all day. In case you are curious about my visitors, the sock-in-progress belongs to Christine Winwick Mum, and the delicious granny squares belong to the lovely Emma Varnam. We try and get together every few months if we can (out last meet up was early September), to chat all things yarn and design and blog and creative living. We can quite literally talk all day long without pausing for breath, it's just the best thing having friends who are totally on your wave length.

Our days are so short now as we head through December, but it does mean that I often get to see the most beautiful light in the late afternoons.

It's Saturday morning now, and I'm out walking the hilly streets of my neighbourhood with J and the Peeps. Well, two of the LP at least - the eldest Giant Child lives a very independent life these days. I so appreciate still having our 19 year old and 13 year old come out with us though, and more and more often they are asking to come without an ounce of bribery or coercion needed. It's just before 9am in the above photo....

.....and yes, it was proper cold and frosty still.

We walked along the farm track...

...stopping often to oooo and aaaaah over the beautiful iciness of everything.

It was lovely and still in the woodland, a gentle, chilled quiet as we strolled along and breathed in the cold air.

I love that we get to start our weekend in this way, it makes me SO happy. It might seem a bit odd to walk up hills and through woodland and around a castle on the way to do a grocery shop, but adding on that extra hour of time is worth so much and I love that the Little People are living this kind of life with us.

My flowers for this week came from the market which I'm delighted about - a wonderful lady who is fairly new to the market, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to be a regular customer. She had some mixed bouquets and wreaths for sale, but it was her buckets of floristry blooms that really caught my eye. Buying individual stems is not something I get to do very often because I am usually just buying the standard cheap bunches that the supermarkets sell. But just look at these flowers, aren't they spectacular? The flower lady told me they are a chrysanthemum variety called "fuego" which is Spanish for "fire" and I fell instantly in love with them. She wrapped them so nicely for me in brown paper tied with rafia, and I could not take my eyes off them all the way home.

I only bought two stems as they were quite expensive, but I am so enjoying them on my table. Such beauty right there. Love 'em.

Something else I'm loving right now is the return of the leafy clems, a regular seasonal supermarket purchase which always makes me glad for winter.

The leafage is a bit extra on this batch (more leaf than fruit) but I love the look of them on my table, and the fruits themselves are just sooooo sweet and juicy.

I've been feeling quite tired of late, kind of like my body is naturally wanting to send me into some sort of mild winter hibernation state. I took a nap on Saturday afternoon, it wasn't planned, but I found that I simply could not keep my eyes open. I was on the sofa with the kitty (you can just spot her in the above photo) and what with the cosiness of the blankets, the gentle weight of the cat, and the rhythmic rows of gentle v-stitches on my hook, well, I was tipped over the edge into a deep and restorative power nap. I woke up a bit disorientated but felt so much better for having the extra zzzz's.

All this talk of winter, and we are in December of course, but I just can't quite bring myself to face up to the idea of Christmas just yet. All over social media it seems like Christmas things have been happening for many weeks already, but here in the Attic I'm still weirdly embedded in Autumn. 

I did hang up my one solitary strand of tinsel.....

.....and I've been eating mini mince pies which is about as festive as I can manage this early in the month. The Little People are nagging about the tree, so I guess I will have to rally myself quite soon and get on my hands and knees and into the attic cupboards to perform the annual drag-out of the Christmas Boxes.

How's it with you, are you all decked out or are you taking your time like me? And do you do a real tree or a faux job? We'll have our usual ancient old tree-in-a-box again this year, it must be at least twenty five years old, an old friend. I really should get a move on and let it see the light of day.....

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Sungold Blanket CAL Update

It's just over a week since the new Sungold yarn pack was let loose on the world (blog post HERE in case you missed it), and the response has been fantastic. It's always a bit of a wobbly feeling for me to share a new design, it's a weirdly emotional experience, a combination of fluttery anxiety and almost overwhelming excitement. Even after all these years and the many new blankets I've shared I do still get nervous, hoping that you'll like what I'm creating enough to feel inspired to join me for the ride. I want to take this opportunity to thank you for the all round lovely response you always give to my designs and colour palettes, I appreciate it very much indeed.

As always, the team at Wool Warehouse are doing a stellar job and yarn packs have absolutely flown out, so much so that at the moment Sungold is temporarily out of stock. We are awaiting one missing colour which has been delayed, but all being well there should be lots more packs coming together in about ten days or so.

I am SO excited for this crochet-along journey, I know that I'll be more than ready to embrace these uplifting colours in the New Year and get stuck into some pretty floral inspired stripes. I love love love that there will be thousands of you joining me, isn't it a wonderful thought? All over the world there will be new Sungold blankets growing, it makes me so ridiculously happy just to think about it. So thank you again, our crochet community really is something special.

In my Sungold introduction post I mentioned that alongside my stripes there would also be the option to make a square blanket. This will be run as an alternative CAL in the "Hooked on Attic24" Facebook Group, and is being made at the moment by my crochet friend Kaz Hall. You can find more details about all of Kaz's crochet work on her Facebook page {Insomnia Crochet}, and I'll keep you updated about accessing the colour information for the squares when we get closer to the start of the CAL.

Kaz is really hooking up a storm and as you can see, her progress photos shared on social media this past week have been amazing. I am soooooooooooooooo excited about this blanket!!

As of today, this is where Kaz is up to.....oh my!! The COLOURS!!!!!!!!!!! I mean, I know I chose them, but seeing them like this puts a whole new delicious spin on the colour palette, it's utterly glorious. And now can you imagine what's going to happen when the greens and golds and reds start washing in on the diagonal....it's going to be spectacular. 

Remember that if you want to make this version of the Sungold blanket, you'll need the Sungold yarn pack (15 colours), plus an additional ball of Meadow and Violet (17 colours in total).

Now then, I've got some hot yarn news to share with you today, and it's all related to the above photo. Do you see all that glorious yarny colour, all One Hundred and Twenty balls of it? That's the new extended range of Create DK yarn, which is part of the Yarnsmiths range. And if you hadn't already heard of it, Yarnsmiths first launched in the summer of 2022 and is the in-house yarn brand belonging to Wool Wearhouse. You can see all the current yarns in their range ((here)).

The first set of yarns that Yarnsmiths worked on is called Create, and it comes in double knit, aran, chunky and super chunky weights. It's a premium acrylic yarn wound into 100g balls, very similar to our beloved Stylecraft Special DK.

Initially the Create DK range consisted of 44 shades, and as a good many of those were neutrals, there wasn't quite enough colour to really float my boat. However, a few weeks ago, there was an almighty big colour explosion and the Create DK range expanded to now boast a whopping 120 shades, and let me tell you they are beeeeeeautiful.

I was lucky enough to be gifted a full yarn peg set which came in its very own hand crafted wooden display box.

Do you want to see?

OK, let me show you the entire Create 120................

......ta-dah!!! Isn't that a sight for weary eyes?

These pegs have been meticulously made by Emily who runs an online Etsy shop selling them - you might have already heard of it, it's called Eliza and the Giraffe. She makes up yarn pegs for many of the most popular yarn ranges on the market, the ones with a focus on colour that are favoured by crocheters.

You have probably seen me faffing with my own yarn pegs many, many times here on the blog - they are one of my most valued "tools of the trade" as a designer. Did you know that I made my own set of Stylecraft yarn pegs way back in the day, long before I ever saw anybody else doing it? I do believe I pioneered the humble clothes peg/yarn sample idea - I made my first ones back in 2014 when I had my studio and was designing the Cosy stripe blanket for my very first crochet-along. You can read more about the way I personally use yarn pegs as an aid for colour planning and design in this archive post.

Anyhow......back to Create DK. The colours....oh, the COLoUrS! They are wonderful - still rather a lot of neutrals to be honest, but the vast yarny colour spectrum that Yarnsmiths have given us is a true delight.

And what about the yarn itself? Obviously this is a relatively new yarn and I haven't had the opportunity to work extensively with it just yet. But I can certainly give you my current opinion.

The first thing I noticed was the softness. As you can see in the above photo, Create yarn has a certain amount of surface floof which gives the yarn a very soft feel. It's not fluffy as such, but it's not what I would call a smooth yarn either. This means that it handles a little differently - I find it slightly slower to crochet with.

And it's definitely not a shiny yarn (which is a personal no-no for me), no, Create has a delightfully soft, matt look and feel to it which makes it feel cosy and warm. This is very noticeable in the finished crochet fabric as well as seeing/feeling it in the yarn ball.

The other thing I've noticed relates to the yarn strand itself - the ply of the yarn doesn't have quite the same twist as the Stylecraft Special. Less twist generally gives the yarn strand more "loft" which means it's a little airier in feel and appearance. You can see in the above photo, the difference in the ball sizes - both are 100g balls with the same yardage, but I would say that the Create feels a little plumper, simply because there is slightly more loft in the strands.

Now do please keep in mind that I am no expert on these things, and this is merely my observations and opinions as a yarn lover. And the differences are very slight. Take a look at the next photo......

....I took the two balls of Sage (Stylecraft) and Spearmint Green (Create) and laid out the yarn strands for you to see. In the above photo, the Stylecraft yarn is on the top, and the Create yarn on the bottom. There is very little difference to be honest, and in terms of the finished crochet these yarns produce, the gauge and feel of the crochet is very, very similar.

I had a little play with working up a sample of my new Sungold stitch pattern (shown above) and I really like the way it crocheted up in the Create yarn. It's got a slightly different feel to the Stylecraft Special, but I honestly can say that I like them both.

Now this wasn't planned, but during the past week I was chatting back and forth with Wool Warehouse and we decided to do something spontaneous and put together a Sungold yarn pack using Create DK yarn. I thought it might be a good opportunity to see how the colours can work together in an Attic24 blanket, and it also gives you (the worldwide hooking community) a chance to give this yarn a try if you are curious about it. I think having choices is always good.

You can find the Sungold Create yarn packs in my shop at Wool Warehouse (they are at a discounted price right now).

Here's the link >>

SUNGOLD CREATE DK YARN PACK

SO what does this mean for the Sungold CAL in January? Well, I'm making my own Sungold blanket in Stylecraft yarn as it's still my favourite. But if you are curious about the new Create yarn and want to give it a go, when the CAL begins I'll list both sets of colours for the stripes. I'll only be crocheting with the Stylecraft myself as that's my personal preference, but I want to make it easy for you if you wish to try out the Create. Does that make sense?

Coming back to the Sungold Harmony blanket that Kaz is making, remember I said you will need 17 colours for this version? Well if you are going to use the Create DK yarn pack, you will need to add in Grass Green and Dark Lavender as your two extras. Kaz will also be offering two charts in her version of the Sungold CAL, so you can easily choose between using Stylecraft Special DK or Yarnsmiths Create DK.

The Crochet-along begins in five weeks time, on Friday 5th January, so there's still time to gather in your chosen yarn and get ready to join in the fun.

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Slow November

Brrrrrrr, it's cold here in Atticland right now and dare I say it feels more like winter than autumn. We've had some hard frosts and this morning the first teeeeeny little flakes of snow swirled about in the wind.

It's mostly been wet and grey (of course it has, this seems to be the November default setting), but when the sun has decided to pay us a visit it has been glorious.

We walked through the woods on Saturday morning - 9.30 am in the above photos - and this is a surprise because not one but two teenage offspring were with us. It's rare that they are up and about this early on a weekend morning, and truly a very happy occurrence when they both decided to come out with us with no persuasion needed. Ok, yes there was the promise of breakfast in the café after our walk and Saturday market shop, but I do believe they weren't really bribed on this occasion. Totally of their own accord, I swear. 

The treetops are mostly bare now....

...but the wind was bringing down the remaining few leaves in a beautiful swirl of golden colour. I managed to catch one before it hit the ground and closed my eyes to make a wish, because that's a rule that can't be broken. Goodness knows what I must have looked like dancing around under the tree trying to catch a falling leaf, but I was so happy when I managed it. It's way harder than you would think. 

Reflections are still very much my thing, I just can't stop loving them. And trees reflected in water, well that's my second favourite type of reflection (clouds always have the number one spot).

An upside to the bareness of the branches in November is the sudden increase in light levels in the woodland. Usually this spot is very shady and so it's rather lovely to see The Huntress doing  a bit of sunbathing.

Saturday morning market shopping was great as always, and my best buy were hands down these kiwi fruits. You maybe can't tell the scale from the photo but they are petite, and my goodness the flavour was huge!!!! It's the first time I've ever tried red kiwis and they tasted of raspberries and kiwi mixed together - so sweet, I was in fruity heaven with these things. I wish I had bought more, and am keeping all fingers crossed for Wednesday because I shall be racing up into town and hoping to find them again.

No new flowers this week because as predicted my chrysanths are still looking amazingly good considering they are now a week old. I did dither around the fresh flowers in the supermarket today because they had parrot tulips in the reduced price bucket that looked amazing, and I was very tempted. In the end I walked away - but the regret is lingering. Parrot tulips (magenta ones), oh they were a bit special. 

I do have a pot of hyacinth bulbs on my mantel which I bought yesterday, and I'm sooooo so so so happy about it. I love having these in the home, and over the years it has become a favourite November ritual of mine. I still so clearly remember buying my first hyacinths for this house, November 2008. Fifteen years ago. 15. Fif-teen. WOW. Sometimes my blogging history blows my mind to pieces. I don't know the colour - pink or blue - so it's a bit like waiting for a Gender Reveal party to happen. I shall keep you posted.

A new cheap and cheerful little candle on my mantel, also a result of the weekend supermarket shop. The scent is Spiced Apple and Berry and it is delightful I have to say.

I also took delivery of some new wax melts from the Botanical Candle Company - I've gone for the scent named "Half Light" which is absolute perfection for this time of year.

The blurb (because I do love a good bit of descriptive blurb)>>

Half Light was made to bring back memories of a childhood spent studding oranges with cloves in the run-up to Christmas. The gentle sweetness of clementine is perfectly balanced by the resinous spice of clove to make a rounded, homely and familiar scent.

As I burn wax melts regularly next to my bed, a while ago I decided to buy some good quality non-toxic tea lights and I can highly recommend them. They are made from rapeseed oil (no paraffin or nasty chemicals) and burn slow and clean, plus they come in clear plastic cups which can be wiped out and popped into the household recycling. They are here on Amazon, if you burn tealights at home and want to switch to a cleaner alternative. And this is the ceramic burner I have, I love it.

I put my Big Blanket on the bed at the weekend too, it was time. Temperatures have been dropping to zero degrees at night, and we are forecast snow showers this week so the weather will remain chilly. This blanket is made from pure wool (it cost an absolute fortune to make), so it has a satisfying weightiness to it which is very comforting when you're pinned underneath it. I've actually slept really well the past few nights so perhaps I just needed to be immobilized a little.

I took this photo of my hill view today as I was walking down the road to the supermarket. I love the hillyness of where I live, it's a constant reminder wherever you are in the town that this is a rural community and the hills are (and always will be) bigger than the buildings.

I was working some more stripes on my Starbright blanket over the weekend, it's the perfect activity when the weather is cold. I really need to get the border pattern together to share, I keep forgetting to do it, especially with all the Sungold activity during this past week. I've been very busy on social media, it takes a lot of my time to keep up with all the platforms (my Facebook page, 3 different Attic24 Facebook groups, plus Instagram) but I do my best not to let it all slip slide. My apologies if you've reached the end of your v's and now want to add the border, I am prioritising that job for this week.

Thank you as always for calling in to read my rambles, I hope you're enjoying these cosy, shortening days as we move towards the Winter Solstice here in the Northern Hemisphere. And if you are upsidedown and heading towards summer, do tell me what you've been up to as your season heats up? In fact, lets have a global seasonal weather report in the comments, I'd love that! From me here in the north of England - mostly very cold and wet, with low digit temperatures and showers forecast for this week. Over to you........

 

EDIT >> THANK YOU so much for all the weather and activity reports from all over the world!! It's absolutely wonderful to read about where you all are, thank you!! I've loved the comments on this post so much, and I hope you've enjoyed reading and connecting too xxxx