Attic24

Three Weeks On

Three weeks on and I'm feeling like my days are slowly beginning to brighten again, I can't tell you how good it feels to have some lightness back in my heart. Thank you so very much for all of your kindness in the comments of my last post - reading your collective voices and shared experiences has helped me more than I can put into words. Beyond grateful for you all x

This morning I walked early with J, back into our work/school routine after the ease of the Easter holidays. We walked along the canal and into the park where the cherry trees are looking sensational. I think I swooned a little at the top of that pathway, the floral abundance dancing above my head made my heart soar.

I took myself out for a quiet coffee today, a quick detour on the way to do a food shop. You know how much I adore my frothy coffees and have them all the time, but somehow the gentleness of this daily routine has been extra beneficial the past few weeks. It's like giving myself permission to just sit still and enjoy being totally in the present moment, no worries, no melancholy, no angst, just a time of quiet peace and gentle pleasure.

I realised a couple weeks ago when I was last here chatting to you that I needed to properly take some time out and look after myself. I put my crochet "work" projects on hold and spent very little time online, quietly detaching myself so that I could concentrate on just being Me. Not the Attic24 version of me, but the quiet, introverted Lucy version.

With my crochet placed on the back burner I instinctively turned to sock making which is my go-to yarny hobby when I'm not hooking. It felt good to gently work around and around with those teeny, colourful stitches in odd moments of the day when I needed to keep my hands and mind occupied.

I finished the first sock at the weekend, sat outside one sunny afternoon working my way down the foot and then onto the toes. I love the colourful stripes and am excited to cast on the second sock so that I can look forward to getting my feet all cosy in their Italian wooly finery. We've had some lovely sunny days in April but it's still really chilly especially in the early mornings and evenings. In short, it's still sock weather here in North Yorkshire.

I've been pottering about with the family, enjoying some local walks on sunny afternoons....

...including a trip to Bolton Abbey on Easter Sunday. My oh my it was busy, positively hectic on the stones!

We were away from home last week, a holiday that I booked for us last month before all the Dorset drama unfolded. We'd had such a lot of indecision about what to do and where to go, but in the end it was Little B who helped us settle on travelling south to do some walking. We didn't go too far south, about two hours drive into the wonderfully picturesque Peak District National Park in Derbyshire. We stayed in the small village of Eyam which is right on the mid point of the Peak District where the Dark Peak (the gritstone) meats the White Peak (the limestone).

I booked a very traditional holiday cottage which was kind of old fashioned but extremely cosy and comfortable. You can see it in the above photo, it's in a row of six cottages that are grade 2 listed and date back to the late 18th century.

We walked every day, long and varied hikes all within a short drive of where we stayed. It was quite tough walking to be honest, the hills of the Derbyshire Dales are huuuuge! But what a wonderful way to spend the days, striding out with J and Little B, surrounded by nature and enjoying the most gorgeous scenery.

We walked and walked, covering 7-10 miles each day and returning to the the cottage feeling weary but very happy.

We also took short strolls around Eyam in the evenings after we'd cooked and eaten dinner at the cottage, and I think they were my favourite times of all. At this time of year the evening light is magical right up to around 8.30pm.

Eyam has a really lovely little tea room right in the centre of the village and so we were able to have a coffee and some breakfast  before heading out for the day, as well as picking up something sweet to take with us on our walk. My goodness, the home baking was so, so good and I devoured this cake (clementine, cranberry and pistachio) two days running, it was that delicious. I'm still thinking about it a week later - maybe I should have a go at baking something similar (I found this recipe which looks promising).

We were away for five nights, and during our stay we clocked up almost a hundred thousand steps (that's nearly fifty miles!). I think it's fair to say we were a weeny bit weary by the time we came home, but what a wonderful holiday it was.

And now here we are, back to the business of being busy again. I've picked back up with my crochet projects and yesterday I finalised the colour choices for my next blanket which will release in September. The kitty has been helping me with testing of course, she takes her job seriously as you can see.

I'm also preparing for my Stitchtopia Yorkshire Crochet retreat next week, so that's something lovely to look forward to, I really enjoy teaching and sharing my projects. I'm doing two Yorkshire ones this year (both fully booked) and two more next year (details here).

I've decided to share my blanket making journey with you as it unfolds in real time, so as soon as I get my yarn balls together and get going with it then I can show you the colours and the inspiration. I think/hope it's going to be a delight to make, I'm squeaking with excitement just thinking about it. Blanket therapy is the absolute best.

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All the Feels

I've been down in Dorset but now I'm home in the Attic again and slowly processing the events of the past week. It's Wednesday afternoon and here I am sitting quietly with my own thoughts and a whole heap load of pretty complicated emotions. I'm feeling aaaaallllll the feels, stacks of them, layer upon teetering layer, the good the bad and the down right ugly.

My Dad died very suddenly exactly a week ago, on Wednesday 2nd April, aged 78. We've been living with his dementia for four years, and so the end of his life was always something we were preparing for I guess. But as it happens, there is no way you can actually prepare for the sweep of loss when it roars in so unexpectedly on a normal Wednesday morning. He left us so fast and without any warning, so the shock of it all has been quite traumatic to be honest.

I feel like this past week has lasted a hundred years. I'm trying to just take each day as it comes and putting one foot in front of the other, I don't know what else to do other than to just try and stay afloat and stick to my gentle daily routines. Walking in the woods, enjoying a good coffee, spending time with J and the kidlets, food shopping, cooking, laundry, life.

Before I went to Dorset I'd just finished crocheting a bag as well as working on a new blanket design and my creative life was in full tilt and full of joy. I was so excited to show you what I've been making and I'm hoping that I can pick that part of my life up again very soon, but I'm not quite there yet. I need a little more time for my heart to lighten again and for the heavy emotions to settle. But please know I'm OK, a little fragile yes, but I'm OK.

Thank you for reading, and for your company here in my precious Attic, I'm grateful to feel the connection we always share here, it means a lot.

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Attic Life in March

Well, finally I have managed to stop fidgeting and faffing and sit myself down quietly for a while to chat to you - helllloooooo, how are you all???? March is speeding past and spring has sprung and life feels like it's powering ahead at full tilt, but really it's been the most delightful month so far. I hope all is bright and happy in your world and you've been enjoying this season of renewed light and energy (for us in the northren world that is). I suspect that if you're upsidedown in the southern hemisphere then you are probably looking forward to some cooler weather easing into your days while we here in the UK are waiting patiently for life to warm up a smidge.

During the past two weeks I've been thoroughly enjoying the early blossom displays around my neighbourhood, oh, it's been so, so pretty in the trees of late. My neighbour's beautiful ornamental cherry tree is poised on the brink of floral explosion and I feel like I'm holding my breath as I wait for the show to start.

We have some stunning blossom trees all around the streets here in my part of town so I am able to appreciate them every single day. I've no idea of the variety but the flowers are small and delicate and they bloom right the way through March in absolute abundance. We obviously don't always get the added joy of a blue sky backdrop, but on days when the weather is sunny it's such a visual treat.

I've been home from my travels for two weeks now (I was away teaching a crochet retreat in Italy), and J and I have really enjoyed spending time together when we've been free from work, which is generally a Monday. This week we visited a large National Trust property in North Yorkshire which was lovely - we packed a picnic to take and walked about five miles around the estate, following footpaths through fields, down quiet lanes, through sun dappled woodland and over streams. We heard the calls of so many birds (including some curlews and a million pheasant I think, at least), and I loved spotting all the wonderful signs of Mother Nature doing her spring thing.

I picked some wild garlic while we were walking through this quiet, unspoilt woodland which I must now turn into something fragrant and delicious (I think I'm going to try this recipe at the weekend). Cooking/baking plans are always good things to have penned onto the Weekend To-do List, don't you think?

We took the scenic route when we drove home after our day trip and the views were breathtaking from the high moor tops.

On Monday of last week I was still quite tired after my travels abroad, so when J suggested we head out to climb a veeeery steep craggy hill, I had to be honest and tell him that I didn't think I was up to it. Usually you wouldn't be able to stop me getting out there and walking up a great big hill to drink in the views, but I am very protective of my energy these days and know when I need to take it slowly. His Plan B suggestion was a day trip to the Fylde coast to amble along the beach, well now you're talking! Sign me up immediately.

I can't remember the last time we went to St Annes, it's one of those relaxing places that eases the soul and frees up the mind and I always feel so good after spending time there. We wandered along the beach to the Beachcomber café which is nestled right into the sand dunes, and enjoyed a frothy coffee with poached eggs on toast..such decadence for a Monday morning I know.

For once, we timed it right and the tide was in, meaning that we could actually stroll along the waters edge instead of gazing at acres of flat sand and wondering where on earth the sea is. As you can see, the weather was a bit dull and grey but I tell you it didn't take away an ounce of my pleasure. We walked all the way to Starr Gate at the bottom end of Blackpool (I had a hankering to go and see the Biggest Mirror Ball In The World) and then slowly retraced our steps all the way back along the sandy shoreline. Beach pootling is right up there on my happy-vibe list and it never, ever fails to make me feel amazing. And of course it was another happy day out with J, we've been strolling together for over thirty years and I'm so grateful for his easy company.

Back on the home front and now that we are fully into the spring season we're enjoying the return of the daylight in the early mornings. I've been naturally waking up without an alarm just before 6am, and it's felt so good to be out walking in this gentle morning light. It's been cold, but that's fine by me as I love a frosty cold morning when we have these amazing soft, spring-frost colours.

In late March, our walks time beautifully so that we catch the sunrise through the trees along the top woodland path. It's the loveliest way to start the day and well worth the effort it takes to get out the door before 7am.

It's not often I've a reason to be out and about in the evenings, but sometimes the colours in the sky catch my attention and I feel compelled to go out and enjoy the show. I took these sunset photos on the last day of winter before the spring equinox last week and thought it was a truly beautiful end to the dark season.

I had Little Lady with me for company, she loves watching the skies and being outside as much as I do and I recognise a lot of myself in her. It's a wonderful feeling when you notice the happy little ways in which you influence and shape your offspring and the good habits that you help them adopt. Sky gazing is definitely a Good Life Habit in my opinion.

Life in the Attic has been gently therapeutic, with slow days of recalibration after my return from Italy. I always find It takes a while to resettle into domestic life after a trip away, most especially after one of my retreats which are so incredibly uplifting, inspirational and stimulating, but also involve a lot of social energy expenditure and travel weariness. I had almost 15 hours on the move to get home on the Friday, then the very next day I was pulled straight back into the usual weekend life stuff. Market shopping, laundry loads, re-stocking the food cupboards, cooking, and generally spending lots of time catching up with J and the offspring who seemed to have missed me quite a lot. It took me almost a whole week to mentally catch my breath. But -- it was no hardship and I was reminded how lucky I am to have a very happy home life to return to after a fantastic week following my passion for crochet, colour and travel. Yes, I feel very blessed indeed.

I have some small rituals that I carry out when I come home from a trip, and one of them always involves fresh flowers. This is part of my recalibration process I think (I only just realised this now as I'm writing about it), and my flowers of choice have of course been tulips. I got a bit giddy and treated myself to two bunches (two!), because, well because M&S have these fancy varieties in at the moment which I find utterly irresistible. They are only £3.75 a bunch and last on my table for almost two weeks, oh, I adore them so much. Floofy insides on one bunch and feathery edges on the other, and the bolt of glorious colour every single time I walk into the room (which is many, many times each day).....Recalibration Therapy at its finest.

When I was in Italy, there were a few days where I was lucky enough to wear sandals. Yes I know, the luxury of painting ones toenails a deep red colour and having actual warm sunshine to wiggle them in in March was divine. We did have a few rainy days too, and I wore my usual Fly Boots + handknit socks on those days. I wore and washed these three pairs and they were drying on the radiator last week and I suddenly felt so proud of myself for being a person who makes their own socks to wear. Isn't that something? I've been knitting socks for almost ten years now, and you can read about the start of my journey right here on my blog (this post contains my very first pair, and all the beginner sock knitting details if you are curious).

Talking of socks, what do you make of this ball of sock yarn?? Isn't it rather glorious? It's my Souvenir Yarn from Italy, an Italian brand called Laines du Nord. The stripes promise to be very funky - you can see what the sock will look like online ((here)) - the clourway I chose is "03 Leonardo"

I thought you might like a glimpse of the shop I bought it from, a tiny little yarn haven tucked away in a quiet backstreet in Trieste. You can see from the window that the owner loves to crochet and there were many colourful crochet makes dotted all over the shop. Inside, it was a weeeeny bit chaotic.....

....I mean, the sock yarn I bought was unearthed from this actual mountain of yarn balls, no joke! But the owner was super friendly and even though she didn't speak English and the only Italian word I could think of was "bellissima", we communicated beautifully through the language of yarn and colour I think.

I couldn't wait to cast my Italian socks onto my needles, and two days after returning home that's exactly what I did. It made for a perfectly relaxing Sunday afternoon....

....and of course here in North Yorkshire it's still cold enough for woolly socks and fireside knitting. No naked wiggly toes here just yet.

The kitty did make me laugh, I literally got up from my spot in front of the fire for one single minute and when I came back she had firmly installed herself in my warm seat. Just look at her contented face, I didn't have the heart to evict her.

So Italy - ahhh, yes it was as fabulous as I had imagined it to be, more so in fact. Venice in particular was an absolute treat, my goodness, what a unique and beautiful city it is.

I wonder if you'd like to see some of my photos, because I do have one or two images I could share....I think you'd enjoy my visuals, I found Italy to be incredibly photogenic, the light was crazy beautiful even when it was raining.

I do have some crochet/yarn things I'd like to chat to you about too, so I'll try and work out what order to do things in. I've got something new on my hook, and the start of two new blanket journeys in the early design stages, and I won some awards and I've got some incredible new retreats to look forward to during the upcoming eighteen months, so lots to chat about.

Eeeeeeep, it's sooooo good to be back, I've missed you!! And I can't wait to share more of what's brewing on my multiple back (and front) burners, I hope you're going to like what's been fidgeting inside my Creative Mind of late. More soon!

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Early March Snippets

♥ enjoying a morning sunrise on my walk through the woodland with J, 7:23am.

♥ noticing that the wild garlic has arrived! It seems only a week ago it was nowhere to be seen and now suddenly there it is. Spring must be on its way.

♥ front garden crocus, opening their petals in the morning sunshine.

♥  Tulip adoration. In the above photo, drooping and fading after more than a week of pure pleasure, and still so beautiful.

♥ A Friday night fizzy tipple in a lovely vintage glass with a newly finished blanket and the kitty keeping me company. Chilly evenings mean we are still lighting the fire, and I'm enjoying the cosy factor very much.

♥ Spotting this very contented boat-kitty sleeping in the sunshine.

♥ A Sunday stroll along the riverside at Bolton Abbey, and a brief window of sunshine on a chilly-cold day.

♥ Loving that Little B comes with us for weekend walks. Even as he grows tall and inhabits full-on Teenagedom, he's very good company.

{image source : Pixabay}

♥ collecting together beautiful images of Venice as I finalise the project I'm teaching for my upcoming Stitchtopia retreat to Italy.

x

Ahhh, it's been a week!! A wonderfully full and busy week, still on a high after finishing the crochet-along which I absolutely loved this year. I've been straight into workshop preparation mode for my retreat - pattern writing, lesson planning and general creative yarny faffery which I'm going to deliver next week to my gorgeous group of fifteen ladies. This is my fifth year of teaching retreats with Stitchtopia and I am off to Italy on Friday - two days in Venice and then across to the coastal port of Trieste. I feel so bloomin' grateful for this creative working life of mine, not a day goes by when I don't think about it and marvel at how fortunate I am.

So....Italy.....I'll no doubt be taking a ridiculous number of photos so I can update you here with visuals once I'm back home again, I feel thirsty for new inspiration and really looking forward to drinking it all in. Actually, I've got quite a bit to chat to you about in general, some future plans, creative ideas and newsy-news, but it'll have to keep on the back burner until I'm back in Yorkshire.

Take care, and I'll be back here to chat once I'm home again..

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Canalboat Blanket Cal :: Part 7

It's the last day of February today, almost nine weeks of twenty-twenty five done and dusted and in the rear view mirror already. And for eight of these wonderful fresh new winter weeks we've been journeying along with the Canalboat blanket CAL and it has honestly been utterly glorious. Oh, I've loved it SO MUCH!! These crochet-along weeks give me so much happiness; the bright, uplifting colours, the daily creativity and sense of purpose, the therapeutic hours with yarn in my hands, and of course enjoying our vibrant online crochet community which absolutely shines during the CAL weeks. I really hope you've enjoyed it as much as I have, and that this final leg of the journey will float your boat :)

I thought it would be fun to remind ourselves of the inspiration behind our stripes and drink in all this boaty, folksy, floral colour one last time. I know I've not grown tired of these colours at all - yes they are a LOT and some of those stripy colour combos have been quite the shocker (!) but the overall vibrancy has been such a tonic through these grey winter weeks. I've heard so many of you say how much you've enjoyed the colour therapy of this blanket and how much it has cheered you up, so I guess I've done my job well.

And of course, at the end of all that feel-good therapy we have a wonderful blanket to keep us warm and snuggly, oh-my, I do so love love love love love making blankets!! I'm still obsessed with designing and making them even after all these years. The Canalboat blanket is a really fun addition to the Attic household and I'm enjoying the vibrant energy it brings to the furniture. I'm delighted I get to live with it forever as I never part with my blankets at all, they are part of the family and get to stick around and be loved on constantly.

Anyhow, enough of all that smooching, I've got important information to give you and a brilliant TA-DAH moment to share with you.

So week 7 of the CAL, and I hope that you've managed to darn in your ends and are ready for The Border.

It's a good idea to weigh your yarn before starting your border so that you can relax and feel confident you won't be playing yarn chicken. The small portable scales I have are excellent and I can highly recommend them ((find them HERE on Amazon)) but ordinary digital kitchen scales will work too. After I'd completed my stripes I had 35-40g of each colour left, just to give you an idea.

I chose the following 8 colours (SSDK/Merino) for my border :

1. Green / Clover
2. Royal / Royal Blue
3. Lime / Olive Green
4. Fondant / Fondant Pink
5. Lipstick / Crimson
6. Gold / Antique Gold
7. Teal / Teal
8. Turquoise / Light Turquoise

Of course you can use whatever colours you prefer, so do feel free to have a play and change them if you wish. The final colour (Turquoise for me) is especially important, so choose your absolute favourite for the final round, it doesn't have to be Turquoise. I'll give you an idea of yarn quantities needed towards the end of this post for reference (all info is also included in the tutorial).

The Canalboat border starts off with some easy rounds of double crochet.

Then we add little groups of pink stitches.....

....and a bold spike stitch round to create a whole run of little pink hearts!!!

Awwwwwww, I could not love this more!!!! ♥♥♥

After two more rounds of dc, the border could be called finished, and some of you might prefer this very neat, straight edge.

For me though, I always knew that the final edging would be a scallopy shell, because I felt it would beautifully echo the shells that make up the Canalboat stripe. I chose Turquoise and absolutely LOVE the way it turned out, but as I mentioned earlier, you can pick whatever colour you like to finish off your blanket. Shall we take a better look????

Ooooooo, isn't it ♥PrEttY♥???? I loved making it so, so much, and I think it's the perfect folksy finish for this bold and playful blanket.

Ok, lets have a proper ta-dah moment shall we?

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

What do you think, isn't it a JOY????

I showed it to my friend Christine, and she said it reminded her of eastern European folk ribbons, the woven sort that get stitched onto fabric (see here for some examples). It was exactly the look I had in mind, and I was honestly delighted that she said that!

I really hope you like the border, I admit I do feel a certain pressure to always come up with something new and wonderful that does the blanket justice. The Canalboat blanket is my 24th design using Styelcraft Special DK (24!!!) and each blanket has it's own unique border. They are generally very versatile and interchangeable so hopefully there will always be a border design you can use for any blanket you crochet.

I've made a full photo tutorial to help you along with the Canalboat border and you can find it listed in my sidebar as "Canalboat Border". There is also a printable PDF pattern that you can download/print as well.

For both the tutorial and the printed pattern, click on the link below >>

CANALBOAT BORDER PATTERN AND TUTORIAL

YARN QUANTITIES

If your blanket has come out measuring the suggested 120 x 170 cm, you should easily have enough yarn left over to create the border. I had 35-40g of each colour left once the stripes were complete. I would suggest you weigh your yarn balls if possible, and down below I've given the approximate quantities I used for each round :

The border is made using 8 rounds. Yarn quantities given below are approximate, and based on a blanket measuring 120 x 170cm and using Stylecraft Special DK yarn.

Round 1 : dc round, crocheting into the stripes (16g)

Rounds 2  & 3 : dc rounds (16g)

Round 4 : the mini hearts (16g)

Round 5 - the spike stitch round (26g)

Rounds 6 & 7: dc rounds (16g)

Round 8 : the shell edging (26g)

♥ If you've used Yarnsmiths Merino DK for your blanket, it should measure a smaller 100 x 150cm and you should have enough yarn left to carry you around this size of blanket.

♥ If you've made the Colourwash version of the blanket, this border will work beautifully with those stripes as I designed it with both versions in mind.

I really hope you enjoy this final stage in our blanket journey, it's such a wonderful feeling when you complete a blanket that has kept you company over many weeks/months. Please do keep sharing your photos on social media and share your ta-dah moments with us all - I'd love to put a final blog post together to celebrate our CAL community. I do also plan to take my own blanket down to the canal towpath to take some in-the-wild photos of it :)

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for keeping me company over the past eight weeks, I have enjoyed this crochet-along very, very much.

Thank you, thank you xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

PS> I wanted to mention that I know there are many of you taking your time and walking a slow stroll along the canal path, and also some of you who have not yet even started. That's OK!!! All patterns will remain free and accessible on my blog for you to dip into whenever you wish into the future.

In my sidebar, I created a special page called "Canalboat Blanket CAL" and this is where you can easily find all links in one place. You can then find each CAL instalment (which contains the stripe colours and weekly worksheets) without having to trawl through my archives looking for them. The link is below xx xx

CANALBOAT BLANKET CAL

♥ CANALBOAT BORDER TUTORIAL (with photos)

♥ Canalboat TUTORIAL (with lots of photos)

♥ CAL Introduction post

♥ Canalboat yarn packs

♥ CAL post Part 1 (stripes 1-33)

♥ CAL post Part 2 (stripes 34-65)

♥ CAL post Part 3 (stripes 66-97)

♥ CAL post Part 4 (stripes 98-129)

♥ CAL post Part 5 (stripes 130-161)

♥ CAL post Part 6 (stripes 162-180)

 

 

On my Table :: February

I've been thinking a lot about creative spaces just lately, the places where I find myself sitting most often to write or crochet. Much of my creative thinking happens when I'm outside walking, but in this season of cold, grey weather there are many hours spent indoors working on ideas and projects. It got me reminiscing about the studio room I used to work from on the first floor of a small local café, and how much I miss that quiet little space I used to occupy.

I first landed at Coopers Café exactly twelve years ago in February 2013, and you can read the whole story in my archives ((here)). For almost two years I shared one of the larger upstairs rooms with my friend Tracy, then at the start of 2015 she moved on and I relocated into the second smaller room.

The photos that I'm showing you today are from 2015 when I was settled into the small room on my own, ohh, I did so love working there! You can see more photos of my studio ((here)).

I had an old pine table in the centre of the room that I found on eBay and this is where I designed and worked on a good many of my crochet projects between 2015 and 2020. The above photo was taken at the beginning of March 2020, and of course this was just a few weeks before the covid pandemic threw us into lockdown. I didn't know at the time that this would be the last time I would be able to work from my studio, because many months later when hospitality businesses slowly started opening their doors again, this room was reclaimed by the café to provide an additional seating area and it has stayed that way ever since.

It was a wonderful seven years and I often think back and feel massively grateful for that time and place.

These days I'm a stay-at-home creative, and I'm generally very thankful for the ease of my working from home life. Unfortunately I don't have a dedicated work space here at home which is something I do struggle with on a daily basis. I mostly work from the dining room table at the back of the house which is part of our open plan living/dining space. As this is the only room we have for eating/relaxing, I'm sure you can imagine how well used it is by the whole family and how difficult it can be to find any kind of quiet, thinking/creative head space within it. I make do though, and try really hard not to moan about my situation (mostly!) because, well, I do really enjoy being at home.

When I was looking at my accumulated photos from the past few weeks, I realised how many of them were taken at the table, and thought it would be fun to share them with you...

I eat here of course, a solo breakfast and lunch and then in the evening we all sit at the table and eat together as a family. It's something I hold very close to my heart and LOVE the fact that my family really enjoy my home cooking and that we have the ritual of sitting down to eat and talk together every day.

I nearly always have flowers on the table, usually a cheap and cheerful supermarket bunch which comes home in my bag with the food shop. I had daffodils throughout January and now in February I've switched over to tulips....

....which do seem to last well and still look fantastic as they slowly fade away.

At the moment I've got these fancy-schmancy tulips in an old stripy jug, my goodness they are pretty. They cost me three pounds fifty and I am so in love with them.....

....I mean, just looook how glorious those gentle colours are! Floral colour will forever inspire me and I love having flowers nearby while I'm working or eating at the table.

I often light a candle when I'm sat here, especially at breakfast time when it can still feel quite gloomy in the mornings during winter. I'm enjoying this scented sea salt candle which was a Christmas gift, it smells wonderful and really does remind me of being beside the sea.

In fact I've been missing the sea since my trip to Dorset earlier in the month, and what with the seasalt candle and the little collection of pebbles and sea glass which had gathered, I was inspired to crochet something in coastal shades.

I delved into the Cupboard of Doom to find my bag of DK cottons (a mixture of Ricorumi and Sirdar Happy), picked out a bluesy colour palette and started crocheting a small mandala.

Mandalas are incredibly satisfying and mindful things to make when you have a creative itch that needs scratching and are the perfect vehicle for colour play. I followed my own Yuletide Mandala pattern which is free on my blog ((here))....

....although I made it a bit smaller than my original design, following as far as round 8, then skipping ahead to rounds 12&13 to create the scalloped edging.  It didn't take me long, less than an hour, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Sometimes I forget that I can crochet something just for the sheer joy of the making process.

I often get asked about the crochet mats that sit on my table under the jugs of flowers, I have a collection of them made over the years in different colours. Some of them use the Yuletide Mandala pattern shown here, and others use a pretty mandala pattern I created back in 2014 which is called "Attic24 Mandala Wheel" if you're looking for it in my pattern list.

Working with these gorgeous seascape colours reminded me of this greetings card that sits on my book shelf, I absolutely adore it. It's called "The Strollers" by the artist Dee Nickerson, and I found the card last year on an outing to Salts Mill. Dee doesn't seem to have a website or be on social media at all, but I found a wonderful little write up and an inspiring selection of images on the card publishers website ((here)). I really love her work.

The strollers.....ahhh, how that speaks to my heart! Beach walking is one of my absolute favourite things to do.....

....and it's only three weeks since I was down in Dorset and had the pleasure of walking the sandy shoreline in Weymouth. I miss being by the sea, even in the depths of winter when the skies are heavy and grey and a strong wind blows. Maybe I love it best of all then, there is something so exhilarating about a long walk on a deserted winter beach.

You can guess what's coming to mind now, can't you? A day trip to the coast of course, I'm pretty predictable with my wants and needs. Maybe I'll manage to persuade J to come with me to St Anne's and we can be The Strollers in real life.

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Canalboat Blanket Cal :: Part 6

Hello, and welcome to the middle of February and another week of glorious stripy colour. My Canalboat blanket has been in regular use during this cold winter week and has been living on the sofa along with...{quick count}...one, two, three, four, five...yes, five other crochet blankets, and three crochet cushions. In fact, I think this well used piece of furniture is more crochet than actual sofa, but that's the way I like it to be. I adore a blanket-laden sofa, it really is everything my heart desires when I walk into a room and want to feel instantly comforted and uplifted.

So, my friends, we have arrived at week six of the Canalboat CrochetALong and that means the last of the stripes. I am very familiar with the bitter-sweet mix of emotions which surround the end of a wonderful stripy journey and today I am feeling them all. I am so, so proud of this blanket and happy with the way my vision has come to life so beautifully and been shared and embraced by you all. I fastened off and darned in my last ends over the weekend and there.....it's done. Happy and sad. Thrilled and a bit lost. But of course we still have the adventure of the border and I'm really looking forward to that because I absolutely LoVe crocheting borders.

The final stripes at the very top of the blanket are bold ones, I decided to finish strong. I'll show you more photos in a bit, but you can see a glimpse of it in the above photo - I went for Bottle and Lipstick together. It's a pretty punchy combination, and I chose it in recognition of our local pleasure boats which hold a lot of fond memories from when my Little People were small.

There are actually two of these boats operating here on the canal, and they are named Sam and Leo. Pennine Cruisers is the company here in Skipton which owns a number of hire boats as well as operating skippered boat trips for visitors to enjoy a quick sail on the Leeds-Liverpool canal. When the boat is in action the bottle green canopy is rolled up so that the seating area is open - you can see more photos ((here)). Little B used to absolutely LOVE a trip on these boats when he was a small boy, and often times we would spontaneously jump on board and enjoy the short 30 minute journey if a boat happened to be ready to sail as we were passing. Happy Days.

The weather this week has been very cold and very grey, quite uninspiring I have to say. We are starting to see more movement on the canal now and yesterday I saw that two of my favourite boats were back in town. These two travel in tandem and moor up together - the one closest to the tow path is a craft workshop and shop which opens when the season is in full swing, and the owners live aboard the other twin boat. You can read more about them on their website ((https://www.celticfringecrafts.co.uk/))

Each boat has a traditional painted water jug on the roof ("Celtic Fringe" and "The Buthy") and last summer it was these jugs that inspired me to think about adding pinks and that lovely shade of Lime into my Canalboat colour palette. Up until seeing these jugs the Canalboat colour palette was quite dark and a little but moody, and I instinctively knew that it wasn't quite right.

As you can probably tell, when I'm working on my colour palettes it's a slow process and I spend many weeks/months observing and photographing and gathering visual inspiration. It's the heart of my design process and means that I am pretty much always seeking inspiration wherever I go. I can't imagine living any other way, as apparently it's not something I can switch off!

I've got some wonderful photos to share with you today, as during the crochet-along I find myself inspired all over again by the way you take my designs/colourways and make them your own. The "circle of inspiration" is alive and kicking and I could not love our online community more.

↑↑ you may remember I showed you Jo's blanket starting out way back at the beginning of the CAL, and now six weeks later she is ta-dah-ing! Jo made this blanket for her daughter and chose a cool palette of soft blues and greens with some pretty vintage-inspired neutrals for contrast. It's absolutely beautiful and very different to my loud boaty colours which demonstrates how versatile my stripe patterns are.

↑↑I also shared the beginning of Chris' blanket with you a few weeks back, and it's progressing so beautifully. I love the simplicity of traditional granny squares as they make the perfect vehicle for colour play and I'm really looking forward to seeing this particular Canalboat blanket come together. You can follow Chris on instagram to keep up with her progress {@krafty_kris3 }

↑↑I've been watching Jan's blanket grow over in the Hooked on Attic24 Facebook group during the past month and I think you'll agree it's looking absolutely stunning. She's using the Harmony Granny Square pattern with the Canalboat colours, edging/joining them in white which makes the bright colours glow.

↑↑Now this is something VERY exciting, and I've been in awe of Kaz's idea right from the start, isn't it fabulous??! I was watching the photos emerge when the arms/front/back were taking shape but still in flat pieces, and honestly I was struggling to imagine what the jumper was going to look like. It was a real WOW moment when Kaz shared her Ta-dah moment with us all, I think she's really created something special. If you'd like to see her pattern notes, she has very kindly put them together for free...you can find them on her webshop ((https://ko-fi.com/insomniacrochet/shop))

↑↑ Anyone for bunting??? I'm sure most of you will end up with leftover yarn once your blankets are completed and making a string of jaunty bunting is the perfect stash buster. Tracey has done such a great job with this project and I fell in love with it instantly. She use the free pattern on my blog ((granny bunting tutorial)) and created a joining band using the canalboat stripe pattern which I think is SO clever.

↑↑ Lastly for today, I just had to share this adorable photo of Danielle's flouffy kitty helping the Canalboat rows along. She said 

"he seems to think he's in charge of tension control!" which honestly made me laugh out loud!

♥ Thank you once again for all the photos you continue to share on Facebook and Instagram during the CAL weeks, you make our online crochet community something very special indeed and I am so grateful xxx

Here in the Attic the final rows are now complete and the end of this colourful journey is near.

It's been six weeks of pure hooky heaven and I can honestly say I've enjoyed every single stitch.

My favourite pairing this week is the Fondant & Turquoise stripe, closely followed by Lipstick & Sage.

Sage is one of the colours that nearly didn't make the final selection, but during the summer months I did happen to see a good many boats arrive on the canal that were painted this colour. It's maybe not what you might immediately think of when you picture a canalboat, but it adds a welcome lightness to the colour palette which balances out the more dominant shades.

At the end of part six, you will have crocheted one hundred and eighty stripes of glorious colour.

Ohhhh.......yes, yes....I really think this blanket has reached SpeCtacUlaR status!!!

I'm ever so pleased with the overall harmony of these bold colours, they are strong and vibrant and I'm sure you'll agree there have been many, many surprises along the way! This isn't a subtle blanket (!) and some of the colour contrasts have been quite toe curling, but my bold choices paid off. I am beyond thrilled with it and I hope you are feeling similarly joyful about your own blanket.

This week with our Mixed Stripe Canalboat blanket we are crocheting the last of our stripes, with just another 19 to go to the finish line.

Stripes 162-180.

Here is Part 6 of the MIXED STRIPE for you to download/print this week , click on the following link >>

PART 6 MIXED STRIPE WORKSHEET PDF

NOTE ABOUT SIZE!!!!

Using the Stylecraft Special DK, after 180 rows my blanket is measuring 170cm. There will be a little extra length added in with the border, so we should end up with a 6ft length.

If your blanket is already long enough at the end of part five (or part way through part 6), PLEASE DO FEEL FREE TO STOP AT ANY TIME!!!

If you are using the Yarnsmiths Merino, remember that you need to stop when your blanket measure around 150cm long, to keep the proportions right with the slightly narrower width.

PLEASE NOTE - it doesn't matter if you're following the mixed stripe or the colourwash order, please make sure you stop when your blanket reaches the right length. That's 170cm (ish) for the Styecraft yarn, and 150cm (ish) for the Merino yarn. This should help keep the blanket proportions looking good, and make sure you don't run short of yarn.

The finished length/proportions of your blanket is more important than the number of stripes!

For double/king size blankets, you might wish to add some extra length, and I would suggest that you repeat the colours given for Part 1 to add an additional 30cm if you wish.

I mentioned on my blog last week that I hadn't seen many Colourwash blankets in progress in the online groups, so it's been lovely to finally see some photos pop up (thank you for sharing, it really does make me happy).

↑↑Kirsten shared her colourwash blanket doing a great job of keeping her cosy while she hooked up some rows...

↑↑...and Yola share her blanket looking absolutely glorious all spread out on her sofa.

At the end of part 6 this week, both versions of the Canalboat blanket will have the same 180 rows, and I thought it would be fun to share the graphics of them both side by side ↑↑don't they both look striking?

It always amazes me how the same fifteen colours can give a totally different finished look depending on how you arrange them.

So week 6 of the Colourwash is a repeat of week 2.

Stripes 153 - 180.

Here is Part 6 of the COLOURWASH for you to download/print this week, click on the following link >>

  PART 6 COLOURWASH WORKSHEET PDF

Next week we will be taking a little breather - this is you chance to catch up with your stripes if life has been busy or if you started out a little later. I would also urge you to get your ends neatly darned in if you haven't been doing them as we've gone along so that you'll be all ready for the border.

I thought it might be useful to show you my blanket edge - you can see that it's reasonably straight but inevitably it's a little bit uneven at the end of the rows. This is absolutely fine and the border will cover up a great deal of the lumpy-bumpyness so please don't worry too much.

During the next few weeks as you complete your stripes, it's a good idea to take stock of your yarn quantities in preparation for the border. I went to great effort to make sure that the fifteen colours were used pretty evenly and you should find that you have similar quantities left of each colour once your stripes are done. I find the easiest way to check is to weigh your yarn balls - you can use digital kitchen scales, or treat yourself to some small jewellers scales which are very accurate for weighing out grams. These small portable scales are a really nifty bit of kit and aren't very expensive - I bought mine from Amazon quite a few years ago and I'll link the exact ones I have ((HERE)). They are really useful when using up stash yarn or calculating small quantities for projects.

I weighed all my balls and have 35-40g of each colour left once my stripes were done.

BORDER INFORMATION

I've chosen eight colours for my Canalboat border and you can see them above (although the exact order of them might change)

Green : Royal : Lime : Fondant : Lipstick : Gold : Teal : Turquoise

I'm working quite narrow rounds, so estimate 16-20g of each colour is needed for the border.

You'll need more for the final edging round (I've chosen Turquoise for this), I estimate 20-25g.

As always, please feel free to choose your own colours - you should have enough yarn to use any combination of colours you like for the border.

The pattern/tutorial for the Canalboat border will be here on my blog in two weeks time, on Friday 28th February.

If you don't wish to wait, you can always choose one of my existing border patterns and get started doing your own thing, I'm more than happy for you to flex your creative muscles! Jo used the Spike Stitch border on her blue-toned blanket that I shared above, and I think the Linen Stitch border (designed for the Cupcake blanket) would also work a treat.

If you have any questions, please do leave me a comment and I'll answer as best as I can. I'll be creating some of my usual everyday blog posts during the next few weeks as I've missed sharing my normal stuff, so we can chat together next week...have a good weekend!

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♥ Part 6 Mixed Stripe worksheet

♥ Part 6 Colourwash worksheet

♥ Canalboat Pattern PDF

♥ Canalboat TUTORIAL (with lots of photos)

♥ CAL Introduction post

♥ Canalboat yarn packs

♥ CAL post Part 1 (stripes 1-33)

♥ CAL post Part 2 (stripes 34-65)

♥ CAL post Part 3 (stripes 66-97)

♥ CAL post Part 4 (stripes 98-129)

♥ CAL post Part 5 (stripes 130-161)

 

 

Canalboat Blanket Cal :: Part 5

Fridaaaaayyyy here we go again, another week and another step towards lighter, brighter, warmer weather. At this time of year here in the north of England we are still very much in the depths of winter. We tend to have long winters with a very short spring season tacked on the end in late April so I learnt many years ago that I needed to really find the joy in the winter season because it lasts for almost half the year. There is much beauty in these chilly months, and on the days when the clouds lift I really appreciate the beautiful, crisp, clear light.

I spotted this wonderful window on a canal boat earlier in the week and snapped a photo to share with you. The boat itself is quite rough and ready with fairly messy paintwork, but this window is rather lovely and I bet it looks even more beautiful from the inside with the light shining through. As you probably know, swans are a familiar sight on the canal here and I'm very used to seeing them as I take my daily walks along the tow path.

This past week has been split into two halves for me as I was away in Dorset for four days. Last Friday I published my CAL blog very early in the morning before dashing around getting ready to catch the early 6:56 train. It was a long journey (the train broke down so we were stranded on the tracks for an hour with no power), but thank goodness for colourful yarny rows. These jaunty stripes kept me company allll the way down to London, and then on the slow jaunt west through Surrey, Hampshire and Dorset.

I stayed in Bridport for a few days before moving on to Weymouth, so I really made the most of being beside the sea and topping up my feel-good tank. I took some lovely photos while I was there which I want to put together into a proper blog post, but as you can see, me and the Canalboat blanket were very happy to be beside the sea....

.....in fact, we both nearly ended up right in the sea at one point as I was so busy taking photographs that I didn't realise my boots were getting a wash! I LOVE love love (LoVe) taking a blanket with me on a jaunt when it's still a work in progress, because it means there'll be an extra layer of special memories preserved in those stitches. This blanket is already full of happy memories (friends and cake and swans and boats)...and now there's some Dorset magic added to the mix.

On Sunday I had the pleasure of joining the Attic24 Dorset ladies in Weymouth for a morning of yarny pleasure. Gosh these ladies are a lovely lot! So much joy and friendship and happy vibes, it's always a huge pleasure when I'm able to join them. We met in the Alexandra Hotel for coffee and crochet (far too cold to hook on the beach, although I'd be up for that later in the year for sure), but we had a fun time taking our blankets outside for a little photoshoot. You can see that there were a good few Canalboat blankets all in progress alongside my own, and it was wonderful for me to see and hear first hand how much pleasure these bright colours are bringing to the grey days of winter for so many of you.

Sharing our blankets with each other is such a lovely part of the crochet-along experience (especially for me, but for you as well), and I continue to be hugely inspired by our online communities. We are using the #canalboatcal hashtag on instagram, and there are four social groups on Facebook (including the Dorset ladies if you wish to join them) - details are all listed in my CAL part 1 post. I haven't spent as much time online this week myself as I've been preoccupied with some new creative ideas, but today I'm sharing some inspiring photos that caught my eye in the last few weeks.....

↑↑Nicky is part of the Dorset group so I got to see her blanket in real life on Sunday and I absolutely fell in love with it. She's using the Canalboat pattern as you can see, but with the Harbour colour palette for a jaunty coastal journey. The Harbour colours are well suited to this pattern as there's enough contrast to make the shell rows pop.

↑↑ Well isn't this an absolute beauty??!! I've loved following this crochet journey on Instagram during the past few weeks as Kathryn has shared her photos and videos with us on her page (@daisiesdelight). She is crocheting this mesmerising moss stitch chevron blanket which is so well suited to colour play - the Canalboat colours look fabulous in this zigzag pattern, don't you think?

↑↑ Cathy shared her zippy bag project with us in the Hooked on Attic24 Facebook group and I thought it was really inspiring and wanted to show you. You may remember I made a tutorial for this project a few years ago (all pattern info and photos on my blog ((here)) and it's always lovely for me to see you enjoying my free patterns and creative ideas. These little zippy bags are perfect for using up the smallest scraps of leftover yarn and are brilliant colour therapy vehicles :)

↑↑ Now I've been SO excited to show you Claire's blanket and have been waiting patiently as it grew from just a few rows to this fully grown beauty. I mean, WOW, it really is a wonderful use of the Canalboat colours and I couldn't love it more. The pattern is taken from my square Fireside Blanket, extended to make a rectangle and I think it really captures the folksy, playful vibe of this colour palette.

↑↑ Not forgetting our four legged friends, I've enjoyed seeing your blankets being put through some essential Quality Control testing. Above is Caroline's blanket with Drusilla enjoying some colourful, cosy snuggles.

↑↑ Jenny shared this photo with the caption "the pouffy side is comfier apparently" which made me laugh out loud! Haha, I think I might have to agree with her kitty Morty - the pouffy side does have the perfect kind if squish factor.

Here in the Attic, Miss Tilly has given the Canalboat blanket her official seal of approval. I was sitting in the Big Chair working up a few rows one afternoon and as soon as I stood up to go and make myself a cup of tea she made herself right at home. I didn't have the heart to evict her, she looked so cosy and content surrounded by all that glorious yarny colour.

I too have been enjoying the "pouffy" nature of this blanket which is ever so warm and snuggly. I've had a slow week since I returned from Dorset on Monday evening, enjoying some quiet recharge time which is always needed after a lot of movement and emotional/social activity.

Can you believe we are nearing the home stretch with our rows already? Week five sees us gently sailing towards the top of our blanket, and my favourite parings this week are Teal & Tomato, with Turquoise & Royal coming a close second.

As you can see, the kitty has been very involved in my business (I do think she misses me when I'm away for a few days) and carried out a good many inspections of my work.

I thoroughly enjoyed taking this weeks photographs to share with you....

....the colour therapy was something special.....

......I mean, just WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Honestly, I am so stupidly in love with these stripes!!

I think I mentioned last week, that a big part of my creative satisfaction (and ongoing love affair with blankets) is due to the fact that they are so much fun to play with. Stacking, piling, folding, swirling and draping blankets is an underrated pleasure-fest and I can highly recommend you indulge. Immerse yourself in the creative pleasure of it, take a gazillion photos and see just how good it makes you feel. It's wonderful stuff.

The above photo shows the completion of week 5, and the Canalboat blanket is looking absolutely glorious.

IMPORTANT SIZE INFORMATION!

If you are making your blanket using the YARNSMITHS MERINO DK, you should finish at the end of PART 5. This should give you the right proportions (aiming for 100 x 150cm) and you should have enough yarn left to make the border.

Similarly, if you used Stylecraft Special DK but reduced your width to make a lap blanket, then you should have stopped at the end of Part 4, or when your blanket reached approx. 120cm in length. It's OK to add some extra stripes if you wish, please use your eye to gauge the proportions of your own blanket and feel free to stop at any time once you're happy with the length.

The border pattern will be released in three weeks time on Friday 28th February.

This week with our Mixed Stripe Canalboat blanket we are crocheting another 32 stripes.

Stripes 130-161.

Here is Part 5 of the MIXED STRIPE for you to download/print this week , click on the following link >>

PART 5 MIXED STRIPE WORKSHEET PDF

Interestingly, I haven't seen many colourwash blankets in progress as I've hopped about on Facebook as I think most of you are following my jaunty mixed stripe version.

My own colourwash merino blanket is mostly being used as a shawl - it's so beautifully warm and I love having it wrapped around my shoulders when I sit to work at the dining table which can be quite a chilly spot in winter.

The above image shows clearly the five "blocks" of repeating colours - this is where you will end your blanket if you are using the Yarnsmiths Merino DK. For the Special DK colourwash blankets you will continue onto part 6 next week.

So week 5 of the Colourwash is a repeat of week 1.

Stripes 121 - 152.

Here is Part 5 of the COLOURWASH for you to download/print this week , click on the following link >>

 PART 5 COLOURWASH WORKSHEET PDF

I mentioned last week that I have caked up my yarn and it's so satisfying to work from these neat, centre-pull balls. There were quite a lot of questions about yarn winding on Facebook and how to do it, so I thought I would mention it here. I use a cheap, standard kind of yarn winder which clamps to my dining room table. I bought it from Amazon years ago....here is the link to the exact one I have ((YARN WINDER)).

The balls work best if they are around the 50-70g size, so I either wait and wind them once I've worked up some stripes and reduced the size of the ball, or if I'm winding a new 100g ball of SSDK I generally wind into two separate 50g balls. The winder isn't big enough to cake a large 100g ball, so do keep this in mind.

Well, I hope you've enjoyed reading today's post and as always I wish you a wonderfully happy and creative week ahead. Have fun with your hook!

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♥ Part 5 Mixed Stripe worksheet

♥ Part 5 Colourwash worksheet

♥ Canalboat Pattern PDF

♥ Canalboat TUTORIAL (with lots of photos)

♥ CAL Introduction post

♥ Canalboat yarn packs

♥ CAL post Part 1 (stripes 1-33)

♥ CAL post Part 2 (stripes 34-65)

♥ CAL post Part 3 (stripes 66-97)

♥ CAL post Part 4 (stripes 98-129)

 

 

 

Canalboat Blanket Cal :: Part 4

Morning my lovelies, thank you as always for stopping by to read my words and view my photos, I do really love our weekly catch-ups. I've been missing my regular non-CAL type blogging this week though, I keep thinking I'll find time to squeeze one in mid week but somehow the days run away and already here we are and it's Friday once again. My week has been a busy one, it's that time of year when I've been buried in receipts and spreadsheets and facing the dreaded tax return, so I've felt a bit like my days haven't been my own. I've also been struggling with a mild head cold which has disrupted my sleep and left me feeling a bit low, but I've been taking care of myself and I already feel a lot better as we head towards the weekend.

J has been off work this week so it's been nice to have his company as I go about my daily routine. I've especially appreciated the extra muscle power to carry the food shop back along the canal and up the steep hills to the front door! Yesterday morning we went for coffee together, then into town to run some errands, coming home via the supermarket and a gentle stroll back along the tow path. It was freezing cold but gloriously bright and sunny and oh, I was soooo thankful to feel the sun on my face.

I stopped to take a quick photo of the top of this canal boat which caught my eye yesterday....the painted roses and sweet violas, a lovely little miniature roof-top boat garden.

In amongst the germs and the accounts, there has been crochet of course and I have absolutely loved the daily comfort of it. As I am only one week ahead of you all with my stripes there isn't a lot of wiggle room, but I'm really, really enjoying the journey. I've crocheted with good friends in the café while chatting and laughing and inhaling my frothy coffees...

...and I've sat quietly at the table in the early mornings drinking Lemsip cold remedy and gently easing myself into the day with some hooky therapy.

But mostly my rows have been happening on the sofa. During week four, the Canalboat blanket reaches the perfect length for full lower body coverage, and that fact has made me very happy indeed.

Yesterday I spent some time in "planning and prep" mode, working out the next small set of colour choices with my yarn pegs and also winding my yarn balls into neat cakes. I absolutely love both of these tasks so it's been a real treat to be quietly busy and feeling very content with my stay-home status.

The reason I decided to cake my yarn at this stage is simply because it makes it easier to crochet while travelling. The cakes are compact and work with a centre-pull, which means I can sit on a train and keep the yarn contained neatly in my bag while I crochet some rows. I'm off down to Dorset today which equates to many blissful hours of crochet time as the journey is over seven hours. I am very much looking forward to it actually.

I'm hoping you've all had a great week with your hooks and are feeling happy with how your blanket is looking now that you are halfway there with the stripes? This is a lovely stage now as we move into the second half of the blanket because the length will feel very cosy and comforting on your lap (well it does here in the northern hemisphere where it's still very cold and wintry).

This is four weeks of hooky pleasure, with joy in every stitch!

Each week when I plan out the colours I make sure that no two shell/treble combinations are repeated, have you noticed that? They are all different, and it means that each week there are new colour surprises to look forward to.

There are some wonderful pairings in week four....ooooooooo lipstick and fondant together are particularly stunning I think.

I'm thoroughly enjoying the high energy of this design, and I find the more it grows, the more I fall in love with it. The bold colour contrasts aren't always easy on the eye when you scrutinise them individually, but when they become part of the bigger design, they are highly effective and very playful. I absolutely love the way the blanket is evolving as it grows, it's really, really exciting for me as the designer/maker and I really hope you are also feeling the same love for your own blankets.

The Starbright blanket has been the favourite on the sofa this week, and it prompted me to have a little play with it as I was photographing the Canalboat blanket yesterday. I was curious to see how they would look together especially as they share some of the same colours, and it was fun to capture them in a photograph.

I LOVE playing with my blankets and do it often, I think it's become a hobby of mine. There is something about folding, stacking, layering and photographing crochet blankets which makes me very happy - all that colour and pattern and the many, many layers of memories held in those thousands of stitches. Pure pleasure.

OK....now we're going to take a look at this weeks stripes, and then I've got some very special Canalboat photos to show you.

This week with our Mixed Stripe Canalboat blanket we are crocheting another 32 stripes.

Stripes 98-129.

Here is Part 4 of the MIXED STRIPE for you to download/print this week , click on the following link >>

PART 4 MIXED STRIPE WORKSHEET PDF

The Colourwash Canalboat blanket will be growing a little more slowly as we're going to add 28 more stripes this week.

Week four is a repeat of the second week, adding another beautiful set of rhythmic rows. The above graphic shows the four repeating sections, and I hope that if you're making this version that you're enjoying the visual flow of it.

So week 4 of the Colourwash is a repeat of week 2.

Stripes 93 - 120.

Here is Part 4 of the COLOURWASH for you to download/print this week , click on the following link >>

 PART 4 COLOURWASH WORKSHEET PDF

Now I've got something rather lovely to share with you. Last Friday I had the pleasure of spending the day with two of my closest yarny friends Christine (Winwick Mum) and Emma (Varnham). Over the years we have formed a close friendship connected as we are through our shared passion of blogging, designing, knitting and crochet. As we all live reasonably close to each other (within a 90 minute drive) it's possible with some forward planning for us to meet in person quite regularly.

We often decide to meet here in Atticland, mostly it's just for a day, but a few times a year we decide to extend our time together to include an evening meal and an overnight stay. Now last Friday it was our annual January/new year  stay-over which we've been doing for about six years now, and the accommodation of choice this year was rather special. You can see it in the above photo.....no, not one of the riverside cottages or canalside apartments.....but the beautiful blue canalboat!!!

YES, believe it or not, this boat is permanently moored here on the quiet Spring branch of the canal and it is indeed available to rent for a nights stay.

We spent the morning at Coopers Cafe, then after lunch it was time for Emma and Christine to meet the boat owner and get checked in for their stay. The fire was lit and the boat was oh so warm, cosy and comfortable. We had come prepared with sweet treats from the local bakery and very soon we each had hot mugs of tea and were settled in for an afternoon of yarny pleasure.

Can you imagine the scene? I was seated right next to the fire and Emma and Christine shared the sofa.....lots of very happy chatter, yarn talk and busy hands (blankets and socks in progress). It was absolute bliss.

Early the next morning I returned to the boat with my blanket and decided to take advantage of the prefect photo opportunity. I know my blanket is still a WiP and only half finished, but my goodness, it did look stunning on the boat....

.....awwww, so, so lovely!!

I was joking with Emma and Christine, saying that I should have ordered some swans to perform a swim-by especially for my photos....we were laughing about it and then you can guess what happened, can't you????

A few minutes later, the swans did indeed come to call!!!!!!!

Loooook............

I was SO happy, the light was gorgeous and a truly beautiful Canalboat morning scene gently unfolded in front of my eyes.

I think my blanket really did come alive in this moment - the design, the colours, the many months of visualisation and creative work....

...ahh, it was an experience I won't ever forget.

I hope you've enjoyed these extra special photos today, I've loved sharing them with you, and the swans said to tell you all that they enjoyed being a part of my creative process, and they hope you feel suitably inspired :)

Have a fabulous week - I'll be hooking away down in Dorset until Monday but I'll try and pop in here once I'm home again.

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♥ Part 4 Mixed Stripe worksheet

♥ Part 4 Colourwash worksheet

♥ Canalboat Pattern PDF

♥ Canalboat TUTORIAL (with lots of photos)

♥ CAL Introduction post

♥ Canalboat yarn packs

♥ CAL post Part 1 (stripes 1-33)

♥ CAL post Part 2 (stripes 34-65)

♥ CAL post Part 3 (stripes 66-97)

 

 

Canalboat Blanket Cal :: Part 3

Ohh, January....why do you have to be so, so, so greeeeeyyyy???! I must admit I've been feeling a bit defeated by the weather this week, it's been oh-so-very gloomy and really a bit bleugh. Cold. Grey. Wet. Foggy. Did I mention grey? My lovely daughter said to me at the weekend something along the lines of "well it is winter and this kind of weather is perfect for January", and I had to admit she did have a point. I've always said that I enjoy living through each season if it's behaving in the appropriate manner, and yes this week has felt very Januaryish indeed.

I took the above photo a few days ago and I thought how wonderful the boats looked against the dull grey of the day. Red, yellow, dark green, orange, blue, sage....colours to cheer the soul.

Way back in the middle of last year when I was working on the colour palette for the Canalboat blanket, I bought myself a book. I found a second hand copy on Amazon (it's here if you are interested), and although it was first published over thirty years ago, these traditional designs don't really age.

The book is a delight, and gives instructions to help you paint canal roses which is something I would love to have a go at. I thought I might use the book to help guide me with my colour choices, but in the end  didn't need it as I already had a tonne of visual inspiration of my own. I had gathered over a hundred photographs of canal boats which directly informed my colour decisions for this blanket....

....and I was lucky enough to spot some real life roses and castles decorating some of the visiting boats over the summer months.

It was the traditional painted canal roses that prompted my decision to include some pinks in my colour palette and I am so happy I followed my heart with this. The pinks really add a joyful lightness to the blanket (you'll especially see it in Part 3 this week) and the Canalboat blanket would look completely different without them.

This week I thought it would be inspirational to share some Canalboat blanket journeys which are using alternative colours to my own. I've seen quite a few fantastic blankets emerging in a whole variety of colours...this pattern is a very exciting one for colour play, as I'm sure you've already discovered.  Lets take a look...

↑↑ Rebekah is making this very beautiful autumn colourwash blanket using my Woodland colour pack (I think she said she's leaving out the greys and adding in more blues as the blanket grows). I really think it's stunning.

↑↑Victoria is in the early rows of her Canalboat blanket using the Aria yarn pack, and I think it already looks really lovely.

↑↑Claire is making her boaty stripes using the Cottage yarn pack and is doing a fantastic job making those shell rows pop.

↑↑Melissa is using her own palette of Yarnsmiths Merino DK and making a brightly coloured scarf, isn't it wonderful?

↑↑Jen decided to take a more muted approach and is using a palette of very vintagey colours. She chose quite a few from the new Made in Yorkshire Stylecraft Special collection (I can certainly spot Milky Tea in there!)

↑↑Jane is taking a cool, watery approach to her sail down the canal - isn't this lovely? She's mixing a select palette of grey- toned blues with white for the contrast, making those shells really stand out.

↑↑This gorgeous version has had a lot of love on Facebook - Dina has made the pattern work in a very clever way by using a dark grey to surround the shell rows.

I've had a fantastic time on Insta and facebook this week, wow, there is SO much inspiration, support, friendship and community spirit in our online crochet world and it makes my heart unbelievably happy to see. Thank you to everyone who gave me their permission to share their photographs - there were too many to include in this weeks post, so you can look forward to more next week.

I've been working on my own blanket too this week, remember I'm also taking part in the Canalboat CAL and crocheting my stripes just a week ahead of you. Because of the complexity of the colour palette with this design I've had to tread very slowly, working in small sections at a time to makes sure the balance of colours is harmonious while still popping out those contrasting shell rows. Eeeep, it's a challenge! I try not to fixate on the individual colour clashes too much (sometimes they do make me toes curl), but instead I focus on the bigger picture. The bigger the blanket grows, the more harmonious it becomes.

I'm using my trusty yarn pegs of course...I love this rather rudimentary way of colour planning and feel comforted by the familiarity of it after designing this way for so many years.

I've been mostly crocheting my own stripes in the evenings, sat on the sofa with the kitty and keeping warm with the fire lit. I adore the gentle rhythm of these stripes, they are very therapeutic I have to say.....

....although I did find myself very distracted by the TV on more than one occasion. I generally don't watch television but J was watching an old film (Moby Dick) one evening and the shouting and whale chasing obviously really interrupted my flow. Ooops!

At the end of Week 3 you'll arrive at the halfway point of the blanket with another three weeks to go for the stripes.

There are some rather wonderful colour-combinations this week too - wow - this blanket has a LOT of energy about it! Even J said to me a few days ago how much he was enjoying seeing it grow and change each week. He very rarely comments on my blankets but does seem to be very taken with this one.

Shall we take a look?

..

....ohhhhhh, isn't it looking GLorIOuS???? Do you see what I meant when I said to focus on the bigger picture and not on each separate colour combination in isolation?

This colour palette and pattern combo is unlike anything I've done before, it really is very striking.

I absolutely LoVe it, especially now it's looking and behaving like a proper blankety-blanket.

BLANKET SIZES

Lets chat quickly about the size - if you are following the Stylecraft mixed stripe shown here, then your blanket should be measuring approx. 90cm long (half way) after you've completed part 3 this week. If you are using the Merino DK yarn, your blanket might be slightly smaller, but keep in mind the merino is a very bouncy yarn so your gauge might vary depending on your hooking style. Don't worry if yours is a little smaller/bigger (unless you're wildly out!), we will chat again at the end of part 5 in a few weeks time and see where we're all at.

If you are making the colourwash version, then you will have less rows (5 less at the end of part 3) so again, your blanket will be measuring slightly smaller.

If you are making baby or lap size blankets, do make sure you stop once you've reached a length you're happy with! For baby blankets I would usually aim for 70 x 90cm finished size, and for a lap throw it would be something like 90 x 120cm. It's up to you how you proportion your smaller blankets, so do please use your own judgement and feel free to down hooks and stop when you've reached the satisfaction point.

Something I've not talked about much is the texture of the Canalboat blanket which I am honestly loving. I had assumed in the beginning that it would be a pretty dense blanket with a flat, even surface texture but actually that isn't the case. Yes the stitch pattern is dense because there are no holes or chain spaces, but the texture is really great, especially on the reverse.....

....↑↑ there, can you see? The back of the shells come out all cute and pouffy, like little textured bobbles and I think they are sooo tactile and lovely. Maybe in the end when the blanket is finished we might switch it around and call the back the front and embrace the bobbliness?!

I was taking some photographs in Little Lady's bedroom yesterday, because in this week of low light and epic greyness, I needed to position myself in the window with the best light. I think I've mentioned before that she's adopted the Flowerpress blanket which is always neatly arranged on her bed...ahhh, I had a moment of pure, unadulterated visual JOY when I caught sight of both blankets together yesterday. The soft, faded vintage florals with this new bright and bold folksy diva, it was just magical seeing how my designs look so different and yet they most definitely belong to each other. Like two siblings who have the same parents and upbringing, yet have wildly different personalities.

I was wearing my Crazy Zauberball socks yesterday and couldn't resist also snapping a quick photo to share on instagram. I get a lot of joy out of playing with my yarny creations, arranging them, folding them, photographing them - it's a whole extra level of creativity and appreciation. Speaking of which....

....this photo was shared on Instagram this week under the #canalboatcal hashtag and it really made me smile BIG!! Let me introduce you to Verena and her utterly gorgeous bunny who is named Mrs Finka, all the way in Germany. I think Verena is giving an important colour lesson to Mrs Finka....ahh, it does make me so happy to see the enjoyment these blanket journeys are bringing to your worlds!

Right, let me stop waffling and loving on the bunny and give you PART 3 of the blanket........

This week we are crocheting another 32 stripes to reach the half way mark. Stripes 66-97.

Here is Part 3 of the MIXED STRIPE for you to download/print this week , click on the following link >>

PART 3 MIXED STRIPE WORKSHEET PDF

Now then, I have a confession to make. I'm so very sorry to announce that I haven't been able to complete Part 3 of my own Colourwash blanket to show you this week, I ran out of time and in this damp, cold weather my hands said No More Hooky. I hope you can forgive me, I tend to do things in a very spontaneous way and sometimes even with the best will in the world I run out of available time and hand power.

Above image is the first two parts of the colourwash that I showed you last week, and in Part 3 we are simply going to repeat Part 1 again.

This means you'll be adding a further 32 stripes to take you up to 92 in total.

↑↑ Thanks to J who helped me create the above graphic image to share, so you can clearly see how the repeat will work this week, it's mesmerising to look at, don't you think?

Here is Part 3 of the COLOURWASH for you to download/print this week , click on the following link >>

 PART 3 COLOURWASH WORKSHEET PDF

And lastly before I pop off and leave you to your own blankets, I just wanted to remind you about the glorious Canalboat Harmony blanket that Kaz Hall created for this CAL. It's absolutely divine, and uses the same 15 Canalboat colours with 2 extra balls of Camel to complete the joining. You can find all the colour information on Kaz's webpage, she's known online as Insomnia Crochet.

I hope you all have a calm and peaceful week with lots of cosy moments and therapeutic creativity. Have fun with your yarn and enjoy the colour-fest!

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♥ Part 3 Mixed Stripe worksheet

♥ Part 3 Colourwash worksheet

♥ Canalboat Pattern PDF

♥ Canalboat TUTORIAL (with lots of photos)

♥ CAL Introduction post

♥ Canalboat yarn packs

♥ CAL post Part 1 (stripes 1-33)

♥ CAL post Part 2 (stripes 34-65)