Attic24

♥ Three Things ♥

Three things that are making me heart-skippy happy today....

:: Thing #1 :: on my table ::

:: A bunch of daffodils bought from the market as tightly closed buds have opened to reveal the most beautiful pale yellow blooms. They're soo pretty! And making me long for Spring to arrive. We've got grey foggy dull damp weather here today, but walking into the room and seeing this jug of flowers has really made my heart skip-skip-skippy ::

:: Thing #2 :: in my tummy ::

:: Baked a chocolate fudge cake as a surprise for J's birthday today. Of course the cake is not yet in my tummy, but a good helping of the chocolate fudge icing is. Wellllll......with no Little People about to lick the bowl out, I was forced to undertake that job myself. Such hardship ::

:: Thing #3 :: on my sofa ::

 

::  Little B and I were at the cafe this morning enjoying the wonderful company of fellow knitters, hookers and stitchers. I finished making the last of the squares needed for my baby zigzaggy blanket....one hundred and five in total. Now got to find time to arrange them and stitch them together, but in the meantime I'm really getting a buzz out of admiring them in their neat little piles ::

♥ hope you find some things to make you heart-skippy happy today ♥

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Granny Wheel Square

Well hello my lovelies, so good to have your company today. Yes, especially today as I am almost popping my socks off with excitement and need desperately to share it with someone who gets it. Husband is most certainly not one of those people, he does try I think, but he isn't very convincing. He indulges me in the same way that you would indulge an over excited child who is a teensy bit irritating with their over excitement.

So what am I going on about, shall I come to the point? Well last night just after I had finally settled Little B to sleep, I took up my hook and yarn in an attempt to work through a design idea that had popped into my head whilst I was milk tankering. It was a design for a square that I've been pondering over for a few weeks now, even though it was all quite vague up until last night. Yes, last night, the Vague Idea suddenly went POP!! And there it was, all very clear and exciting and inspiring and no longer vague at all. Ahhh, it was a great moment!

Do you remember when I wrote this post a few weeks ago and I showed you the Wagon Wheel square that I'd made from a pattern in the oh-so-dated granny square book? Well...I really wanted to try and design my own version of this kind of square. I felt sure that with a little effort I could do it, could make a granny circle fit neatly within a granny square. I wanted my version to be a bit denser too, without so many holes and gaps as the one in the book. But more than anything, I wanted to design a square that would be simple to make. I wanted to create an easy pattern to work but one which would still have great visual impact and loads of possibility for colour-play.

And do you know what?

I think I've managed it!!!! I've really gone and done it!!!!!!

Yay for me!!!!

I can't tell you how excited I am about this new design. Yes I am, really, really, really, really, really pleased with it. Really I am! Jeez, I was sooooooooooo excited last night I could hardly get to sleep, my mind was buzzing and quite honestly if I didn't have a needy seven week old baby to care for, I think I would've sat up all night and made dozens of these squares just for the absolute pleasure of it.

 

So what do you think?? Do you like them?? Oh I do hope so, please tell me you like them?!

The above photo shows the Wagon Wheel square from the book on the left, and on the right is my own "Granny Wheel" square. See how mine is less spokey and holey? I also got rid of the rather irritating 4th round of chain-loops which I didn't much care for in the wagon wheel.

 

And here is a reminder of the delightfully frightful Hostess Apron which is the inspiration for my next blanket. I'm going to be joining my Granny Wheel squares into rows and linking them with stripes. But in blankety format of course. And in beeeaaauuutiful colours too.

I tell you, I am waaaaaaay beyond excited about all this (hmmm can you tell?) I am fizzing and popping and bursting to get started, but I am still deliberating on which yarn to go for. Can't rush that decision cos it's so important to get it right. Plus I'm also still working slowly but surely on my little zigzaggy StashBuster blankie......but soon it'll be time.

Yes, soon it'll be time for a New Blanket to begin.

Oh Happy DAys!!!!!!!!

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ps Will I be sharing this pattern? Why Yes of course! I do intend to make a full tutorial for my new Granny Wheel square, but not for a little while yet. I'll keep you posted xx

Edited to add :: thank you all so very VERY much for your wonderful and enthusiastic response to my sock-popping hooky excitement! I'm really pleased you like my new creation and I can't wait to get my greedy mitts on a new yarn stash and begin churning these out. It's going to be huge fun, I can just tell :o) xx

((thank you )) again, you lot are the best xx

Oaty Cookies

Where oh where have my beloved hills gone?? This was my view from the Attic window this morning, I think you might call it a snowy-white-out. To be truthful, I am so over the snow thing this winter, I'm hankering too badly for Spring to be overjoyed by snowfall. But as today is Sunday and a day of no plans, it's been pretty ok to sit inside, warm and cosy and watch it fall.

The Little People were out playing in it before breakfast this morning :: piling it up, slinging it around, slipsliding about in it. Me :: I chose to sit in the windowseat in the attic and read Country Living magazine (been trying to find my Perfect Moment for it all week without success, but this morning I found it. And it was Oh-So-Good). 

I've been baking this morning too. I love Sunday baking, even more so on a bitterly cold, snowy day like today. I suddenly had this real urge just after breakfast to make cookies, and they had to be Oaty Cookies for some reason. Don't ask me why, but that was how it was. So after a quick little jaunt through various oaty cookie recipes on the www I came across this one and decided to give it a try. It's a simple recipe, and the results are top notch. Very mmmmm mmmmm mmmmmm indeed.

Into a microwavable bowl,  put the following ::

100g margerine or butter

50g soft brown sugar

2tbs (40g) runny honey

Pop into the microwave for about 1 minute or so until the ingredients are gently melted. Give a good stir to combine.

Now add the following ::

100g self raising flour

100g oats

50g dried fruit (raisins in this case, or I think chopped apricots would work well)

I also added 1tbs sunflower seeds, cos by default these cookies then become Wholesome, and I'm all for the Wholesome Option (eh-hem, ok, not strictly true I admit, but it sounds good)

Mix well. The mixture will be quite wet and sticky.

Put heaped desertspoons of the mixture onto a baking tray (I managed 16 in total), spreading well apart. Flatten slightly with a fork, but don't go overboard with the flattening.

Bake in a moderate oven 180/350/gas 4 for 12-15mins until they are very lightly golden. You'll need to know your oven :: cookies baked in my oven are generally done at 12 minutes, after that they overcook on the bottom.

Out of the oven they come and ooooooh they do smell lovely. They do look Wholesome too, wouldn't you say?

 

The Little People road test them immediately whilst they are still warm and give them a most definite thumbs up.

I make myself a coffee to accompany my tester-cookie and mmmmmmmmmmm they do indeed taste deeeeeeeeeeeeelicious.

In fact, I am about to go to the red spotty tin and have myself another.

You know, just to be sure they are good enough for you.

Wouldn't want to give you a duff recipe now would I?

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edited to add :: a lovely reader called Lisa left a comment on this post and recommended a recipe for homemade hobnob biscuits...having just made a batch and road testing a few (not saying how many, thats for me to know), I  can tell you that they are Good. ExTREMEly Good in fact. The link to the recipe is here. Right, off to google ANZAC biscuits now. No idea why I'm obsessing about oat biscuits?!

Because I'm Worth It

I'm at the supermarket.

Alone. No Little People, no baby.

Even though I'm simply wandering amongst aisles of food, I am high on the feeling of Freedom.

I'm amongst the potatoes (soooooo many varieties!) looking for the fresh flowers.

Its all been moved around since I was last there.

I have it in my mind that I must buy myself some Yellow Tulips.

Yes, yes I know I have to remember to get bread and milk and various other essentials, but I can't stop thinking about Yellow Tulips.

Ahh yes, the fresh flowers are there, and oooooooooo just LOOK at those gorgeous tulips! So fresh! So vibrant! Just what I need!

I marvel at the colours, at the perfectly perfect blooms.

I notice that the bunches of tulips are in two sizes :: small (£2) and large (£5).

I pick up a small (£2) bunch of Yellow Tulips and pop them in my basket.

They are very pretty. And very yellow.

But there are only eight of them in the small (£2) bunch.

No matter, eight will be enough.

I walk on through the supermarket gathering Essential Items.

Bread. Milk. Chocolate.

I go to the checkout, and I pick up my small (£2) bunch of yellow tulips to put on the conveyor belt.

They do look small.

I hesitate.

I ponder the tulips for an instant.

Then I put the small (£2) bunch of tulips in my basket and re-trace my steps back to the fresh flowers.

The small (£2) bunch of tulips go back in the bucket and I pick up a large (£5) bunch of tulips.

Yellow, white, red and yellow/red tulips in this bunch, twenty stems in total.

They are unbelievably gorgeous.

And I feel a hundred million times better now that I have the Large (£5) bunch in my basket.

You see.....the advantage of buying a large bunch of tulips is that you can spread them.

Quite difficult to spread eight stems satisfactorily.

But twenty stems are pretty beautifully Spreadable.

I arrange thirteen stems in my duck-egg blue jug and pop them on the table....

....take three stems upstairs to the bathroom to go in my old glass bottles on the windowsill.

 And I put four stems in a small patterned jug to sit on my bedside table.

Oh bed, bed, Bed, you are really Tempting me!

But no, I have things to do, I have to put all thoughts of Bed to the back of my mind.

Incidentally, I managed about four hours sleep in my bed last night, four small teeny-weeny hours. 

It was not a good night.

But it doesn't matter because there are Tulips in the house.

Not just a small bunch, but a Large Bunch.

And I am very happy about that.

And I do believe I'm Worth It.

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Cards

I love cards very much :: greetings cards and postcards that is, not the ones you play games with. I have a long standing habit of buying and hoarding cards, I think I could be a little addicted actually.

I have an old shoebox full (yes, I mean full) of postcards which I've collected over the past twenty odd years since my art school days. And I keep Little Piles of pretty cards around the house, cards bought on a whim because the artwork appealed to me or inspired me in some way. Some in the bedroom, some in the attic, some in the downstairs cupboard which quite frankly is not for the faint hearted (cards stay in there a long time cos it's so hazzardous getting anything out). I also keep cards which've been sent or given :: cards which remind me of people, places and occasions, cards that have feelings attached to them.

I do really like to have cards about the house :: I prop them up around the place, on bookshelves, on the fireplace, next to my bed. I stick them up on the walls too, in unexpected places so that they catch my eye as I walk past. Every so often I change them about and put new ones up, it does really please me to do this, to think about which images I'd like to surround myself with and where to display them.

The three cards I'm showing you today are on display around the house at the moment, they are my current Cards Of Choice. And looking at them now, it occurs to me how apt they are, how they pretty much sum up my life at this time.

The top card was sent to me by a very close friend on my 40th Birthday. The illustration is by artist Jenny Muncaster and I love everything about it. It really does make my heart flutter. I mean, whats not to like? Fresh flowers in a pretty jug, a plate of cakes and tea in a  favourite cup :: the makings of a little moment of Daily Bliss. A reminder to take a moment each day to stop and rest and enjoy a little bit of Pretty Refreshment. Ahhhhhhhh yes indeed! This card is currently propped up against a small pile of books on my bedside table. 

The middle card was one of many cards we received when Little B arrived on the scene, and as soon as I saw the image I was smitten. Love that cute little baby with his rosy cheeks! Love the Mummy's funky flowery dress! Funny enough, my hair has grown quite a bit during the past year and I often wear it in two bunches (although not quite on top of my head like that, I'm not that eccentric. Not yet anyways, although could very well be heading that way.) This card is currently on the mantel at the dining room end of my living space :: one of my favoiurite places for displaying cards.

The bottom card has been with me for a long time. Can't remember where I got it from, but I've had it since my arty student days (eh-hem, that'll be ooooo about twenty long years then, gawd I do suddenly feel very ancient indeed). I remember having it pinned onto my little Inspiration Board at college, and I remember having it stuck up on various walls of various rooms that I lived in at various times in my long-ago past. I just adore the image sooooooo much. Love, love, love the patchwork cover with a passion. And oh-oh-oh I'm having a major love affair with all things Bed at the moment, I can't tell you how much I dream and fantasize about being cosied up in bed these days.

Speaking of which :: time check :: 8:28pm :: about time for me to go and bliss myself out under my puffy feather duvet in it's crisp pure cotton cover, with my head resting on Cath Kidston Rosy pillows and my luscious Big Blanket keeping me warm and snug.......

Right-oh, thats IT, I can't stay away any more, I'm off to bed.....see you again soon

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Happy Day

Hello!

I'm having a really Happy Day today :: no particular reason for it, nothing momentous has happened, but for the first time in quite a while I've been feeling kind of ordinarily normal today. A bit more like my old self, the self that was happily there before Little B steamrollered in.

Been pottering at home this morning, taking pictures, and really enjoying just being here and seeing my home around me and liking what I see. I think of late that I've been so very wrapped up in caring for Little B and trying to keep my head bobbing above water that I'd kind of forgotten how to just relax and enjoy being at home. And it feels really good to reconnect with my messy, chaotic, colourful, creative home-space and to find how lovely it all suddenly looks to me, even under the layers of dust.

I've got some hyacinth bulbs growing away nicely on the mantel, I think they're going to be blue ones and I'm looking forward to them blooming very much.

I also recently put these little wooden stacking dolls on my mantel too :: I found them in amongst the Christmas decorations and remembered I'd bought them aaages ago, in November 2008, intending to give them to Little Lady that Christmas but completely forgetting about them. Aren't they pretty?

I've got some lovely purple tulips on my table this week, although they are almost going over now. I think that this weekend I'll treat myself to some more, perhaps some cheery yellow ones. I never tire of tulips :: a jug of them on the table cheers my soul enormously.

A quick snap of my bags hanging in the hallway, I know, I do show you the strangest things, don't I?! I went to open the front door earlier this morning (a big box of nappies being delivered), and was suddenly really struck by the colours hanging there. Even though they hang there every single day, it was almost as if I was seeing them for the first time, does that sound bonkers? Probably a little eh. Its just that I seem to be having that kind of a day today, a real lovely eye-opening visual kind of a day. And oh it feels great!!!!

On my table, next to the jug of purple tulips and in amongst the other table-mess, there stands a rather lovely stripy tiger. Isn't he cute? His big pink tongue is cleverly connected to lollipop sticks under his belly so that it can move in and out...ahhh I think he's super!

He was made by Little Man at school yesterday and seeing him there has reminded me that I do miss spending time with my Little People. They've been soooo good since Little B arrived, adjusting to the diminished time that I can spend with them. I'm really looking forward to next week when they'll be home for the half term holiday, and hopeful we can spend a little more time together. J is also going to be home with us next week which feels like the biggest luxury. He decided a short while ago to book the week off as unpaid leave so that he can be here to help out, even though it means we'll lose quite a bit of our income this month. Gosh I do love my husband.

 

Been doing a bit of sporadic cleaning today too, nothing drastic, just swishing my pink feather duster around the place and zooming the vacuum cleaner across the carpets, carrying Little B with me as I went. It's only minimal housework, but has made the place seem a little more together and ready for the weekend.

See I've got my favourite magazine all lined up ready and waiting for the weekend too, waiting for the Perfect Moment to present itself  so that I can lose myself in it's pages. Although have to confess that I did have a sneaky peak at the first few pages this morning whilst milking, just couldn't help myself. It was scrummy I tell you, I adore the spring issue magazines soooo much.

Well will have to love you and leave you for now as I need to go do milky stuff with my Littlest Man now....wishing you all a weekend full of Perfect Moments, ♥ enjoy enjoy enjoy ! ♥

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Heartfelt Thanks

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww YOU LOT!!!!!!!!!! What are you like?????????????? How Awesome you all are!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You just have to be THE BESTest Readers one could ever ever ever hope for, and you've made me feel absolutely bloody great, do you know that?

I've been having a rather Challenging week in case you hadn't guessed. I like to use the word "challenging" cos it sounds more positive and less depressing that many other more graphic words that spring to mind. And I'm all for trying to see the positive. Even at 4am with tired eyes and my ears full of screaming.

I really did feel at a low ebb yesterday, very much in need of a pick-me-up, and you my friends delivered it by the truck load. I can't thank you enough for all the hundreds of votes that you've been posting over at the Olympics. Wow, it's been quite mind blowing watching that little vote-o-meter tick up in my favour at such a rate, knowing that you are all behind me.

Thank you so VERY much. With all my heart.

And talking of hearts, I worked the above little crochet heart just before Christmas, developing the pattern from a similar one I stumbled across on t'internet. Doing my usual thing and simplifying the design, ironing out the niggles and complications which always seem to be present in so many patterns. I was reeeeeeeeeeeally hoping to write a little tutorial for this heart in time for Valentines day, but a certain Little Someone is preventing me from having enough time. But as soon as I'm able, I'll try and find the little piece of scrap paper with the pattern scribbled on it and do some hooking and photographing for you. Its a super little pattern, worked in three quick rounds...I'm going to be (trying) to make some up myself in the next few days to string around the place as I do like to decorate a little for Valentines day.

 

So....I'm not sure what else to say really.

I think, dear blogreaders, that you know perfectly well how thankful I am for your regular visits to the Attic, for your kindness and support and enthusiasm.

And I also know how thankful you are to me for inviting you into the Attic in the first place, cos you sure do like to let me know!

So that's an awful lot of Thankfulness eh?

Maybe we'll leave it at that.

Heartfelt thanks all round.

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ps I know, I know, the photo of Little B's fingers is completely and utterly unnecessary isn't it, but what the heck, I'm sharing it anyways, just because. You know. It's heartfelt.

xx

2010 Handmade Olympics

Would you?

Do you think you might?

Consider posting a vote for Attic24 that is??

I don't like to push.

Don't like to impose and come across as being too Needy and Greedy.

But the prizes are pretty cool, and well, I feel like I could maybe use a bit of a Perk-up.

And I have a feeling that winning an Olympic Medal might possbly be very Perky-uppy indeed.

I've been nominated as a runner in Event 5, and I'm pretty chuffed actually :: to be thought of as someone who "Forwards Kindness" is really lovely and has made me feel all heart-skippy.

So if you'd like to find out more about the Handmade Olympics, please do visit the Rikrak Studio blog HERE.

And if you feel like you might quite like to perhaps vote for the Attic, please click HERE.

Thanking you muchly.

And please forgive the Unsubtle Nature of this post.

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ps Attic24 was nominated by the very kind and lovely Nath ((thank you)) xxx

pps Voting closes 17th February, 5pm

ppps Love you all, mwah xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Little Pleasures

In my last post, didn't everything look so idyllic and cosy? And truthfully for that particular snap of our day, yes it was. It was very cosy and idyllic indeed. Yes it was warm and peaceful and intimate and creative and accomplished. And quiet. Yeah. I felt like I was reeeeeally doing great.

Today, not quite the same. Lots of griping and crying (no, not me, although I did consider it briefly), lots of pacing and soothing and cuddling and rubbing and patting and shhhhshing and harumphing and moaning and complaining (yes, that was all me that time). You know how it is. Baby is tired, oh-so-tired, but baby has a devil of a tummy ache. Baby cries, baby gets even more tired, baby cries some more. Baby finally drifts off into an exhausted, fitful sleep, only to wake up ten minutes later with that devil of a tummy ache again. And so we go back to the pacing and soothing and cuddling and rubbing and patting and shhhhshing.

Days like these are challenging for sure, and I am trying oh-so-hard to see the good in them, to try and minimize the harumphing and moaning and complaining. On days like these I make a point of seeking out the Little Pleasures in life, the simple rituals that I know will soothe my soul.

I find a cup of tea helps enormously. If in doubt, go make a cup of tea. And yes why not have a little bit of something sweet on the side? Essential in times of need. Sit a while in the Big Chair in the light of the bay window, sip tea and think calm thoughts. Breeeeaaaathe. It will be Ok. Keep Calm and Carry On.

At the tail end of a long and challenging day, a lovely, blissful soak in a hot, deep bubble bath works wonders. Oh how I look forward to this point in my day! Do you like the look of my new stripy flannel there, aren't the colours just so perfectly Attic24-ish? A gift to me from the lovely Heather, do you know her? She writes a lovely blog called Little Tin Bird, lots of b-e-a-utiful hooky goodness goes on over there you know.

The rather posh Clarins bath soak was also a gift from my lovely neighbour a few doors down at number 18. The same lovely neighbour who kindly took me and my three offspring in yesterday afternoon when I managed to forget my keys and lock us all out of number 24. You can imagine my face can't you, arriving home from school with two tired, hungry school children and one hungry, cying baby, putting my hand in my pocket and finding a one-pence piece, a hairslide, an old button and some snotty tissue, but no keys. Arrggghhhhhhhhh!! Yes my friends, we are having excatly that kind of week.

 

And lastly, possibly one of my biggest Little Pleasures at this time is my bed. Ahhhhhh my sweet, sweet, blissful, scrumptious bed, how I Love You! I'm not going to admit to you quite how many times a day I fantasise about my bed, but it's a lot. I go upstairs to fetch something and gaze longingly at the crumpled unmade bedding and my wonderful crumpled crochet blanket.

Some days (yesterday was one of them) I decide that for the good of my health I just HAVE to have some afternoon sleep. And instead of opting for a quick power nap on the sofa I decide to go the whole hog and take myself upstairs to bed. I have to time it right, have to wait until Little B is at the point of drifting off for some deep afternoon shuteye, then I take him upstairs to carry out his zzzzzzz in the above location. And in I climb too, and off I drift....ahhhhh, something so delicously naughty about getting in to bed in the middle of the day, but oh so good! 

So now I've written this post and I've thought about how lovely and reassuring and soothing these Little Pleasures are, and I think this :: life is not so bad. Could be a whole lot worse. I mean, despite our topsy turvy morning, Little B is now (finally) sound asleep and I am (finallY) enjoying a snippet of me-time. And I'm about to go make myself another cup of tea. With a chocolate biscuit to the side.

Actually, I think I'll make that two biscuits.

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Multi-tasking

Been granny-square making this afternoon, busting that stash and building those piles.

Am almost done with the making (eight more squares to go, plus twelve half-squares), then it'll be time to stitch it all together.

I had a go at laying all the squares out earlier to get an idea of how they are going to look patchworked together, and I have to say I think this is gonna be one Sweet little blankie.

 

Something else thats very Sweet indeed is the business of Multi-tasking. Much to my delight, I discovered this afternoon that I can very effectively Multi-task if I Prepare in Advance, if I get myself set up right.

On the sofa, squishy cushion behind my back. Little table to the front with cup of tea and scissors, cushion underneath on which to rest my arm. Yarn and hook to the left, Little B right there resting his sweet head, doing his thing.

And hey=presto!

I can simultaneously apply myself to being a Milk Tanker and a Hooker!!

Oh Happy Day!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here's hoping you all have a great weekend, whatever tasks you have in mind :: have fun!

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