Attic24

2011 :: Year End Review :: twelve months

:: JANUARY ::

 

:: FEBRUARY ::

 

:: MARCH ::

 

:: APRIL ::

 

:: MAY ::

 

:: JUNE ::

 

:: JULY ::

 

:: AUGUST ::

 

:: SEPTEMBER ::

 

:: OCTOBER ::

 

:: NOVEMBER ::

 

:: DECEMBER ::

 

WOW. What a year.

Not a hugely different year to last, in fact the months seem to look remarkably similar don't they? I like the sameyness of these years, I find it comforting and reassuring to acknowledge the repetitive rhythm of my life. Despite the odd drama, I've been blessed with a huge amount of security, stability, love, happiness and joy this year. I am deeply grateful for this and I hope this gratitude comes across as I document my life's rather ordinary, domestic journey.

I've written 108 posts this year, and after almost four years of blogging I continue to be completely thrilled with it all. I adore creating this catalogue of memories, thoughts and ideas, it's become such a valuable, rewarding and creative part of my life.

Thank you as always for continuing to visit me in the Attic, for taking time to write, for egging me on with all that I do. I appreciate your company so very much. I know that 2012 is going to be great, and I for one cannot wait for it to begin tomorrow.

Wishing you all a bright and colourful HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Quietly Creating

Yesterday afternoon, a sweet, blissful, peaceful, Window of Opportunity unexpectedly opened up for me. A time in amongst the usual hectic bustle and noise of family life where everything hushed down and was suddenly still and quiet for a while. Both Little People were out enjoying play/lunch with their respective friends, and Little B (after a 5am start) had fallen asleep on the sofa.

I didn't hesitate. Knew exactly what I would do with my quiet little snippet of Me-time. I would make myself a cup of tea and sit quietly at the table to create. Needle and thread, buttons and bells, stitchy, stitchy.

I decided to add a little ceremony to the proceedings and went upstairs to fetch the candle down from my bedside. For obvious reasons, it's not possible to have lit candles on the table normally, but when it's safe (ie when Little B is off in the Land of Nod) I can indulge. As I was stitching, I found I was talking to myself inside my head, do you know what I mean? I was chatting to myself about my new dotty candles, bought on impulse from Cath Kidston just before Christmas. I thought about how long I had wanted these candles, how many times I had resisted buying them as they are of course a complete indulgence. Expensive and unnecessary. Leave them in the shop, step away. And yet, on balance, the pleasure they are giving me is absolutely unbelievable, and worth every penny. I chop them in half to make them shorter/safer in my little enamel candle holder, so they work out at 50p each. They are so worth it.

That incredibly pretty floral mug you can see there is also from Cath Kidston and was a Christmas present from a sweet and thoughtful friend. It's fabulous. It holds a very large quantity of tea, perfect for accompanying afternoon creative sessions.

Every so often, I would take a breather from the stitching and nip over to the sofa to check on Little B. Soooooooooooooooooooo cute. He had been sitting on the sofa watching Postman Pat, and had literally fallen asleep and toppled over to lay himself down amongst cushions and blankets. He looked adorable, all pink flushed cheeks and dear little fingers and toes.

I think I must've had about ninety minutes of sweet afternoon me-time, enough to complete all my stitching. I spent a little time last night and first thing this morning crocheting the band that runs along the top and strings all the pennants together, and the finished bunting is now sitting on the table. Yes, it's finished!!! The light here today is very poor though, it's dreary, wet and gloomy so not sure I'll be able to photograph it just yet. But a ta-dah will be coming very soon, I can't wait to share it with you.

I'm also working on my Year End Review posts to share with you over the next few days, such fun! It's something I always really love spending time on at the end of the year, it fills me with happiness to see so many visual, joyful memories coming together in one place.

Have a fabulous day, whatever you're up to and whatever the weather, thanks so much for stopping by. See you soon!

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Christmas Cheer

I am slowly, gently, secretly breathing my customary post-christmas Sigh of Relief. Whhhooooooaaaaaoooh. Exhale. It's all over for another year, and I am full of gratitude, relief, and waaaay too much food. Thank goodness for days spent loafing around wearing pyjamas with an elasticated waist.

Our Christmas was wonderful and everything I hoped it would be. It was relaxing, fun and joyful, with just the right sprinkling of excitement and chaos. I was predictably sleep deprived following many false early starts to the morning... No no NO, it's 3am and you may NOT go downstairs yet, Get Back To Bed until a 5 appears on your clock. Variations of this same sentence were repeated at least 4 more times. I wish I was kidding about that, but that's how it really was.

The Little People are thrilled with their gifts, it's been really terrific watching them work their way through the possibilities of so many new things. This is especially true of Little B who is having a complete ball with his new toys. Who knew a pop-up toaster could generate such laughter and amusement time after time after time?

The older the Little Peeps get, the more unsure I become about the whole present business. I found I was holding my breath through much of the present unwrapping, secretly keeping fingers crossed that the gifts would be gratefully received. It's quite easy to get it rather wrong, to spend precious time and money buying the Wrong Kind of Thing, and they sure let you know it (Shower gel??? What a boring present!!!). But like I say, on the whole, pretty much every gift was received with big smiles, and on occasion even a spontaneous and excited whoop.

J is reluctantly back at work today, it's been so lovely having him home for the past eleven days. It still seems a long time until Normal Routine will resume here though as the Little People don't return to school until the 9th January. I'm kind of glad we've still got eleven lazy mornings left but also kind of wishing for some sort of calm and order to return. The house is in complete chaos and all the sweet new routines that I carefully built up during the Autumn have evaporated in a fug of festive laziness. The laundry basket is overflowing. Stuff has piled up everywhere, on every surface in every room. But this is the remarkable and lovely thing :: yesterday I realised that for the first time EVER I am actually missing doing the housework. I am actually looking forward to doing it!!! Wow. Wonders will never cease.

In amongst all the full-on chaos of the holiday season, I've been finding a few quiet moments to create. My festive bunting is progressing nicely, and although I didn't manage to get it made in time for Christmas, I'm aiming for a New Year ta-dah. I am also itching to get back to some rippling, it's been weeks and weeks since I worked on my blanket.

Mostly this Christmas has been about giving in to laziness. Allowing oneself to Slob Out and do very little. It takes a wee while to unwind and slow down the pace doesn't it? After such a lot of rush and activity in the run up to Christmas, I've had to almost force myself to just hang out at home with no plans to do anything much or go anywhere at all.

The fire has been at the focus of our stay-home days, and as a family we've spent countless hours sat around it, enjoying it's cosy light and warmth. Watching films, playing games, toasting marshmallows, listening to music, cuddling, snuggling, hanging out. The pleasure it gives us is huge, and each Winter I always give thanks for it, most especially during the Christmas period.

Bedtimes too, oh how I give thanks for Bedtime!!! HaHAHA!! It can be remarkably tiring sitting around eating and drinking and slobbing out all day you know!!!!

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Christmas Time :: 2011

Hello!! Thought I'd pop in whilst all is quiet and peaceful to give you a peek at our Decorative Endeavours this Christmas, sorry it's a little late.  Do you like my new little tree decorations? Aren't they aDORable?? Last weekend I hopped on the train and went off shopping in The City, and rather miraculously I managed a whole seven hour day all-to-myself. It was absolute bliss after such a long time being confined to home whilst Little Man was poorly, oh I did have fun! I was primarily shopping for gifts, but a few sweet goodies did become mine including these lovely decorations.

Awwwwwwwww, how impossibly cute, I was powerless to resist his charms and good looks.

I was looking back through my archives earlier today for a reminder of how our decorations looked last year. As is often the case, I was struck by how little really changes year after year. I find this repetitiveness very reassuring somehow.

I hung real peppermint candy canes for the first time this year, they've been a huge hit with the Little People. And of course my new Christmas birds are there in the branches, but everything else is the same as last year. The Little People did a wonderful job with the decorating, I set the tree up with the lights and the sequin garland, then stepped back and left everything else to them. Amazingly, Little B showed very little interest. He's been carrying out a little bit of rearranging on the lower branches, but on the whole his approach has been very cool.

I love having the tree lit at night time, the glow of the coloured fairy lights is so nostalgic and heart warming.

My fireplace is also very similar to last year. I bought some new red tin candle lanterns this year to replace the jam jars of previous years, but essentially it's the same set up.

I do have a new handmade Angel look, isn't she gorgeous? I felt that it was essential to buy her to accompany the first Angel which I bought from my talented friend last year. Actually, the truth of the matter is that the a-symmetry of having just one angel hanging on one side has bothered me more than I care to admit. It really, really niggled at me last year. All balanced out this year, and I'm happy.

Over to the other fire place at the dining room end of the room, and I've gone to town here for the first time. I really pulled out all the stops. Feel like I should be shouting out a Ta-dah here you know! Oh what the heck, I'm going to do it....................

Christmas Mantel 2011, Ta-dah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Do you like it?? I LOVE love LoVE it.

Some new purchases here....a half price wooden nativity set and an impossibly cute and adorable hand made mouse (the Talented Friend doesn't just make Angels). The other bits and pieces are from previous years and are usually on the table, but for obvious Little-B reasons they needed to be up out of reach this year.

My twigs+baubles are a resounding, heart-skipping success, I just love it all soooooo much. Almost all of the 100 weeny glass baubles made it onto the twigs, and with the mirror behind, the effect is stunning I think. I'm going to be hard pushed to take these down in January. Might leave them up until Valentines day in February when I can ceremoniously pack them away and put the hearts back up.

I've got some stunning red Festive Tulips on the table, more same-same as previous years.

You know I mentioned earlier about my trip to the city? The Sweet Goodies? That's them above, very lovely Lucy-treats. I took inspiration from Jane and treated our bed oh ok, I treated Myself to new pillowcases for Christmas. I put them on the bed this afternoon and I'm ridiculously excited about going to bed tonight cos I know they're there. And the spotty candles, oh I've wanted them forever.

New cosy brush cotton jammies for Christmas too, I am so looking forward to wearing them tomorrow! I'm planning on wearing them All Day Long.

Little Lady and I ran some errands in town this morning. We went to collect our birds from the butcher (chicken and pheasant), have coffee/juice in the cafe together, purchase a sprig of misteltoe from the market, and choose/purchase this year's festive Nail Polish. Last year we did silver. Year before we went for scarlet. This year it's hot pink with a bit of sparkle. I really enjoy this little Christmas Eve ritual, it's always a very lovely part of my late afternoon.

Ahhhhhhhh I really do love Christmas Eve, love the peace and calm once all is done. No more shopping, no more rushing, no more wrapping.

Twinkle, twinkle, all is calm, all is bright. Sigh. Sooooo happy.

Wishing you all a wonderful Christmas time full of love, peace and joy.

And lots of twinkle too.

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Winter Solstice :: 2011

The shortest day of the year today, and I've really enjoyed it. I cooked up a yummy batch of scotch pancakes for breakfast, and our morning unfolded gently and leisurely at home. After an early lunch we took a spur of the moment trip to Bolton Abbey to listen to the sound of rushing water and breathe in the fresh winter air. Woodland walking is really lovely in winter time I think. I took time to look up and down as I walked. Up through the wintry, twiggy canopy to the blue sky, and down to the beautifully vibrant mossy stones. So beautiful.

After our walk, we drove back to town via The Scenic Route up over the top of Barden moor. My my, the afternoon light was incredible today. And the clouds!!! WOW!! What weird and wonderful shapes the clouds were making! And the light, did I mention the incredible light on the hills? I absolutely love it when you get to actually see sun rays shafting down through the clouds (I photographed it in Autumn too, do you remember?) It seemed to me as if the sky was putting on a magical Winter Solstice show.

Before coming home, I stopped off at my friends front garden to gather some greenery. She seemed a little surprised when I turned up with secateurs, offering to "trim" her holly, ivy and other unknown red-berried bush for her.

I kept our Solstice celebrations simple this year :: a jug for the greenery to sit on the hearth, the fire burning brightly, and lots of candle light. A few secret wishes too. Tomorrow the day will be a little bit longer and the night will be a little bit shorter. Worth celebrating don't you think?

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Ps. Thank you all SO much for your well wishes re Little Man and his wibbly legs. I'm really happy to announce that he's finally managed to shrug the germs off and is very much better. He's not quite 100% yet, but pretty close. Pheww.

 

Winter bright

Oh how I love crisp, frosty-cold, Winter bright days!! They've sadly been few and far between this season, but it's made them all the more joyous when we have had them.

These pictures were taken on Sunday. I was walking with Little Lady, she was holding my hand and chattering away nineteen to the dozen as we walked.

I asked her if she minded us having to walk on such a cold day (we were going to a Birthday Party on the other side of town, cutting down across the park to reach the main road). She replied that she loved it, that she was very happy to be walking instead of travelling by car.

It was rather glorious.

J's home this week, he lit the fire first thing this morning and it's still burning now, twelve hours later. All is cosy and warm here at number 24. The Little Peeps had their last day at school today and I went along to the church to sing Christmas carols and choke back the emotion of it all. Away in a Manger, head down, swallow hard, keep singing. Silly old thing, I am quite over emotional these days. Little Man spent yet another day horizontal on the sofa, I cannot believe he is still so unwell. He did manage to go to school yesterday, but it knocked him sideways, so we'll be back at the docs tomorrow to see why his head is still so hot and his legs still so wibbly. Sigh.

I have made some progress on the Christmas preps this past week, most gifts have now been purchased Thank Goodness. Cards have yet to be written mind you, but that's on my to-do list for tomorrow. The house is half-way decked but still needs to be finished off, I'm hoping to do that tomorrow too so will take some pics to share with you.

I hope that all is Merry and Bright with you my friends, keep cosy, and I'll be back to chat soon.

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Oh-So-Slow

The weather here continues to be plain nasty. We alternate between rain, sleet, hail and snow, all of it wet, cold and yuck. I am longing for a little of the crisp, bright beauty that I remember from this time last year.

Little Man continues his lengthy stint on the sofa, he has never been so under the weather for such a long period of time before. He is battling a throat infection, and it's obviously a very tough army of germs cos he is completely worn out with the effort of just being horizontal day after day.

Every so often he will pep up a little and seek out some slow, gentle activity. Yesterday he cut out and hand stitched a sweet little christmas stocking decoration. My heart squeezed a little as I watched the concentration and effort etched on his pale face.

Little B has taken a while to adjust to these oh-so-slow days stuck indoors. He alternates between being plain irritating (pulling all the wet wipes out of the packet, breaking toys, scribbling on the furniture etc) and super sweet (making me pretend cups of tea, chatting to Daddy on his mobile phone, sitting quietly to look through books, stacking towers of cups and clapping himself proudly).

We continue to bake. Little Man asked to bake biscuits yesterday, I smiled to myself when I saw him get out the silver balls, remembering last year's baking :o)

I continue to plod my way through the slowness of the days, sneaking a little time in Blogland when I can. I am drinking a lot of coffee and working my way slowly-but-surely through the tin of gingerbread festive traybake. I can tell you it improves immensely after a day or two.

When Little B naps in the afternoon, I sit in the bay window and work on my crochet projects. A little bit of holly. A little bit of bunting edging. Slowly, slowly it's coming together.

I am trying very, very, very hard to embrace these oh-so-slow days, to enjoy the comfort of being in a warm, cosy home with my two boys. Drinking coffee, baking, photographing, writing, crocheting, cleaning, cooking, sorting laundry, providing care and comfort and love. But. I am frustrated at not being able to go out, I am missing my friends, I am just about managing to hold down a huge swell of panic when I think about the Christmas presents that haven't been bought yet. Not a single one. There's time yet? It'll be OK? Yeah. I hear you. It'll be OK. I can do Last Minute, I do it every year. Breathe deeply. Drink more coffee. Eat more cake.

It'll be OK.

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Edit to add :: aaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh yes INterNet ShoPPing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I feel like a right Plum Pudding now. Of course. The magical Internet. No need to go out tramping the streets! Amazon, here I come!

 

 

 

Gingerbread

So lets talk Gingerbread. Not something I've ever really craved before, but at the weekend my goodness I suddenly craved it sooooooo badly I felt like my world might cave in if I didn't have it. If I didn't know better, I would've thought I was pregnant as the craving was so strong. Just like the time I HAD to eat a whole packet of Fruit Sherbets when I was in my first trimester carrying Little B. But no no no, definitely not preggers and no more Little People in the Attic thank you, three's quite enough.

These pages I'm showing you are from last months Country Homes and Interiors (December Issue), so you can see quite clearly how I've been subliminally brainwashed inspired into desiring the whole gingerbread thing.

Doesn't it all look completely beautiful? Festive and homely, gently spiced and delicious. So on Saturday morning, full of gingerbread excitement, I scribbled down a list of ingredients and practically ran to the shops to purchase them.

Saturday jigged along and the ingredients sat in a sweet pile in my kitchen. Golden syrup and black treacle, eggs, flour, sugar and spices. But there was no time! I could not manage to shimmy the gingerbread-making into Saturday no matter how much I wanted to.

Sunday morning though, and nothing was going to stop me. I love love love to bake on a Sunday morning, I put my apron on over my pyjamas and it makes me feel incredibly homely and content. I had Little Lady helping me do gingerbread on Sunday, she even put on her sweet little apron that I made her out of an old tea towel when she was three years old.

I settled for making the Iced Gingerbread recipe, described as a "festive tray bake". It involved putting all the runny ingredients in a pan and bubbling it up a bit, stirring in the dry ingredients, pouring the resulting gloopy mixture into a tray and baking it. The resulting tray bake then had to cool, be sliced in half horizontally (a harder-than-it-looks procedure), then sandwiched back together with a butter cream/orange filling and smothered in a melted chocolate/sugar/butter concoction.

Oh boy. The smell of all this happening in my kitchen was incredible. I could not stop sniffing it all in. Ginger and orange zest and chocolate, sniff-sniff-sniff....mmmmmm-mmmmm.

I loved every bit of the mixing, whisking, bubbling, pouring, baking, beating, sandwiching, melting, smothering and decorating. It was such fun! A bit lengthy, but definitely heaps of satisfying, beautifully scented fun.

And here is the finished article, well a little part of it. I chose to add some little milk and white chocolate shapes to the top of my ginger tray bake, just to provide a final flurry of pretty sweetness.

So how did this gingerbread actually turn out?? It certainly looks great, and oh it smells divine. Taste wise, yes, it hit the spot beautifully. Just enough spice, not too sweet. Truthfully, I think I over baked it slightly as the texture is a wee bit dry. I forget that my oven is a hot one, and that I maybe should've reduced the suggested baking time a little.

But overall, this makes for a yummy, scrummy, seasonal bit of Sweet Stuff to accompany morning coffee or afternoon tea. Definitely one to try again, next time the Gingerbread Craving hits.

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ps sorry I'm not able to provide the actual recipe as it was published in the magazine and I have to respect their copyright.

 

 

 

 

 

Stay-home Day (again)

We're experiencing the most dreadful weather this week, it's very wet, cold and stormy. Gusty, icy rain showers, freezing hail storms, furious winds whipping through the streets. It's made the school run really horrid, even with jazzy wellies to wear. The house has taken a real battering today, the rain has lashed against the windows and doors, the wind has whistled relentlessly down the chimneys, and water has dripped mournfully through the bay window roof. Drip, drip, drip.

Little Man continues to do battle with the lurgy and spent another mostly horizontal day home from school.

Which has meant that we've had a second enforced Stay-home Day. But given the state of the weather, it's not been a bad thing by any means. We've had a wee bit of cabin fever, with Little B being a tad on the naughty side due to boredom I suspect, but well, it's been OK. There's been lots of time for me to hang out with my boys. Chatting, singing, snuggling, reading, watching recorded episodes of Postman Pat (Little B's favourite), and generally just hanging out.

We baked this morning Little B and I, yesterday too, it's what I do when one of my Littlies is poorly. Any whiff of a high temperature or achy limbs and I go straight to the kitchen to bake. It's my stress relief mechanism. I made buns yesterday, iced and decorated with glitter and sugar snowflakes. Today it was fruity flapjack. Little B stands on a chair to help, and he's surprisingly good for an under two. He wears a sweet little apron that belonged to Little Man when he was small.

The heat from the oven steams up the kitchen window, I just love it when this happens. Love to stand in a warm kitchen inhaling the scent of something sweet baking and see my little window all steamed up.

Right in front of the steamy window is my beloved coffee machine, which I absolutely cannot do without. I've had it for many years now and I've come to wholeheartedly look forward to my morning coffee at home each day. Always in the same stripy cup. Always with a dusting of chocolate powder on the top, and always with my sweet little melamine spoon for all important froth-scooping. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Mid morning and it's snack time, so I hand out warm-from-the-oven flapjacks and various bits of fruit. I smile to myself as I watch Little B making short work of his satsuma, that Little Boy really does love his fruit. The word Scoff springs to mind. Just as his chequered apron belonged to Little Man, so did his bowl. More smiles from Mummy, and more memories layering new upon old.

Late morning and I suddenly realise with a jolt that we are a whole week into Advent and my Advent Garland is missing. Holy-moly!!! What a slip-up!!! The box of Advent/pre Christmas bits and bobs came down from the Attic eaves weeks ago when I brought out the Christmas House tin, I just forgot to get out the garland. Ahhhhhhhh I'm SO happy to see it hanging once again, it made my heart squeeze a little with so many memories already attached to it. Do you remember me making it?? This'll be it's third advent.

After lunch (cheese and ham sandwiches for the boys, a bowl of left over chicken and barley casserole for me), Little Man retreats to his bedroom for a while and I take over the sofa with Little B. Little B loves sofa-snuggling. He loves to surround himself with cushions (the round one made from Kool Kotton is his fave, he's very sweetly possessive about it) and get his little legs tucked under a blankie. He often gets himself in place, shouts loudly to get my attention and then pats the spot of spare sofa directly to his left. In other words, Mummeeeeee-come-sit. Mummeeeee-come-snuggle. Ahhhh ok then, I'll be right there in a jiffy. Let me just bring my magazine (January issue of Country Homes and Interiors, my-my, it's pages are making my heart leap about!)

Later in the afternoon and Little B sleeps. I make tea and decide to sit at my desk in front of my laptop to work a little pattern through. Small, neat rounds of amigurumi involving some furious counting. I'll show you tomorrow when/if I manage to actually get out the house, get to the shops and find/purchase some suitable beady eyes.

Early evening and thank goodness, back home after a freezing cold and windy walk to school and back. Poor Little Man, with his weak and wibbly legs, I did feel sorry for him, it was awful weather to battle against when one's body is Not Well. I made a gently spiced, super tasty curry for dinner, a fanTAStic recipe passed to me by my mother-in-law. I love to make a sauce from scratch, to use whole, honest ingredients, fresh herbs and spices. I'll do one of my On-The-Menu posts soon and pass you the recipe, it's a good'n'.

It's gone 9pm here now, and I am feeling weary. It's been a funny old day. A mix of mild stress and cosy comfort. Of shut-in irritation and home-loving content. I'm off to the land of fluffed up feathers very soon, to snuggle down between crisp cotton sheets and my warm woolly blanket, a hot water bottle at my feet. I've got a date with page 37 of my magazine, where I am seriously lusting after this.

Sweet dreams one and all ♥

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Jolly Holly and Bunting

I'm really having fun making this bunting, it's exactly the sort of project I love. Brightly coloured cottons and speedy results, it's an absolute joy to work on. I am so excited by the whole idea of it and am really looking forward to it coming together with the brightly coloured felt letters and all! I think I've got the wording sorted now too, although need to do some measuring to make sure it'll fit.

Ooooooooooooooo the little red glass beads that I bought are working out beautifully as berries, I'm so happy with them!

The thread I'm using to make the jolly holly is fabulous. I bought it from a local craft shop, it's called Anchor Soft Embroidery thread. It comes in a gazillion different colours (well 255 to be precise), and I am having secret fantasies about spending a small fortune and buying up one of each colour to crochet something in a gazillion different hues. Madness, yes I know.

I've got Little Man home from school (wibbly legs and high temperature time again) and his presence on the sofa has helped to keep Little B happy and in check. Kind of. I've been taking advantage and spent this morning working on the jolly holly tutorial for you. I've finished writing it but just need to check it through to make sure there's no mistakes. For a small crochet item, it took a huge ammount of brain power to write up the pattern. It's not complicated I promise you, but I wanted to make it completely fool-proof. Plus I did have a humungous number of interruptions.

Can you see in the above picture, the Little Hand, bottom right? That's Little B sneaking up to steal my crochet hook.

He then proceeded to climb up onto the table and do a spot of his own crochet with the light bulb. Heeehheeee, cheeky lickle Monkey!!! His presence certainly makes Thinking/Writing/Photographing a challenge!

Anyhow, he's taking his nap now, so I am sitting peacefully once again. I've just read through the holly pattern a couple times and I think it's good to go....please do let me know if you discover any dodgy bits or if you hit any probs. I hope it works out!

You can find the pattern in my lefthand sidebar, usual place down at the bottom or click HERE to find it.

Happy jolly-holly making my lovelies!

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