Attic24

This week I've been...

:: enjoying the swift decent into Autumn. Bright and breezy days with a definite nip in the air ::



:: very happy to see my Little People so content with life. It's been especially great to watch my two boys settle so smoothly into new places this autumn. I am so proud of them all. (gingerbread man baked by Little B at nursery this week) ::



:: devouring punnets of exceptionally ripe strawberries for very little money from the market. Savouring these last little tastes of late summer ::



:: cooking and sharing simple, comforting food with my family. I LOVE that we are lucky enough to all sit down to eat together each and every day ::



:: working through all the post-Yarndale stuff and attending some rather difficult meetings. I enjoyed my walk through the park to the Auction Mart though, the surrounding countryside looked glorious in the morning light  ::



:: catching up with good friends. It was especially lovely to go and drink tea on my friends narrow boat the other afternoon, she has created such a cosy boaty home for herself and it's a pleasure to visit ::



:: getting back into the studio, and enjoying this mornings very lively knit n natter. Lots of lovely ladies, great coffee and some relaxed creativity. I love Fridays ::



:: treating Little B to a hot chocolate with all the trimmings. We have had an up and down week, but today he was a joy and his treat was well deserved ::

♥

This week has been GREAT. I continue to feel hugely relieved that I am back to my normal self again energy/mood wise. I have a ToNne of energy all of  a sudden and it feels really, really good. I have been busy this week too, going to meetings, visiting friends, writing, crocheting, cooking, parenting.

I still have one last Yarndale story to write up, but that will happen early next week. It's my Birthday tomorrow, forty-five I'll be. How the years are flitting by. We are going away for a mini break this weekend, heading west to Arnside to spend a night at the youth hostel again, and I absolutely cannot wait.  See you Monday, have a great weekend!

♥

 

 

 

 

Yarndale 2013 :: The Yarndale Bunting

It's actually pretty hard for me to remember what my life was like BB (Before Bunting). During the past four months it has been such a mammoth part of my life, not only due to the massive number of working hours I've spent dealing with it all, but also due to the emotional space it has taken up within my heart and soul. Altogether, it has been a very huuuuuuuge big deal to me (and I mean that in the best, most positive way imaginable).

So. I shall start from the very beginning and tell the story from start to finish, if that's alright with everyone?This does feel like a story for sure, and I'm looking forward to telling it. Ready? Sitting comfy? Here we go.......

Firstly, lets remember the inspiration behind the Yarndale Bunting. It was most definitely the above image, and I can so clearly remember seeing it for the first time and literally gasping out loud at the visual pleasure of it. To me, there is just something incredibly jolly, fun, celebratory and festival-ish about swags of bunting and I find it's charms irresistible. And when said bunting happens to also be brightly coloured and made from oodles of glorious YaRn, well it's a win-win-win situation.

As soon as I saw this knitted bunting (created by Women's Weekly magazine and hung at the 2011 Knitting and Stitching show at Alexandra Palace), I knew straight away that I would like to attempt a crochet version for Yarndale.

You probably remember me writing about it back in May? I just loved working these granny triangles so much, and the more I made, the more I could imagine how great it would look if there were lots and lots and lots of them.

So I hatched a cheeky little plan. I wrote up the pattern for these Granny Bunting Triangles, and put out a call to all the wonderful hookers of the world, asking for help. Please can you help me by making a few triangles for Yarndale? I would love it, I said. I will be ever so grateful, I said. And then I crossed my fingers and made a wish, hoping very much that my bunting dream might come true.

Two months later, in mid July, the packages began arriving. After sweet-talking the lovely Jane who owns the most scrumptious yarn shop in Yarndale Town, she agreed that we could use her shop as a temporary Bunting Delivery Depot. And so began a summer of hard graft for me and my child-sized assistants. Every few days we would call in to see Jane and collect the packages which we then carried through town to my studio. Sometimes we could squeeze it all into a shopping bag....

....but sometimes there were so many parcels that I needed my trusty shopping trolley and made multiple trips back and forth through town.

At the studio, I worked with my eager three year old assistant Little B, processing the bunting as it arrived in heaps. Opening the packages, ooohing and ahhing at the gorgeous crochet goodness, reading the amazing letters and cards, counting the triangles up, putting them into bags, then logging the information (name, location, number of triangles) in my special purple notebook.

But however hard I tried to work, I inevitably began to fall behind. The parcels were coming in so thick and fast from all four corners of the world, that I simply could not keep up. I began to worry, began to dream weird, stressy bunting-filled dreams. How was I ever going to manage to pull this thing together? How would I ever get to the bottom of that huge pile?

The answer lay with friends. I am truly blessed with wonderful, kind and generous friends here in Atticland, and when the piles of parcels got so high that they started to avalanche, I called in some help. I worked afternoon shifts with Little B, then evening shifts with friends.

And then of course, the school holidays descended and summer was in full swing. I could no longer get to my studio during the day, so I transferred the Processing Depot to home base. That way, I had three Little Helpers to call on and it turned into rather a fun thing for them to join in with. Sometimes we worked at the dining table, and sometimes on my double bed, all four of us squashed on and opening the parcels together.

I have to say here a HUGE BIG MASSIVE THANK YOU to all of you who so generously included gifts for my offspring. It was so very, very, very much appreciated. They loved it so much! The wee toys, books, postcards, maps, souvenirs, chocolates and sweeties from all over the world were devoured with glee. ((thank you))

There were some super sweet times too, when bunting parcels were delivered in person. The above piles were brought all the way from Germany when a very lovely lady came especially to see me at the studio. It was unexpectedly emotional, I felt so thrilled but also so overwhelmed by the constant outpouring of generosity that at times it was difficult to keep it all in check. I confess I did shed a few tears.

And so the bunting triangles kept on piling in. Originally, I had really hoped to photograph them all as they arrived so that I could create a big gallery of images.

I wanted to be able to write and thank each person individually, cos each triangle really meant so much to me.

I knew that people would really love to know that their triangles had arrived safe and sound, and I so very much wanted to let people know.

But it was just too much, and I had to admit defeat. I felt so bad about it for so many weeks, but in the end I just had to accept that it wasn't a failure if I couldn't manage to write to every single person, or photograph every single triangle.

In early September, with less than three weeks left before Yarndale, I hit crisis point. The packages were still arriving, and as I'd been writing everything down in my notebook I knew the numbers very well. Incredibly, we had received 582 parcels containing more than 6,000 triangles. And those thousands of triangles had to be somehow joined together..............

HEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLPPPPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I voiced my anxious,  stressed-out concerns to the Yarndale team, and was immediately reassured that I had no need to worry, there would be plenty of help. Pheewwwww!!! So it was decided that for a few weeks, we would turn our usual knit n natter gatherings into bunting-stringing sessions.

I purchased some huge reels of 6mm cotton tape and stringing commenced. Our method was to cut the tape into 5 metre lengths, then thread it through the chain-space holes of the granny triangles. No knots (far too tricky and time consuming), just simple threading, one triangle after another. Each 5 metre length of tape accommodated roughly 20 triangles.

And so the triangles became bunting strings....

....and the piles of bunting strings began to grow reassuringly quickly.

Meanwhile, back at the studio, I decided that I really should be trying to take some photographs. I wanted to capture a little of what it was like to have soooooo much gorgeous crochet work at  my disposal. So how to describe it all? What words?

Immensely happy.....

Beautifully inspiring.....

Gloriously joyful....

Marvellously uplifting.....

Amazingly colourful.....

Heart-swellingly lovely.....

Gorgeously gorgeous.....

Exceptionally cheery....

Fabulously creative.....

And utterly, completely FANTASTIC.

WOW. All those words and a heap load more besides.

By now, we had reached the Final Push. On the Thursday morning, just 48 hours before we opened the Yarndale doors, the final sack of triangles was brought to the café for stringing.

It was rather wonderful to finally catch a glimpse of light at the end of the tunnel.

The atmosphere in the café on this Thursday morning was really amazing. All these lovely, kind, creative ladies being so generous with their time, working like the clappers to finish it all for us.

Lovely, lovely ladies (and gent!), I can't thank you enough for your help. We honestly couldn't have done it without you.

So.

The time had come.

Deep trepidation and high anxiety as we prepared for The Hanging.

It was completely nerve-wracking. Honestly, I can't tell you how worried I was. I kept having this awful sinking feeling that for some reason it just wasn't going to work out. We knew the ceiling was very, very high. We knew that it was going to mean some Very Big Ladders. And we knew it was going to be a long, difficult job.

In fact, it wasn't nearly as difficult as I had feared. We had three ladder-savvy menfolk to go up the ladders, whilst the yarny-savvy ladies directed from below.

Each five metre length of bunting was passed up and knotted to the previous length, so creating one enormous, continuous length swinging from side to side. Back and forth we went, working our way down the left hand side of the room.

It began to look MaGnIfIcEnT.

And the more we hung up, the more MaGnIfIcEnT it became.

It was the most incredible feeling for me, I can't tell you. After months of hard work and a huge amount of associated worry, my Creative Vision had miraculously come to life. It happened! It actually happened!

THE YARNDALE BUNTING :: Ta-dah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hahahaaaa...my biggest ever Ta-dah moment by a long chalk :o)

Absolutely, jaw-droppingly stunning. If you don't mind me saying so.

The bunting was an outstanding success and made a fantastic welcome for all our visitors. I know from the huge number of comments we had, both during the weekend and via the internet afterwards, that everyone absolutely loved it.

It's hard for me to put into words what this project meant to me personally. Because it did feel very personal for much of the time. With every parcel I opened, and with every one of the 6,212 triangles I held in my hands, I felt so much love and gratitude. Such a strong sense of community and friendship. Thank you, thank you, thank you, to all five hundred and eighty two of you who took the time to make and send. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for making my dream come true ♥

But before we end, shall we have a few facts about the Yarndale Bunting?

Number of parcels received :: 582

Number of triangles :: 6, 212

Length of bunting :: 1.25 km (ohmygosh, yes it's true!)

Number of countries :: 31. Yes THIRTY-ONE. Want to read my list? Ok>>>>

1. Great Britain
2. Italy
3. Germany
4. Ireland
5. New Zealand
6. USA
7. Israel
8. Australia
9. Netherlands
10. Canada
11. Argentina
12. Spain
13. South Africa
14. France
15. Portugal
16. Greece
17. Sweden
18. Hungary
19. Malaysia
20. Gibraltar
21. Finland
22. Czech Republic
23. Slovenia
24. Iceland
25. Japan
26. Belgium
27. St. Helena Island (South Atlantic)
28. Denmark
29. Switzerland
30. Brunei
31. Norway

The End.

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ps actually, sorry, I know this is a very loooong post, but one last final little thing...

A lovely lady who made some very beautiful triangles to send from her home in Spain wrote a beautiful blog post about the Yarndale Bunting. It was wonderful to read about it from her (very eloquent) point of view, and I'd like to share some of her words here. She wrote ::

"There we are peeps representing and participating in colour our unity for yarn, crafts and the handmade. We herald our love for yarn, our love for colour, our love for beauty and demonstrating that craft breaks the language barrier because that bunting is a message that can be understood by all. I feel so good inside to see it, I feel just a little bit of me is there, I feel I belong, I feel the admiration of thousands of yarn lovers admiring OUR bunting!!!!   I feel it is a tremendous achievement to have brought together so many many people through the creation of this bunting."

Beautifully said Amanda, thank you xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 EDIT :: ahhh yes, that question....what will happen to the bunting now? Well....right now it is packed away in some very large sacks and is sitting in the basement of my studio. We intend to keep it to bring out again if we decide to go forth and create Yarndale 2014.

In the meantime, we are also being asked already if it can be loaned out. For other festivals, for a shop window display....it's pretty exciting, and the story continues.....

 

 

 

 

Yarndale 2013 :: The Yarn Bombing

When we first talked about the possibility of hosting a yarn festival in our sweet town, we all agreed that our number one word should be "creativity". Above anything else, we wanted Yarndale to be a Creative Festival. We wanted it to feel friendly, inspiring, fun, cololurful and possibly a tad quirky. We wanted to make people smile, and remind them how much fun can be had with yarn. Knitting and crocheting our Patchwork Sheep (affectionately named Betty) set us off in the right direction, and it wasn't long before all sorts of wonderful woolly ideas began to germinate.

 

One of our inspiration pinboards

 The idea for creating a Yarn Walk came about during one of our many excited discussions at the knit n natter café. I have long been a fan of "yarn bombing" or "yarn storming" as it is sometimes called, ever since I first came across images on Flickr many years ago. There is an interesting write-up about it on Wikipedia which kind of makes it all sound a bit serious to be honest, but you get the idea. We weren't out to make any grand statements or to do anything subversive, we just wanted to make people smile, and encourage visitors to take a walk in our beautiful local park.

All of Yarndale's decorative crochet was made using Stylecraft Special DK, a 100% acrylic yarn which comes in lots of gorgeous colours. It was absolutely perfect for the job in that it is bright and cheerful, lovely to work with, holds it's shape pretty well when wet and doesn't burst into flames when the local Naughty Kids try to set fire to it (yes, I know. More about that later). Luckily for us, Stylecraft is a local Yorkshire company and when they contacted us and offered us lots of their scrummy yarn to work with, we were thrilled. ((Thank you lovely Stylecraft People!))

Although the whole of the Yarndale team was excited about the yarn bombing idea, it was Little ol' Me who offered to take the project on. Truthfully, I was only too glad to be able to do something fun and yarny so that I could leave much of the scary event management stuff to the others. Finances and logistics and risk assessments and endless paperwork make me shudder, where as crocheting up a rainbow makes me sing!

I began working on some yarn bomb pieces at the beginning of August, but as I also had lots of other things to do (mainly bunting shaped things) I really needed to draft in some assistance. Luckily, I do happen to have a number of Happy Hooker friends who gladly volunteered their help, and it was lovely to be able to share it out this way.

This table of gorgouesness was created by just three happy hookers (myself, Natalie and Liz)....

....and they were made to cover the boring grey lamp posts which line the pathway through the park.

I just loved seeing these mini blankets pile up gently on my table as the summer weeks went by. I couldn't wait to see how they would look when they finally got released into the wild.

Alongside the stripy leg warmers lamp post wraps, flowers began to grow. At the bottom of the park there is a small nursery garden and we thought it would be rather fun to create a woolly flower garden nearby.

When my pointy finger was still very much hurting, I was just about able to work on very small projects such as these flowers. I had to work slowly and have plenty of rest in between, so it was a bit frustrating to say the least. After six slow flowers, I started to ask around for more help. Liz? Angela? can you pleeeeeeeeeeeease help me create a flower garden?

And as great friends do, they rallied around and spent many an hour hooking up a colourful floral storm.

Angela and I then spent a good many hours painstakingly stitching the flowers onto a length of fine green pea netting. It was laborious work, but we chatted while we stitched and eventually it all did come together.

Meanwhile, time was running out and I needed to start work on some yarny things to decorate the canal bridge. Just like the flowers that were to sit next to the nursery garden, I thought it would be fun to create something that directly related to the canal. Ducks were the obvious choice..quack quack!

As time was so short, I didn't even think for a second of trying to make my own duckling pattern. I went straight to Pinterest to see what was out there in Blogland and found the cutest little critter waiting for me.

The free pattern (from Itsy Bitsy Spider Crochet) was wonderful to work :: well written, easy to follow, quick, and the sweetest results.

I made six ducklings altogether, and then one Saturday I jumped in and made a Mummy Duck completely out of my own head. Just like that. I was so chuffed with her!

Sorry this is a bad picture, but it was taken very early one morning when I had just finished stitching on the eyes and beak and was hopping about with excitement in my pyjamas. I can't even begin to tell you about the making of her (it's all a bit of a blur), other than I worked a flat oval shape to start off at the base of her body, then completely winged it from there on in.

At the same time as ducks and flowers and bunting, I was also working on this large piece of crochet to cover a wooden post on the canal towpath. I had a clear vision of Mummy Duck swimming on top of some blue ripply water, with daisy-strewn grass growing underneath.

It took aaaaaaaaaaaaaages. I confess I got seriously bored working those green grassy stripes.

I worked on this piece for weeks on end, it is pretty big. One metre tall and worked round in a tube, so double the width you can see in the above picture. I finished it only four days before Yarndale during a most hectic week when my life was also rammed full of bunting triangles. It was all a weeny bit stressy!

Another yarny decoration that I conjured up during September were crochet balls. I was inspired by Kate's crochet apples which looked absolutely bloomin' marvelous, but I had the idea to work the crochet around these colourful plastic balls. These are "ball pit balls", purchased very cheaply from eBay (they came all the way from China!) and I loved how this idea turned out.....

....just look! They were quick and easy to make (ten minutes per ball!) and insanely addictive, I loved doing them very much. I think I made about twenty five in total, a group of all red ones for the yarn walk, then these multi-coloured ones to decorate a tree outside the Yarndale venue.

This was another crazy idea of mine, to use the same plastic balls to create knitty tree decorations. I bought some inexpensive plastic childrens knitting needles that were easy to stick straight through the plastic balls, then I simply wound yarn around the whole thing until the ball was covered.

Simple but effective, with just the right amount of quirky humour that pleases me so much ;o)

Most of our yarn bomb decorations were put up in one day, the Wednesday before Yarndale. I had a wonderful assistant who laughed and chatted the whole way through the process (thank you SO MUCH Jenny), with Heather taking some pics of us as we worked (thank you Heather and TTB)

First to go up were the flowers.

They looked a little bit droopy....

....but the overall effect was bright, colourful and welcoming as you entered the park.

After the flowers, we worked our way through the park putting our stripy leg warmers on the lamp posts. They were stitched in place, and at a metre or so long, it was quite a bit of work.

I took photos of most of them as they went up so you can see them before they got all saggy and wrinkled......

One....

Two....

Three....

Four....

Five....

Six....

Seven....

Eight....

There were three more I think, plus some thrifted blankets that we stitched around some tree trunks and on fences, but I didn't get chance to photograph those.

My red balls looked a-MAZ-ing when they were hung from the tree branches. They looked really great. Bright. Seductive. Tempting. Maybe just a bit too tempting......

.....cos they didn't last for long. Less than three hours after they went up, every single one went missing. Gone. Stolen fruit. There are a lot of Big kids who walk through the park as it's the main pedestrian route through to the local secondary school, so hardly surprising really. No good getting all upset though, that will never do. I ranted internally, then breathed out and let it go.

The woolly fruit balls that I hung from the tree outside Yarndale fared much better, and I think were really appreciated by all our visitors.

The above (glorious) photo was taken by Jacquie, and gives you a glimpse of the amazing weather we had during Yarndale weekend. We were so blessed, it was a little slice of late summer and made so many people happy.

I didn't manage to get a very good picture of the knitting balls in the tree, but hope you can make them out. They really made me smile, and I hope if you were there and looked up to see them, that they made you smile too.

Yarn bombing in action! This was me, 7 o'clock on Saturday morning (the very morning of Yarndale opening), installing my ducklets. I had stitched the ducklings firmly in place at home the previous night (well, early hours, it was gone midnight), but the blue striped lengths then had to be actually stitched around the railings.

It was all a weeny bit crazy and I felt quite anxious teetering on the very edge of the tow path doing this bonkers thing. I was most definitely not a relaxed yarn bomber! However, once they were in place, I stood back and had a moment of complete happiness, because they really did look great. Worth all the time and effort.

Mummy Duck was much easier to install. I stitched her bottom firmly to the blue water, and the whole thing just slid over the wooden post to cover it completely.

She looked wonderful!

I heard so many happy stories from visitors (and local residents) who had walked this way and come across my little duck family. It made my heart swell with happiness and a little teensy bit of pride. It's a wonderful thing to be able to make people happy with a bit of creative yarning :o)

There is a little bit of sadness attached to the yarn bombing story. Not all the residents of Yarndale Town were respectful. Every single piece of crochet was messed about with in some way. Every last bit of it was seriously pulled about. Most was just left looking very baggy but remained intact. But flowers, blankets and balls were stolen within hours/days of being put up. One of the lamp post covers melted a little, so I suspect that there was a flame involved. And most sadly of all, Mummy Duck was also stolen. Luckily she lasted for the two days of the festival and as already mentioned, I know she caused many smiles whilst she sat there.

So despite the tremendous work and the niggly issues would I do it all again? Well....the up side was definitely greater than the down side, so you know the answer I expect ;o)

Tomorrow, will be all about triangles. Thousands upon thousands of triangles......

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Bouncing Back

Monday morning and I am sat here smiling stupidly to myself. You would probably laugh if you could see me actually. I am sat at my desk, slurping hot coffee, grinning away at my laptop. The house is still and quiet, and for the first time in ages I am also feeling miraculously still and quiet. But more importantly, I feel content to be still and quiet and it feels like the most humongous relief. All of last week I felt like I was permanently on edge, wondering why I couldn't settle, wishing I could relax and unwind, feeling like I might burst into tears at any unexpected moment. I was sleeping like the dead, yet I was waking up each morning feeling exhausted. Not so today......hooray!!! Today I have finally bounced back, full of energy, happiness, zest for life.

I. Am. Back.

Ahhhhhh, thank goodness for that!!!

I have a new mug for my morning cup(s) of coffee and it is making me absurdly happy. I absolutely love these generously sized Cath Kidston mugs (this one is called the Kentish Rose stanley mug), they are a pleasure to use. I treated myself to this one on Friday, during a rare shopping trip to The City. I went by myself on the spur of the moment, hopped on the train and went to enjoy a few hours mooching around the Big Shops. It turned out to be great therapy. I soaked it all in, enjoyed being somewhere very different to my own cosy little home town and came home feeling happy.

I only bought a couple of things. The above mug, plus new oven gloves, and a much needed new duvet cover. We had literally worn out our previous white cotton duvet cover which we bought a good five years ago. The fibres had worn away to nothing and it was ripped beyond repair. We have still been sleeping in it (it's all we had), but kept getting all caught up in the ripped bits!

I adore pure cotton, plain white bedding, but it is surprisingly hard to come by. After doing the rounds of all the big department stores with no luck, I suddenly remembered about The White Company. Of course! I was in and out of there in about five minutes flat as they had exactly what I was looking for. This is the bottom of their bedding range...I think it's called their Basic Range. Plain white (no embroidery, ruching, pin tucks, pulled thread work, satin borders etc) 200 thread count Egyptian cotton. WOW. It really is the most beautiful bedding to sleep in and I can highly recommend it. I have slept a LOT this weekend (a twelve hour stretch on Saturday night!) and feel great for it.

My weekend was so nice. Nothing much on the agenda other than just being home and enjoying simple family time. It was mild and I wore short sleeves, propping the kitchen door open to let the fresh air into the house. Everything was still damp from the days of rain we had last week, and it smelt completely Autumnal. Damp wood and stone and earth, mixed with the smell of wood smoke in the air.

I went into town early on Saturday morning, leaving the rest of the family still in their pyjamas. I wanted to visit the butcher to buy meat, the market to buy veggies and flowers, and the baker to buy a crusty granary loaf. You probably wouldn't want to see the chicken, bread, spuds and parsnips in my bag, but thought you might appreciate some floral goodness.......

....oh yes, deep joy, it's dahlia season!

Aren't they amazing? They are locally grown and never fail to make me hugely happy each year when they arrive at the market. Love love love their exuberant and showy-offy nature.

I bought orange ones this time, which is unusual as I am usually suckered in by the hot pinks and reds. They are completely smile-inducing.

On my way home I found my feet heading towards my studio, almost of their own accord. I hadn't intended to call in there, but somehow I found myself stood in a daze outside the café door. I had been so busy smooching with my dahlias that I had sort of walked on auto-pilot and arrived there a bit by accident. So I took it as a sign that I was meant to be there and duly went in and sat myself down for a stunningly good coffee and a chat. It was lovely to be there as a customer, I feel as if I belong there.

Oh, orange dahlia.....stop it! Stop shouting for attention, you know I love you!

Love love love (and  then some) having a jug of fresh, vibrant flowers on the table.

And in the bathroom. Dahlias joined here by a single, hardy pot marigold, self seeded and discovered in amongst the weeds in my neglected back yard. What a joy it was to find.

Talking of joy, I picked up a little bit of colourful hooky at the weekend. No bunting. No yarn bombing. Just sweet, delicious, personal, indulgent all-for-me hooky. I came across a few of my experimental bits n bobs last week (in the fruit bowl). Some samples and half-worked ideas, projects that are sitting patiently in my Creative Mind waiting to be released. There are StAcKs of ideas up there you know, I am currently full to bursting with ideas. First to be let out is a little flowery project, and I'm really, really excited to get it off the starting blocks. More of that coming soon.

It's soooo good to be back, did I say that already?

Thanks as always for stopping by, I appreciate your visits more than I can say.

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ps Part 1 of my Yarndale story coming tomorrow x

 

 

 

 

Peek-a-boo!

Yoooooo-hooooooo! Peek-a-boo!!!! I am opening my Attic window again, breathing in the damp, misty October air and waving gently to you all. Helloooooooo, lovely people, hello. I am just about back to normal after the whirlwind that was Yarndale, still incredibly shattered, but normal-ish.

What a weekend. Wowsers. It took my breath away, it was an unbelievable experience on so many levels. I am still trying to gather my thoughts and words and feelings (it was soooo emotional!) but I am eager to tell you all about it and show you some pictures when the time is right. Next week I expect.



This week has been a week of slow recovery. A week of gentle pottering and pootling, and appreciating the sudden change in season. Summer has all of a sudden gone. Just like that, we are all Autumnal here in Atticland.

I took this picture on the walk home from Little B's nursery school today, aren't these leaves glorious?

The exuberant display of colour made me want to squeal out loud with pleasure. So I gave in to the urge and  squealed about them to the amused postman who was collecting letters from the postbox at the time. It was kind of made OK by the fact that Little B was also joining in....

....he is big into colours (like his Mumma) and it amazes and delights me the way that (at age three) he sees and describes colours. I love love love that he knows so many different words for so many colours (eg not just "blue", but bright blue, sky blue, turquoise, aqua, navy, royal)

This week I have remembered what it is like to walk s-l-o-w-l-y from A to B. I realise that I have spent so many weeks lately rushing around at high speed, rushing everywhere in order to get the most things accomplished in my very busy days, that it suddenly felt ridiculously luxurious to slow down. I have pottered and wandered and ambled and shuffled and it has felt sooooo good. Today, for the first time in aaages, Little B and I walked the Long Way home from town along the canal tow path. It was gorgeously autumnal and peaceful. Incidentally, I am A-OK about it being Autumn now, as we are in October. October is Autumn in my book, bye bye Summer. I have packed away my flip flops, and today I wore socks for the first time in many weeks. It felt cosy and right.

We have had a week of grey mists and low light levels, and yesterday the rain came. My roof is leaking again and this afternoon a huge swag of damp plastery wall paper disengaged itself from the bay window ceiling. Oh dear. Need to find a nice roofing man to come and see to it, as the sound of water drip-dripping into the washing up bowl is hugely depressing. Lots to attend to here at number 24, it looks like a small (but mean) tornado has whipped though the place leaving a trail of dishevelled chaos in it's wake. Time for new routines and some seriously dedicated Home Blessing.

But not this week. This week I am dedicating to Recovery. Feet up on the sofa. It is surprisingly not coming easy, and even though I am incredibly tired I am having to more or less force myself to unwind. Sit. Drink. Eat. Its OK. Nothing urgent to do. Embrace it.

I rang my Mum yesterday and tried to describe Yarndale to her. My words poured out in an hour of gabbled, high pitched, over the top ramble. Poor Mum. She listened to me spill it all out, get it all out of my system, then asked if I could perhaps send her some photos. So I spent time yesterday printing some pages to send to her....gosh it all looks so great in images!

I would love to share my Yarndale story with you. Soon. I'm nearly ready.

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