Thank you so much for visiting me in the Attic, it's lovely to see you. My name is Lucy and I'm a happily married Mum with three children. We live in a cosy terraced house on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales in England which we are slowly renovating and making home. I have a passion for crochet and colour and love to share my creative journey. I hope you enjoy your peek into my colourful little world x
The pattern was pretty straight forward, once I got the measure of it. You start at the nose, and work the whole of the body (the pale brown), adding safety toy eyes and stuffing as you go. The dark brown "spines" are worked in afterwards, on top of the pale brown body. I had a little bit of confusion over how exactly to work the rows/rounds of the spines, ie how exactly to leave the "tummy" part free from spines and whether I should be turning the work or not, but I kind of fudged it and got there in the end.
Poor Hollie, she suffered the indiginity of being turned upside down so I could show you her tummy and her bottom (!). I thought it might be helpful to give you an idea of how the spines are formed as it was this part of the pattern where I felt desperate for more pictures and some reassurance.
Sigh. I feel kind of weird admitting how ridiculously excited I have been over crocheting a baby hedgehog. But I know you know. I know you get it, or at least I hope you do.
I'm almost there with the Autumn wreath folks, and I can't wait to nestle Hollie into her leafy nest. One more day should do it. Almost Ta-dah time. Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!
x
EDIT TO ADD:: Just discovered that the hedgehog pattern is also available as a downloadable PDF pattern on Etsy. Find it HERE.
>>in<< treating Little B to a new book , he really loves learning his letters.
<<out>> beautiful still reflections in the canal this morning.
>>in<< pencils on the dining table at breakfast.
<<out>> looking up through the beech trees as I walked in the woods.
>>in<< home from market with a squash and some Spanish clementines.
<<out>> walking into town.
>>in<< browsing some of my favourite blogs with a quick morning coffee.
<<out>> walking with Heather and TTB in the leafy woods.
>>in<< two little back yard blooms rescued from the frost.
<<out>> such a mesmerising stretch of water, I couldn't pull my eyes away.
>>in<< love love loving these sweet little leafy fruits. Too cute.
<<out>> walking past this local garden and falling a bit in love with it.
>>in<< lighting candles every day to scent the room and bring a warm glow.
<<out>> still delighting in Autumn, the colours are so inspirational.
>>in<< watching these colour-making Fire Cones light up our fire.
<<out>> our walk home from school is looking more Autumnal every day.
♥
There has been a pleasurable rhythm to the past few days as I've been going about my quiet business. I've been out a lot of the time, lots of to-and-fro walking as I deliver and collect the Little People, purchase groceries, attend meetings, meet friends for coffee, run errands. The weather has been kind. Gorgeous in fact, mild and still and perfect for enjoying the Autumn season.
My home-time during the past few days has also been sweet. I have filled the hours with writing, photographing, baking, snuggling, reading, singing, tickling, crocheting, cooking, firelighting, daydreaming.
This morning, I enjoyed a stroll in the woods with Heather and her gorgeous little boy, collecting leaves and getting rather muddy. This afternoon, Little B and I baked oaty cookies, filling the house with the most delicious smell. Later, I roasted the market squash and made risotto for dinner, it was so tasty and comforting.
Inside and Out, I am always so uplifted by the colours of my world. Colour makes my heart and soul sing such a happy tune.
I've really been enjoying this colour palette, working up the soft squishy stripes and feeling all cosy and a bit in love with the Autumn season.
I haven't had a huge amount of hooky time lately, yet somehow during odd snatches of time I've managed to work up a decent length of double crochet. I used Big Merino yarn which is an aran weight, worked up on a 5mm hook. This pattern is worked as a straight length (no shaping required), and it's a case of measuring as you work and stopping when you've done enough. It's not a case of exact numbers and rows, which I am thankful for. I made it 24 stitches wide (to give a snug fit around the girth of my polystyrene
wreath), and long enough to go around the circumference of the wreath without needing to stretch it too much.
You can see in the above picture that with every colour change, I made sure to leave a good tail end dangling, about 6-8 inches. I use these to stitch the stripes up, which gives a lovely neat finish without too much hassle.
My wreath base is called a "35cm half round ring", which means it has a rounded front and a flat back. You can find it here on Amazon. I love this size. It is just the right sort of scale for crochet decorations, as you can fit plenty on (more is more!) but at the same time, it's not too daunting to fill.
I spent a delicious, snugly time camped out on the sofa in my pyjamas on Sunday morning, doing the stitching. It was sooooo soothing, I loved doing it. As mentioned, you can see how each stripe is stitched up in it's own colour using the tail end of yarn. It's a pretty nifty way of doing it. The seam runs around the centre of the flat back and won't be visible when the wreath is hung, but I still like to know that it is neat. I am a bit of a stickler for neat finishes.
Stitch, snip, slurp. Stitch, snip, slurp. Slowly making progress.
Every so often I would turn the wreath over to check it was looking ok. This is the fourth wreath I've made now, but it still feels a little bit like it isn't going to work out. The crochet always feels too baggy and the wrong shape. It seems impossible that a long, straight strip can be forced to bend neatly into a circle.....
....and yet it seems to work itself out....
....and by the end of it all, I can let out a huge long huuuuuffffffff of relief.
Phew. I knew it would work, of course it would! And yet I am still a little bit amazed and releived at how neat it all turns out to be. N-e-a-t. It really is just that.
Now comes the heart-skippy fun bit....smothering the whole lot with Autumnal goodness. Flowers, leaves, acorns, berries, toadstools. Oh, and lets not forget the snuffly little critter that will finish it off. I have made most of the above already, just a few bits to do before I get to see it all come together. I am SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!! Can't wait to see how it turns out.
I just love wreaths, I don't know quite what it is about them that appeals to me so much, but they do please me enormously.
On Saturday, Tracy and I welcomed a wonderful group of ladies to our first ever Studio Workshop. The weather was dismal that day, but inside our first floor room it felt very cosy and welcoming. We had worked hard on Friday getting the room ready, and it did look rather lovely and inspiring.
Wreath-making seemed like a good way to kick off our Studio Workshops at this time of year, so we invited a good friend of ours to come in and teach how to make a rag rug wreath. Rachel is a talented maker and an experienced teacher, and it was great to have her at our Studio, starting us off on our workshop journey.
We had the use of both upstairs rooms above the café, so there was enough space to spread out the huge collection of fabrics that Rachel has gathered over the years, as well as a lovely display of her work.....
.....the colours and textures were just sooooo inspiring, I spent a long time stroking everything!
During the day, Rachel taught the art of "prodding" which transforms small strips of material into a gorgeous mass of texture and colour. By working the rags directly into the hessian backing in a ring shape, the wreath more or less grows before your eyes.
By the end of the day, Tracy and I were almost fit to burst with happiness. It was just so lovely to see our studio buzzing with happy creativity, the first of many happy workshop days I hope.
Next year, I'll be starting my own crochet workshops at The Studio and I am super excited about the prospect. I'll be teaching some decorative projects (including the French Bower Bird), which I hope will be fun, creative and inspiring. We are planning to run the majority of our workshops on a Saturday, and the day will include materials, tuition, drinks, nibbles and a delicious homemade lunch. Do leave me a comment if you would be interested so that I can keep you posetd with dates/details.
In the meantime, if you can't wait till next year you are very welcome to come and visit The Studio before Christmas. We're having two Open Studio events to coincide with our towns Yuletide Festival, on Sunday 8th and Sunday 15th December, 12-4pm. Come and have a drink and a bite to eat in the gorgeous café, then pop upstairs to the studio to have a nosey around. We'll be prettifying the Studio in a suitably Christmassy manner and you are welcome to come and squidge my yarn stash (ooooo that Big Merino........!)
Right.....on with some more hooky Autumn leaves. I'm hoping to have my wreath on the wall by the end of the week, and a rather glorious, seasonal Ta-dah for you.
:: Discovering (with a huge big grin on my face) that Morrisons is selling colourful chocolate coins. I am almost a little bit embarrassed to admit just how happy these have made me this week ::
:: celebrating Guy Fawkes night by sticking a selection of fireworks in a flowerpot and setting light to them in the back street. It was simple but great, and the Little People loved it ::
:: Little B's first experience of sparklers. His sweet, excited little face made my heart soar ::
:: watching the Little People enjoying their sparkler fun too. Sparklers are so loaded with nostalgia, the sight and smell of them instantly transported me back to my own childhood ::
:: yesterday's welcome sunshine after several days of gloomy grey skies and rain. The trees in my neighbourhood are looking truly Autumnal now and it won't be long before the branches are completely bare ::
:: enjoying the return of routine as the Little People settled back into school and nursery this week. My own daily routine contains a lot of walking between home, school, nursery, town, supermarket and studio, but with this sort of view, I love it very much ::
:: squeeeeezing some hooky time in between lots of other commitments this week. I've been very busy with various writing assignments, so lots of time at the computer. Mind you, it has made my crochet time feel even more precious ::
:: Friday morning spent at the studio cafe, enjoying the (noisy) buzz that comes from a room full of happy crocheters and knitters. A fantastically great latte, a slab of moist carrot cake and some Big Merino stripes (the base for my Autumn wreath, almost complete). I absolutely love Fridays ::
:: working in the studio to get it ready for tomorrow. I carried down my favourite chair from home and added it to my cosy corner ::
:: getting excited with Tracy as we celebrate the start of a new studio journey. It's our very first workshop tomorrow, with eleven ladies coming to learn rag rugging. The six little knitted stockings arrived in the post this morning (such a wonderful surprise) and had all the knit n natter ladies squealing with pleasure. Thank you so much Barbara, you made our day x ::
:: today's market flowers adding a bright shot of colour to the room ::
:: I splashed out and treated J and I to a bottle of Sloe Gin. It's the perfect tipple for a chilly November night. Speaking of which.....I need to go sit by the fireside and pick up my glass now, toodle pip!! ::
I've been looking through this collection of photographs and remembering our brief visit to Whitstable, wondering why it already feels like a distant memory when it was only one week ago? Maybe it was because our visit there was so short (only half a day), that the essence of the place didn't have chance to seep in and take hold.
I've wanted to visit Whitstable for a good many years, inspired in part by the knowledge of Frank and images of this incredible property. Sigh. Did you sigh over those images too? I think maybe they were responsible for the crushing disappointment I felt when we first arrived in Whitstable. We hopped off the bus and despite the rain, made our way straight to the harbour. I felt sure it would be amazingly picturesque, a gorgeous fishing harbour bustling with brightly coloured boats and some wonderful little seafood cafes, shops and dinky little fisherman's cottages. My friends, it was so not that. It just wasn't. It was bleak and industrial and a tad depressing. I stood there in the rain and said "is this it? Surely not????"
But yes, this is indeed Whitstable. Lovely little painted beach huts and a bloomin great big tarmac plant. I just couldn't believe how far it was from the image in my imagination. Where were the cafes and the cute little fishermen's cottages?
Granted, the weather didn't help, it was pretty bleak I have to say. Cold, windy and wet. When we were really starting to get soaked, we took refuge in a wooden bus stop shelter where we just sat and wondered what on earth we were doing. The Little People were very unhappy, and even some emergency jam sandwiches and chocolate didn't cheer them up much. So it was decided that we should leave the miserable beach and harbour behind and head into town to find a cafe.
It started to feel just a smidge better then.
The rain eased up a bit, and I started to really look at my surroundings. I began to detect a little bit of quirkiness creeping in, and I began to like what I was seeing.
This is the very bottom end of Harbour Street, and is one of the nicest shopping streets I have ever visited. It just ooozed charm and promised to deliver plenty of happy visual surprises. But first.....we all very much needed a hot drink and some shelter from the cold.
When we arrived on the bus, we had spotted the back of Elliotts Coffee Shop, and we all said what a cute little place it looked to be. In reality, it was bigger than it looked, the front entrance on Harbour Street being a very handsome double fronted affair.
Inside it was gorgeous. Lots of natural wood and light, the delicious aroma of fresh coffee. Scrubbed wooden tables, painted chairs, newspapers, quiet chatter. And a fabulous view of Frank (which sadly I didn't get chance to go in after all that wishing)
J and I had super cappuccinos with toasted teacakes, and the Little People all had hot chocolates....
....and Halloween cup cakes. It was declared by each of us to be Really Very Great Indeed and did wonders to restore our flagging spirits.
So back out into the damp day we went, determined to explore this crazy, quirky little town and enjoy the very best it had to offer.
The variety of beautiful old buildings in this one street was remarkable. I fell in love with the Tourist Information which was set back slightly from the street. Oh, how cute!
And of course Wheelers Oyster Bar which was another place I had heard about, another Whitstable image that I had retained in my memory banks.
The shops were beautiful. Individual, quirky and beautiful. I loved the mix of them, the clothes shops and the gift shops, the children's shops and the big boys shops. High street shops mixed with lovely little one-offs, galleries, cafes, bakeries and butchers.
I especially enjoyed the fruit and veg shops (there were at least two), they are such a rarity these days and the overflowing baskets of produce made me so surprisingly happy!
After we'd had our fill of the shops, we branched off down a little side street to take another look at the sea. Little B spotted this shell and pebble mosaic and spent ages running his little fingers all over the shells.
I spotted this star fish a little bit further along, I do really appreciate little details like this when I visit a place. I began to like Whitstable more and more. The more I saw, the more I softened a little towards it.
As you can see, the weather was still pretty pants. There was a persistent light drizzly rain and the light was very dull indeed. But we made the best of it, pulled up hoods and strode out along the blustery beach.
The beach I found frustrating as it was very hard to walk along due to being segmented at regular intervals by wooden breakwaters. So you had to keep walking up and down as well as along, sort of a zigzaggy thing, and there was never a great view of the beach.
However, I do happen to like greenery on the beach. I like when grass and plants sort of creep out over the pebbles.
I kept trying to imagine what the beach would feel like in warm, bright, sunshiny weather. Would it be busy? Would it be full of families picnicking, sunbathing and swimming? It had such a deserted feel to it that it was impossible to imagine it any other way.
I quite enjoy out-of-season seaside visits though (remember our trip to Whitby in February, when it snowed?!), and once we got into the beach thing it felt really good. Pootling along, discovering how different the pebbles are to the ones we have in Dorset, searching for treasure.
We found the best type of shell-treasure :: Oyster shells. It's the first time I've ever been on an oyster shell beach and I was thrilled with my finds. They are big (as big as my palm) and beautifully tactile. Love love love them.
As we wandered along, we discovered some beautiful houses. Oh, so, so beautiful. Dreamy.
I especially loved this terrace (I am very fond of terraced houses), it was enchanting with it's bright paint work and assortment of boats out front.
I have to confess to you that I stroked this upturned boat. Ran my hands over it's paintwork and quietly worshipped the colour. Boaty seawashed turquoise, my favourite, most favourite colour.
How amazing would it be to actually live here? To have a balcony and an uninterrupted sea view, it's the stuff of my dreams.
A crab and fish encrusted bay window, turquoise paintwork and pretty swirly-wirly railings. How completely fabulous. I swooned a bit.
As you would expect from a colour junkie like me, I am constantly in tune with colour in the world around me. It really is constant. Everywhere I walk, I instinctively search it out, it's like I can't help myself, can't switch off from seeing things in terms of colour, not ever. I've been like this for as long as I can remember, right back into my childhood I've always felt very affected by colours. Red against blue is one of my favourite combos, it makes my heart flip to see it.
After the beach, we began to wander slowly back along the little streets, marvelling at the cute fisherman's cottages (yes, we found some!), the old sail lofts and the amazingly narrow little alleyways running to and fro between the buildings.
I just love visiting somewhere new and studying the houses, it fascinates me.
I love rows of houses. I love looking at front doors, windows, chimney pots, flower pots, paintwork. I just love the visual comfort it gives me, a sort of cosy domestic feel-good I suppose.
So. We ended up liking Whitstable after an unpromising start. More than anything, it provided me with a much needed sea-fix and gave us some really sound family time together. Because we did a lot of walking that day, there was also a lot of conversation, and it made me realise that aside from mealtimes, it's not that often that we all five of us get to chat together as a family. It felt good.
The bus ride back to Canterbury was also unexpectedly good. We chose to travel the long way back via Herne Bay, sitting on the top deck of the bus and taking in the panoramic views. One Little Boy was very weary after our seaside adventure and nodded his sleepy head against my shoulder as we bumped along the roads. He was thrilled with the £1 windmill I bought him in a little toy shop. Such innocent, simple enjoyment from something that spins in the wind.
We had our first frost yesterday and it felt like quite a shock to wake up and discover the landscape had gone all white and wintry looking. I had to keep reminding myself that we are indeed in November now, and things like frost and ice are supposed to happen in November. It is Seasonal Correctness, and I am rather fond of that.
It was an especially beautiful day mind you, pretty perfectly Novemberish. Cold, oh yeah it was very shivery cold. But crisp and bright, with the most incredible cloudless blue sky up above.
The light was wonderful, all slanting and golden and uplifting. As you can see, my crazy crochet lamp has somehow remained here at number 24, skilfully managing to blend in and not make J cross any more. I have such a soft spot for that silly thing, it makes me smile on a daily basis.
See what I mean about the light? It made the colour of everything sing and dance yesterday, and that endless blue-blue sky up above made me feel so happy.
My attic view has gone brown now, but in the late afternoon it looked golden. Beautiful.
We were away from home for a few days last week, quite a long way from home. Two hundred and eighty five miles away to be precise, down south in the depths of Kent.
These photos were taken at a very beautiful, luxurious manor house where we had the pleasure of staying for a night. Gosh, it was posh! We have become so accustomed to caravan and youth hostel accommodation, that a private cottage in the grounds of a tenth century manor house seemed very grand indeed.
It was a joyful affair.
A beautiful family wedding (J's youngest brother) that managed to be both formal and relaxed, and full of the best sort of emotion.
Little Lady (that's her above) had the honour of accompanying the bridesmaids in her role as Flower Girl, and she radiated happiness. It really was a lovely day.
As it is such a long way to get to Kent from Atticland, we decided to travel down a couple of days before the wedding and spend a little family time pottering around the place. I booked us two nights at Canterbury Youth Hostel, which was really wonderful. One of the YHA's recently refurbished properties, it is a stunning mix of old and new. A gorgeous old Victorian Villa, all painted up beautifully inside and decked out with modern furniture and fittings.
I liked Canterbury very much, even in the rain. It reminded me of York in so many ways, with a great many similarities.
It was certainly very picturesque, busting at the seams with beautiful architecture and a wealth of history. And people too. Even in November, in poor weather, the city centre was bustling with crowds of shoppers and tourists.
We didn't have a huge amount of time to explore, but it was enough to get a feel for the place and know that I liked it.
From Canterbury, we hopped on a bus and trundled off through the wet Kent countryside to see what the coast had to offer. Such a shame about the weather (walking on the beach in the rain was a bit short of feel-good), but we made the most of it. By the way, this is Whitstable on the north Kent coast.
It was such a mixture of a place, not at all what I was expecting. I will show you some more of it next time, see what you make of it. It was pretty great being beside the sea though I have to say. Even with the rain blowing sideways into my face.
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, he really loves learning his letters.
. I love this size. It is just the right sort of scale for crochet decorations, as you can fit plenty on (more is more!) but at the same time, it's not too daunting to fill.
are so loaded with nostalgia, the sight and smell of them instantly transported me back to my own childhood ::
