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
Mid December is always so hectic and hurried. I keep trying to remind myself to stop and look up every once in a while, to appreciate the beautiful wintry-ness of the days.
I am re-visiting my Pompom Addiction. It's all Pip's fault. And these make it soooo easy to get carried away.
Little oddments of Stylecraft Special arranged in a rainbow, Just Because.
Making Little Lacy Stars with my rainbow of oddments, whilst drinking coffee and scoffing a mini mince pie. Rather delicious, all of it.
The LLS's (Little Lacy Stars) worked out well, very quick and easy to make. I'll try and write up the pattern in a day or two if I get chance in amongst everything else.
I made the LLS's to hang in my studio, to add a little bit of festive hookery ready for our open Studio on Sunday.
Our studio looked fab and we had a steady stream of lovely visitors on Sunday afternoon despite the dreadful wet weather.
We will be opening again this coming Sunday 15th, 12-4pm if you fancy stopping by.
Little Man came home from school last week asking me to provide him with a Christmas Jumper to wear to school on Friday for charity. Quite a big ask really, seeing as there isn't already a handy festive jumper in residence. I scoured six charity shops with no luck, then went to a we-sell-everything discount shop and bought a cheap sweatshirt. A bit of felt and some insanely satisfying handstitching later, and my Little Man is very happy with his handmade offering. Phew. Another job ticked off the worryingly long list of must-do's.
Really enjoying working with these delicious candy-coloured cottons this week. Little candy coloured buttons too.
Ahhhhh these December days. So, so so busy. Such a full agenda each and every day this week. Must remember to breathe deeply and not get swept away in a tide of mild anxiety.
Hello, thanks for popping by, please come in to our humble little working studio.....
Yes, I know, my desk is super-tidy, isn't it? I try to keep it presentable as we do have a steady trickle of lovely visitors into our studio room throughout the week. Plus, number 24 is soooooo messy and chaotic at the moment, it helps to know that I can escape here and breath in the calm atmosphere.
Even though we're approaching the shortest day of the year, the light in this little first floor room is still wonderful, especially in the mornings. Sometimes I just sit at my desk and gaze at my surroundings. Marvelling at my good fortune at finding this space and feeling delighted by how much it has changed in the nine months that we've been here.
I love that my precious Lloyd Loom chairs sit there like old friends having a relaxed conversation with each other.
And of course, I love all the yarny goodness here. It still seems to me like a little bit of a heavenly dream to find myself occupying this room.
Yes, do have a good look around, wander over to Tracy's working space and take a peek. It's much more lived in than my end of the room, cos she is able to spend so much more time here than me.
I absolutely love haberdashery of any sort, and Tracy has haberdashery in abundance. Boxes of vintage buttons and trims....
....and little pots, trays, tins and jars of buttons and bells everywhere.
Sometimes when Tracy is out, I potter around at her end of the room, taking sneaky glimpses at her work in progress.
There is something very, very pleasing about somebody elses work in progress.
There is creative energy hovering over every surface.
Tracy is such a grafter, a different character from me altogether. She forms an idea, grabs materials and kerpow!! Magic happens! She works so hard to make her ideas successful. Hours and hours and hours of meticulous cutting, piecing, stitching, embellishing, finishing. Her work is exquisite, and her attention to detail is mind blowing.
I admire her enormously, whilst at the same time thinking that she is possibly just a little bit crazy. All that work. All those stitches. Day after day of it....I don't know quite how she does it.
I admit (just to you, don't tell) that I am a little bit jealous of the time she gets to spend in our lovely little working studio. My time there at the moment is sporadic and fleeting. I feel like I have so many balls to juggle at the moment, and my Studio Ball often accidentally falls and rolls away. I am working on it though, this juggling act, trying to shape it all a bit differently if I can.
Well, it's been lovely having you visit, such a nice chat. Come back soon, won't you? We are opening our door tomorrow (Sunday 8th, 12-4) and again next Sunday 15th if you are local to the Attic and fancy a little pootle in this wonderful room of ours. Pop in and say hello, we'd love to see you.
There are more details about our Open Studio on Tracy's blog here.
Before I start rambling, can I just say a huge big cheery THANK YOU for all your wonderful comments about my recent coat make over. It's always such a joy to share my creative adventures with you, thank you very much.
I wanted to write a little bit more about my Little Coat Squares, to share a few thoughts about finding inspiration. The image above belongs to Kirsten who writes the most wonderful blog called Cozy Things, do you know it? This lady is an incredible designer maker, working her magic with knitting, quilting and crochet. I adore her style and often feel very inspired by her makes (I have a patchwork quilt in me, I do, I do!) The above jacket was the direct inspiration behind my own Little Coat Squares, in particular the idea to run them around the cuffs.
It turns out that Kirsten was inspired by a jacket design she found on Ravelry. This is it in the above picture, the one that set Kirsten on her own jacket-making journey. It was made and designed for a Norwegian magazine by a supremely talented lady called Sidsel J. Hoivik.
Sidsel's designs (both knit and crochet) are amazing. They are colourful and vibrant, playful and beautiful.
As I really wished to write up a tutorial for making my Little Coat Squares, I thought I should ask for Sidsel's permission to do so. Which I'm happy to say she gave me with her blessing. Thank you Sidsel! You can read more about this wonderful designer (in English) here. And see more of her designs on her Facebook page here.
I've just finished writing up my pattern, it's over in the usual place in my left hand sidebar, called Little Coat Squares.
I'm sure there's more I wanted to say about sharing and inspiring, about creating patterns and crediting designers. About originality and respect. But do you know what? The words have vanished. Sorry 'bout that. Enjoy the pattern if you give it a go, it's pretty cute.
Once upon a time there was a rather shabby old corduroy coat. It had been through many winters, and was becoming a little bit threadbare in places. Lucy inherited the shabby coat three years ago from an Old Friend who wanted rid of it but felt it was too good to go to the charity shop. The Old Friend told Lucy the coat was "Designer". The old coat was really too big for Lucy and made her feel a little bit frumpy, but it was warm and did the job, and besides Lucy didn't have any other coats for Winter.
The thing that Lucy loved most about the old coat was the unexpected bright pink satin lining.
The thing that Lucy hated most about the old coat was the incredibly dull beige colour.
Even when she jazzed it up with colourful crochet scarves, it still looked drab.
Lucy began to fantasize about spending a ridiculous amount of dosh on a jazzy little Boden number.
She had a hankering for a scarlet red coat you see.
Then one bright day in the middle of a glorious October Autumn, Lucy was hit with an idea.
Dye. Tulip Red fabric dye.
It might not work, but it was worth the risk.
If it didn't work out, then Lucy would have to look for a cheap coat to replace the up-cycling failure.
But if by some miracle she could indeed turn the boring beige into glorious Tulip Red, well, it would be a very happy tale indeed.
Have you ever dyed clothes in the washing machine?
Have you ever been through the killing, toe-curling suspense of such a thing?
My, my, it is tough! Lucy's washing machine is in the cellar, and the full cycle takes a few hours.
The wait, and the constant to-ing and fro-ing up and down the cellar steps was torture.
The washing machine cycle eventually came to a shuddering end, and it was time to pull the coat out.
The washing machine looked frightfully scarlet.
You know what happened, don't you?
You can guess how Lucy's beige coat fared?
Yes.
It was.................
....a complete success.
Oh Happy Day!!!!!
Lucy was thrilled to bits, she couldn't quite believe her good fortune.
After the first dyeing cycle, the coat was indeed bright scarlet, the exact colour of a tulip.
After the second rinsing cycle, the colour faded very slightly, but Lucy was still exceptionally happy with it.
As you can see, the synthetic parts of the coat did not take up the dye. So the toggles, fake fur, zip and stitching remained beige. But Lucy did not think it mattered and she remained happy as Larry.
The colour was everything she had been hankering after.
Perfect.
Just perfect.
Lucy wore the coat with pride, and was thrilled when so many people complimented her on her New Coat.
She told everyone about the dyeing success, about this being an Old Coat really, not a new one.
How wonderful to be the owner of a Red Coat! It gave Lucy a lot of pleasure.
Then a few weeks ago something happened.
A little nugget of a creative idea began to germinate, and the idea refused to go away.
The more Lucy thought about it, the more she knew she would have to give in to it.
The coat would have to be PimPeD. AdOrnEd. EmBeLliSheD.
Crochet would be involved.
Lucy already had the perfect yarn for the job, a gorgeous bag of Drops Cotton Merino in delicious colours.
A short row across the pocket flaps, and maybe a ring of them around the cuffs?
Yes, perfect.
The pattern for these little squares was nowhere to be found.
But by scrutinising Kirstens photos, Lucy was able to work out how to make something that looked right.
It was fun.
Those little squares whizzed off the hook in three quick rounds.
The yarn was a joy to work with. Smooth and easy on a 4mm hook.
The colours were delightful, a funky mixture of brights and pastels.
It was satisfying work.
And these little squares made Lucy very happy.
Lucy knew these rows of little squares would do something good to the red coat.
She knew it was going to make the coat Completely Hers.
It was all a little bit bonkers, but then Lucy does have a soft spot for bonkers.
She edged the rows in red to match the coat, so that it would be easy to disguise the stitching.
Crocheted Pocket-flaps and Cuff-rings. Yes, bonkers!
Yesterday morning, Lucy had a few child-free hours and she couldn't wait to complete this project. She settled herself into the Big Chair in the light of the bay window and quietly stitched.
Oh, just look at that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The sight of embellished pocket flaps suddenly made Lucy feel very happy indeed.
The cuffs were a little trickier, as the Old Coat is showing signs of wear.
The fabric is thin and there are holes.
But Lucy slipped the cuff-rings on and knew that it was going to be ok.
Careful stitching, that's all. Lots and lots of tiny, neat, careful little hand stitches to attach the hooky to the worn out fabric of the coat.
This morning, Lucy wore her Upcycled Tulip-red coat with embellished pocket-flaps and cuff-rings for the very first time.
She felt self conscious, like EVERYONE would be staring hard at her cuffs.
But of course no one did. Only Lucy was aware of them for every step of her walking day. It was a private, secret little well of happiness.
And so this is the story of how a drab old unloved beige hand-me-down was turned into something bright and beautiful and a little bit bonkers.
Lucy is very, very, very delighted with her old/new red coat.
ps re the pattern for the little squares :: I'm trying to contact the Norwegian designer to check that it's ok for me to write up my version of the pattern. Fingers crossed, as I would love to share it.
pps I almost forgot!>>> Fig1.co.uk announced the winner today for the Happy Rice Giveaway, chosen with a random number generator thingy. Thank you to everyone who entered! The lucky lady is Emma from Devon :: Emma we have contacted you, congratulations :o)
EDIT TO ADD :: Yes, the washing machine is absolutely fine :o) Dylon Fabric Dye is pretty respectable stuff, if a little bit scary when the colour work is in progress!
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