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
At last the weather has warmed up here a touch, and the rise in temperature has truly made me happy. Many of the trees have all of a sudden sprouted their vibrant green leaves and everywhere looks very lush and promising. I find that the weather/temperature very noticeably affects my moods, probably because so much of my daily routine is spent walking about in it. Today's mild-with-a-slight-haze made me feel like meandering, so Little B and I detoured off route and walked the Long Way home from nursery.
The Long Way involves an extra loop of walking around the back of the castle, following the beck.
Then it's a left hand turn up this little lane, past the chickens, then back down the steep hill to pay a quick visit the old Corn Mill (we like to go inside and pull the handle so that a torrent of water is released onto the old wheel to make it turn. Good fun for a four year old)
I noticed whilst walking that the dandelions are already out in force, everything seems early this year. I really do have a soft spot for the common dandelion, despite the fact that it is a weed and therefore often thought of us undesirable. That yellow is just so incredibly cheerful and happy, it never fails to make me smile. I don't think I've ever, ever picked dandelions before though, well not since being a small child. It has never occurred to me to gather these wild undesirables from the grassy verges and bring them home. That thought really surprised me today, and I couldn't help wondering why not? Maybe because as children we were told that if you picked dandelions they made you wet the bed (anyone else heard this?!).
It felt a little bit naughty to bring home a posy of flowers that I had picked growing wild, but I kept reminding myself that these are common weeds and there was certainly no shortage of them.
Oh that golden yellow is really rather lovely! A small stem of early cow parsley came home with me too, another common weedy plant around these parts.
I popped them into a small blue jug and sat them on my table just as I would normally do with my market-bought bunches of flowers. They look cheerful and unpretentious and add a welcome splash of colour which made my heart flutter a little.
Have you noticed the crochet mat underneath the jug? It's a mandala pattern that I've been playing with this week, made from scraps of Stylecraft Special DK acrylic. For those of you who have often wondered what on earth a (pretty-but-useless) mandala can actually be used for, well this is a very good job for it I'd say. I think it looks remarkably pretty displayed with the jug of weeds.
Along with the giant Starflower Mandala decorations I'm making for Yarndale, I'm also working on a creative project with these smaller versions. I designed this one using five colours of Stylecraft yarn (raspberry, petrol, fondant, magenta and cloud blue) :: the middle four rounds are the same as my Happy Flower, and the rest was just added on as I went, inspired by this. I'm making a tutorial for this mandala if you fancy giving it a go, more of that coming very soon.
Oh what a wonderful crochet week I've been having, such pleasure with my hook and yarn! I've been dividing my time between my gorgeous coastal ripples and some rather addictive mandala-making. A few days ago whilst dancing through cyberspace looking for mandala patterns, I came across a true beauty. This one stopped me in my tracks and I experienced that instant ants-in-my-pants feeling. You know when you feel so fidgity with excitement that you think you cannot possibly wait another nanosecond before diving straight in to a new project head first? Yeah, I had it bad. Luckily, I had just taken delivery of some new cotton yarn that I had been asked to road test, and so I knew I had to go with it.
It's a free pattern by Zelna Olivier who writes a blog called Zooty Owl, and the pattern is written in US crochet terms. Now I really do dread diving into traditional patterns and try to avoid struggling with them wherever possible. But I was determined to give this a shot and I was pleasantly surprised. The pattern is well written, and I found that if I concentrated reeeeeeeally hard it didn't give me too much of a headache. There is some translating to do with this pattern if you are used to UK crochet terms, so read carefully and make sure you adjust the stitch heights.
US sc (single crochet) = UK dc (double crochet)
US hdc (half double crochet) = UK htr (half treble crochet)
US dc (double crochet) = UK tr (treble crochet)
US tr (treble crochet) = UK dtr (double treble)
I made a few mistakes when I forgot to translate, so I started writing it down then. My technique is to read each row out several times whilst scrutinising the photo of the finished item until I get a firm understanding of what that one row needs me to do. I concentrate hard on just one row at a time and try not to feel overwhelmed. Then I scribble out the basic pattern sequence in UK terms so that once I work out the correct position to begin each round, my simple translation helps me whizz through without getting lost in all the pattern blurble. For example, take row 14. The original pattern reads as follows ::
Join yarn into second tr of any 6tr sequence on Row 13; 4ch, 1tr into each of next 4tr; 1dc into each of next 13 stitches; 1tr into each of next 2hdc; 1dc into each of next 13 stitches; *1tr into each of next 5tr: 1dc into each of next 13 stitches; 1tr into each of next 2hdc; 1dc into each of next 13 stitches* *to* x 5; ss into top of 4ch at start of row to close;
So I simply wrote out :: 5 dtr, 13 tr, 2 dtr, 13 tr. I found I could follow that easily then, with no mistakes.
Due to the fact that on some of the rows I made trebles when I should have made double trebles, my finished mandala ended up a bit mis-shapen and ruffly. Nothing that a bit of steam treatment won't be able to sort out, bring out the iron!
First I used a sheet of newspaper and cut out a round hole to make a template. I needed to make a 50cm circle so that I could pop my mandala in the centre of it and gently stretch and pin it out to shape before steaming. I lay my mandala with wrong side uppermost and pinned all the way round, then removed the newspaper before getting the iron out. Hot steam, pffffff, but remember no pressure from the iron. Just the steam, concentrate on the edges. It takes mere seconds. Seconds! Leave it for a minute or two to cool, then you can simply unpin and admire........
.......neat, even stitches...........
............and a wonderful, lacy pattern.
Ta-dah! WOW! This is 50cm across you know, it's a whopper! I just love the way it turned out, but more than that, I absolutely loved the making process. It was all about colour and stitch pattern, rhythm and focus, accomplishment and pride. It was crochet feel-good on a grand scale.
That was yesterday.
Today, I pulled out all my cotton colours again and started straight away on a second version.
It was very much easier doing it for the second time, and I only made one teensy mistake this time. I was able to totally indulge my love of colour play, gosh it was such a pleasure!
I made a slightly different edging this time, and then when it was all finished I found my newspaper template and got busy pinning and steaming again. It's incredibly satisfying doing that bit, the results are really rather brilliant.
Ta-dah!!! Starflower Mandala number 2.
Another big beauty.
I took them outside into the back yard so that I could show you them side by side, aren't they lovely?
Now happy colourful crochet is all very well but you may well be wondering what on earth I'm going to do with two giant mandalas? Well, they are going to be part of a big visual display that I'm organising for this year's Yarndale festival. I'm planning on attaching them to some plastic child's hula hoops (this sort of thing) to make some giant dream catcher type thingies.
Can you picture it? Can you picture a collection of these big beautiful things suspended from the ceiling, spinning and whirling and dancing above your head? I can. I can imagine it very clearly indeed, and I am soooooooooooooooo excited to make it happen.
Hello! Gosh, I've been worrying about Attic24 these past few days as Typepad has been having some major problems and my blog was suddenly inaccessible. Made me fret! But all seems to be sorted now, and I hope that's the end of all the scary tech stuff that's been happening behind the scenes.
I've been enjoying these lazy, golden Spring mornings spent at home over the Easter weekend, oh the light has been sooo pretty! Around about 7.40am it rises above the rooftops of the houses opposite and beams in through our bay window throwing a glorious shaft of golden light right across the whole room. It lasts maybe fifteen minutes or so and I sit in it's path and absorb as much of it into my soul as I can.
I've got a new pretty glass vase, did you spot it in the photos? It's by my favourite company Rice DK, you can find it here. My tulips are almost over but I can't bare to throw them out just yet, soon it'll just be my bold little marigold sitting there smiling in the golden morning light.
I've been rippling a lot, still loving those coastal colours which are transporting me back to Dorset as I hook along. I should really be doing other things but I am not quite ready to leave my ripples for the complexity of pattern designing. Soon though. Got some new stuff teetering on the edge of my Creative Mind waiting to tumble forth and I can feel the familair uprising of jittery excitement at the prospect of new colours, yarns, patterns and ideas to play with. Yippeeeeeeee for living creatively!
If Part 1 of my Dorset tales was all about enjoying the sea, Part 2 seems to be about enjoying views and vistas. We choose to return to the same familiar and much loved places time after time when we visit Dorset and this year was no exception. Sometimes this bothers me a little and I wonder if it must be boring for the Little Peeps, if they wouldn't rather be off discovering new places. But then I listen to Little B exclaim "OH! I remember this place!" when we arrive at Abbotsbury Subtropical Gardens, and I feel an overwhelming sense of relief. His obvious joy at remembering he had been here before is wonderful.
The weather during the second half of our week away was glorious :: chilly at times, but with amazing clear skies and the brightest sunshine, perfect Spring weather actually.
Despite the very stormy winter that Dorset suffered, there didn't appear to be too much damage in the gardens. In fact, it was looking beautiful with the azaleas, magnolias and camellias in full (pink) bloom.
Each time we visit here we fall into something of a routine, arriving late morning and making our way through the first part of the gardens before climbing this gently sloping grassy track to the top....
....which makes for a very scenic picnic lunch spot. It is magical being so high up here, with sweeping views out across the whole expanse of Chesil Beach. The stunning views combined with warm sunshine makes our picnic taste even more yummy than usual, I'm sure of it.
J points out that we can see one of our favourite places from up here too, if I can manage to pull my eyes away from the shoreline and look inland. There it is look, St Catherine's Chapel, sitting up there on it's exposed hill. We'll be going there a bit later on, another one of our family holiday routines.
After lunch, we head back down into the gardens and continue our journey through the lush green foliage. The Little People, fueled by tuna sandwiches and chocolate, are haring along these paths now, laughing and shouting as they race along.
Some things do have the power to stop them in their noisy tracks, such as this wonderfully carved fallen tree which they excitedly remember from our last visit.
Other things manage to stop me in my quiet tracks, such as the carpet of pink petals under this tree.
We are in the very centre of the gardens now, surrounded on all sides by lush planting. This is the watery bit, a series of interconnecting ponds and painted red bridges which the Little People love.
Visually, it's incredibly peaceful here. The gardens are unusually quiet with only a handful of other visitors on this midweek afternoon. But the soundtrack of my family is boisterous, especially thanks to Little B who's excitement leaves his body in the form of a constant stream of noise. Sweet boy, I do so love his enthusiasm for life. I have many photos of the Little Peeps taken at the gardens on this afternoon, mainly blurred images of them in full action. I realise not a lot changes really from year to year even though the LP are growing and changing at such a rate, and that realisation is very reassuring somehow.
There is the usual excitement as we reach the fish pond, the usual scrabble for 20 pence pieces to feed into the little dispensing machine to get handfuls of fish food. Disappointingly, the fish are not remotely hungry this time. They swim lazily around, occasionally coming to the surface for a half hearted investigation of the food that has been purchased and eagerly offered to them. Little B is very sad at this unexpected turn of events so we don't linger for long here, even though it is a very beautiful spot for lingering.
We come down the steps through the Mediterranean Garden which has yet to reach it's full glory (I adore this part of the garden in full summer). The Little People suddenly realise that we are now nearing the café and excited thoughts of ice cream replace the sad thoughts of the unhungry fish.
The café here at the gardens is very lovely indeed with a large outdoor seating area surrounded by greenery. There is a small avery here too with a resident kookaburra, and it's distinctive calling makes me momentarily think I might not be in England at all, but somewhere else entirely. J takes the impatient Little People off to climb, slide and swing in the playground, leaving me suddenly alone for a short while. I close my eyes and drift into a short but pleasurable daydream, fulled by the warm sun on my face and a huge slab of lemon drizzle cake in front of me. It's very pleasant indeed and I'm reluctant to return to reality.
Little People have a suprising amount of energy in them don't they? After we've emerged out of the subtropical gardens, we decide to climb up the hill to visit St Catherines Chapel (just as we do every visit to Dorset), and the decision is met with enthusiasm.
We ease into our familiar routine, we don't even need to communicate to know the ritual here. The blanket comes out and J and I settle down together with our backs against the ancient sun warmed walls. We chat and take in the coastal views while the Little Peeps race around. It's as it always is up here for us, and it feels reassuringly good. The beautiful, peaceful views, and the noisy soundtrack of our children squealing, yelling and laughing.
I find it interesting that when in Dorset, J and I have different favourite places that remain unchanged each year. For me, I love to be right next to the sea, walking the shoreline on any of the beaches where I spent my childhood. I like to be as close to the water as possible without actually being in it or on it. For J, he loves the high-up places of Dorset and no visit is complete unless we take a trip to St Catherines Chapel and also here, to Eggardon Hill.
I love it up here too, and this is also a place of my childhood where I used to come for picnics with my grandparents and cousins. I love the fresh openness of it up here, and on this morning the light was unbelievably bright and the views crystal clear.. It's not often that you can see the sea so clearly from here, it really was beautiful.
We were lucky to see a herd of deer in the valley, including one white albino deer. It's a long way down and the zoom lense on my old camera isn't good enough to show them to you in the above photo. But it was a wonderful sight and the Little People were suitably impressed.
I enjoy the Cloud Shadows as they move slowly across the hillside, one of my most favourite Nature Observations (Reflections-in-still-water and Sunshine-rays-through-clouds are up there at the top of my list too)
We mostly come up to Eggardon Hill for lungfuls of fresh air and to view the views, although the Little People don't really get this at their age. They spend their time devising games, looking for ways to expend energy. Lets scramble up the side of the hill! Lets run down the hill! Lets chase each other round in circles! I find that chocolate does the trick, and for a little while I can persuade them to cosy up with us up on our old picnic blanket while we fill our mouths with easter egg and view the views.
There is a tractor laboriously ploughing the field below us, and it's both ridiculously tedious and absolutely fascinating to watch it's slow progress in such a huge field. I feel a sadness creep in, as this is the last day of our holiday. We have bags to pack, family to say good bye to and a long five hour journey ahead of us.
It has been another really good holiday, and I hold onto the thought that we will be back again at the end of July for our Summer visit. Layering up those memories, building and shaping those precious childhoods.
Happy times indeed xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Last week when we were in Dorset the weather was very mixed. In fact, it was a week of two halves, with the first half being pretty grim (think thick fog, drizzle, rain, blustery, cold, damp, wet, and grey) and the second half being pretty good (think blustery, showery, sunny, cold, warm, blue, light and bright). We took it all in our stride, venturing out each and every day to appreciate the joys of being at the coast no matter what the weather was playing at.
The first morning saw us take our traditional first visit to West Bay, to walk in the footsteps of my childhood, eat a scrummy late breakfast at my favourite Watch House café and breathe in the delicious fresh, salty sea air. It was cold, windy and very grey with a thick, damp fog hanging low over the landscape, but oh how I loved it! We walked around the foggy harbour, then out along the windswept pier and filled our lungs with gulps of fresh air.
The sea was rough with pounding waves and flying sea spray, the very sound of the waves filled my ears and stole our words away.
I love the sea on a sunny day when it offers up multiple shades of bluey-greens for me to lose myself in, but the greys do have a certain appeal. The seascape was wild and fresh and damp and salty and made my heart swell with nostalgia.
The following day was much the same weather wise but once again we wrapped up and ventured out, this time to the deserted beach at Burton.
More wild seas and huge waves, it was very atmospheric.
I loved that the Little People embraced the weather without question, happy to walk along the shoreline into the force of the wind, bending over to pick up shells and pebbles, chatting the whole way. It was certainly fresh. And by that, I mean cold! Only one thing for it.....
....retreat to the cosy warmth of the Hive beach café for vital refreshments. Both the coffee and the carrot cake are seriously delicious here and I always look forward to it very much. Suitably refreshed, we drove further up the coast paying a quick visit to Abbotsbury children's farm. Last time we were in Dorset we invested in an annual pass so we took advantage. Because of the dreadful weather (full-on rain by this time) the farm was extremely quiet, but it suited us just fine. We went to say hello to the barn full of guinea pigs, ooohed and ahhhed over the baby goats, then went into the beautiful old tithe barn to let the Little Peeps run wild. It's a great play area, and even Little Man seemed to enjoy it, helping his little brother to construct a fortress out of giant foam blocks.
In many ways, the wet weather suited us in those first few days. We were able to visit family, cosy up in cafés, treat ourselves to lunch out and take some short walks, but the time spent back at the house was very pleasurable. It allowed us to relax and unwind and spend time together as a family. There is no television at the house, but the Little Peeps all have gaming gadgetry, and for once we didn't limit their screen time. They seemed to naturally do that for themselves, gaming on screen for a bit before abandoning the technology and gaming together in real life. Noisy bouts of hide-and-seek and I-spy, tig and den building. There was lego too, reading and painting. I was mostly to be found sitting in the old chair beside the patio window losing myself in those addictive ripples. Delicious.
At the end of the third day, we noticed the weather suddenly change. The fog finally lifted and the strong breezes began to blow the heavy rain clouds away.
This is the view out of my bedroom window, and I say "my" bedroom as it was the room I grew up in as a child. That view is so familiar to me, so much a part of who I am that when I am on holiday I spend a lot of time stood at the window drinking it in. It's rather lovely to be able to sleep in my old room again when we stay, and I particularly love to hear the seagulls calling. I miss that familiar sound a lot when I am back home in Yorkshire.
This was Tuesday last week, and really I have to tell you it was one of the most perfect days. We decided to do what we did two years ago and divide the family in two :: the boys and the girls. The boys went off to Bovington Tank Museum (yaaaawwwn) and us girls took the Jurrasic Coastliner bus to Lyme Regis (yipeeeeee!)
I was soooo excited to be back in one of my all time most favourite places ever-ever, and also really happy to be sharing the day with Little Lady. She is terrific company, easy going and funny, and we were both jigging with happiness that day.
Lyme is such a visual treat, it is full of beauty and colour everywhere you look. I find the whole atmosphere of the place captivating, it just makes me feel full to the brim with happiness the whole time I'm there.
It is a pastel-colour-lovers dream (Vanessa, I'm looking at you!), with lots of buildings (and beach huts) painted in deliciously soft and enticing ice cream shades.
The weather on this day was bright and breezy with plenty of sunshine and big fluffy clouds. We walked along the promenade, taking in the glorious sea views before getting down to some girly retail therapy.
I love to meander down these quiet little back streets where I know there are some divine shops filled with all sorts of gorgeousness. The memories of previous visits makes me almost hyperventilate with anticipation and I am not disappointed with what I find (remember my button jug and wooden caravan?).
I dearly love it when houses are colour-painted like this, what a visual treat! I think every town should have at least one block of colourful houses to brighten up the view.
I couldn't resist buying myself my very own colourful row to remind me of Lyme. A little piece of my heart remains there every time I visit.
We have walked past the Town Mill Bakery now and are strolling along the millstream that runs quietly behind the town. It is peaceful and pretty and makes me daydream a little about what it might be like to live here.
See, it is my kind of town for sure!
The path along the millstream comes to an end and all of a sudden we are forced abruptly upwards. It is a beast of a hill, and Little Lady and I puff and pant our way to the top, unable to speak. We are now at the top of the picturesque high street with it's rolling views out across Lyme Bay. It is just so lovely and picture-perfect, I stand and sigh with pleasure.
Love this delightful pink flower shop, well indeed the whole high street is a delight. There is an abundance of independent shops here, and the atmosphere is jolly and light hearted. But we suddenly realise our tummies are rumbling and I give Little Lady the choice :: we can either pick up a pasty to eat in the gardens, or I'll treat us to lunch in one of the seafront eateries.
Little Lady chooses the pasty option and we take shelter in the midst of the cliff side gardens to eat while a short rain shower passes over. It's a very memorable place to eat lunch I have to say....
....the views out across the harbour are spectacular.
I drink it all in, running my eyes along the coastline and recalling the many times I have walked up and down those familiar cliffs.
After lunch, we continue our walk down through the gardens to the seafront, calling in to a quaint little fossil shop, and revisiting the shop where I used to work my student summers. It used to be an ice cream/bucket and spade type shop then, but is now an upmarket boutique selling expensive clothes. Little Lady asks if we might have an ice cream and I am happy to indulge her simple request. We sit a while beside the harbour in the sunshine, leaning our backs against the warm stone wall.
Ice creams down the hatch, we take a wander out along the old cobb (harbour) wall...
....mainly so I can get my boat fix of course. I am quite besotted by colourful fishing boats, they make me feel giddy with happiness.
Lots of fishing still goes on here, and the evidence is piled high all along the cobb.
Lobster pots, buoys, ropes and huge heaps of fishing nets sit in a colourful jumble, adding to the seaside charm.
I think briefly about the boys and wonder if they are having fun with the tanks. I feel deeply grateful that I am not actually with them (I have in fact been to that museum, and believe me, once is quite enough), but hope that they are enjoying themselves as much as we are.
We both decide that we are feeling a bit weary after so much walking and head onto the beach for a rest. I take my heavy walking boots off and relax into the warm stones to allow my mind to drift with the sounds of the waves.
Little Lady paints. Uh-huh, she really does. This is her new thing this holiday, her decision to use her spending money in the art shop instead of the toy shop this year (which secretly delighted me to bits). It's her first proper watercolour set (Winsor & Newton), identical to the one I had at art school all those years ago. We have packed a small bottle of water and she settles down to describe the seascape in washes of colour on a smooth pebble.
I really want to watch her every move, but resist (she says my watching makes her nervous) and instead I watch the comings and goings along the promenade. I love Lyme Regis so much, did I tell you that already?
Oh! The colours of Sky and Sea and Beach have happened!
A sweet memento of our day, something to capture those memories and hold them fast.
She has the most amazing eyes, my girl. She has the darkest lashes, and her eyes are the exact colours of the English Channel, look see.......
That blue/grey/green colour merge thing, it is in her eyes for sure. She tells me that she would like to live by the sea one day, and my heart squeezes. Sweet girl.
Our time is almost up, nearly time to hop on the bus and journey back along the coast. We wander back up through the gardens, resting a while on this fabulous mosaic bench, suddenly very tired from our day of pleasure-seeking. But it has been a real treasure of a day, full to the brim with happy.
Not so long ago I shared my first ever chunky project, the Rainbow Raindrops cushion. That's it pictured above, looking all happy and chunkyish on my sofa.
I made my cushion using eight shades of Stylecraft Special Chunky and really enjoyed the unashamedly bright and cheerful colours and the bouncy, squidginess of the yarn. After the cushion was finished I still had a fair bit of yarn left, pretty much half of it I would say (roughly 50g of each colour). I pondered making another cushion using a different design, but right at the last minute I was drawn towards making a bag.
For bag making, I always recommend switching down a hook size which makes the stitches much tighter and the bag less prone to stretching. With the chunky yarn, this meant using a 5mm hook which I really enjoyed. It seemed a little easier to manage than the 6mm, less arm manoeuvres and hand strain and the rows still worked up with satisfying speed. I set to work one Sunday morning whilst still in my pyjamas, and a little while later the base of the bag was complete....
This new Jolly bag is a re-working of the original yarn bag I made almost six years ago. I wanted to try making a more compact shape, less of a baggy-bag really. So instead of crocheting 14 rounds to make the flat circle base, I made just 9.
These are rows of treble crochet stitches worked in the round, and using chunky yarn with a 5mm hook my base measured 23cm. Time to work up the sides now....
....ahhh it was such easy, pleasurable work! Stripe after stripe of glorious colour, up, up, up for 18 rainbow rows and then time to work the edge.
I designed a new small, neat scallop to finish off the top edge.
Ooooh, looking suitably baggy!
This is such a simple design, I love the way that the base morphs into the sides and it all comes together so easily.
Using chunky yarn on a 5mm hook, the bag was quite sturdy and held it's shape remarkably well.
I thought that if made it a bit shorter, it would make a super little storage basket.
I could so imagine it filled with yarn balls!
Back to the bag...time to make some wide stripy handles......
....and some simple floral embellishments.
Remember the rainbow buttons I used for my cushion? I wanted to use the same ones to add a little extra decoration to my flowers.....
....oo those colours are looking rather jolly aren't they?
I love adding little decorative touches to my makes, it is definitely the bit of designing and making which makes my heart squeeze with pleasure.
The handles are pinned and stitched to the bag, spacing them evenly either side...
....then the leaves and flowers are added to neatly cover any dubious (but strong) handle stitching, and to add that extra bit of prettiness.
I think I'd like to show you how it turned out........
I love the proportions of this bag, it's spacious but neat at the same time. I'm not using this one for carrying yarn as I still use my big, floppy original bag for that.
I'm using this bag more on a daily basis, for quick trips to the shops and for carrying notebooks and paperwork and various paraphernalia to and from the studio.
I designed it to fit neatly under my arm, and it really is a pleasure to wear/carry and use. And just like the Raindrops cushion, the colours are so bright and cheerful, I love them very much. When I was trying to think of a name for this bag, it was my friend who described it as being "jolly", and yes, that does fit it very well indeed. It makes me jolly happy for sure.
I can really recommend the Stylecraft Special chunky yarn for making bags and cushions, it works up quickly and produces lovely soft (but substantial) crochet. These are generous 100g balls of chunky yarn, 100% acrylic, but gorgeously soft and delightful to work with. I've got some more cushion and bag designs jostling around in my Creative Mind that would be perfect made with this yarn, it has a lot of potential and I am very excited about the creative possibilities.
Some good news to share....I've been chatting with the fabulous Wool Warehouse in recent weeks, asking them if they could perhaps put these yarn colours together as a pack for me. That way, it makes it a little bit easier to order yourself a yarny rainbow with just one click (I LoVe one-click ordering!) So each pack contains 8 x 100g chunky Stylecraft Special yarn, in the following eight colours ::
As a little extra, Wool Warehouse are also including 8 of these lovely buttons with each Rainbow yarn pack so that you can make either the Raindrops cushion, or the Jolly Bag.
In fact, even more good news.....one yarn pack is enough to make BOTH!!!!!! Yeah, how cool is that?! If you wish to make both the bag and the cushion, you will just need to pop an extra pack of buttons in your basket.
I've written up the bag pattern for you, to explain the correct increases for the circular base and the stitch numbers for the handles etc. The scallop edging, flowers and leaves are included as part of the pattern too. Oh, and I've also listed the random colour order that I used for the bag stripes, for those of you who don't really care for random and would prefer someone else to do that bit (and boy, do I LOVE that sort of working out!). You can find all the information you need to make this bag, for FREE, right here on my blog. I hope you enjoy it!
ps the chunky yarn packs are a joint project between myself and Wool Warehouse, and I will be earning a small commission on each sale. This is a big step forward for me and I am absolutely thrilled about it. It's not always easy to talk about money-making things in Blogland but thought it best to let you know what's what. I have to say, it's the best feeling being able to earn a little bit of money doing something I am truly passionate about ♥
Hello! Home again, home again after a really enjoyable break away beside the sea last week. It's good to be home, although I confess my heart is still being tugged by the sound of the waves and the tang of salty sea breezes. It always takes me a week or two to settle after spending time at the coast, and I am trying to enjoy the settling process without giving in to melancholy. Trying.
I took the usual umpteen-and-then-some photographs last week which I shall attempt to marshall into a bit of a coastal story to share with you this week. In the meantime, would you indulge me while I show you two new little holiday purchases? Purchase number one is this quirky little painted wooden caravan, complete with bunting strings and errrrrrr, flamingo's. I have no idea why there should be pink flamingo's, but the very oddity of them makes me laugh. Bonkers indeed.
Purchase number two is this wonderful pink Avoca button jug, spotted on the Discount Shelf in one of my favourite shops in Lyme Regis. It was less than half price and so I swooped without hesitation, and have to say it is really making me happy.
It's on my table right now filled with the most glorious tulips, gosh I do so love tulips. They help enormously with the settling process when onen's heart is feeling slightly heavier than usual.
Perfection.
On Saturday I was down at the Studio, spending the day with a group of wonderful, friendly, chatty ladies who had come to enjoy a day of creative hooky with me. We had fun!
By the end of the day, seven gorgeous new birdies had hatched in a riot of beautiful colour and spread their wings to fly to new homes.
Today has been a day dedicated to rest and relaxation. Sod the piles of laundry and the general air of post-holiday chaos, I'm going to lounge about in my jammies, drink multiple mugs of coffee and crochet! It was rather indulgent, but entirely necessary and I feel very much better for it. Interspersed with the crochet and coffee, there was lots of time spent with the Little Peeps. J made us all pancakes for breakfast and I baked a batch of oaty cookies followed by a rather delicious coconut lime loaf. Late afternoon we went for a brisk, bracing walk around the reservoir, by jingo it was cold! We are still suffering very low, wintry temperatures here in North Yorkshire, we are desperate for some Spring Warmth.
We enjoyed some welcome warmth last week in Dorset, oh the absolute blissful pleasure to be found in the warmth of the sun on my face! Not all week mind you, no, the first three days were horrid (weather wise, wonderful other wise), but the latter part of the week we were blessed with glorious sunshine. It's very noticeably milder 300 miles south than it is up here in Atticland.
I'm really looking forward to sharing my holiday with you, I've been pootling through my holiday snaps a lot during the past few days, recalling the abundance of happy moments spent with my family. My Little People are really not very little any more, it is always more apparent in photos I think, a bit of a shock actually. I love them so much.
Today I've been going through the familiar routine of getting myself, the house, the animals and the rest of the family ready for a week away. I point blank refuse to get stressed by the volume of chores involved, even though the feeling sits there like a heavy pebble. Instead I've been calmly pottering about the house gathering together an assortment of coats, footwear, blankets, picnic and beach paraphernalia, clothing (oh so many layers of clothing, for all possible eventualities of temperature and humidity), toys, books, gadgets, magazines, refreshments, and of course yarn. On a whim this morning, I went into my studio and unearthed this collection of Stylecraft Special DK, a blanket pack that I put together over a year ago now. This yarn has been sat on my studio shelf, waiting for me to hook it into a coastal colour story.
A Coastal Blanket just has to be rippled, no question, and this morning I joyfully set out on this new blanket journey. Oh how I love to ripple! I can't wait to get going with these cool shades of blue and green, and with any luck (c'mon weather, play nice!) I will be sat on the beach next week with the sound of the waves in my ears as I crochet. Here's hoping.
I haven't packed my clothes yet (4pm, we leave in two hours), but I have assembled my Leisure Activity Kit. Two of my most favourite magazines which I haven't even peeked in yet (such restraint), a new book to lose myself in and some essential Easter snacking material. I am all set for a week of pleasure seeking.
Tomorrow morning, no matter what the weather throws us, we are going to the beach for breakfast. Here to be precise. I've promised the Little People that they can eat ice cream for breakfast, and I think I might possibly eat carrot cake washed down with several mugs of frothy caffeine.
I love love love jollying to Dorset so much, yipppeeeee for a week of sea breezes and family fun! See you when I get back ♥
Studio work/play this morning....this is Stylecraft Special DK, a yarn I really love and am very familiar with now. With 59 gorgeous colours to play with there are always lots of new ideas coming and going, my Creative Mind is absolutely brimming over with it all right now. The excitement I feel when I am working/playing with colour is immense, I've been on a high all day and now I need to try and calm down enough to sleep. I love my life!
Can you believe we are already one quarter of the way through this year? I've really enjoyed looking back through my photos and recalling the dozens and dozens of fleeting colourful moments that make up my hours, days, weeks and months. So much colour, even in the Winter months, that has to be a pretty wonderful thing. Colour = Happiness in my world.
Here's hoping the next quarter will be full of good things, a multitude of happy moments lived in glorious full colour. Bring it on!
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) to make some giant dream catcher type thingies.
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), identical to the one I had at art school all those years ago. We have packed a small bottle of water and she settles down to describe the seascape in washes of colour on a smooth pebble.
to lose myself in and some essential Easter snacking material. I am all set for a week of pleasure seeking.
