Attic24

Thank You

Hellooooo, me again, the one who is obsessed with colour and yarn and blankets :)

I'm back after some precious time away from technology and have just this evening sat myself down in front of the computer again to catch up with emails. Lots of emails actually, thank you so so much for all your gladness and appreciation and shared happiness over my latest blankie. Such a joy to read all your words, they have streamed into the Attic this evening and wrapped themselves around me and made me feel more than a little bit emotional and grateful. Thank you very much for those words, they are hugely appreciated.

I/we are enjoying having Miss Harmony hanging around with us on the grey sofa, she has entered softly into family life and is already very well loved around here.

Every day I perform a private sort of blanket dance, a careful folding and draping ritual that only I  personally feel the need to do. The rest of the family are wonderfully casual with all my blankets, using them, dragging them, piling them, pulling them hither and thither, tossing them from one piece of furniture to the next. It's not disrespect as such (although I do sometimes question this), but more about familiarity. Our many blankets have become a very familiar and ordinary part of daily family home life and I absolutely LOVE that this is the way it is with my creations. I often secretly hope (with a big squeeze of my heart) that my crochet blankets will form part of a happy, lasting memory of childhood for my Little People. Warmth and colour, happiness and love, right there in those stitches. Precious, but ordinary too, it's why I love making blankets so much.

So we were away last week, we hitched up our sweet old Connievan and pootled over to the west coast for a change of scene and some relaxed family time. It was a lovely break, lovely in it's simplicity, with four days and four nights giving us just enough time for togetherness.

We camped at Silverdale (on the border of Lancashire and Cumbria, at the top of Morecambe Bay and at the very bottom edge of The Lake District) - it is sooooooo beautiful there, a quiet, undiscovered gem of a place. Very soothing, peaceful and tranquil, with expansive vistas and wide open skies, a cloud-gazers paradise.

The pace was slow - we lounged about, we swam, we walked, we pootled, we picnicked. It was restorative and I enjoyed the break away very much. I'll show you some more pictures very soon (lots of sand and sky it seems) and tell you a little bit more of our Connievan adventures. She is a darling, honestly, caravanning makes me so happy!

Back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

 

 

 

Harmony Blanket :: Ta-dah!

I can honestly say that I never ever get tired of making and sharing blankets, both in real life and here on my blog. It's almost 8 years to the very day since I first picked up a crochet hook and learnt to make granny squares, and each year my blanket pile grows a little higher and a little plumper. Crochet blankets are my passion, I love designing them, creating them, sharing them and of course using them, they fill my life with colour and happiness every single day.

I've often written about the joy of starting out on a new blanket journey, it's one of the things I most enjoy. Choosing the colours and settling on a pattern that will float the Creative Boat for many months is a whole lot of fun.

I chose these fifteen colours back in March, just when we were on the cusp of Springtime here in Yorkshire. Spring was long and cold here this year, and I remember yearning for some sunshine and warmth, dreaming of a time when there would be blossom and bluebells and fresh zingy new leaves in the treetops.

I hadn't quite realised it at the time, but the colours I chose for my Harmony blanket tell a story of early Summer. These are the soft blues and greens of bluebells and woodland, the clear blues of an early summer sky and the pretty pinks of frothy blossom. It all comes together to make a very lovely, fresh, gentle colour palette.

I just love these colours so much - they are soft without being pale, and they are pretty without being too sugary sweet. They are the breezy, happy colours of early summer for me, which is my absolute most favourite time of year without any shadow of a doubt.

Before I start actually making my blankets, I like to work up a colour sampler. I crochet some simple 3-round solid granny squares (there is a pattern for them here) and stitch them together so that I can get a feel for how the colours are working together. I like to look at the hot / cool balance and the tonal (light / dark) balance to make sure that nothing is too out of place or jumpy. It's that balance that characterises my colour palettes, and I just love to see colours sitting so harmoniously together like this.

Unlike the last three blankets I've made, I chose to do squares instead of stripes this time. I wanted a project that would be nice and portable, something that I could easily take out and about with me as Spring turned into Summer. I spent a long time sampling various ideas - let me tell you, it's not at all easy to come up with a new granny square design, something fresh and original that hasn't already been done to death. But eventually I managed to bring forth a simple square from the depths of my messy creative mind, one that was easy to make and wasn't too holey. I would be really interested to know if anyone has come across any similar square in their hooky travels?

As this blanket was destined to be made into a crochet kit, I had to approach the making of it in a very considered way. You all know how much I love to embrace the random approach to colour when I make blankets - well I simply couldn't do random this time. What I had to do was come up with a number of colour variations (14 in total, shown above) which would be repeated throughout the blanket. It was such an intense (but wonderful) process - I did it in my typical low-tech way, with yarn pegs, pen and paper, working out the five rounds of each square very carefully so that every colour of yarn was used the same number of times throughout. Yeah- I know! Talk about tricksy!!!

Continuing with my new found Methodical Approach, I worked out that I would need to make 126 squares in total (for a 14 x 9 format) and I set about making all one hundred and twenty six teeny-tiny round-1 squares. Seeing all these little squares together made me happier than I can tell you - they seemed to me like little nuggets of possibility, the very essence of a blanket-to-be.

After the first round though, I changed tack and started concentrating on just 14 squares at a time. 14 squares make up one vertical strip of the blanket and seemed to be a good number to get stuck into without getting bored or feeling overwhelmed.

So I worked 14 round-2's.......

....then 14 round-3's, 14 round 4's and 14 round-5's.

I named the squares with letters (A to N) and typed out a little info table which I kept with my hook and yarn. The table lists the colours needed for each square, so for example, Square A would read :

Square A : 1. Pale Rose 2. Storm  3. Turquoise 4.  Violet  5. Lavender

So whenever I sat down with to work on these squares I would always know exactly what I was doing.

I thought I might find this approach a bit tedious after a while, but actually it was the exact opposite. Because all the working out had already been done, the crochet itself was very relaxing and easily fitted into my busy, sociable days when I just needed to sit and work on something and not multi-task with my brain too much. I could simply pick up my hook, look at my little printed table of colour order and get stuck in. And now I really, really, TOTALLY get the appeal of crocheting something that has already been worked out!!! I get it!!!!!

One thing I learnt very early on with working 5-round granny squares is the need to tackle those yarn ends pronto. I made myself a little fishy needle-keeper to attach to my scissors (totally inspired by Sandra, thank you my lovely), and every single time I snipped my yarn I also darned in my ends. Every. Single. Time. Working 14 squares with 5 colour changes = 140 ends to darn folks, so pleeeeeeeease do take my advice and adopt the darn-after-each-round technique.

After five rounds, the Harmony Granny Squares are edged in a subtle purple-grey colour (Stylecraft Special Parma Violet). I worked out a way to make this sixth round a join-as-you-go round, which really dictated the way this blanket began to grow. I would work on one vertical strip at a time, making up the 14 squares then methodically joining them into a  long strip, but also joining them to the previous strip at the same time.....

.....this was the beginnings of my blanket at Easter when I was on holiday down in Dorset - the first two strips joined. To be completely truthful with you, at this point I wasn't really in love with this blanket. I worried that the colours I had chosen were too soft, that the Parma Violet was too dull. I felt it was just a weeny bit boring compared to my usual bright and cheerful creations.

But those colours.....oh those colours were still singing the sweetest summery song to me, and I held on to the belief that the more the blanket grew, the more my vision of Harmony would come together. Positive thinking my friends, I am blessed with it in abundance.

We are into early May now, and suddenly my blanket is in tune with the actual seasons. As I work these squares and immerse myself in these colours, the bluebells are blooming and the blossom is blossoming and slowly the trees are beginning to shoot out their new greenery. I can feel it all suddenly coming to life and making sense.

So the Harmony blanket has 9 vertical strips, which is a very manageable number to get your head around. It's only nine. I was truly amazed by how quickly I managed to whizz through the making of these squares (I confess I did become a little addicted). And with each strip joined and completed I became just a little bit more desperate to reach the end, just to see how it would all look.

I loved the colours more and more as I worked with them (which was a small mercy really, as at one point I really did think I'd made a terrible mistake).

In mid June, at our wonderful Friday Creative Coopers Café group, I joined square 126. It was Done. I was soooooooooooooo happy!!

I am one of those people who LOVE crocheting borders, I really get a kick out of working those long, long rounds. And I've enough experience of making blankets now to know that a good, well thought out border can utterly, totally transform a blanket. It can turn a random gathering of squares into a framed thing of beauty.

I spent an absolute age working out this colour sequence. The way I worked the squares meant that I used an equal amount of each colour, so in theory I had enough yarn to make the border using all 14 colours if I wanted to. But in the end I settled with 8, and ordered them in the most pleasing way possible. I wanted the border to really sing a beautiful, harmonious colour song.

I think I succeeded (she says modestly) - well I do really love, love, love the border! I really love the way these colours work together, and that's the truth.

Oh the bitter-sweet joy of finishing a big project that spans across months and seasons - it's exhilarating and sad all at the same time. Joy with the finished article but also a sense of bereavement when there is not longer a project to lose yourself in.

I think the feeling of Joy comes out on top though.....

....blanket making is amazing! It really is, you just can't beat that feeling of heart-skippy happiness that blankets deliver, it's the best thing ever ever. Ever.

I finished making my Harmony Blanket towards the end of June (remember this post?) and it was immediately absorbed into the Attic24 household. Blankets aren't precious objects around here, they are loved and used on a daily basis by all members of the family.

Oh that border - mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, so delicious!!

Sorry, got distracted by the above image for a moment......

So at the weekend, after much procrastinating, I took Miss Harmony with me to my studio and got down to the business of taking some photographs. I moved a load of furniture so that I could spread her out and show her off in her entirety as I hadn't really been able to see her all laid out before. When you work in squares and strips, you never quite get a proper feel for the overall design until right at the very end.

It's a pretty great moment when you get to take it all in.........................

.......Ta-dah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love love love love love!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This pretty blanket doesn't yet have a specific home or a place to be - it just kind of lives with the rest of my blankets here at number 24. I've noticed that Little Lady has taken quite a shine to it though, and often in the evenings she is the one snuggling underneath it's pretty folds.

So shall we talk practicalities now?

The Harmony Blanket is roughly single bed size, measuring 115 x 175cm.

I used 17 x 100g balls of Stylecraft Special DK in the following colours :

Petrol : Storm Blue : Sage : Lavender : Violet : Raspberry : Plum : Clematis :

Pale Rose : Cloud Blue : Turquoise : Aster : Meadow : Lime Green :

Parma Violet (x 3 balls).

Each square measures 10cm after FIVE rounds (so not including the joining round). The joining round on all the squares was worked in Parma Violet.

If you purchase the Harmony yarn pack from Wool Warehouse, you will also receive an 11 page full colour printed pattern to make the blanket. But as always, I do LOVE to share and inspire (gives me a Good Feeling that is irresistible) so I have put a complete step-by-step tutorial on my blog for FREE. As it is so lengthy and comprehensive (we're talking 100+ photos and 6,000 words), I've split into two parts.

Part 1 is the Harmony Granny Square.

This is a full picture tutorial for making the six round square (shown above)

Part 2 is the Harmony Blanket.

This is a very comprehensive guide to making the whole blanket. It includes full details for the join-as-you-go method, tables for the colour order and square order used in the Harmony blanket, plus the border pattern.

I confess it wasn't an easy job to make these tutorials, they were long and complicated to write. But I have done my very, very best and I hope that you might feel inspired to give it a go. Remember, you don't have to use my colours - I would LOVE to see you take this pattern and make it your own using your own colours.

I continue to be hugely happy to be working alongside the really lovely yarn-happy people at Wool Warehouse. They do a fantastic job, enabling my yarn packs to be shipped all over the world and I really enjoy the way in which we work together. Wool Warehouse is the only yarn company that supports my blog and I earn a commission on sales of my yarn packs via my Attic24 shop. Thank you very much for joining me on this colour-filled journey and adding your hooky enthusiasm to my own. It is very, very much appreciated.

Oh - I almost forgot..................

.............what do you think of the Harmony colours worked up using the Cosy Stripe pattern????? One word from me - TeMpTinG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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On and Off my Hook

Morning my lovelies!Gosh, it's good to be back here at last! I'm having a hard job carving out enough time to bob into the Attic to chat, my days are so full of Little People and work-related activity that personal ramblings have not managed to find much of an outlet of late. I'm not going to apologise mind you, my blog is my personal little patch of  time and space and it follows the true course of my life. Which happens to be busy and full up right now, the usual story of a summer spent juggling like a clown.

I really miss my studio, but we are still holding our weekly social at the café on Friday mornings. The Little People come with me which they are fine about, providing I am forthcoming with fizzy drinks and sweet treats to sustain them through the morning. It's been great to welcome some lovely visitors during the past few weeks too - anyone is welcome to come and join our free and friendly group, just rock up with something stitchy in your bag and sit yourself down [Coopers Cafe Bar, Skipton : Friday mornings : 9.30-11.30]

It seems like a long while since I shared anything crochet related here on my blog, but behind the scenes my hook has been busy.

A few weeks ago I dug out this bag of zingy bright cottons to make a cheerful floral garland (my contribution for this year's Yarndale brochure, we like to include free patterns in amongst the festival blurb). This yarn is lovely to work with (although it's quite stiff) and is perfect for small decorative projects where you need the finished crochet to hold it's shape well. It comes from a local mill here in Yorkshire, but you can find it online, it's called Texere Double Top Cotton. The yarn comes in 50g balls, but also the lovely peeps at Texere Yarns wind it onto dinky little 20m spools which means you can buy up lots of colours for small projects (I wish more cotton yarn came like this).

I made 12 layered flowers, then strung them with a crochet chain of green yarn. I made the little leaves as part of the crochet chain so there was no fiddly stitching or darning in ends....

,,,,ta-dah! I've strung it over the big mirror above the fireplace in the dining room, it looks lovely actually (I gave the toilet roll family a little dust off at the same time, they are still perched on top of the mirror almost five years after being born!). I'll try and remember to take a photo to show you it in situ.

I'm busy working on the Yarndale calendar at the moment too. This year we are photographing a collection of yarny accessories (all made by local designers) to illustrate the months, and the calendar will also include the patterns for knitting/crocheting the projects which I think is pretty nifty, although quite a lot of work to pull together. It was decided that the images should have a very slightly vintage vibe, so I abandoned my usual multicoloured brights and toned it all down a bit for my project....

....I know, just look at that!! I've used one single colour (probably for the first time ever) and it's a beautiful, subtle duck egg blue. Wowsers. I've had this idea for a circular cushion in my head for ages, so when I came to make it, I managed to whizz it up over the course of three days. In the picture above, the green line of neat double crochet stitches is being worked into the front loops of round eleven (round 12 was worked into the remaining back loops, does that make sense?)

Then I stitched on some crochet leaves.....

....to make a circular stem type thingy. Do you like where this is going??

I made roses using a variation of my May Rose pattern and stitched them in place.

The cushion fits a small 30cm circular cushion pad, and guess what - the back of the cushion is completely plain, one colour, duck egg blue, no stripes! Would you believe it?! I crocheted the two circles together around the cushion pad with a simple round of double crochet, then made a pretty pink scallop edging to finish it off.

Ta-dah! One vintage "Ring-O-Roses" cushion.

It came off my hook on Sunday, and has already been integrated into the Attic24 household, which is a bit perilous as it has yet to be styled and photographed for the calendar. And it has already had coffee spilt on it (cue some exasperated words from me and some apologetic words from J, followed by some emergency dabbing with a baby wipe)

I do really love it actually, although it does somewhat remind me of an iced cake.

Oh, forgot to mention the yarn, silly me! I used Stylecraft Life DK in Mint, Fern, Rose and Fuchsia. The Life yarn is a 75% acrylic / 25% wool yarn, the colours are lovely and quite beautifully soft, perfect for a vintage inspired project. The yarn is a weeny bit "itchy-woolly" for me and truthfully I don't think I would use it for blanket making, but it was lovely to work with.

So the pattern for my rosy cake cushion will be included in the Yarndale 2016 calendar, which will be in the online shop after the festival in early October.

One more thing to mention.......my beautiful Harmony blanket. That too has been fully integrated into family life and has become a favourite with Little Lady for early evening sofa snuggle time.

This week I'm working flat out on photographing and writing the tutorial for making the Harmony blanket, as well as working with J to create the printed version of the pattern which will be included with the yarn kit. We are making good progress and all being well we are aiming for a Friday Ta-dah. That's the day after tomorrow! I am full of nervous excitement for sharing this lovely blanket, it's been one of the hardest and most complex patterns I've ever tackled and I hope very much that I've done good with it. It's not been easy to do the pattern writing with a background of Little People (far from harmonious at times!), but I have done my best. Fingers crossed.

So..........see you soon.............long awaited ta-dah moments are so worth getting excited over aren't they just?! Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Slow Days

We are having such crazy-weird stuff happening with our weather this week, with rather an unwelcome amount of rain each day but then also some glorious snatches of incredible sunlight as well. It's been strange, sometimes weirdly warm, damp and humid, other times unseasonally cold. This amazing rainbow arced over the rooftops for about ten glorious minutes before it faded, it was so huge that I couldn't capture the whole of it on my camera.

The light that followed the rainbow made the landscape look so strange, like an illustration in an old, faded book. So where has our Summer gone then, what on earth has happened to the weather? Is it the same where you are? 

We have been indoors a lot this past week as a result of the non-summer happening outside. It's been kind of nice but kind of disappointing at the same time. I keep feeling overwhelmed by the feeling that we are wasting away the time, that these precious days are slip-sliding away in a boring blur of nothing-in-particular. It makes me feel restless and lethargic all at the same time. I keep dreaming up ideas for possible interesting outings to entertain the Little People, but my ideas flit away before I can make anything of them and so we stay home and do very little. Oh yes, we did make a trip to our local cinema to watch "Inside Out" on Tuesday afternoon when it rained for most of the day, the Little Peeps did enjoy that.

Thank goodness for my camera habit. My little old Canon Ixus is always to hand and throughout the day I point it around the place and press the button almost without thinking. The images tell a story of gentle activity and play that are making up these slow days.  There has been a steady stream of rather old fashioned play going on, which has delighted and surprised me. Blanket dens and cushion thrones have been designed and constructed, wrecked and rebuilt. The old Brio train track came down and did a sterling job of entertaining for a few hours.

This nostalgic wooden mosaic puzzle was a gift from me to Little B at Christmas, and I confess I brought it as much for my own pleasure as his. I had one exactly the same as this when I was little and absolutely loved it, and despite a few frustrated hissy fits, he has loved playing with it too.

There has been an origami revival, with many mornings spent at the dining table working on a stash of paper weaponry. These are called "Ninja Stars" or "Shurikens" and there are loads of easy to follow tutorials on YouTube if you have offspring fascinated with weapons. And paper. You just have to be prepared to step in when the wild throwing starts, I can tell you that it's actually quite painful when the pointy end stabs into a fleshy part of your body. These ninja stars have been confiscated more than once, even slung into the recycling bag after one particularly hurtful assault. Take heed.

We have baked quite a bit this week too, the Little People seem to be constantly hungry and it's a job and a half trying to keep it all healthy and nutritious. There is only so much fruit and salad you can feed them after all. We've been baking these Oaty Cookies for years now, they are very easy to make with Little Ones and taste really yummy. I did try out a healthy non-sugar version from the Deliciously Ella website, but sorry to say they just weren't all that nice. Too bananary.

I've tried to make sure that every day, no matter what the weather, that the Little People get out for some fresh air. Some days this has simply meant turfing them outside and instructing them to Go Play with neighbouring children on the street (scooters, bubbles, bikes, chalk etc) while I (guiltily) get some work done. Other days we have gone into town to run errands and visit the shops, as much for the getting-out bit as for the necessary re-stocking of dwindling food supplies and purchasing of new school stationary supplies.

Yesterday we had a lovely little jaunt into town, doing a few jobs first then stopping at the bakery to pick up some warm pasties for lunch, then calling at the market for a paper bag of beautifully juicy cherries. We took our fodder to a bench beside the beck and ate a spontaneous picnic, then carried on walking up to the woods and back down the leafy lane to visit the pigs and chickens (sadly, the pigs have gone :( to who-knows-where...). I know these outings aren't much, but it seems to be all I can manage at the moment.

Similar to last year, this week I have responded to requests to "make something out of felt". In a fit of extravagance, I decided to completely ignore my box of cheap acrylic felt and invest in some nice felt with wool in it. Oh the joy!!! Completely worth the splurge, we are now the proud owners of this yummy stack of good quality 40% wool content felt for all of our crafting and stitching needs. I bought it from the lovely Sarah who runs her felty empire entitled "Paper-and-String". Find her online shop here, also via Etsy. Her considerable wares are delicious and very tempting. Don't dare look at the buttons....you've been warned.....

So Little Lady unearthed this super-cute book from the Shelves of Doom last week, hence the plea for felt crafting materials and assistance. And anything that Little Lady is doing, Little B also wants in, so they have each chosen an animal and we are working a little each day on it. I'll share the results with you when we have results to share! {this book can be found on Amazon UK and Amazon US }

I'm sorry there hasn't been much hooky to show you of late, I've been working behind the scenes on a number of projects which aren't yet ready to share. I made a brightly coloured flower garland last week, the pattern is for the Yarndale brochure. I'm also in the middle of another decorative project which is for the Yarndale calendar, so I am busy and working and doing stuff, but nothing much that is ready to show just yet.

My Harmony blanket is almost ready for it's grand Ta-dah moment though, and I am very excited about it! I need to take a few more photos when the light is good enough and finish up writing the pattern, but all should be good to go next week. Thanks to those of you waiting patiently for this, I am so sorry for the delay.

Right - sounds like I am needed to go referee a squabble breaking out, then looking at the time I need to hot-foot it to the kitchen and rustle up a speedy pasta dinner. These slow days aren't always so slow..............

xxx

 

 

 

 

 

Up Hill and Down Dale

Maybe it was a result of Saturday's day of drizzly rain, but yesterday morning J and I both agreed that we should make the most of a dry day and go out for a short walk somewhere. We are exceptionally lucky to live on the very edge of the Yorkshire Dales National Park, so it's only a short car journey to get us out of town and Up Hill to one of our favourite fresh-air-and-views place.

This was an especially lovely little afternoon walk as we had all three Little People with us, and miraculously there was a distinct lack of moaning. We had announced our intentions over lunch (when Little Man had only just crawled out of bed, and the other two were still in pyjamas), and by 2pm we had everyone showered, dressed and ready to jaunt. I was impressed by the lack of resistance actually - that seems to be the best I can hope for these days, gone are the times when a simple walk was met with squeals of excitement. But I'm OK with that, I understand that things change and I am trying my hardest to adapt and not expect too much.

The air was surprisingly still up on the tops yesterday, it's usually a place of gusting winds and it's unusual to be able to stand still and tune in to the sounds of the birds without the wind howling in your ears. I noticed that the heather is only just starting to flower and the fells were still very brown looking, so it'll be a few more weeks before the landscape will wear it's purple coat. We must remember to go back for that.

We weren't Up Hill for very long, it's the place we go to when a very short, breezy walk is required. So instead of heading back home, we drove on over the fell and Down Dale to the riverside on the edge of the Bolton Abbey estate. It was a warm and humid afternoon and by the time we arrived at the river there was a light shower of summer rain falling, but not enough to worry about. We ambled along the footpath, it was so lush and summery and the tall grasses were absolutely full of wild flowers.

I used to retain a fair bit of knowledge about wild flowers from my childhood years spent walking about in the Dorset countryside. My Mum taught me a lot of the common wild flowers and yesterday I did manage to drag a few long forgotten names from my memory banks. I recognised Meadowsweet and Yarrow and Cranesbill, but had no idea what this cute little tufty purple one was. I've just looked it up (gosh you've gotta love Google for this sort of thing) and have discovered it's Knapweed. I have added the name to my wild flower data bank and hope that it stays there.

We also spotted these beauties - the Common Spotted Orchid no less (Google, you are marvellous). I love to have this sort of knowledge tucked away in my head, it makes me want to go right back there and identify every single little flower I can find.

We ducked off the footpath to go down to one of our favourite river beaches....

....to treasure hunt and find the best flat stones for skimming. J tried to teach Little B to skim, but he got soooo frustrated when he couldn't do it and ended up just lobbing stones into the water in a fizz of quiet personal fury. Bless.

Summer by the river is a true delight and I've grown to love our regular walks along this quiet stretch of the River Wharfe. It was lush and peaceful and green, a different kind of feeling to being by the sea but equally good for the soul.

At some point during our walk along the river back towards the car, tummies starting rumbling and we took a spontaneous family decision to head to the pub for dinner - pub grub and no cooking for me, oh yeah, bring it on!

 

It's a short drive to the delightful village of Appletreewick....

....where there are views in abundance....

....and one of our favourite pubs with a lovely little beer garden tucked away to the side. We sat out here for a while with drinks, encouraging Little B to burn off some energy (we set him a series of "challenges" which mainly involved him running around the garden counting things) before heading inside the cosy old pub to settle down for our dinner. It was such a lovely, unexpected treat, a family Sunday to be remembered and treasured.

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ps I just bobbed into the Attic archives to try and find the last time we came to this pub (the time when Little B had the pink plasticine under his hat) - it was the first Sunday in August last year. The repetitive rhythm of my life truly amazes me!

 

 

Dorset Summer 2015

Although I often comment that our Dorset holidays have no schedules or plans attached to them, this is actually not strictly true. When I look back at previous posts {2014 : 2013} I see the repeating images that tell me the first day of our holidays always follows the exact same pattern. Familiar Routine? Family Tradition? Probably both of those things.

The weather on the first morning of our holidays is pretty crucial, because we always spend our first morning outside at the beach and harbour, starting with breakfast at my favourite beach café. That's it in the photo above, nestled right on the shingle beach, with glorious views out along the coast.

We like to sit outside on the wooden decking, with the breeze whipping through our hair (excluding J, who has no hair), drinking a very good cappuccino and eating a very tasty brekkie. I always have poached eggs, J always has a sausage ciabatta roll. I always think about having the bacon ciabatta roll, but by the time I get to order I always go back to the eggs. I think maybe I like the fact that the poached eggs on toast are called the "Happy Camper Breakfast", or maybe it's just that the eggs are poached to perfection and look amazing oozing their orange yolks all over the hot buttered granary wedges of toast.....or maybe I just like familiar routine a lot more than I care to admit....

....anyhow, we have a yummy breakfast and everyone is stuffed and happy. Little Lady and Little B run off to play on the beach while we continue to sit and rest a while. Eventually, we up and leave the comfort of the sun warmed decking and begin our pootling activities. Around the harbour we go.....

...J and I on foot and the Little Peeps all on two wheels.

I was so pleased to see the flower boats back again as they were nowhere to be seen when we visited at Easter.

Strolling around this harbour on a sunny, breezy Summers day is one of my most favourite things. I have a huge stack of memories anchored here, layer upon layer upon layer of them. From my early childhood spent with grandparents here, through my teenage years growing up here, then into my early adult years visiting with groups of friends and now here I am visiting with my very own little family. The feeling of nostalgia is powerful and I am often found drifting in and out of my memories as we sit, stroll, wander, amble.

We are walking out along West pier now, it's part of our routine you see. West Bay has two piers which shelter the busy little harbour (I found some fab aerial photos here), and this pier was completely reconstructed in 2005. We found out some years ago that the ramps and very smooth concrete surfaces are just perfection for scooter wheels, so even Little Man (who is really not so little any more) is in his element here.

It's reasonably quiet on this Tuesday morning, with just a handful of gentle strollers and pootlers like us, plus some fishermen fishing and families crabbing over the sides.

The Little People whizz around on their wheels while J and I sit on the wooden bench at the end of the pier and take in the coastal scenery. You can see the steep rise of East cliff in the photo above - we decide we will climb up there later in the week and I can't wait. It's another layer of memories  - I so vividly remember climbing up there as a child, and the LP remember this cliff top walk from last year when we took them up there for the first time and are keen to go again (a happy Mum moment).

After the stint on the pier our routine goes like this - back around the harbour to purchase and consume ice cream, then along to the very excellent play area that has been designed with a nod to ships and the rope making industry that is part of the local history. It's a very successful play area suitable for a wide age range (you can read more about it here), although I note that Little Man was not tempted by it this year.

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you will probably be familiar with our Dorset holidays and the places I share with you year after year. St Catherines Chapel, Eype Beach, Eggardon Hill, Abbotsbury Gardens....all favourite places for us,  much loved and often visited. This year, for some unknown reason, we didn't go to any of those places, not one. Instead we decided to use our National Trust membership and took a trip out of Dorset and into Somerset to visit a "glittering Elizabethan Mansion" AKA Montacute House.

So what can we say about our visit? We can say that it was OK, that the Little People did well to behave in rather an uptight, adult environment, that we were seriously outnumbered by old age pensioners, and that I remembered that I really, really disliked studying history when I was at school. Truthfully, I didn't enjoy the house very much (I spent my whole time looking out of the many windows wishing I was outside and not inside). But eventually we were released from the formal Elizabethan interior and I felt myself exhale with relief as we explored the exterior. The gardens were beautiful and we enjoyed a very pleasant picnic followed by a welcome release of energy as the Little People ran themselves stupid on the large expanse of grass in front of the house.

Afterwards, on my Mum's recommendation, we drove to nearby Ham Hill which is a high-up place of historic importance. An ancient Roman Hill fort with a rather large monument. But for me, it was all about the views......

....which were panoramic and beautiful, a perfect picture of English Country Summer.

It was very windy up here actually, so not all that warm despite the afternoon sunshine. I have a hilarious series of snapshots of the Little People sat in front of the monument, it makes me laugh every time I look at their windswept faces and comical wind-styled hair-dos.

Ahh, the wind. It was a bit of a b*gger to be truthful, gusting in off the sea and bringing an unpleasant chill to the air. It meant that we hardly spent any time at the beach this holiday which is very unusual for us, and the cause of a weeny bit of sadness for me, the sea-junkie of the family. It was just too darn cold to sit still for any length of time.

We did manage one meal down at our favourite West Bexington beach, a rather chilly, windswept stint hunkering down behind the wind break as afternoon turned to evening.

We really did give it our best, lighting up the barbecue (thank goodness for the windbreak) and cooking up some burgers for our dinner. I was thankful for crochet blankets, chilled white wine and a positive outlook, plus the fact that the Little People don't tend to mind the cold do they? They just run around regardless, swooping in for food at the appropriate time, then haring off again to play. We had a huge pile of blankets in the car - some crochet ones and some old fleece camping/travelling blankets which journey everywhere with us - so we were able to all cosy up quite nicely around the warmth of the barbecue coals as the evening went on. We made s'mores (of course) and ended up staying for almost 5 hours in the end, until the daylight began to fade and we were all ready to head home to the warmth and comfort of bed.

Towards the end of the week, the weather turned mean and a day of continuous rain ensued. There was nothing much to be done about it, so we simply stayed in pyjamas and spent the hours indoors, playing, reading, chatting, drinking and eating. In the late afternoon, I hit on the idea of perhaps venturing out to the cinema which was met with a great whoop of approval from the Little People. So we drove to the nearest Big Town (Dorchester), treated ourselves to a pub meal and then trooped into the little cinema to scoff popcorn and watch the Minions do their thing. It was a good end to a slow wet day, and by the time we came out of the cinema the rain had actually stopped at last.

On our last day in Dorset, it was something of a huge relief to wake up and find that the heavy grey rain clouds had blown away leaving us with a fresh, clear, sunshiny day to play with. It was a perfect day for partaking in some coastal walking, so up the steep face of East Cliff we climbed....

....following the well worn footpath along the tops.

The light on this day was really wonderful - the contrast with the dull, wet greyness of the day before made everything seem dazzlingly bright, the colours zinging in the sunshine.

This walk is lovely in it's simplicity. You walk a couple miles over the cliff tops.....

....then descend down to sea level and make the return journey along the beach. It was mid morning when we arrived at the beach, and a quick stop at the little store in West Bay before we set off meant that I had drinks and essential snack material tucked in my rucksack. A packet of Oreos (the Little People's choice) and some sticky sweet granola tray-bake (my choice) and everyone was happy for a while.

The Little People paddled in the sea but declared it too chilly for full blown body immersion. However they were content to frolic around in the shallows, jumping the waves and screeching into the breeze. It was fun to watch, and I was happy on the beach, soaking up the sights, sounds and smells and trying to absorb it all into my soul.

The walk back was along the shoreline, barefoot in the shallows....

....watching the fishing boats come and go from the harbour.

The cliffs here are incredible to look at, but also rather alarmingly dangerous and it is the very best thing to be as far away from them as possible (ie in the sea!). The soft sandstone is under constant attack from the elements and as a result bits fall off them all the time. It's a lovely beach to wander along though, and rather an unreal feeling to look up to the towering cliff top and know that we have actually been there. It causes a bit of a wow moment, no matter how many times you do it over the years the feeling of wonderment is always the same.

It was a lovely holiday, perhaps a little slower than usual, but none the worse for that. It was good for me to see my parents too of course, I don't tend to talk about them much or share much of our time together, but it was good to spend time with them and know that they are doing OK.

So now we are home, and my childhood bedroom view (above) will remain fresh in my memory until next time.....Autumn perhaps?

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