Attic24

Easter Prettifications

Something that I've always found just a teensy bit irritating is the way that magazines are out of sinc with real life months. So for example, the magazines that land on your doormat in early March are labelled April and are full of chit chat about things happening a whole month away. I am really, really not that person who can get giddy for Christmas at the start of November, or think about Easter a whole month in advance. I am much more of a Here and Now girl, living in the moment and just about able to think a week ahead at the most.

My current solution is to stash my two favourite seasonal magazines when they arrive, leaving them wrapped in their plastic so I'm not tempted to peek. I place them gently on top of my teetering to-do pile which sits precariously on my desk just to the right of my computer and I leave them for a good few weeks until I feel ready for them. It takes some doing, it's not easy to leave them alone, but I find that the very act of waiting gives me a bizarre amount of pleasure during the three weeks that they sit there staring at me.

This week I finally felt ready to think about Spring (it was the Spring Equinox that nudged me) and with Easter happening this weekend I thought it would be a good time to take a walk in Magazine Wonderland. First up is April Country Living, one of my most beloved indulgences (I've been a faithful subscriber since 1998).

Summer magazines are my most favourite, but Spring comes a close second best.

I am such a sucker for these nature-inspired styling photos, they are always so inspirational and make me want to jump up instantly and do something to prettify my home for the season.

There are always some lovely little decorative ideas and easy makes in these 'Seasonal Styling' sections....

.....oh those butterfly eggs!! So simple, but oh so pretty and majorly appealing (the butterflies are temporary tattoos, so clever! Filing that idea away for another time).

These are the 'Seasonal Looks' pages from April Country Homes magazine. I adore these particular pages every month and spend an age scouring the images and taking in every single detail. There is always a small-print section at the end which is essentially a huge long shopping list, telling you where you can buy every item and how much it costs.

The interiors are of course completely over-styled, over-thought and more than a little bit fake....

....but it doesn't stop me swooning over the gorgeousness of it all.

If I work at zooming my mind outwards and away from every minute detail in these images, it's possible to get an overall feel for the season by taking in just the colours. It's a very useful exercise for me as a lot of what I do in crochet is inspired by seasonal colours, and I really enjoy the challenge of seeing images in this way. Try it for yourself - see what colours come to you from the above photos, and focus on how they make you feel. They are light and dreamy, dusky pale pinks and soft duck egg blues, chalky whites and soft greys but there are pops of bright colour too (that mustardy-lime colour, wowsers). They make me feel relaxed and happy, and inspired too.

Here in my own home, things are much the same as they always are at this time of year. Colours aren't so much soft and dreamy as bright and breezy here in the Attic.

I fetched down the Easter Box from the Attic Eaves on Monday, I had Little B home from school with a rocket-like temperature so he was my willing assistant. I'd quite forgotten about the Mini Chicklets from last year {pattern on my blog}, it was surprisingly lovely to see them again.

I've got fancy daffodils on my table this week, all flouncy and twiddly in the centres. The deep orange is a really stunning colour, but the best thing about these daffs is the scent - oh I wish you could smell them! The essence of Spring right there in my jug. I've been sat at the table a lot this week (fighting the low grade stress that arrives with a poorly, feverish child), writing lists in my planner and quietly knitting my sock whilst breathing in the scent of these lovely flowers. It's been peaceful, in an oddly stressy kind of a way. By the way, Little B is back at school today, still a  bit wobbly but at least his body is no longer on fire. Thank goodness our Easter Holidays start tomorrow (yipppeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee).

Little B and I set to work with Easterifying the mantel on Monday, the Spring version of my Christmas efforts. It's a rather shambolic, haphazard approach to be honest, a weeny bit chaotic (hang ALL the decorations, fill EVERY single branch!) but I love, love, love it. 

Most of the felt Easter decorations are as old as Little Man (13), I bought the funny little felt birds and painted wooden eggs from eBay and made the felt flowers. You can just about see that the little crochet blossom flowers are back on my twigs for Spring, I made them four years ago {pattern in this post}.

In the Easter Box there was an assortment of little decorations made by the Little People over the years, so sweet to see them all again. Funny little paper chicks, decorated eggs, things stuck with glitter, and this cute little Easter Basket made by Little B when he was a tiny toddler at playgroup. The knitted sheep in the pink knitted woolly jumper there, well she was hand knitted, by ME. Yes Me!!!! I knitted a little sheep!! More about that particular adventure with the sticks coming soon, I bet you can't wait eh? Baaaaaaaaa!

Other seasonal goodness this week has included buttery toasted Hot Cross buns (essential stress relief you understand)....

....and the finishing up of my Cupcake blanket. Finished, it is indeedy, and I do love that the colours are very In Season and just right for March. And April.

I shall be taking it to Dorset with me next week, with my fingers crossed for good weather and good photographic opportunities.

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 ps the Cupcake yarn pack will be available from my shop at Wool Warehouse on Monday 18th April. As always, I'll be sharing a full ta-dah moment here on my blog which will include a tutorial for the new Linen Stitch edging as well as the full colour sequence for the cupcake stripes. Not long to wait :)

 

 

 

 

 

Slow Spring

Ahhh look, the first signs of Spring have arrived here in Atticland, what a joy to behold!

In the eight years that I've lived in this picturesque part of the world, I've learnt that March does not mean Spring for us, however much we might wish for it. Most years we get snowflakes thrown at us during this month (the first March we lived here, it snowed on Easter Sunday! We built a 5ft snowman!)

These snowy scenes arrived without warning during the first week of the month, giving us two days of the white stuff which quickly melted away down here in town....

....but stayed for days like a dusting of powdery sugar on the surrounding hills. And so this is the view from my Attic window in early March, definitely more than a hint of winter remaining. I really must try not to wish the days away, Spring will come in it's own sweet time. Mid April if we're lucky. So I quietly say Roll on April, I will be so, so, so ready for a taste of Spring by then.

Despite the chilly temperatures and snow dusted landscapes, we've had a fabulous and very welcome dose of sunshine here just lately.

Early last week J had a day off work so we headed out into the Yorkshire Dales to stroll across the hilltops. It was wonderful to be out and about, my first Proper Walk since the start of the year. I was so relieved to discover that my legs were back in action again, yippeeeeee for some energy in my muscles, if felt great! I confess I was very, very tired afterwards, but I was so glad that I felt strong enough to take on a five mile walk. Progress indeed.

We've been doing this short circular walk for about twenty years, J and I, often alone, sometimes with the Little People in tow. The combination of high hills, wide open grassland, pretty woodland and gorgeous riverside make this a real favourite jaunt at all times of the year - in Spring the woodland floor will be filled with bluebells here.

Even the short walk along the road is a pleasure,  I got a little bit excited over this glorious expanse of mossy wall. Like you do.

J and I have always loved this bit where large flat limestone rocks spread right down to the water's edge and we've had countless picnics and coffee stops on this sun warmed slab over the years. We saw a kingfisher flit past here last week, a quick flash of brilliant blue and then gone. Funnily enough the first thing that sprang to mind was sock yarn! I need to get out more.

The slow spring start has some definite advantages if you are of yarny persuasion, and during the past few weeks I've enjoyed a very welcome amount of sofa time ensconced with my Cupcake blanket. It's really coming on, only twelve more stripes to go (squeee!). I've also designed and sampled a new edging pattern for this blanket which I'm super happy with, can't wait to get onto the edge of the Edge with this Spring beauty.

The cold weather is also perfect for those of us who love cafés, and really there is nothing nicer than coming in out of the cold to settle down with a cup of something hot, delicious and frothy. On Sunday I went out into town with Little Lady, I needed to pick up a few bits from the shops that I'd forgotten in the week, but really it was an excuse for us to jaunt out together for an hour and sneak a quick café stop into the late morning. I tell you, that girl did not stop talking, even as she was spooning cream into her mouth from her loaded hot chocolate she was nattering on and on, it was a delight! Tales of friends, school, guinea pigs, manicure tips (I'm trying to grow my nails, she is my nail guru), ideas and plans and dreams and random thoughts came tumbling forth. Sweet girl of mine.

I have loved welcoming back my little patch of front garden crocus this week, the abundant sunshine  makes them open their petals right out (I feel like that too when the sun shines). The sight of them at the weekend inspired me to do a little bit of planting in my very small front garden....

I bought some cheap bulbs from the supermarket (two trays for £3, bargain), so I was able just to do a bit of digging and weeding with a small trowel and plop the shooting bulbs straight into the earth ready to grow and flower. I bought a tray of narcissus Minnow (little pale yellow narcissus) and some Muscari (grape hyacinths)...oh pale yellow and purply blue, I think it's going to look very sweet. I am so excited for them to  bloom, this is the first gardening I've done in an absolute age, and it feels fabulous to have an element of sweet floral anticipation back in my life.

I also planted out some tete a tete narcissus that had been blooming away in a corner of my backyard. These are the small pots of flowers that I have growing on my mantel indoors each year - I used to throw them away when they'd finished flowering, but then I realised that if I simply put the pots in a sheltered spot in my back yard they might possibly shoot and flower again the following year. What do you know, it actually happened! So into the soil they went this year, and I hope very much that they'll reappear again next Spring.

There is a bare patch of earth in the above photo, well it looks bare, but I sowed some seeds there.....

....I planted some Pot Marigolds in that small patch,  one of my most favourite summer flowers. I was going to put some nasturtiums in too, but read the seed packet and realised it's a little too early for them, so they'll go in once the bulbs have finished flowering. I haven't felt inspired to garden for a few years (my back yard had one of it's regular "fallow" years in 2015), but this year, I am keen, keen as mustard! Watch this space........

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The Sock Pile Grows

Now there's a pretty picture!! Doesn't the sight of all that glorious colour and neat knitty stitches make you go just a tad weak at the knees? Piles of handmade yarny things are my most favourite kind of piles, and I am thrilled to have the beginnings of my very own personal Sock Pile. They are mine, all mine!!!

Ok, so if you've just recently landed here in the Attic looking for the crochet and wondering if I've gone a bit off the rails with all this knitting business, fear ye not. I am still first and foremost a dedicated hooker at heart, with just a little bit of an addiction to knitting socks on the side. You can read about my sock making journey here and here.

If you already know about my sock making story, then lets have a quick catch-up on progress shall we? I do so love to share my creative carryings on, thank you as always for egging me on with my yarny adventures. You are very good enablers, every last one of you.

I finished my third pair of socks at the end of February, they really were a delight to make.

The stripes in this yarn aren't as overly stripy or patterny as the Opal or the Arne and Carlos ones I've made previously, but the glorious colours more than make up for that {this is Regia sock yarn :: Design Line by Kaffe Fassett :: Ombre Stripe, colourway chilli pepper}

I've worn them a lot since they came off my needles a few weeks ago, as they look so good with my red ankle boots. If you don't remember my beloved boots, you can see them in this post, and imagine these socks cutely poking out the top of them. I love the feel of wearing hand knit socks inside boots, my feet are never, ever cold when they are wrapped in woolly stripes.

Knitted socks + crochet blanket = cosy x a million. The perfect combination of yarny happiness.

Now as you would expect, once my chilli pepper socks were on my feet, my needles didn't sit empty, not at all. I had already carried out the necessary 3.5 hours browsing the internet drooling over sock yarn, and my next ball was sitting waiting patiently for cast on.......

....oooooooo, I've got me some Peacock yarn!! This yarn is divine, it's made by a fabulous local Yorkshire company called West Yorkshire Spinners and contains 35% Blue Faced Leicester sheep wool, which is rather nice to know when you have this yarn running through your fingers. WYS have designed a range of 4ply yarn inspired by British country birds, there are nine to choose from. Quite a few ladies in our Creative Coopers group have been making socks with this yarn and I loved how the stripes turn out in the different colourways (wood pigeon and kingfisher are particularly lovely).

But there was no doubt which bird's feathers would float my boat as these are definitely my colours - blue, turquoise, teal and lime green, it had to be the peacock for me.

I cast the first sock onto my needles on a wet and wintry Sunday morning, and spent a whole afternoon falling in love with the stripes as they emerged from the yarn ball.

I just adore sock yarn for it's cleverness, it really is marvellous the way the yarn is dyed to produce these stripy patterns.

It didn't take me long to make my first Peacock sock, and I am already started on it's twin.

I silently squeal with delight to my inner self when I think about creating a pile of hand knitted socks for myself that one day might have a special drawer to live in. These little things please me so much. Not quite as much as a pile of crochet blankets (still my everlasting love, I remain devoted)

One last thing to share with you - a sock drawer belonging to the creator of hashtag Operation Sock Drawer no less,  Susan B Anderson.....

If you're on Instagram and search for #operationsockdrawer you will see that many of the socks belong to Susan. She's a sock making diva. With a beautiful set of drawers it has to be said.

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ps I knit my socks using Christine's brilliant Sockalong tutorial which you can find on her blog >>here<< Christine, you are the Queen of Socks :)

pps my own sock making journey started here, with an update here, in case you missed it and want to find yarn details etc for my modest pile of socks xx

ppps Bird-inspired WYS sock yarn can be found at Wool Warehouse, if you feel a need to feed the stash....find it >>here<< You only need 1 x 100g ball for a pair of socks.

 

 

 

 

 

Lytham St Annes in Winter

Here in England we always have a weeks Half Term holiday in the middle of February, and although the weather can be very cold and unpredictable we do enjoy getting away for a day or two at this time of year if we can. As it's me who always does the organising for this little jaunt, it'll come as no surprise that we always end up by the sea. Gotta feed my addiction whenever possible you understand, and the family are very accommodating for the most part. You might remember that last year we went to the Yorkshire coast {Scarborough} and a few years before that we were freezing our butts off on the same coast {Whitby}.

This year, J said that he really didn't want to drive the ninety miles across to the east Yorkshire coast when the west Lancashire coast was only fifty miles away and just as nice. Fair point. So I abandoned my Yorkshire coast ideas and began a little search for somewhere beachy to visit on the Lancashire coast instead. In the past, we've holidayed further up this bit of coastline (Silverdale, Arnside, Grange-over-Sands) and have enjoyed it very much. We've also holidayed near Blackpool and not enjoyed that quite so much to be honest. But J told us tales of his childhood summers spent in Lytham St Annes on the Fylde Coast, and how he thought we would all really love it there, so I searched and searched and managed to find us a really rather lovely holiday house to rent for a very reasonable price (less than the Youth Hostels would charge at this time of year in fact). According to the www, Lytham St. Annes is "the Lancashire coastal gem flourishing with surprises", well that sounded promising!

We arrived on a blustery Saturday afternoon in the middle of February to find the house waiting for us all clean and warm and really rather lovely. It was a big house in a quiet residential street just five minutes walk from the beach. The rooms were enormous, spacious, modern. There was black leather furniture, chandeliers, huge mirrors, modern art, polished floors, a fridge which made ice on demand (oh, the excitement!), a sleek sound system, a huge flat screen tv, WiFi, and four bedrooms to accommodate the Attic family with ease. It was just wonderful, and even The Teen was at ease with his own double bedroom and Wi-Fi at the end of his fingertips. Once we had settled in, we took a short drive up the coast to show Little B the sights of Blackpool which he couldn't quite remember, being a bit too young last time we visited to retain the memories. We tracked down a super local fish and chip shop and brought our fragrant paper-wrapped parcels back to the House of Luxury to eat around the substantial dining room table. It was possibly one of the nicest family meals we've had in ages.

After a blissful nights sleep, we woke early and decided we needed to go immediately to view the sea. Up and at'em! After much parental debate, we decided to leave The Teen sleeping in bed, now I do struggle with this to be honest, it's not easy to come to terms with him not wanting to hang out with us so much these days. But really I suppose it was his holiday too, and I knew he would appreciate the extra private time/shuteye. So I listened to J, took his advice and we headed out the door as a foursome.

The beach at Lytham St Annes is bordered by sand dunes, which immediately made me love it more than Blackpool which is bordered by concrete. And oh, the beach is huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge!!! The tide was way out on this morning and the expanse of exposed sand was very, very impressive in its hugeness. It was a bit strange being on the beach and not actually being able to see the sea, but I was still very happy with the vast offering of sand and sky.

After a bit of a cloudy start, we could see that the sky would soon be clearing and fingers crossed we would end up with a bright sunny day.

I absolutely loved being on the beach with the J and the Little People. As it was still early (around 8am), the sun was just rising and it was so quiet and peaceful.

We strolled along towards the pier, chattering and breathing it all in.

I looked and looked and looked for beach treasure but there wasn't an awful lot to be found. Lots and lots of razor shells, a few mussel shells and a gull feather. Not that I'm judging it on that you understand, I really did love this beach, treasure or no treasure.

Once we reached the pier we headed away from the beach to take a look at the small high street. Lytham St Annes is very charming - the usual assortment of small high street shops, but the extra wide pavements made it feel spacious, upmarket and sedate.

I loved that there was lots of seating and little shelters everywhere to encourage you to take a pew and linger a while. I can so imagine how lovely it would be here in the warm summer months, a lovely place to stroll about for sure.

Now I have absolutely zero sense of direction, I just don't possess an inner compass. But J does, and without hesitation he all of a sudden directed us away from the high street down a left hand turn, through some iron gates and into the most beautiful park. How did he know to do that? I have absolutely no idea, but the park was so nice....

.....and once again I could imagine how beautiful it would be in Summer, filled with brightly coloured flowers and dappled sunlight from all the trees.

These are rose beds, all sleepy and brown at this time of year - I really want to return in the Summer!

We wandered in this park {Ashton Gardens} for quite a while, following the paths and taking it all in until tummies started to rumble and we remembered we hadn't had any breakfast. Luckily, the house was only a ten minute walk away, so we were soon back in the warmth, sitting round the table scoffing buttery croissants warm from the oven with fresh juice and coffee.

The one thing we all most appreciated about staying in this house was the space. Oh the space felt like such a luxury for us, living as we do in a rather cluttered, modest, tall-thin terraced house. Every room was large, light and airy, with big windows, white walls and modern furniture. The time that we spent in the house was relaxed and comfortable, plenty of space to spread out and please ourselves.

I loved working on my Granny Stripe blanket whilst we were away, sat by the warmth of the radiator and the light of the large window in the dining room listening to music whilst the Little People slid in and out. I say "slid" because that was literally what they were up to, in fact it occupied a large amount of their leisure and pleasure time in the house (socks and polished floors, I'm sure you can picture it).

11 o'clock now, and back again to the beach, as a family of five this time. We walked a little further than we had earlier as I was desperate to find the St Annes Beach Huts that I'd read about.....

....they are perched on the promenade and looked a little high and dry to be honest - I was kind of expecting them to be closer to the beach than they were in reality. These are mostly for rent (see here for pretty pictures!), lovely little seaside retreats for a day of doing beachy things.

The beach was still sea-less, although we could see the tide was slowly starting to come in around lunch time. Love love love those sandy ripples, so mesmerising to look at and a pleasure to walk on.

The pier at St Annes is mostly covered over, and there were some extensive renovations going on whilst we were there so most of it was closed to the public. One thing that we did find on the pier which was open and thriving was a very cosy café, just the place for a hungry family to settle down for an hour or so.....

.....we managed to do a bit of table hopping and ended up in a prime spot right next to the large picture windows, it was a beautiful view to accompany a very tasty lunch I can tell you. Mmmmmmm toasted paninis and very good Italian frothy coffee, I was in my happy place right there with that lunchtime view.

We were so very, very lucky with the weather during our weekend away, it was cold but not unpleasant, and the sun and blues skies were invigoratingly bright. There were plenty of people taking advantage of the sunshine, but the beach was so impossibly huge at low tide that there was no danger of it feeling remotely crowded.

I loved that the house where we stayed was so close to all this - literally a five minute stroll from the sand. It was so relaxing, meandering slowly home after lunch (not including the mad scramble up the dunes), knowing that a warm, comfortable afternoon back at base stretched ahead.

At some point towards the later afternoon, it occurred to us that we would need food for the evening. After a family debate (restaurant? takeaway? supermarket?) we decided to self cater and went out in search of some essential food supplies, driving via the seafront at Blackpool. This is the very south end of Blackpool beach where it's fairly easy to park the car out of season and take a stroll along the prom. We love this giant revolving mirror ball (apparently the World's largest, with 45,000 mirror tiles)

We spent a while here, marvelling at the loveliness of forty five thousand moving mirrors reflecting the sunlight in a dancing pattern across the concrete. Pretty cool eh?

We were strolling rather briskly along, wrapped up tight against the biting wind whistling in off the Irish Sea. Blimey, it was  bitterly cold here, don't be fooled by those lush blue skies!

We lingered a while to watch the roller coaster crawl up then hurtle down The Big One. I am not a fan of pleasure parks, they don't feature on my personal List Of Pleasures at all. Not. At. All. But the scale of this particular roller coaster is oddly fascinating I have to admit. So high! So steep! And such screaming from the passengers! Shudder - very very very glad to have my feet on the ground.

So we were in search of a shop that sold rock (the sweet, sticky kind), for Little B who was obsessing about it over and over and over. That was until he suddenly changed his mind and decided no, he didn't want rock, he actually wanted Candyfloss instead please. Candyfloss, candyfloss, CAnDyFLOSS!!!!!!!!!!!! He was insistent, and we were on holiday, so we indulged and trudged along in the freezing cold looking for a candyfloss seller. A freezing cold mile and a half later, we hit pink.......

.....and three bags of candyfloss were purchased for the Little Peeps to gorge on. One happy Little B there, I can tell you.

Ahhhh, back at base and all was very content and happy in my world of Winter Holidaying. Such a stunning day full of leisure and pleasure, sunshine, blue skies and fresh sea air. I didn't even mind cooking in the enormous kitchen with it's modern eye level fan oven, and magical ice-making fridge the size of a wardrobe. I say 'cook' in the loosest sense of the word - I basically shoved in some deep pan peperoni pizzas, then retrieved them fifteen minutes later. Job done. J and I shared a bottle of vin blanc, with a plate of cheese, cured meats, olives and salty crackers. Then we all settled down on the enormous black leather sofas to watch a film (Despicable Me) before flopping early into bed.

Monday morning now, and here we are back at the sand dunes once more for another early morning, pre-breakfast stroll.

The weather was even more glorious on that morning, and once again we had the expanse of beach to ourselves. Please note the four shadows and know that this Mumma struggles with her eldest boy not wanting to be out of bed at 8am, even though I do get that it's a part of growing up.

Oh blue, blue Winter sky, I love you so much!!

The above photo really makes my heart smile - see that little speck right over there by the pier? That's our six year old child, Little B who scampers and runs like a puppy let off the lead. Wooosh, and he's off. I really totally love the way that children run for the pure pleasure of using their bodies. Love that they do that.

What the heck??? What on earth is that you may ask?!! Well......it's a fully loaded hot chocolate of course, the perfect pre-breakfast beverage for any puppy-running child. We arrived at the pier at 9am and realised the café was open for business, and decided that a very good Italian coffee would be the most marvellous thing after a beach walk on this cold winters morning. The lovely, lovely café lady took a shine to our two Little People, glowing and happy from their beach running, and gave them some truly whopping toppings on their hot chocolates. Little B's eyes nearly popped out of his head when he saw the size of that marshmallow!

Awwww, so long lovely sandy beach, thank you for giving us such happy memories. We will most certainly be back again in the summer, to dip our toes in the water and linger a while on the sands.

We reluctantly packed up and left the lovely warm spaciousness of the holiday house at 10am. We had one final jaunt planned before heading home - a trip to Blackpool Zoo.

We came to this zoo once before, on a wild and wet Summer's day in 2012 when Little B was only 2 years old. It's a lovely zoo, well laid out with lots of great animals to see.

I did feel a tad sorry for them on this below-zero Winters day though, it was soooooo cold! We had a picnic lunch whilst waiting for the sea lion display to start, I thought my fingers were going to fall off, and I definitely stopped being able to feel my feet. The sea lions were great and worth the cold wait in the outdoor arena, such natural performers and wonderful to watch.

We arrived back in the Attic around 3pm, it felt like we had been away for ages. I really love taking short trips away from home, it really does revive the spirits and grants a welcome dose of feel-good.

Lytham St. Annes, you were fabulous. Your sea breezes and sunshine were so good for the soul. See you again in the Summer I hope!

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ps the above vintage picture was pinned up on the wall in the holiday house, I love it very much.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What February Looked Like

Well hello one and all, I am back in the Attic after an unintentional break and I'm really, really happy to be back. I've missed you! Thank you very kindly for all your well wishes of late, and I am very sorry to have been gone so long.

February seems to have passed by in a bit of a blur to be honest, a month of personal struggle for me on a few different levels, and truthfully I am glad it's now behind me. For those who have asked ((thank you, thank you)), my health is improving slowly but surely and for that simple fact I am immensely thankful. I went for some checks at the hospital, had some more blood tests done and everything appears to be "satisfactory", gosh I think my sigh of relief could have been heard for miles. I've another month or so of iron supplements to take, then more blood tests, so although I'm not quite 100% just yet I am very, very much better than I was a month ago.

These photos were taken at Bolton Abbey in the middle of February, a short walk with the youngest two Little Peeps (we left The Teen in bed). The day was cold and bright, and although I look at these images and remember that I was feeling really rather rubbish at the time (oh those hilly paths, my legs complained very loudly!), it was also a wonderful walk with the L-Peeps.

A morning of low winter sunshine and long shadows....

....of slow plodding and mindfulness.

There was a time back in mid February when I truly worried that I would never feel normal again, when there was a tinge of melancholy and fretting seeping into pretty much everything I did. It was so hard to shake off the exhaustion and keep myself cheery and positive, but hey - I muddled through and tried hard to listen to my body, treat myself kindly and allow myself time to recover gently.

Slowly, slowly over the past few weeks I have felt my energy begin to return, and I am so grateful for it. I am trying not to be too negative here, after all, I only have anaemia and a vitamin deficiency and I am well on my way to recovery from both. The struggles I've experienced have been oh so minor compared to the lives of others. So I have tried hard to balance the negativity with gratitude, to combat the exhaustion and low moods with early nights and gentle days and just get on with the business of living life. I hibernated a bit too I guess, tucked myself up at home and withdrew a little from putting myself out there, cos it felt like the right thing to do at the time. But oh it's GREAT to be back, I have seriously missed my normal, happy, share-everything self!!!!!

We had a welcome break from routine in February with a week off school/work for Half Term. We went away for a few days (more of that in a bit), but mostly the week comprised of slow and leisurely days spent quietly at home.

The Little People happily entertained themselves for hours on end, with visiting friends/neighbours adding to the fun. Just to keep it real, a rather extensive amount of screen time was indulged, I confess it's not all paper crafts and hama beads around here. To keep it even more real, I admit I actively encouraged the screen time. I even once or twice commanded Little B (in a slightly hysterical tone of voice) to Go-play-on-your-Play-Station!!! when I really didn't have the energy to deal with his boredom. There. It's all out now. Real life, warts and all.

One of the reasons I've not been blogging lately, (apart from the fact my brain felt like it was stuffed with cotton wool) is down to a timing issue. Often the only window of opportunity for me to sit at my desk and write is in the evenings once the kiddlets are in bed. But due to the tiredness I've been experiencing, I simply haven't had the stamina to do anything much in the evenings. Apart from crochet that is. I've found that crochet has really saved my evenings from being a blur of nothingness. Often I've retreated to bed at 8pm to cosy up and work on some colourful rows - crochet really is the perfect therapy and a very, very happy way to end a long tiring day. Particularly with the easy granny stripe pattern, I have found the repetitive stitches have often sent me into a kind of a trance which is soooooo relaxing and a down right lovely experience. Not only that, but you get a beautiful handmade blanket at the end of it all - win win!!

As a result of all the extra sofa time and early bedtimes last month, I managed to crochet and make this blanket (an updated version of my original granny stripe) in under six weeks, and it's now all finished. I'll be sharing a little ta-dah moment soon to show you the extra stripes I added, plus the slightly simplified Little Waves border. I've started work on writing up the printed pattern for the yarn packs so hoping to have that done and dusted in the next week or so. Thank you for your patience if you've been waiting for this.

I have also been busy working on new projects for Yarndale, we do lots of creative planning and scheming at this time of year, but my biggest job right now is to work with my friend Lovely C to hatch a new sheep for our yarny flock.

This will be our fifth sheep, we have named her Flora as she is particularly fond of flowers.

I've been crocheting a little flower meadow for Flora to frolic in which has been a lot of fun actually, I do really love making flowers. I created a new flower design for this project and I love the way they look. In fact I've had a lot of sparks flying in and out of my Creative Mind inspired by these flowers (made using Drops Karisma DK which is gorgeous 100% wool yarn). I love the buzz of inspiration when it strikes unexpectedly, it's such a wonderful feeling!

My new Cupcake blanket is coming on a treat too, I am over half way with the stripes now and trying really hard to get it finished in the next three weeks, cos I have an idea........

......we'll be heading down to Dorset for Easter and I've got it into my head that the pastel painted beach huts at Lyme Regis will make the most beautiful backdrop for a little blanket photo shoot. What do you think? Good idea?

Talking of the seaside, we took a little trip to the coast in the middle of February and it was absolutely beautiful. We had perfect winter weather (blinking freezing, but oh the sunshine and blue skies were delicious). I'll share some more seaside stuff very soon, can't wait to show you where we went.

Back soon (and I mean soon! I'm back in the Attic, yippeeee!!)

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