Attic24

Autumn Appreciation and Inspiration

Although I have a devoted Summer-loving heart, in recent years I have found myself enjoying the Autumn season more than I ever thought possible. A lot of this has come about by simply being mindful and choosing to embrace the colours and the beautiful light brought on by the Autumn season. I used to think that Autumn meant a lot of damp, dull brown bleugh and I very rarely respond well to brown stuff, unless it's good coffee. Or chocolate. It's easy to stop having a really close look at what's around you when your heart feels low, and I'm ashamed to say it has taken me a long time to stop dwelling on the loss of Summer and start to really see Autumn.

The first time I felt creatively inspired by the Season of Brown was when I embarked on my Autumn wreath three years ago. And then there was my Cosy Stripe Blanket two years ago which was inspired by the colours of Autumn leaves, flowers and berries. This beautiful blanket went a long way to convincing me that these weeks of early Autumn are anything but brown.

Now I find myself enjoying the weeks in October as the weather cools and Autumn takes hold, and there is a lot to inspire my colour-loving soul at this time of year. Can't say that I love Autumn as such (Summer is IT for me), but I certainly can appreciate what it has to offer on the nature front. On my way to the studio this morning I wandered along the canal slowly, taking my time to look all around and enjoy the colour and light. I loved how the leaves floating on the surface of the water matched the boat so well, that visual really did delight me.

I had such a buzz going on in my studio this morning, oh the sunlight streaming in through the window was sublime!

I found myself playing around with flowers and colour ideas and getting all giddy and totally inspired by the things happening on my sunlit table and inside my Creative Mind. In a word - today was all about Hydrangeas. Oh yes!

So this morning on my wander along the canal and around my close neighbourhood, I was literally stopped in my tracks by a Hydrangea bush. Not just one in fact, but several of them one after another. I found myself absolutely mesmerised by the colours, astonished that I have spent so many years disliking these flowers and declaring them too "wishy-washy". I realised this morning that it is the Summer versions of these flowers which have put me off in the past (way too pale for my liking), but oh the Autumn version of Hydrangeas is simply stunning! So rich, so vibrant, but yet delicate at the same time!

I don't know how to say this exactly, but I guess truth is the best policy here - I took a few photographs of hydrangea flowers in situ, but then I was overcome by a ridiculously strong urge to have them for myself. It's probably wrong on so many levels to admit this to you, but yes my friends, I admit that I did actually 'aquire' a few blooms and popped them super-quick into the depths of my shopping bag. Four to be precise, from four different bushes. To be fair, the bushes in question were mahoosive and absolutely groaning with flowers, so I didn't feel too badly about snagging just one from each. And there endeth my confession, I am very, very sorry for my wicked ways.

I couldn't get to my studio fast enough, couldn't wait to have a really close up look at these flowers and examine the wealth of colour and texture. Honestly, the depth of colour really surprised me. So very, very pretty, and completely inspiring.

I started to have a little play with the individual flowery bits, pull them off and arranging them according to colour.....

Oh!! My heart honestly danced a little jig at the sight of this sweet floral ring!!

I feel so inspired by these hydrangea colours, a seed of something very lovely has most definitely sprouted inside my Creative Mind. Maybe a future colour palette for a blanket? Maybe a pretty floral wreath? I shall tuck these images away for a bit and wait for the seed to grow.........

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

 

 

 

The Weekend Bag :: Ta-dah!

I am sat writing this lovely chatty post after spending days and days (and more days) working on the most humungous tutorial you ever did set your eyes on, gosh it really has been a labour of love. In fact, everything about this bag has taken a ridiculously long time to pull together, and I am stunned to tell you that I made the first prototypes of this bag more than two years ago now. Two years!!! It seems that this bag has been stuck in rather a long pipeline, but finally, at long last we are no longer stuck and there are no more blocked pipes! Yippeeeee!!! So without further ado, here is the story of the Weekend Bag..... 

I do have a soft spot for crochet bags, being that my original yarn bag was the very first pattern I wrote and shared here on my blog way back in 2008. A few years ago I made a smaller, chunky version of the original bag (that's it in the above photo, looking rather jolly and useful as it holds my yarn so beautifully). I use these two bags all the time for holding yarn and carrying my crochet projects about in, but I've always wanted to make more of an Everyday sort of a bag that can be used and worn almost like a hooky accessory. The design and shape of this bag has been swishing around inside my Creative Mind for what seems like ForEvEr. I knew this bag would need to start with an oval base, but honestly my brain just couldn't really seem to work out how to make this happen. Eventually I got fed up thinking about it all the time and simply got stuck into attempting to make it. The very first bag I made was way too small. The second bag I made was too long and skinny. But the third bag (beginning it's life in the above photo) came out just right. There might have been a bit of a happy dance here in the Attic!

The Weekend Bag is made from Stylecraft Special Chunky yarn and a 5mm hook to keep the stitches nice and tight. The body of the bag is worked in rounds of UK half trebles (thats hdc stitch in the US), beginning with a flat oval shape to form the base, then moving up in quick easy stripes.....

.....oh such delicious stripyness!! The curvy shape is rather pleasing I have to say :)

The bag flap is worked directly into the top edge of the bag body which is neat as there is actually very little stitching up involved with this design.

The handle is made using long rows of UK double crochet (that's sc stitch in the US) - this makes the strap very tight and sturdy, meaning that even with constant use it won't stretch out too much. I know this as I've been road-testing one of these bags for over a year now and it has held up remarkably well. Especially considering the amount of junk essential everyday items I feel the need to carry around with me.

I managed to source a rather fabulous magnetic fastening for my Weekend Bag - it's quite hard to find ones that you stitch in rather than clip in place, but these ones are really great. The holes are big enough that I could use a darning needle and chunky yarn to stitch them in place which means that the stitches virtually disappear.

I knew I would definitely need to make some sort of floral detail for my bag, I just adore stripes and flowers together. Chunky yarn isn't particularly great for making flowers though, so after a lot of experiments I decided to re-work and simplify my Triple Layer flower to suit the thicker yarn. I think it turned out pretty good.

At one time, Stylecraft Special Chunky yarn existed in a very limited colour palette compared to the DK. Luckily for us, Stylecraft listened to the collective voices of the yarn loving public and has been steadily increasing the number of colours available in both the Aran and Chunky weights of the Special range. In fact, I'm pretty sure there are even more new shades just launching this month, bringing the total up to 36.

I played around endlessly with the colour possibilities for my Weekend Bags, and after choosing quite light, bright Springtime shades for my first bag....

....I decided to try the pattern out with some richer, more Autumnal colours.

Even the deep, dark Burgundy looks fab in these stripes,  which surprised me as it's not a colour I would usually feel comfortable with.

My third colourway is a bit like my beloved Coast Ripple blanket and uses shades of blues and greys which remind me of being by the sea in winter. I named it Seaspray, and it really does make me think about wild, rough seas, pounding waves and salty sea air.

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

I must say I've thoroughly enjoyed  the whole idea of taking one pattern and making it using different colour combinations, what fun for my colour-loving soul!

I used 8 colours in each Weekend Bag, but actually it takes less than 300g (3 balls of yarn) to make one of these bags. It's a great stash-buster if you have odds and ends of chunky yarn left over from other projects.

I named this bag the Weekend Bag as truthfully I can easily make one of these over a weekend, they are speedy little numbers to whip up. Well, it's chunky yarn and a 5mm hook, plus the pattern is pretty simple to grasp I promise you.

I'm so sorry about the utterly rubbish nature of the above photo, very lame of me I know. But I wanted to give you some idea of the size/scale of the bag and how it can be worn across the body. I always prefer bags to be worn/carried this way as I do a lot of walking in my day to day and find that bags with shorter shoulder straps never seem to stay put on my shoulders. However, if you prefer shoulder bags, there is nothing to stop you making the strap shorter and wearing it your own way.

I've decided not to list out the colour stripe order for each bag here - I'm hoping you'll be able to use the images and have the confidence to create your Weekend Bag your way. But I thought it would be helpful if I gave you a list of the colours I used to create each colour palette to give you a starting point....

Heatwave :  Burgundy, Plum, Pomegranate, Copper, Spice, Gold, Teal, Meadow

Seaspray : Graphite, Silver, Aster, Denim, Teal, Aspen, Lavender, Cloud Blue

Springtime : Pomegranate, Fondant, Spice, Lemon, Cream, Aspen, Cloud Blue, Aster

If you buy any of the Weekend Bag yarn packs from my shop at Wool Warehouse, there is a printed pattern included in the pack which does list all the colour information.

Each pack contains ::

♥ 8 x 100g chunky yarn

♥ 1 x sew-in magnetic bag closure

♥ a full colour printed pattern (including colour stripe order).

You will need your own 5mm hook

I've written up a full tutorial for the Weekend Bag, and boy oh boy I really do mean FULL!!!!!!!!

Over 5000 words and 109 photos. Yup, really that many!!! It is a very, very thorough walk through of the whole pattern, as I hope more than anything that it will give newbie crocheters the confidence to give it a go.

 

♥ WEEKEND BAG TUTORIAL ♥

 

Wishing you a very Happy Weekend my lovelies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

 

British Knitting Awards 2016

I feel like my feet just aren't really touching the ground at the moment, I just cannot seem to catch my breath somehow. The weeks are taking on a warp-speed feel, and here I am, stuttering around in a dither, wondering how on earth it can already be three weeks since Yarndale. Three weeks? How is that even possible, surely it was just the other day?? But I am not complaining, I am very happy as I scoot about my days and I have so much to be grateful for.

At the end of last week, I took myself rather spectacularly out of my comfort zone and and hopped on a train, journeying all the way down to London. It's been a couple of years since I was last there and it felt rather odd for me to be out and about in the Big City. I feel so at home in my little rural market town surrounded by green hills and trees, and am less inclined to venture out of it than I ever used to be. But I believe it's good to do these things every so often, plus I was rather excited by the prospect of a night away staying in a hotel. How very Grown Up and Adultish!!

The occasion was the annual British Knitting Awards, held at the Knitting and Stitching show at Alexandra Palace. The results were announced in the week before Yarndale, and I honestly nearly fell off my studio chair (which does have very wobbly legs it has to be said). Some of you may know that I was in the top five nominations for two of the crochet categories, and some of you may even have voted for me back in the Summer - thank you so very much if you did! I am really chuffed indeed to tell you that I won first place in both  categories - Favourite Crochet Blog and Favourite Crochet Designer. I still can't quite believe it, but I have my lovely framed certificates and rather a warm happy glow to remind me it is indeed true.

The award ceremony in London was well attended and fun - a champagne reception and lots of lovely friendly happy yarny peeps to hang out with. I am especially thrilled to tell you that as well as my own two awards, Yarndale also won first place in the Best Knitting Event category which is a huge honor for our quirky little homespun show held in the sheep pens! We are honestly very, very chuffed indeed, and it was wonderful for me to be at the award ceremony with two of my fellow Yarndale organisers. All the results are listed in the current issue of Lets Knit magazine, as well as online here. It's a real tribute to the talent and passion that exists in the yarn industry as well as the tremendous support which is so great amongst the yarn loving public. Thanks ever so much to everyone of the 14,000 people who took the time to vote.

It's hard for me to put into words my heart felt thanks for your support and friendship, not just with these awards but with everything I share here in the Attic. It honestly does mean a huge amount to me, and I couldn't be more grateful. Lets keep spreading colour and creativity, finding happiness in the little things and hooking up colourful blankets together, it's a happy way to be!

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

ps I've almost finished my Weekend Bag tutorial, it's a huuuuuuuge picture heavy tute and has taken me an age to pull it all together, but it's very nearly ready - just in time for the Weekend (hopefully Saturday, fingers crossed my Little People play along!) x

More Mandala Hoops

So I have been struck down yet again with a serious case of Mandala Madness, I just cannot get enough of these colourful circles at the moment. I was really inspired by seeing my big hula hoop creations hanging from the trees at Yarndale, and it has got me all giddy for making the display even bigger and better for next year. Plus, mandalas really are the perfect project to immerse one's worn-out self in, as the colours and hooky rounds deliver a therapeutic meditation which is very soothing and extremely satisfying. If you've never had an urge to crochet a mandala, I can highly recommend it - you just need to let go of the "what-do-you-do-with-it?" question and dive right in with your hook and yarn and enjoy the creative journey.

I designed a simple mandala if you are looking for somewhere to start (the pattern is here), or you can join me and go LaRgE and see how good that feels!!

Following on from the 45cm mandala hoops I made a few weeks ago, I wanted to make something similar but using a different pattern. I happened to remember a picture that caught my eye back in the summer - this was a really lovely free booklet that came with issue 47 of Simply Crochet magazine in July, featuring five beautiful summer shawl patterns by five different designers. That Mandala Shawl really logged itself firmly inside my creative mind I can tell you. It's designed by Spanish crocheter Elisabeth Davis de Herraiz (Elizy Art on Ravelry and social media), and I fell hook, line and sinker for the prettiness of it.

The original shawl was made using 4ply yarn and a 3.5mm hook, but for my large mandala making I like to use  DK weight cotton (Stylecraft Classique Cotton) and a 4.5mm hook.

This was me at the weekend, starting the day with some in-bed crochet therapy, oh boy, it felt sooooooo good to tell myself that this was a perfectly acceptable way to spend a Saturday morning. J was away visiting friends so I was doing a spot of solo parenting, and as you can see it worked out just fine. Little B and I spent many hours like this, with a few trips down to the kitchen to make coffee and toast crumpets in between the loafing.

I was once asked in an interview for a magazine where my favourite place was to crochet, and I seem to remember that I said In Bed - well it's true! Possibly on the beach comes a very close second, but you cannot beat the comfort of bed hooky. Yes, I said hooky, not nooky!

It didn't take me long at all to work up nineteen rounds of Elisabeth's shawl pattern, and I love the way it turned out. I didn't plan the colours at all, each round was chosen at random as I worked. If you are making a mandala to stretch around a hoop, you can see from the above picture that it needs to be quite a bit smaller than the hoop itself. These hoops that I use measure 45cm {from Amazon UK} and are a great size for making decorative hanging mandalas.

I've been asked so many times about my method for crocheting mandalas onto the hoops, that I took a bit of extra time on Saturday to photograph the process for you. The basic idea is to create two sets of chain loops, one worked from the front of the mandala, and one worked from the reverse. These are then connected with crochet around the circumference of the hoop.

Front Loops :: work these with the front of the mandala facing you and space them evenly - for this particular mandala I worked out of each tr-cluster stitch in the final mandala round. The repeating pattern is very simple (1 tr in the stitch; chain 3}

Back Loops :: flip the mandala over so the reverse is facing you. You need to work the same {1 tr in the stitch; chain 3} pattern, but off-set it with the front loops you made (don't line them up, or the joining bit won't work!). For this particular mandala I stuck my hook into the centre of the chain that separated the tr-clusters in the final mandala round.

What you should end up with is shown above - two rounds of loops (a treble crochet separated by a chain-3) that don't line up with each other. Hope that makes sense!

When you come to make the joining round, please don't attempt to do this without stretching the whole thing out first as it makes it reeeeeeeeeally hard and you may end up having a minor breakdown. Use locking stitch markers {from Amazon UK} and draw the two sets of loops together around the hoop, securing the crochet at regular intervals. It should be a tight stretch - the loops won't meet (as in above picture) but that's OK!

I used about eight stitch markers around my hoop to stretch the whole thing out and keep it in place.

Now you will be working a series of chains and slip stitches. The number of chains depends on how tight your crochet is and how fat your hoop is (!) - either chain-2 or chain-3 should do it. I did a chain-2, so that's how I'm going to say it.....

Secure your yarn under a chain loop on the side nearest to you. Chain-2, then slip stitch under the chain loop off-set on the opposite side. Chain 2, then slip stitch under the next chain loop on the side nearest to you. Repeat the {chain-2; slip stitch} on alternate sides, and you should see a bit of a zig-zag beginning to form around the edge of the hoop (as in the above picture).

You need to try and keep your tension nice and tight - make your chains and slip stitches as even and tight as you can. It's a little bit fiddly as the whole thing will be under tension as you are stretching it out at the same time, but keep at it and it does get easier......

Work your way around the hoop, removing stitch markers as you go - you will need to hold your hoop vertically as you work (not flat on the table).

The surface of your mandala should stretch quite taught which really does make the stitch patterns open up beautifully.

Your joining edge should look pretty neat around the hoop (especially if you use a matching colour yarn).....

.....and the overall effect is really rather pleasing to the eye!

I've hung my hoop up on the wall for now (I'll put my Autumn wreath up there soon) and think it looks right at home above my blanket-laden sofa.

Yes, I know. I know!!! I told you that Mandala Madness has gripped me!! On Monday I started on another, after Christine emailed me a link and I couldn't stop thinking about it.

Would you like to see what Christine saw when she immediately thought of me?

Well you need to hop over to visit Oh Milly right HERE.

An Autumn Doily, isn't that just lovely???

 

So this is quite a tricky pattern for my pattern-hating brain, and after round 8 I ground to a stuttering halt (might've been the gin and tonic and the pub atmosphere hindering me to be honest). But oh the pattern is  just so pretty and clever and lovely, I am determined to crack it. I've even worked out my colours in advance for this one and can't wait to see the magical Autumn Leaf pattern appear, providing I can get my trebles and chains lined up properly. I'll keep you posted on my progress.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Save

Save

Save

Celebrating Yarndale 2016

Oh Yarndale 2016, already in the past but still a very, very vivid set of memories at the forefront of my mind, that's for sure. This week I am just starting to get my energy back and feeling just about normal again, cripes, doing Yarndale is exhausting! Last week I was most definitely in post-Yarndale recovery, and I have to say it feels great to have my bounce back this week.

I was reading back through my Yarndale 2015 post earlier and thinking how lovely it is for me to have a record of these things. I mean, I do really love to chat to you about it and share my photos, but I also really value the memory keeping aspect of having my little patch here in Blogland to record it all. I was thinking about how to tell my Yarndale story this year, and have decided to focus on all the creative elements that I'm involved in throughout the year. For our team, Yarndale begins in January and one of our first jobs is to create a new sheep for our flock.

This year we wanted to incorporate some woolly flowers as a tribute to Sheila's amazing Flowers For Memories project from last year. We upcycled an old aran sweater that we bought cheaply on eBay (it had one of those dubious orangey coloured stains on the front) and I crocheted a flower garland for our sheep....

....as well as a pretty floral crown for her to wear. She looked delightful, and we named her Flora.

Flora has done a fabulous job of being our mascot for Yarndale 2016, I think she is my favourite sheep of the flock so far.

Talking of flocks, I am so excited to share an update on our Woolly Sheep project, which you might remember me chatting about back in the summer? Gosh, what a success this Creative Community project was!

I shared my pattern for this little woolly sheep here on my blog (it's HERE if you missed it and fancy making one), and a good many of you took up the woolly sheep challenge (thank you thank you!).

During the summer months, the postman was arriving at my house every single day, not on foot, but in a van! He literally handed me a crate (or two) each day, full of parcels arriving from all four corners of the globe. In total, we received just over 700 (SEVEN HUNDRED!!!) knitted and crochet sheep wearing the most adorable woolly jumpers, each of them made with such love and creative skill it made my heart full to bursting. I loved seeing them all, marvelling at the decorative details and the cute little sheepy faces as parcel after parcel after parcel was unwrapped.

I set up the sheep display at Yarndale with a lovely lady called Roma who volunteers for Martin House Children's Hospice (Yarndale's chosen charity this year).

We had a local farmer lend us some straw bales for the display, and we had lots of fun arranging the flock, nestling each little animal in amongst the straw.

Visitors to Yarndale absolutely adored the sheep and they didn't stay put on the straw bales for very long at all. I'm thrilled to tell you that every single one of the 700+ sheep went off to live in a new home, and the Woolly Sheep project raised a heart warming £3103.01 for Martin House, what a terrific success!!

For those who couldn’t make it to Yarndale to see the woolly flock, I managed to photograph every one of the sheep and created an online gallery to showcase them all. You can find it on Pinterest here >> YARNDALE WOOLLY SHEEP GALLERY

For those of you who re-homed a woolly sheep (thank you!), you can lift up the little woolly jumper and hopefully find a small sticker with a number – this will tell you who created your sheep and where in the world it travelled from. You can find the complete list of sheep here >> WOOLLY SHEEP LIST

And just for fun, here is a list of the THIRTY TWO countries that sent sheep to Yarndale >>

♥ Argentina ♥ Australia ♥ Canada ♥ Croatia ♥ Denmark ♥ Estonia ♥ Finland ♥ France ♥ Germany ♥ Gibraltar ♥ Hungary ♥ Ireland ♥ Isle of Man ♥ Israel ♥ Italy ♥ Japan ♥ Netherlands ♥ New Zealand ♥ Norway ♥ Peru ♥ Poland ♥ Portugal ♥ Romania ♥ Russia ♥ Slovenia ♥ South Africa ♥ Spain ♥ Sweden ♥ Switzerland ♥ United Arab Emirates ♥ United Kingdom ♥  United States of America ♥

Many, many thanks to everyone who made a sheep or donated money, it is very, very much appreciated.

Preparing the auction mart for Yarndale takes some serious work I have to say, as in it's raw state it is rather drab and very, very rustic (and that's being kind). We know that the one hundred and eighty exhibitors will do an amazing job of transforming the animal pens into colourful, inspirational yarny havens, but it's down to the Yarndale team to try and inject as much colour and woolly goodness around the large building as we possibly can.

The precious mandalas are still looking fabulous, two years after they first made an appearance. Oh how I love them!! They are incredibly beautiful to look at and do a great job of reminding us of the love and friendship that exists in the global crochet community which I am so proud to be a part of.

Following the success of the Flowers for Memories project at Yarndale last year, we were really happy to have them back again for one final time. The unstoppable Sheila has been in a whirl of floral activity all year, she really is an amazing lady. Not content with the hundreds of pounds she raised last year for the Alzheimers Society, during 2016 Sheila re-worked the huge floral panels to make them even better than they were orginally. She attached safety pins to the backs of every single one of the 5000 crocheted flowers before painstakingly re-pinning them. In the middle of September the flower panels went on an exciting journey all the way down to London to appear at Kirstie Allsopp’s Handmade Fair, before returning back to Yarndale.  Sheila’s flowers raised a further £2004.15 this year, which added to her 2015 total of £1811.80. All monies raised have been donated to the Alzheimers Society. There are plans to exhibit the flower panels for just a little while longer before finally dismantling them and offering all the flowers for sale. If you’d like to keep updated with this beautiful project, please do have a look at the Flowers for Memories Facebook page.

As well as prettifying the inside of the auction mart with oodles of crochet, it's also my job to work my magic on the outside too. In previous years we've had bunting strung up out here, with small-scale yarny bits and bobs hanging from the tree branches. This year I felt we were ready for a change, and hit on the idea of using my large mandala hoops (you can read about the making of them on my blog here and here) to create a lovely hanging display.

It was pretty windy on the day I hung them in the trees for Yarndale, so rather than twirling gently in the breeze they were seriously swinging about in the full scale wind! But they did look lovely and I know that many of our visitors enjoyed seeing them (they are rather photogenic, if I say so myself)

We also had a fifteen metre long knitted canal winding it's way across the grass under the trees, a perfectly normal occurance for a creative yarn festival of course. This beautiful creation was made by a local group of knitters to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Leeds-Liverpool canal, so we were thrilled to be able to show it off. Please also note the amazing yarn-bombed van in the background - oh it is fab-u-lous! Not an ice cream van, but one selling hand knitted finger puppets. Of course!

And now my friends, prepare to be amazed by the most wonderful bollards your eyes have ever seen.....

.....created especially for Yarndale by the famous and talented Thirsk Yarnbombers, they were photographed and admired by the many thousands who came to visit.

They are, quite simply, stunning works of art....

........feast your eyes...........

WOWSERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What do you think? Absolutely amazing, aren't they just?

These ten bollards are usually just plain ol' ugly wooden things lining the pathway around the front entrance to the auction mart, and through the power of knitting and crochet (as well as some lovely stitching and felting), they were transformed into woolly works of art. They really do epitomise the creative and community spirit that we love to celebrate at Yarndale. Huge thanks to Ann and the talented team of 'bombers from Thirsk. You are all fabulous.

So...............all that creative, decorative stuff happened BEFORE Yarndale even opened it's doors, it is quite an undertaking, both to put it all up and take it all down again (and I haven't even included the 25 lamp posts and the half a dozen crocheted signs I made and installed in the park, or the famous Yarndale bunting).

The actual weekend for me is all about meeting people and celebrating a shared love of colour and crochet.

Those of you who have visited Yarndale, will know exactly where to find me during the weekend - in that spot right there, just in front of my colourful crochet blankets. I have the lovely peeps from Wool Warehouse to keep me company which is brilliant, and we are all kept exceptionally busy right from the minute the doors open.

For pretty much the whole weekend I stand in my little spot, completely surrounded by a heaving sea of people, laughing, chatting, hugging and socialising with the most wonderful and friendly bunch of visitors you could ever wish to meet. Attic24 readers, colour-loving hooksters and all-round lovely people come to seek me out and tell me their stories. We do lots of photo's together, we chat about blankets and the such like and I generally become engulfed in a tidal wave of gratitude, friendship and feel-good. It is overwhelming. It is emotional. It is so much fun and a whole lot of fabulous. I am incredibly proud to be a part of such a thriving and creative community, and during the Yarndale weekend this community comes together in full force. The feeling of friendship and joy is tremendous. I swear the very air vibrates with all the excitement, you can honestly feel the buzz!

Thank you to every single one of you who took the time to come and say hello, I can't tell you how much I appreciated it and enjoyed meeting you all. And thank you also to everyone who loved my projects enough to buy a yarn pack to start out on your own creative journey, it means the world to me that my designs are spreading so much joy and colour.

Having Christine and her socks alongside me in the Knit and Natter lounge was wonderful, and oh-my-goodness, the Yarndale sock line was a huge success again this year! More than one hundred pairs were donated and will be gifted to those in need - you can see some of them in the above photo, they looked fabulous. I'll let you know when Christine does her write-up about this so that you can see more pictures.

So that was my fourth Yarndale festival, and it was absolutely stonkingly amazing. Exhausting, but amazing. Over 8,000 visitors travelled from all over the world to visit our little patch of Yorkshire, and I am very, very proud to be a part of this crazy, creative, buzzing yarny festival. It really is brilliant.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

ps for more behind-the-scenes insights into Yarndale, with lots of photos and some lovely descriptions, you can go take a peek at Christine's blog and Kathryn's too. Kathryn also created a wonderful Vlog all about her time at Yarndale (you might even spot me in there a few times if you look carefully!) - well worth making a cup of tea and settling down for a look/listen.

pps the above photo - me with the Skipton Giant Swaledale puppets (with Sammy the Sheepdog) who came to see us at Yarndale, it was hilarious having them right in the knit and natter lounge!

ppps thank you so much for sharing this with me, I hope I've not bored you too much with my rambles.

pppps gosh I almost forgot - I do need to mention that I am one of the five organisers of Yarndale which is a for-profit organisation, just so that I am being honest and transparent and all that necessary disclosure stuff. All details about Yarndale can be found on the website www.yarndale.co.uk. Thank you x

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save