Attic24

Frosty Warm

It appears that I have a fixation with the weather at the moment, and I sincerely hope this is not boring the pants off you. Actually, it's not so much the weather that is at the centre of my thoughts, but more the rapid change in seasons. Summer to Autumn was deliciously slow and leisurely this year and I loved that gentle transition so much. Autumn to Winter has been like BAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! In your face!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And I'm not liking that effect nearly so much, it has jolted my innards and I really wish for things to slooooow right down please. This morning we woke to sub zero temperatures and a chilly walk to school. The ducks were ice skating on the slippery surface of the frozen canal which made us laugh and made us late for school as we spent way too much time standing and watching it all unfold.

Despite the shock of the cold, there was an abundance of natural beauty out there in the world this morning.

Even a mundane trip to the supermarket to buy broccoli and Parmesan cheese was rewarded with these gorgeous frosty berries in the car park.

I got half way up the hill home, then decided on a whim to turn left instead of carrying straight on, just for the pleasure of walking a little longer in the cool frosty morning.

I wish you could lean in a little closer and put your nose to your screen to sniff at the air here - it's the smell of cold air mixed with wood smoke, as so many of the canal boats have their wood burning stoves lit to keep them cosy inside. I love love love this smell so much, and it will forever remind me of living here in this little town.

Ahhh.....I seem to be heading towards the park, I think my boots have walked this way of their own accord!

Frosty grass and icy leaves under foot as I walk......

.....even the dead leaves look rather beautiful with their delicate outline of ice crystals. Which has just reminded me of a hashtag on Instagram #lovelydeadcrap which makes me snort with laughter every time (thanks to Emma @silverpebble2 for that gem!)

I look at the above photo and I want to tell you how beautiful the light was (again), but I feel I might even be boring myself with this constant need to talk about the light levels. My inner dialogue is fixating, I swear I never used to be this way.

This has become my current uniform of choice - red boots (always, unless it's raining, in which case I put on my spotty ankle wellies), leggings (worn with a skirt/pinafore/dress of some sorts) and a pair of warm, cosy, beautiful hand knit socks on my feet (joy of absolute joys). I blinkin' love wearing hand knit socks, they give me nothing but utter pleasure for the whole day long. Which reminds me, I must give you a sock update soon. I've got hand dyed yarn to show you, and it is rather spesh.

OH!!!!!!!!!!!!! The LiGhT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! See what I mean about that sunlight?? It moves me, truly.

Light-lit leaves, the last few still hanging on to the branches.....

.....it was really lovely to see little itty bits of bright green lit up amongst the brown.

The air was still and quiet today, the landscape muffled and muted by the frosty cold.

Back home now, and fresh coffee is top of my agenda before I can think about doing anything. I don't have a fancy milk frother gadget, but I do like to perform a bit of light whipping with a teeny tiny whisk to add some air bubbles to my hot milk. Life's little pleasures and all.

I enjoyed a mini mince pie with my morning coffee and planning, and rather delicious it was too. My hyacinths have grown so quickly in the warmth of home, and I'm hoping to see those sweet flowers bloom very soon. The kitty has not paid the slightest bit of attention to them by the way, which I am hugely grateful for, because honestly, she ate my geraniums which were on my table a few weeks back. Not just a small nibble or a bit of a curious investigation, but actual eating. 

I bought paper snowflakes yesterday, three for £1 from Poundland. I haven't done anything remotely Christmassy yet (not an inkling of any purchases at all which is slightly worrying), but ahh I did get suckered in by the flood of nostalgic memories which assaulted  me when I saw these paper decorations. 

Takes me right back to being Little B's age or there abouts. Talking of the B child, let me show you something......

.....this was on my floor this morning, the product of Little B getting up at 6.30 am and occupying himself by building dens/hideouts/lairs/camps and nests. The above is a nest apparently, and is pretty much a daily occurrence. He carefully constructs these things, then sits himself in the middle, snuggles himself right in, demands food (usually cherry tomatoes, I kid you not), then spends the next hour watching some insane cartoon (Teen Titans Go! which is mental).

Some days I leave his nest alone and spend the entire day stepping over and around it. Yesterday the tripping hazard became too much so I spent a while putting cushions back on sofas and folding and stacking my blankets.....

.....ooooo such a pretty pile, in a house where messy, unruly piles are generally unsightly and not in the least bit picturesque. This pile, I could happily sit and gaze at for long, lovely moments, it pleases me so much to take in all the colours, and ponder on the memories of time and place caught up in those thousands and thousands of yarny stitches. Makes me very happy.

This afternoon I toddled off to Coopers Cafe for a really pleasurable creative sesh with the most lovely ladies - I really do enjoy these hours in my week so so much. There was frothy, chocolate dusted coffee and a warm homemade scone (not the healthiest lunch, but hey-ho, it really did hit that comfort-needy spot). There was chatter and laughter and there were waves of yarny colour. I have to say, I'm finding these colour combos rather weird, they kind of make me feel simultaneously joyful and concerned. It's what happens when I go Rogue Random (instead of my usual Planned Random), I do like it but it also makes my toes curl a weeny bit. 

It's 8.30 pm now, and I am already ready for bed. Sad, but true. My energy levels are quite low at the moment so I'm treating myself kindly and making sure I get plenty of sleep. On these cold, dark nights I've started heading to my bed around about now, taking a hot water bottle and my bag of wacky yarn colours with me and hooking up some rows of rogue waves before my eyes start to droop. It's such a beautiful, peaceful, soothing way to end the day, I can highly recommend it.

Righty-o, I shall shuffle off away from my desk now and go tuck up into my own nest. Thank you for indulging my seasonal fixations and reading my ramblings. It's always lovely to chat xxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

 

 

 

Winter Light

All of a sudden, the leaves have gone and the trees are bare. I have a hard job accepting that these trees won't have leaves for another five or six months, cos I already miss seeing the greenery up above me as I walk. But on a brighter note, today we had the most beautiful blue skies and low slanting sunshine which has made me feel very happy indeed. I've enjoyed our Autumn time a lot this year, but with the start of December only a few days away, I don't quite feel ready for yet another change of season. I've only just gotten used to Autumn!

I went to have lunch with a good friend today, which meant a walk across to the other side of town. Over on that side it's very much closer to the hills, and I had the pleasure of seeing my Attic view from a different perspective. It was so nice! I stood and gazed at it for an age, taking in all the little details, wondering what it would be like to live in those houses right there at the foot of the hill. 

The afternoon drifted leisurely by, punctuated by hot mugs of tea, divine treacle tart and lots of chatter. Before long I had to take myself away from the cosy warmth of the fire and head out to go and collect Little B from school. The temperature had dropped quite dramatically by this time in the late afternoon as the sun was well on it's way down towards the horizon.

I find it hard when our days are so short at this time of year (23 more days 'til we celebrate the Winter Solstice and our days start lengthening again!), but the magical Winter light does go some way towards making up for it.

On our way home from school today the canal had turned golden, it really was a beautiful sight. I stood on the bridge for a moment and soaked it in whilst Little B talked and talked and talked about his day. He told me he had written so much in his story that he had to go onto a Second Page. He was so happy about that second page, it made me smile right down to my toes. I love our canal side walks so much, they start and end our school days with such a lot of good. 

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Moorland Blanket CAL :: Q&A

Hello my Lovelies! I'm so sorry this is a day late - I really wanted to write this post yesterday but unfortunately I couldn't find the time. Those of you who are marking your planners/calendars with these pretty stickers from EllieBeth Designs will know that yesterday (Friday 25th) was the date to celebrate the start of the "6 weeks to go" countdown until my Crochet-ALong begins. Only six more weeks, yippeeeee!!!! Mind you, it's hard to believe that in six weeks from now, Christmas will be over and we will already be into a brand New Year. Thank goodness for a delicious new blanket to look forward to....happy days indeed.

So today I'm going to write a little bit of a question and answer post, in response to the many questions and queries that have flooded into my blog, Facebook and Instagram during the past few weeks. If by the end of this post I haven't answered something you'd like to know, please do leave a comment and I'll do my very best to give you an answer.

What size blanket will I be able to make from one yarn pack?

One Moorland Yarn pack contains 15 x 100g of DK weight yarn. In my experience of blanket making, this is usually enough to make a single bed size blanket. The Neat Wave pattern that I'll be using to make the Moorland blanket is a fairly dense stitch with some surface texture which means that the rows don't stretch quite as much as say the Ripple or the Cosy Stripe. As a result of this, the finished blanket will probably end up a little bit smaller than my usual blanket size.

I'm aiming to make my blanket 110 cm wide (almost 4 ft) and as long as I can possibly get it with the yarn available in the pack - it'll be somewhere around 150 cm long (5 ft),hopefully a little bit longer if I think there will be enough yarn.

Will there be enough yarn to make a border, and what sort of border will it be?

If you are using the Moorland yarn pack and following my colour order, the design will allow for enough yarn to make a border. I'm going to keep the border narrow so that it provides a very simple frame around the landscape waves. I'll be using Storm Blue and Lime in the border.

What if I want to make the blanket larger, to fit a double bed?

If you wish to make a double bed size blanket, you will need to buy two yarn packs.

When I write the pattern, I'll give guidance about the starting chain and pattern repeat so that you can work out exactly how wide you wish to make your own blanket. There is such a variation in "double bed size" that it's not possible for me to give an exact pattern for a larger blanket, but I will do my best to help you work it out. 

What hook size do I need?

This is a tricky one to answer up front as the hook size you use will very much depend on your own personal hooky tension.

The standard hook size for Stylecraft Special DK yarn is 4mm. However, after much sampling and experimenting, I've found that the stripes look much better if they aren't worked too tightly. For example, I'm a tight crocheter so I'm making my Moorland Blanket using a 5 mm hook. If you crochet quite loosely, then you will probably find that a 4mm hook suits you just fine.

In Part 1 of the CAL, we'll be working up a small tension sample to test out the Neat Wave pattern and to decide on the right hook size. I would strongly advise you to do this with me (please don't think it's a waste of time!) as I would hate for you to find that your blanket comes out too small/tight, or too big/loose meaning that you run out of yarn. 

I prefer coastal/cosy/bright colours, do I have to use the Moorland Yarn pack for this blanket? 

Absolutely not! If you fancy making a Neat Wave blanket using one of my other yarn packs, or your own stash yarn, that's completely fine, and I'm really looking forward to seeing you make this pattern your own. Each week of the CAL, I'll be giving colour information for you to work up 20 Moorland stripes to create a yarny view over the moors (I explained this colour idea in my CAL Introduction post). But really, the main thing is that we all enjoy making our own waves of colour into a blanket, and I'd be delighted if you fancied trying the pattern out in different colours.

I prefer natural yarns, can you put together a yarn pack with wool yarn in the same colours?

I've had a surprising number of requests over on Facebook for a natural yarn pack which match the colours I'm using in the Stylecraft Special DK. I'm not able to do that for this project as it takes many months to organise these things, but I am investigating the idea for my next blanket.  

Is the Neat Wave pattern suitable for beginners?

I think this blanket would be OK for beginners to have a go at, so long as you can crochet a chain and know the basic crochet stitches. I write my patterns in UK crochet terms, and the basic stitches you need are dc (double crochet), htr (half treble) and tr (treble). The Neat Wave is a simple combination of these three stitches which create the rise and fall using the different stitch heights. There is simple counting involved, and after a little bit of practice you quickly get used to moving between the three different stitches. You do need to concentrate on the pattern as you work as you can quite easily forget where you are in the sequence of stitches, but I've found there is a delightful rhythm to this pattern which is very soothing.

Can you let us have the Neat Wave pattern before the CAL starts?

Well, I have thought about this, but for several important reasons I've decided against it. The pattern will be accompanied by a full picture tutorial and will be published on the start date of the CAL which is Friday 6th January. The tutorial will be aimed at newbie crocheters, so will give advice about joining in new colours, keeping your edges straight, darning in ends etc. I hope you don't mind waiting another six weeks, I think this pattern is wonderful and versatile and will be worth the wait.

In the meantime, I thought you might like to see what I'm up to at the moment  - I'm making a Neat Wave cushion cover using up lots of small oddments and left over bits and bobs of Stylecraft Special DK hanging around in the giant pink tub in my studio. The colours are veeeery random and quirky as I've not really been giving much thought to the placement at all. But what I really want to show you is the surface texture - isn't the above photo lovely? I had the crochet laid out on my studio table ready to photograph yesterday and the way the morning sun highlighted the undulations was amazing. I love it so much, and am even more excited to see how this effect looks as the Moorland Blanket grows.

This simple project is giving me so much pleasure, and although I'm only half way through (one side of the cover is complete), I thought I'd give you some colour information, just in case this sparks some creative ideas for you....

There are 33 stripes in total, using 22 colours of Stylecraft Special DK. I'm making the cover for a 45 cm / 18 in cushion.

From the bottom upwards, as follows ::

Denim : Aspen : Fondant : Cloud Blue : Magenta : Spice : Lime : Aster : Lavender : Pale Rose : Sage : Copper : Magenta : Storm Blue : Grass Green : Mustard : Turquoise : Pomegranate : Fondant : Plum : Aspen : Teal : Tomato : Gold : Lime : Denim : Lavender : Cloud Blue : Magenta : Turquoise : Grass Green : Petrol : Copper.

I'll be sure to share the second side and give you the colours for that too once it's made (same 22 colours, different random order). I'll also show you how I crochet it all together and add a button fastening. As already mentioned, the Neat Wave pattern will be published here on my blog at the start of my CAL on 6th January.

I'd really like to practice the Neat Wave pattern before the CAL starts, what can you recommend?

You will need to be familiar with the three basic stitches, and I think a good way to have a go with this is to make some of my May Roses. This will give you practice of making and working into a foundation chain, and using dc, htr, and tr stitches. You can find the pattern/tutorial here on my blog {May Roses}

The other thing you can do is this : crochet a long chain (maybe 100 or so) and work a base row of double crochet stitches to practice working into the foundation chain. Then try making a row where you go up and down through the three heights of stitches (double crochet, half treble, treble, half treble, double crochet etc etc), just to familiarise yourself with how it feels to keep swapping between them.

Will the Moorland CAL information stay on your blog if I want to go at my own pace or make the blanket later in the year?

Yes, yes, yes of course! All my blog posts and patterns are available for always so that you can dip in and find the information when it suits you. The CAL will run for 8 weeks in total but it really doesn't matter if it takes you a year to make this blanket. You can start and stop, hop in and out as you wish. There is no deadline, no signing up, no commitment, no guilt. Just hooky pleasure at your own pace :)

I hope I've managed to answer all of the questions that have popped up in recent days/weeks, and that if you've been umming and ahhing about whether to join in with my Moorland CAL or not, then perhaps this might have helped make up your mind. My colours or your colours, 8 weeks or 80 weeks, baby blanket or super king size, it's as flexible as you want it to be. 

Six weeks...............bring it on!

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ps the Moorland CAL Introduction post is {HERE} if you missed it or need to take another look.

 

 

 

 

 

My 2017 Life Planner

I can hardly believe that I first started planning my days way back in July 2015 and am now nearly at the end of my eighteen month Life Planner. Gosh, it's been sooooo much fun!! I am really happy with the way I've learnt to make my planner do what I need it to do for me, and that these pages really do work. I have a daily and weekly planning routine and honestly it's one of the best things I've ever had for keeping me organised (well, within my own scattered limits that is). I also really enjoy being a part of the creative planner community where I get to feel inspired by others and play around with colourful stickers and washi tape. Oh, how I love love love the stickerating aspect of planning!! It's a hobby that has had a very positive impact on my daily life, and I am so grateful for it.

For the past 18 months I've been using an Erin Condren Life Planner  and as you can see from the above photo, my planner cover may look familiar to you. I used a photo of my Colourblock Cushion to create a custom cover for my planner and I can't tell you how much pleasure that has given me over the months - I absolutely love it to bits.

You can see more pictures of my planner and read about my planner journey on my blog here.

If you would like to know more about the EC Life Planners, you can look at the Erin Condren Website here. And if this is all brand new to you and you haven't a clue what I'm going on about, there's a little two minute video which gives you a lovely visual overview of the current Erin Condren Life Planner - find it here.

With my 18 month planner coming to an end, a few weeks ago I began to think about what I'd like for my next planner. EC Life Planners come with removable and interchangeable covers, so I could have kept the ones I already have......but where's the fun in that??!! Nope, no sense in keeping it the same when I can get all giddy over creating something new! So I formed a plan in my Creative Mind, gathered together some oddments of Drops Karisma DK from my stash (a pure wool yarn in lush, rich colours), and got busy hooking up some stripes......

....yuuuuummmmmmmmmm!! Stripe-tastic!! These are single rows of UK treble stitches, the colours worked at random as I went along. The actual piece of crochet is about the same size as a sheet of A4 paper.

Now as lovely as these stripes are unadorned, in my mind I had pictured stripes and flowers. Because I remembered about the woolly flowers that I had sitting in a little bag just waiting to come out and play......

The above image is something I created for Yarndale, a simple arrangement which I photographed so that the image could be used for the Yarndale Calendar*. I designed the flower pattern myself and loved how they turned out - they are quite simple and graphic if you get what I mean, and photograph really well.

I also remembered that I had a little crochet bee tucked away somewhere - it took an age to find it (it was nesting in the Shelves of Doom), but eventually out it buzzed......

......and so my visual idea began to come to life. Colourful Stripes + flowers (and the little buzzzzy bee)....

......oh yes!! Just as I had imagined it!

I photographed the above image to use for the front cover....

....and then had another little play and made a second image to use for the back cover.

I placed my order on the Erin Condren website the weekend before last and then had to endure the wait while it was printed and shipped all the way from the US. The waiting part wasn't all that easy!

But it all happened quicker than I expected, and exactly eight days after my order was placed, there was a loud knock at the door and a nice UPS fella stood on my front step with a pretty pink patterned box in his hands.

Gosh, I have to tell you I was so nervous to open the box, my tummy felt like it was suddenly full of moths.

Eventually, after much flapping around in state of nervous excitement, I managed to open the box to stare at the blue tissue paper packaging inside.

I desperately wanted to see my new covers, but felt worried in case I might feel disappointed in some way. There is nothing worse than excitement and anticipation followed by a thudding disappointment, is there?

I'm ready to look now.

Would you like to see?

Ok....

....lets upwrap the tissue.....

....and take a peek.....

....

...

..

.

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

Oh, I am THRILLED with my new cover!!!!!!!!!!!!! The stems and leaves have come out a little bit dark in the printing process, but the rest of the colours are beautifully vibrant and it really does look fab.

 

And here is the back cover (I LOVE seeing my spotty crochet hook there!)

As I did last year, I've uploaded both these images to my Flickr account and am more than happy if you wish to use them for personal use. Download the full size images and use for journals, notebooks, cards, or whatever tickles your fancy.

{ATTIC24 FLICKR PHOTOS}

So now I'm all set to continue my planner journey into 2017 - can you believe there are less than six weeks left of this year???? 

I thought that perhaps you might like the pattern for these flowers, in case you might need something floral to pretty up something woolly. Stitch them to bags, hats or cushions, string them into garlands, make them into brooches or gift tags - they are very versatile little adornments, quick and simple to make.

You can find the pattern here on my blog in the left hand side bar, I've named them {FLORA's FLOWERS}

*I used my woolly flowers to style the August image for the 2017 Yarndale Calendar, in fact, you may recognise quite a bit of Attic24 influence going on with the Yarndale calendar! The calendars are in the Yarndale online shop, £8 plus p&p, with worldwide delivery. There are 12 lovely images to brighten up your wall with a whole year of yarny goodness.

{YARNDALE CALENDAR}

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ps If you have any planner questions, please feel free to ask in the comments and I'll do my best to answer. And in case you were wondering, I went for the colourful/vertical layout. I'll write more about how I use my planner in a few weeks time x

EDIT to add >> Just to be clear about this post and the links - I'm not sponsored by Erin Condren, this is just me writing about my own planner journey and providing links to give you information if you wish to read more. I would let you know if I were being sponsored or paid for recommendations.

However, Yarndale is a for-profit organisation and I am one of the five organisers, so I do need to let you know that. You can read more about the Yarndale set-up here.

 

Happy Things

♥ A bowl of hot porridge for breakfast  ♥

Mmmmmmmmm!! I have the same breakfast every morning at this time of year, porridge made with milk, a tablespoon of sultanas, half a chopped banana and a swirl of golden syrup. It really does hit the spot and fuels my busy mornings.

♥ Tilly the kitty ♥

Awww, this kitty! She is so playful and fiesty and demanding and loving and exasperating and amazing - all the kitty things! She has a very strong personality, at times a right little b*gger to be honest, but she is a delight and I love having her around the house.

♥ Baking with Little Lady ♥

A rare occurrence with my 12 year old these days, but we made this together yesterday and it was sooo good (the experience and the end result). She had made this recipe {Finnish Fruit Plait} at school last week in her Food Tech class and we all loved it very much. So I asked her if we could try it again at home - it's very easy to make and comes out like a dense and well flavoured fruit bread which toasts beautifully.

♥ Autumn Leaves ♥

The colours of these leaves make my heart flutter! They are from the cherry tree in my neighbour's front garden a few doors up the street. I love the way these leaves just lay around on the pavement looking all casually gorgeous and just begging to be picked up and admired. I've pressed them inside a heavy book - must remember I've done that.

♥ Sitting by the fire ♥

After our cold, wet woodland walk on Saturday we lit the fire  almost as soon as we came home. The warmth and comfort our fire brings to our home is huge, gosh I love having an open fire place so so much. I light up most evenings now, it's getting dark here around 4.30pm and especially on days like today when we have Storm Angus raging outside, the extra home comforts are very welcome.

♥ Finnish Fruit Plait ♥

The aforementioned baking efforts fresh from the oven - superb when sliced and toasted, slathered with butter and washed down with a hot cuppa.

♥ An afternoon/evening on the sofa ♥

I managed to fall over on Saturday, a rather undignified flying slip-up on a neighbours pathway leaving me with a scraped knee and some pulled muscles in my leg. This was not a Happy Thing I might add. But I decided it would be best for all concerned if I totally milked my injuries and spent many hours sprawled out on the sofa yesterday, covered in blankets with a hot water bottle on my leg to ease the muscle ache. In the above photo that's me with the red and white stripy socks, Little Lady is underneath the cosy stripe blanket with Tilly on her lap, and believe it or not, Little B is underneath the Cupcake Stripe blanket AKA The Boy Den. It was very cosy indeed, we watched films and I took myself off into Festive Magazine Wonderland.....

♥ Festive Magazine Wonderland ♥

I have to be in the right frame of mind to soak up any sort of Christmas imagery and suggestion - I'm not normally with it until the start of December. But something about being cosied up with the family yesterday, wrapped in blankets with the warmth of the fire put me right in the mood to sink into a bit of a Christmas day dream. It was delightful, until I got to thinking hmmmmm - christmas tree + kitty cat = possible disaster!!!!! haha!!

♥ Surprise Flowers ♥

A surprise flower delivery is a Happy Thing Indeed, my heart was full to bursting when I opened up the humongous box and was greeted by all this amazing floral colour. A very thoughtful and generous gift from a friend, it was truly appreciated.

♥ Hyacinth bulbs ♥

Oh Happy Day, the cheap pots of hyacinth bulbs are back in the supermarket!! I love this about mid November, it really cheers me up no end when there are hyacinth bulbs in the house. I keep an old Cornishware bowl especially for hyacinths so that I can do away with the plastic pot and have blue and white china stripes instead. I've gone for white flowers, and I am already massively looking forward to them.... although now I'm thinking hmmmmm  - hyacinths + kitty cat = possible disaster!!!!!

♥ Yarn Stripes ♥

Yarny stripes never fail to make me ridiculously happy and I'm loving this little project I've got on the go at the moment. I've gathered together some oddments of Stylecraft yarn from my rather mahoosive stash of leftovers and am making a cushion cover. It gives me a chance to practice the Neat Wave pattern and have a bit of an indulgent colour play at the same time. I'll show you more of these stripes towards the end of the week - I'm planning a CAL blanket Q&A post for Friday.

♥ A really rather exciting delivery all the way from the USA ♥  

A very, very happy day today when my brand new 2017 Life Planner was delivered, yippeeeeeee!!!! I was so excited/nervous it took me a while to actually get past the blue tissue paper, but oh! Ooooohhhhh!!!!! It is a thing of beauty, and I am so very pleased with it! I can't wait to show you more, it needs it's very own post me thinks.......more soon.......

Here's hoping you're finding oodles of Happy Things in your days xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

 

Autumn/Winter Walking

The seasons are on fast forward here right now, and Autumn is very quickly being chased out by a sudden snap of Winter. It's been wet and blustery and down right cold, and everything has felt so fast all of a sudden...the clouds race overhead, the sun appears then quickly disappears, rain starts then abruptly stops, rainbows appear then disappear a few minutes later. It's the weather on high speed!

During this past week we've had that curious mix of rain and snow known as "winter showers". Rain that all of a sudden morphs into wet snow, then just as quickly turns back to plain old icy cold rain again. It's been really cold too, and although I'm not a massive fan of Autumn, I really think it could have stuck around a bit longer before letting winter slam in. We've not had any snow on the ground down here in the town this week but the surrounding hills are wearing a permanent dusting on their tops.

Yesterday morning we decided to take a walk in the woods at Bolton Abbey to catch the last of the leaves before the storms come and swirl them all away. We took the road which goes up over the moors and were stunned by the amount of snow up here and were in for a bit of a shock - we hadn't really considered the fact that the high ground would be snow-covered (doh!)

It made me laugh actually - I've been so fixated on my photos of the heather this week that in my mind the moorland is still in late summer mode. Discovering Winter sitting up here was a real eye opener! Still beautiful though, in a bleak, shivery sort of a way.

By the time we reached the woods it had started to rain, and although we all had boots and waterproofs on, it was still quite harsh walking weather. 

Despite the rain, the trees were looking glorious and still very leafy (pheeww) which means that it must still be Autumn despite the snow we've had.

It's not always easy to encourage the Little People to see the good in Weekend Walking, and in many ways I do get that. The house was warm, cosy and snug when we left it, and the woodland was very cold and wet. Little Lady was quietly resigned, but Little B was seriously cross. And then he was very upset. He said his feet were so cold that they were hurting, not just hurting a little bit but hurting loads. He started to cry, real big sobbing tears and snot. I was torn between telling him to snap out of it and stop being so selfish, and feeling really sorry for him (I'm sure many of you will be familiar with that Maternal dilemma!) In the end, I crouched down and pulled off each of his wellie boots in turn and loosened his socks a little, rubbing his feet and telling him they would be ok if he just kept on walking. I told him gently that if it would help, I could always sit on his feet and have a go at puffing some hot air out of my bottom to warm him up....well you should have seen his little face, I don't think he could quite believe what I had said. But it hit the funny spot, and he burst out laughing which seemed to trigger a much happier outlook for the rest of the walk. Feel free to borrow that line at any time you are out walking with reluctant offspring complaining of cold feet/hands, it works a treat.

I have to tell you it really was flippin' freezing actually as the icy rain fell quite heavily and plopped down on us through the trees. Even I began to shiver and long to be indoors in the warm. But the woodland was absolutely enchanting, and I tried my hardest to ignore the coldness seeping into my bones and soak up the glory of the colours.

Oh the colours were simply stunning, I couldn't get enough of them.

We walked for maybe an hour or so, perhaps more, a circular route which eventually brought us right back around to the warm, cosy Cavendish Pavillion Cafe for some much needed defrosting and hot liquid refreshment. We pulled chairs right up alongside the radiator and devoured big mugs of hot chocolate/cappuccino. It felt sooooo good to feel warmth return to frozen fingers and toes, and although I did enjoy the seeing the woodland in all it's Autumn glory, I was very glad to hop back in the car and head home to light the fire.

Talking of which, I think it's about time for me to go and light the fire now, I can feel a spot of fireside hooky coming on this afternoon.

But before I go, I want to say a massive big THANK YOU for all your kind words about my Moorland Blanket. The response to the yarn pack and the crochet-a-long has been overwhelming, and I am so grateful for your support. During this next week I'm going to put together a Q&A post as there have been many similar questions asked about this blanket, the pattern, the yarn, and the crochet-a-long which I feel could do with some answers.

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ps the above glorious image is a painting called "Autumn Leaves" by Janet Bell and is one of her new pieces for November. Isn't it stunning? You can get 10% off Janet's new November prints until the end of the month, more details on her website here. 

 

 

 

 

 

Moorland Blanket CAL :: Introduction

Ohmygollygosh I am soooooooo excited to finally be here sharing with you after working on this blanket design since way back in the Summer. Its a wonderful thing for me to be able to share my inspirations here on my blog and have such a fulfilling outlet for my creative thinking. So before we go any further, can I just say a very heart felt THANK YOU to you for visiting me here in the Attic and journeying along with me, I truly appreciate it and I'm delighted you're here.

I've been putting this post together and debating just how many photos of heather and moorland I can get away with showing you. Three? Four? Ten? I have a huge virtual stack of them on my computer, loads and loads and loads of them.

Many years of heather/moorland visual appreciation. 

Long distance views, medium distance views, close up views. 

This beautiful moorland is only a few miles from the Attic and a much loved place for us to visit when we need a blast of fresh air and scenic vistas. We drive up here at all times of the year, but my absolute most favourite time of all (by far) is in the late Summer when the purple haze of heather is in full bloom. I am constantly inspired by the colours in nature, and the feelings and memories those colours can evoke and preserve.

So I guess it was only a matter of time before I began to dream of taking these beautiful earthy browns, grassy greens, floral purples and sky blues and hooking them into something rather lovely. 

Heather moorlands can be found all over the UK, and we are lucky to have very large expanses here in North Yorkshire. Did you know that Britain has 75% of the world's heather moorland? They are valuable habitats for wildlife, and if you want to know more you can read all about them here (yes there really is a Moorland Association). When you walk around on the moors there is a tremendous feeling of calm and and freedom. I have come to love the peace and tranquility that the long distance views bring, oh I love being up there so much!

So let me introduce you to my Moorland colour palette inspired by the summer hills of Yorkshire. The idea to make a blanket using these colours has been floating around gently inside my Creative Mind for a good while now. They please me so much - I look at them and immediately think of breezy fresh air, sunshine and cloud shadows, soft peaty earth, mellow stone, vibrant grasses and lush moss, glorious swathes of heather and mile upon mile of beautiful rolling countryside. They are soft and mellow and just the right kind of earthy. They are fresh and natural and sing of summer and sunshine and flowers.

I'm using my go-to blanket-making yarn - Stylecraft Special DK which is a premium acrylic yarn in generous 100g balls. I love the blankets that this yarn makes, they are soft and easy to look after, but most importantly the yarn itself is a dream to work with. This is my Moorland blanket yarn pack, the colours are as follows ::

Top row, left to right ♥ Pistachio ♥ Sage ♥ Grape ♥ Wisteria ♥ Duck Egg ♥

Middle row, left to right ♥ Lime ♥ Meadow ♥ Mocha ♥ Violet ♥ Cloud Blue ♥

Bottom row, left to right ♥ Cyprus ♥ Khaki ♥ Walnut ♥ Plum ♥ Storm Blue ♥

So lets talk about the blanket design shall we? I couldn't wait to get stuck in with these colours to see how well they would play together. This is quite a different sort of a colour palette for me, I mean, there are two shades of brown, bet you never thought you would see that happen in a month of Sundays?! But surprisingly I'm dealing very well with the browns, they look really good against both the greens and the purples, just as they would in nature. 

I can't remember when exactly I had the idea for abandoning my usual preference for crocheting "random" stripes of colour - I know it came sometime after I made my Colourwash Granny blanket. The idea of graduating and merging colours in a very considered order throughout a blanket is an appealing one, and particularly apt for colours inspired by a landscape. The idea is to think of the landscape (in this case the heather moorlands) and arrange the colours so that they echo the view. So I began to think about the colours in layers. Imagine undulating layers of peat and earth and stone, grass and moss and heather flowers, and finally the slight fading of the colours towards the horizon and up into the soft blues of a late summer sky. Beautiful!

I loved the idea in theory, but it took me a very long time to discover how to actually work it all out. I knew this wasn't something I could do with my usual yarn peg method (although I seriously thought about winding a hundred pegs and arranging them on the floor). In the end I realised that the only way to do it would be to actually crochet the stripes. So I set about making a "colour stripe sampler" - narrow crocheted stripes which I would use to try and achieve the layered effect I was after. I really just needed to know if my idea would work, and if it would look as good in reality as I imagined in my mind.

As you can see from the above photo, this took some doing! I had to keep a note of how many times I was using each colour so that every ball of yarn is used an even number of times throughout the blanket. I also really wanted the whole colour composition to look balanced and harmonious. It took five attempts before I was happy with the result..............

.....and I'm so proud of it!! Hahaha!! This is pretty much exactly as I imagined it in my mind, and I am so chuffed! 

The stripes still look quite random and spontaneous in some ways, but they tell a visual story of the landscape that inspired them. 

I've chosen to use a Wave pattern for my Moorland blanket, to describe the undulating view of the hills. This pattern provides a really neat way to play with colour, it's amazing how the colours seem to roll into each other with the ups and downs of the wave pattern. The Wave isn't a new concept by any means - the general idea of it it has existed for a long time in the public domain just as a granny square or ripple/chevron stripe has. I want to be clear and say that I'm not claiming it as mine. I've designed my own interpretation, using two rows for each stripe, and only three different stitches to create the rise and fall of the waves. I'll be sharing a full tutorial for my Neat Wave pattern here on my blog at the start of January when my Crochet-ALong begins.

This will be my third Crochet-ALong (CAL) and I am really, really looking forward to it. As with my previous CAL's, there is nothing complicated about the process - no need to sign up or commit to anything, just decide if you fancy working on your own blanket alongside me throughout January and February 2017 (go on, I'd love it if you would!)

The Moorland CAL officially begins on Friday 6th January - that'll be the day when the pattern will be published here on my blog and I'll give you all the information you need to get started. I'll then give weekly updates every Friday throughout January and February so that we can make the most of weekend hooky time.

I would be thrilled if you wished to follow along with me and create a Moorland blanket for yourself using my colour palette, but it's by no means the only way to go. You might have your very own palette of colours inspired by somewhere that makes your heart sing, or you might have a whole heap of yarn left over from other projects that would make a colourful wavy blanket. The main thing is that whichever colours you use, they should sing to you and make you happy, and that we can all look forward to the pleasure of starting a brand New Year with something creative and inspiring.

As you can see, I've given myself a bit of a head start, mainly so I can test out the sizing and tension (and have something to show you!). The Neat Wave pattern is quite dense with no holes, and the stripes come out looking narrower than the Ripple or Cosy stripes. This means that the finished blanket will probably end up a bit smaller than my usual designs - I'm thinking that one yarn pack (15 balls of yarn) will make a blanket/throw measuring 110cm x 170cm (approximately 4ft x 6ft). You will need two yarn packs if you want to make a larger/double bed size blanket.

Moorland yarn packs are now in my shop at Wool Warehouse, with world wide shipping (yippeee for global hooky!)

♥ MOORLAND YARN PACK ♥

Now then....I've got something to show you...........

..............something pretty and sticky......................

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PlAnNeR StIcKeRs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For those of you who don't already know, I am a very proud owner and user of an Erin Condren Life Planner, you can read all about it on my blog here. One of my most favourite sticker providers is EllieBethDesigns, and as you can see we've joined forces to bring you a set of Attic24 CAL stickers!! Yes that's right - Rachel designed me a sticker sheet especially for my Moorland CAL so that I can mark the weeks and keep a track of where I'm at in my planner.

The sticker sheet is in two parts - the bottom half (shown above) gives stickers to count down to the CAL starting in January, then reminders for the weekly updates. Didn't she do a good job matching the colours (very impressed by that!)

The top part of the sheet has some pretty yarn and crochet stickers. Cute eh?

You can find the CAL stickers on the EllieBethDesigns website, as well as a couple of other general yarn and crochet sticker sheets that Rachel designed earlier in the year. These stickers are perfect for adding to a notebook, journal, planner or calendar.

Rachel is a very lovely lady, and she has very kindly given me a discount code to pass on to you ...

All you need to do is enter the discount code " Attic24 " to receive a very generous 24% discount* off all EllieBeth stickers [*not valid for Illustrated Faith/stationery products. One single use per customer] !!!! Yay for lovely friends and colourful sticky things!!!

Here are the links to the above stickers, I really hope you love them as much as I do >>

ATTIC24 CAL sticker sheet

Crochet sticker sheets

I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to working on my new Moorland blanket with you in the New Year and hoping that you might feel inspired to gather up some yarn and join me in making January and February into blanket-journey months.

Here is a quick round up of CAL info for you ::

♥ The Attic24 CAL will begin on Friday 6th January and will run for 8 weeks. There will be a full picture tutorial here on my blog for the Neat Wave pattern. Each week I'll share the colour stripe order for the Moorland blanket I'm making.

♥ The MOORLAND YARN PACK contains 15 x 100g balls of Stylecraft Special DK and is enough to make one blanket/throw. There is no printed pattern included in this pack, all pattern info will be here on my blog, with updates every Friday throughout January and February 2017. 

♥ The Moorland blanket will measure approx. 110cm x 170cm. You will need two packs if you wish to make a larger/double bed size blanket.

♥ NEAT WAVE TUTORIAL ♥

I really hope these colours inspire you to create a beautiful blanket for your home or to give to someone special. 

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ps a note about my yarn packs - I am thrilled to be working with Wool Warehouse who do an absolutely amazing job of enabling crocheters all over the world to join me in my ongoing colourful blanket making. I earn a commission on all the Attic24 yarn packs sold through Wool Warehouse, and I am truly grateful to everyone who supports me in this way. Thank you. Thank you ever so much. xxx

pps roll on January! xxx

 

 

 

 

 

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Autumnal

♥ We've had such a mild start to Autumn this year that I've been able to wear my old lime green coat for the past month and not feel the chill at all (this coat isn't very substantial and so I only get to wear it when the weather is still warmish). I love this coat sooooo much, I wonder if any of you remember me lusting after it for a whole year before finally snaffling it up in the sale with a whopping 70% discount?? That was a happy day indeed! I've been alternating my Heatwave and Springtime Weekend bags and delighting in the way the colourful stripes look so good against that lush lime green. Simple pleasures.

♥ We had the first lighting of our open fire at the very end of October, more perhaps for the comfort and cheer than for the need of extra heat. We'd come home from Dorset and we all felt a little bit in need of some extra cosyness on the home front. Lighting the fire brings such a lot of emotional and spiritual warmth, and I love it dearly.

♥ The Autumn season crept in gently here in my town this year, bringing a slow change which I have truly appreciated. I've enjoyed walking around my neighbourhood a lot more than usual during the past few weeks, breathing it all in, the colours (the leaves have been glorious), the smells (wood smoke from the canal boat chimneys), and the almost tangible feel of something very Autumnal in the air.

♥ I had a hard time disposing of the six carved pumpkins on our front steps, it made me sad to say goodbye to them after they were on display for such a short time. To cope with the loss, I decided to replace them with some seasonal colour and purchased some heather plants. The sweet potted viola was given to me by Christine when she last came to visit, oh those flowers are just ridiculously pretty....

♥ ....look! See what I mean? Such delightful little flowery faces greeting me each and every day

♥ Woodland walking is lovely at any time of the year and although bluebell and wild garlic time is my favourite of all, the Autumn Leaf Display comes a close second. J had a day off work a little while back and we took the opportunity to walk at Bolton Abbey. I took a shed load of photos actually, but I am storing them away in a file marked "Woodland Blanket Inspiration".

♥ Autumn sunlight is quite magical I think - the sun is often quite low in the sky at this time of year I guess, so we are often treated to shafts of it slanting in through the treetops as we walk.

♥ I am officially a devoted leaf-kicker at this time of year, and I consider it one of the great pleasures of still having a small child's hand to hold. Little B makes it perfectly acceptable for me to swirl through these leaves on a daily basis, kicking them high into the air, cos of course I do it for him. I do!! He loves it!! Haha.

♥ I haven't taken any photos of the view from the Attic window for ages, but every day when we walk to school, I stop at the very end of our street and look out across to the hills and make a mental note of the colours, the light and the weather playing out across the landscape. We've been living in this house for almost nine years now, and I love this view more than ever.

♥ I divide my day time between home and the studio, although I am mostly at the studio these days as I find it easier to work there. The hours that I'm home alone during the week are incredibly precious, I relish the peace and solitude very much. I plan and think and potter and day dream, and although I don't tend to get a whole lot done, I always, always feel refreshed for just having granted myself some time, space and freedom.

♥ Lemon Drizzle cake has been on my mind a lot this past week, how I love the taste of zesty lemons in Autumn when the summer suddenly seems to be far behind us.

♥ I picked the last of the geranium flowers from my back yard before the frosts got them - I remember last year we didn't have any real frosty mornings until December. Not so this year - November has already  given us some very cold mornings indeed, brrrrrr. 

♥ Autumn cooking and eating is being embraced, and I am currently loving anything with melted cheese on top. J makes up a huge batch of Bolognese sauce in the slow cooker every few weeks, something which he brags about continuously due to the fact that the Little People claim it's their most favourite of all meals. So we eat some with spaghetti, and I make some of it into a hearty lasagne. What is it about melted cheese that is so comforting? 

♥ My crochet blankets are in full swing here each and every day and I have given up trying to straighten them out or fold them neatly. Little B is particularly fond of them and is always making dens/nests to snuggle himself up in. 

♥ Last Wednesday Autumn suddenly abandoned us and Winter took an unexpected icy grip, it was a real shock to the system! By the way, look how rich and lovely those hydrangea flowers are, what a stunning colour (way nicer than the Dorset offerings in my opinion).

♥ In the nine years we've been living here, I've never known it to snow this early before, and it makes me wonder what kind of Winter we will have this year? 

♥ Brrrrrrr, I feel chilly just remembering that walk to school, it was literally freeezing! Thank goodness for hand knitted socks and spotty boots.

♥ Ahhhh, here is six month old Tilly sat watching the snowflakes tumble from the sky......yes, this little kitty is ours, and yes I know it has been very remiss of me not to have introduced you to her before now. She is quite the character, and devilishly hard to photograph, but I will try and take some more pictures to share with you soon I promise.

♥ This was me and Tilly this morning, having a little quiet time before the rest of the family came downstairs. Wrapped in crochet blankets, pyjamas on, hand knitted socks on my feet, a mug of fresh coffee and a book just off to the right, and a sleepy, warm purring kitty on my lap - it was pure bliss I can tell you.

♥ Mind you, even a warm sleepy kitty can't quite compare to the joy of having a bag full of yarn and a new blanket just beginning on my hook. A brand new blanket is JOY to the max my friends!!! I've chosen a natural palette of colours to work with, inspired by the Yorkshire moors in late summertime when the heather is in full flush across the hills. Fresh greens, earthy browns, vibrant purples and soft sky blues.....this blanket is already taking me on the most delightful journey. I'll have lots more to show you here in a few days time when my new Moorland yarn pack launches on Wednesday 16th. I am very excited to share!!!

I hope that you are enjoying the season you're in, whether you are cosying up for Autumn or loving the return of Spring. Make sure you take it all in and appreciate the little things....

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Pumpkin Carving

My Little People absolutely LOVE celebrating Halloween, and every year it amazes me just how excited they get for it. Little Lady planned her entire outfit and make up weeks before (she was a skeleton), where as Little B decided against dressing up this year and just opted for a face full of makeup instead (think slightly moldy looking zombie). Our little community of terraced houses is full of families, so Halloween Night becomes one big decorative, dress-up, sugar-filled party time. For three hours we open the door to dozens and dozens of visiting children, and we give away 1.5kg of chocolate. We also spend about half an hour going door to door ourselves, armed with an essential plastic bucket for collecting a substantial haul of sweet stuff.

Truthfully, I could do without the sweet/chocolate gathering part of Halloween, but oh I do so enjoy the decorative bits! And by decorative bits, I mainly mean pumpkins of course.

Last year, pumpkins seemed to be scarce and expensive in the local shops, but this year it was the opposite and they were plentiful and cheap. I picked up a large carving pumpkin for 79 pence from the supermarket, then decided that at that price I may as well do two and went back for a second one.

I also relented and bought some slightly smaller ones for the Little People to have a go with, after they protested it wasn't fair that I got to do all the carving without them. I really can't deny this, it's completely true and I am totally selfish with my pumpkin carving and do it when the Little People are at school. I love it so much, and I refuse to share. Buying in additional pumpkins seemed to be the right kind of compromise I thought.

On the Sunday afternoon (Halloween fell on a Monday this year), we were out in the back yard carving up a storm. Little Lady wanted to do hers entirely by herself, although she did allow me to give her the benefit of my pumpkin carving experience and accepted some help transferring the designs. Hers are the two on the right in the above photo.

Little B cannot stand the feel of pumpkin innards on his hands and so refused to do any of the scooping out, despite me trying to engage him with it. But he was absolutely hopping with excitement at the prospect of being allowed to do some carving, especially when I said he could use my special lino cutting tool. I have a very simple tool which is great for carving shallow lines and making small holes (it's this one on Amazon UK) and he did exceptionally well with it, carefully carving out the lines to make the spider web on his Spiderman pumpkin.

On the Monday when I had the house to myself, I set to work on my own pumpkin creations - this year I went for a "Day of the Dead" theme as I love the intricate designs. The pumpkin on the left is mainly carved with the lino tool so that it's only the eyes which are actually cut out. The design on the right however was very much harder as all of it is cut out, and it was really fiddly to do with just a small kitchen knife and my simple lino tool. Those teeth - a complete nightmare challenge I tell you.

I love how it turned out though, it looked so much better once it got dark and it was all lit up with candles.

The effect of the carved design was magical once it was lit from inside - The Little People were suitably impressed with my carving skillz and yes, I did feel rather proud of my efforts this year.

We have nine stone steps leading up to out front door, perfect for parading our six pumpkins for the visiting hoards of witches/zombies/skeletons/bats/vampires/monsters.

We received a tremendous number of compliments on our pumpkin display, which is very gratifying. Of course, it's all for the children....nothing much in it for me.......

xx

 

 

 

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Dorset :: Autumn 2016

For one reason and another we weren't able to take our usual summer visit down to Dorset this year. As it was the very first time in twenty odd years that I've not made that long journey to visit my folks in the summer time, I found that I missed it enormously. So after some persuading (and maybe a weeny bit of emotional pressure) we decided that an Autumn jaunt would be just the thing to allow my sea-loving soul to reconnect with my home turf (or maybe that should be home surf).

We've been to Dorset in autumn a few times before, the last time being two years ago in 2014. In many ways it's a nicer, gentler experience than a summer visit, with far fewer people and a noticeably more mellow atmosphere. The main downside is the lower temperatures and shorter amounts of daylight, but as you can see from these photos, we were generally pretty blessed with the weather to say it was the end of October.

There were some really gorgeous, bright and breezy sunshiny days which we made the absolute most of. We headed straight to the sea and spent hours meandering around my beloved and familiar childhood stomping ground. Breathing in the fresh salty sea air and taking in the beautiful shades of watery blue. Strolling around the little harbour, out along the gusty pier, down onto the pebbly beach. Sitting in the gentle warmth of the sun sipping coffee, or munching on fish and chips whilst gazing at the horizon. I was definitely in my happy place on these occasions.

We also spent lots of precious time with my folks which was good - my Mum isn't in great health and truthfully I was shocked by how much she has visibly aged since I last saw her in the Spring. I wish our visits weren't so far apart, but they are what they are and I appreciate them very, very much when they happen.

We were in Dorset for four days in total, and it was such a lovely time for my little family. The Little People are now aged 6, 12 and 14 and the age gap between my two boys seems more apparent that it's ever been. The Teen is fiercely independent with a quiet, laid-back personality, whereas six year old Little B is a highly energetic rather attention-greedy child. These two extremes don't always exist peacefully together at home but at least when we are on holiday, life is a bit more relaxed and it seems easier and more harmonious somehow.

We spent most of our good weather hours out and about beside the sea, and the bad weather days cosied up by the fireside with my folks. But I had asked the family if we could visit the subtropical gardens at Abbotsbury so that I could (among other things) indulge my newly discovered Hydrangea fetish. We've visited these gardens many, many times over the years, but of course it's always been in spring and summer.

The Autumn version wasn't nearly as visually inspiring as I had hoped, which was a shame. I was expecting lots of glorious Autumn colour in the foliage, but in reality it was mostly decaying brown and soggy green. 

There were some lovely little autumny bits here and there if you sought them out, and I did try hard to focus on the small colourful details and not feel disappointed by what was lacking. 

There is a whole great long "Hydrangea Walk" at Abbotsbury gardens which I remembered well from previous visits. It's glorious in the summer (if a bit pastel-coloured), but I was keen to see how it looked in October and how much the colours of the flowers would have changed.

The colours were pretty and very varied, although I was surprised by how much paler they were compared to the blooms up here in Yorkshire right now which have a beautiful depth of colour and a rich, autumnal look to them.

I've learnt that the colours of hydrangea flowers will change depending on the acidity or alkalinity of the soil, so I'm guessing this might explain the difference between the Dorset and Yorkshire blooms? I....mmmm.......I really prefer the northern ones!

I was hoping to feel really fired up by these flowers, had anticipated a rush of colourful inspiration and creative feel good, much like I did the other week in my studio, but truthfully?? Not so much. 

But I do still have some dried hydrangea flowers laid out on my studio table which have led to plenty of faffing with my yarn pegs, so there is definitely something hydrangea-ish lurking in my Creative Mind. We shall see what transpires............

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