Thank you so much for visiting me in the Attic, it's lovely to see you. My name is Lucy and I'm a happily married Mum with three children. We live in a cosy terraced house on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales in England which we are slowly renovating and making home. I have a passion for crochet and colour and love to share my creative journey. I hope you enjoy your peek into my colourful little world x
Hello my lovelies, how are you all doing? Are you all tucked in for the night and ready for the joys of Christmas to unfold? We are all cosy here in the Attic, listening to the wind whistle down the chimney as yet another storm arrives in our patch. This is Storm Conor (absurdly loving that our storms have names), and it looks like we could be in for a wild couple of days.
I have been very slow to feel infused by Christmas jollity this year, and as usual I have been very late doing the necessary festive things. We only put our tree and decorations up a week ago, it was the first day of the school holidays for the Little People and they really enjoyed decking out the tree for me. Before anything even went onto the branches, the kitty climbed in and toppled the whole lot over, so I tied the tree to the window frame with a length of string and am keeping my fingers crossed. She seems to enjoy sitting right inside the tree (it's an artificial one), often we don't even realise she's in there until the bells jingle and out she climbs. I was nervous decorating my mantel as this is very much Tilly terrain, but so far she hasn't even tried to jump up and I am rather relieved that all is still intact. I have loved bringing out all my old decorations again, so many good memories of Christmas' past (you can read about my "Fun and Joy" bunting here).
I'm currently slap bang in the midst of fighting off a mother of a head cold, cripes I've not felt well at all these past few days. Yesterday I spent the entire day on the sofa drinking Lemsip and crocheting, so today has been full on as I tried to catch up with everything I should have done yesterday. It's been draining, to say the least. However - I am so looking forward to tomorrow, the Little Peeps are very excited and I can't wait to see what they make of their presents. We will be staying put here at number 24 and enjoying some precious family time. I will be wearing pyjamas, painting my toenails glittery-sparkly red and drinking prosecco topped with raspberry and cranberry juice. Cooking, eating, drinking, loving and loafing.
I'd like to wish you a merry and joyful Christmas, may it be full of love and happiness, with a few glittery sparkles thrown in for good measure. Have fun!
We did some more Christmas shopping this morning, my Man and I, staying local this time which felt good.
Afterwards we drove out of town to walk amongst the quiet of the damp winter woodland, which felt even better.
It was mild and still, but very very grey....
.....with a misty fog hanging low over the landscape.
The air smelt earthy, leafy and damp, and I felt the calm all around me as we strolled along.
It felt really good to be walking for the pure pleasure of it, enjoying the pared back simplicity of the winter scenery, breathing it all in.
I just love to see the little snippets of greenery which thrive even in the depths of Winter, those vibrant mosses and delicate lichens please me enormously.
After our walk we called in to the Strid cafe, tucked ourselves around a little spotty table with a view out into the woodland and had a bite to eat and a hot drink.
We drove home along the back road, the one where I have to hop out of the car and open the gate to let the car through, saying hello to the sheep who meander all over the place.
Such a gentle day, a real contrast to yesterday's gleaming, shiny hustle and bustle.
I hope you are finding some slow calm in your days my lovelies, go gently....
I am very much enjoying having J at home with me this week, it's a treat for us to have so much child free time together and we're having fun going out and about. Today we went on the train to The City to do a little bit of Christmas shopping which is something of an annual ritual for me at this time of year. Having the Mister with me made it a different experience altogether, and also made me remember that we are both completely different when it comes to shopping.
Our first stop was a new shopping arcade which only opened in October, and wowsers, what an impressive thing it is. I wished that I had taken more notice of the outside of the building as it looks incredible from the pictures I've seen (have a look here to see what I mean). Inside was quite overwhelming, everything was just soooooo shiny!! So much gleaming, reflective, shiny materials, my eyes felt like they might just pop out of my head trying to take it all in. The floor completely did me in, those reflective zigzags made me feel like I was going to trip over any minute. The shops were all incredibly posh too, and were a little bit over the top for me, but then again I was kind of expecting it to be that way. Aside from wanting to just experience all the shiny new-ness, we actually needed to visit the new John Lewis store to pick up a particular gift.
I do have a soft spot for large department stores, there is something rather exciting about having access to so much beautifully displayed stuff on such a large scale. And I happen to love love love riding up and down escalators, it greatly pleases my inner child which I suspect is very much more giddy than is normal for my age.
I left J in the technology department and wandered across to the christmas department to gaze in wonder at the vast displays of ornaments. I had an urge to go and stroke household textiles on the floor below (I am inexplicably drawn to the shelves of fluffy towels arranged by colour), but J was having none of it. He shops like a missile - knows his target in advance and goes straight to it, acquiring it with the minimum of fuss and not a millimetre of diversion. I am the complete opposite, I am a browser and a wanderer and am so very easily diverted it's ridiculous. I have secretly decided to go back to this amazing store at another time and spend an age wandering and stroking, riding up and down through all the levels as many times as I can.
The older shopping arcades in Leeds city are just incredibly beautiful, and I love strolling around here.
I didn't see anyone else really taking in their surroundings, but to me it was impossible not to stand still and gaze about.
We were passing through this arcade so weren't shopping here as such....
.....but I couldn't resist taking some photographs of it looking so glorious and festive.
Ahhhh, gift shopping.....what can I say? I don't enjoy it all that much, and I'm not very good at it either. I picked up a few things from favourite shops for friends, and some small bits for the Little People. But ultimately, after going at it for 3 hours I felt drained and as if I'd failed somehow.
J suggested we use our last hour in the City to sit and have a drink rather than traipse around more shops, and I was so happy about that idea.
He took me to a place that he sometimes visits with friends - it's actually a hotel bar, but the fact that it's on the 13th floor makes it rather special.
The views from up here in the SkyLounge Bar are spectacular, so different from my green rural Attic view, but stunning all the same.
We ordered drinks and decided to sit outside on the narrow terrace which runs along the whole length of the thirteenth floor. Despite it being winter and the fact that we were so high up in the air, the terrace was sheltered and warmed by outdoor heaters above each table, and it felt absolutely lovely to be able to sit outside.
I was a bit naughty and ordered myself Hendricks gin and tonic to take the lingering edge off the shopping experience, gosh I really, really enjoyed that drink!
We had time before our train to have a little wander around this area which is a curious mix of historical and new, residential and commercial. It was interesting to see the canal boats here, and it suddenly occurred to me that this is the very same canal (the historic Leeds-Liverpool canal) that runs through my town.
Walking home from the train station along my own familiar stretch of canal this afternoon, I felt a surge of relief to be back. I do enjoy the occasional city visit and a change of scene every so often, but oh it is so so so nice to come home again.
J is spending a little bit of time away from work in the run up to Christmas this year and we've been counting down the weeks for quite some time.
Ages ago, when these precious days were marked in big happy letters on the calendar, I asked J if he might take me to see the sea one day, just the two of us, just because we could. We have just over six hours in a school day, so we figured it was do-able and I can't tell you how very, very much I've been looking forward to it.
I didn't care if it was raining (it wasn't) and I didn't care if it was freezing cold (it was). I just wanted to wrap up warm, wander on the vast sandy beach, stroll leisurely along the deserted promenade and drink a mighty fine Italian coffee in our favourite little cafe on the pier.
So this morning saw us walking along the beautifully quiet beach at St Annes on the Fylde coast - you might remember we spent a few days there back in February. It's such a lovely, peaceful kind of a place in winter time, very good for mind, heart and soul.
Our agenda was sparse and consisted of slow walking, gentle pottering, good coffee and a little picnic. We talked a lot, laughed a lot too.
In some ways it felt a bit strange to be without any accompanying Little People (I kind of felt we should have had a dog, as pretty much everyone else we saw was dog walking), but it was rather lovely to be just the two of us.
As the hours passed, I felt myself slowly filling up with giddy joy. The wide open views, the break from routine, the gentle exercise, the laughter, the soft winter light, the togetherness. But it was the fresh sea air that filled me the most, I just couldn't breathe it in deeply enough.
On the way home in the car, I suddenly had a flash of a memory - I recalled a beautiful paper cut by the fabulously talented Rob Ryan. I couldn't remember the exact words, but I knew that they perfectly described this kind of a day.....
'Can We? Shall We? One day very soon, let us go away together just you and me. Can We? Shall We? Call in sick one day and travel to the sea and hold hands all day. Can We? Shall We? Eat our sandwiches on the train, get drunk on fresh air and come home tired and never tell anyone.... Ever'
Exactly that....except of course I've shared it with you...
Well there's not a lot I enjoy more than a colour-filled Ta-dah moment, and this afternoon I got to indulge in this very lovely pleasure. The kitty gave me a not-impressed wide-eyed cat-stare as I danced around taking pictures and generally enjoying myself from one end of the room to the other. I've noticed that Ta-dah moments make me move around a huge amount!
This has been a quick little stash-busting project to allow me to have a play with my new Neat Wave pattern. I'm using this same pattern for my Moorland Blanket, so although I've not yet shared it here on my blog, it will be coming at the start of January when the Moorland Crochet-A-Long begins.
These colours......what can I say? They delight me and make me kind of want to curl my toes at the same time. I didn't create a palette to start with for this cushion, I just filled a small bag with a collection of oddments left over from other projects. It's a very quirky mixture, twenty two shades of Stylecraft Special DK worked into a completely random sequence. I tried very hard not to be too precious about the way the colours went together, and only twice did I end up pulling back a partly completed row when I just couldn't stand the way it was making me feel.
I finished the last few rows sat up in bed last night, then spent this afternoon putting it all together. The cushion cover is made in two separate pieces which are stitched together round three sides, with a button fastening created on the fourth side.
As mentioned previously, there is no pattern for this project just yet, but I know that many of you have seen me working these stripes and have requested the colour information, which I'm more than happy to share....
CUSHION BACK
I'm making the cover to fit a 45 cm / 18 in cushion.
There are 33 stripes in total, using 22 colours of Stylecraft Special DK.
To make up the cushion cover, I put right sides together, matching up the straight bottom/foundation edge. The cushion back is shorter than the cushion front (you can see me holding the top edge of it in the above picture).
I chose denim yarn to stitch with - it's a medium colour, not too light or dark. I simply made sure the ends of the stripes were matching up and made meat little whip stitches to join the two pieces together (stitching on the wrong/reverse side)
When the cushion is turned to the right side, you can only see teensy bits of the stitches showing, so it's a pretty neat finish.
The above picture shows the cushion after the first side seam has been stitched - you can see more clearly how the front piece is a little taller than the back piece, and how I matched the ends of the stripes neatly together as I stitched. I really like looking at all the colours jigging along together as they rise and fall in their neat waves. The sense of movement that this stitch pattern gives is fascinating, it's really lovely to gaze at.
The bottom edge of the cushion is stitched in exactly the same way using denim yarn and passing the needle through the single loops of the foundation chain. Then the second side is stitched up too, leaving just the top edges free.
Now it's time for...................
..............buttons!
I could have chosen blue buttons to blend, but where's the fun in that? This is me, Lucy the colour-junkie, and so I predictably choose All The Colours. Eight buttons in total (15mm ones), positioned along the fourth stripe down from the top edge of the cushion back.
I used turquoise yarn to stitch the buttons which matched the stripe I was stitching into.
I learnt this trick when I made my Colourblock cushion, it's very nifty indeed. I discovered that 15mm buttons can pass through the gaps between two treble crochet stitches, meaning there is no need to actually make button holes. Simply fold the flap over and button up the buttons through the gaps in between the crochet stiches....super neat eh?!
The 45cm cushion pad that I've got is very plump indeed and made the cover look quite different once it was stretched and buttoned up.
Oh, do check out that very pleasing PluMpNesS!!!!
You can see that my side seam does look pretty neat (if I say so myself), and I love how the different colours just bump along against each other without even trying to match up in any way.
As you would expect in a home full of crochet blankets, this crochet cushion immediately looked as if it belonged.
It looks so good plumped up there, ready and waiting to give a soft bit of comfort into the small of my back.
The colourful wavy cheer it brings to my grey sofa makes me very happy indeed, especially at this time of year when we need all the brightness we can get.
Life is ticking along at a gentle pace for me right now, and I am beyond grateful for these slow, nurturing days. In the run up to Christmas, it can be very easy to get swept along in a constant tide of activity and preparation, but I've learnt over the years to make sure that I stand firm and do things at my own pace. True, my personal pre-Christmas pace is probably way too slow for most folk, being that I don't really get the festive thing going until the middle of the month, but it works for me. I bought new fairy lights last week which was a start, but really not a lot else is going on just yet in relation to the C word.
Yesterday morning we walked in the woods, a cold, energising stomp through the expanse of brown-ness. Brown trees, brown mud, brown leaves, I was so thankful for the soft shafts of golden sunlight, and plenty of creeping green ivy.
We climbed up a steep stepped pathway towards the edge of the woodland, then turned to follow this lovely old stone wall....
....in all it's gorgeous, moss-covered glory. Hooray for growing green stuff!
The sun was so welcome yesterday, I felt like I wanted to find a sheltered patch and lie myself down for a while to soak it up. I have a feeling that my vitamin D levels are low again as I'm struggling a bit with my days....
...so gently does it for now, and that suits me just fine.
I made time for some really enjoyable hours of hooky this weekend, oh it did make me happy! I sat quietly by myself working these waves of random colours, wondering if this cushion is going to be a complete disaster or a bit kind of fabulous. It really is quirky, no doubt about it. Yesterday mid afternoon, I hit on the idea to make myself a coffee with an added slug of Baileys....oh my word, soooo good! I inhaled my hyacinth, sipped my mildly alcoholic coffee and yarned along with myself, feeling rather blissed out.
I had to re-locate my hyacinth bowl today as it's reached the top-heavy stage of flowering and the blooms need to lean against the wall for support. These flowers really are Lovely, with a capital L.
I've been hanging out a bit on the sofa of late, watching a strange assortment of films with the Little People and J. December really is a month for snuggling and I've been taking full advantage, wrapping myself in yarny stitches from head to toe, literally. The combined comfort of hand knit socks and crochet blankets is just amazing.
I'm not quite ready to Christmasify my mantel just yet, although seasonal additions have been gently sneaking in. I bought a scented seasonal candle ("Winter" fragrance), and a funny wooden light up star decoration which I have declared to be "Alpine". No sign of Christmas here just yet, although I am very tempted to whip up some more seasonally appropriate bunting to replace the ice cream pastels of Summer. Ooooo, my Creative Mind is whirling now......
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