Attic24

Easter Ins and Outs

We are almost at the end of our two week Easter break and honestly, it has been a wonderful time of nothing and everything. For the first time in over a decade (since I was very heavily preggers with Little Lady in fact) we made the decision not to go down to Dorset this holiday. Although I have really missed not strolling about beside the sea on my home turf this Easter, we've enjoyed a very relaxing and restorative time here at home. 

Rather predictably the weather has been very mixed, but as we made zero plans for this holiday other than to wake up each day and enjoy not having to do anything much, it's been great. Early on in the holiday, we had a short run of beautiful, sunny Spring weather so on one gorgeous morning we set out early to make the most of it.

It delights me to tell you that after a lengthy stint (months? years?) of enduring the Little People protesting like crazy every time we suggested a venture into the great outdoors, these days they seem to positively enjoy the idea of it (shock! horror!) It's been a welcome turn about, and not something that I've voiced aloud to them for fear of jinxing the good walking vibes, but oh, I am so so so so glad!

This walk we did to "climb the crag" is a favourite for us - it's local, so less than 10 minutes in the car, and not that lengthy either as the whole round route is only 3 or 4 miles long. The actual climbing bit though, oh that's quite something and takes a bit of doing. The pathway up to the summit is steep and rocky and so for a good 20 minutes there is plenty of huffing and puffing (and possibly a bit of mild, under-the-breath cursing from time to time) as we scrabble slowly upwards. 

But the feeling when you finally reach the top and get to flollop down in a heap is like nothing else, it's exhilarating (in a breathless sort of a way), satisfying and just plain wonderful. This was an impressively early jaunt for us, and we were sitting up amongst these rocks with chocolate, jam sandwiches and hot coffee just after 9 am.

The Little People embraced this walk with such energy and enthusiasm, it made me so happy deep down in the pit of my stomach, like a heart squeeze multiplied by a million. 

Spring is always so slow to get to us here in North Yorkshire, but during April there are always a handful of blue sky days where we feel the first real sunshiny warmth of the year. It feels sooooooo good when those warm days happen!

At the start of the holidays, the warm sunny days encouraged the Little People to take their play outdoors for the first time this year. It's always a lovely time when we can prop open our front doors and listen to the sound of the neighbourhood children playing up and down the street. I generally leave them to it and don't think to photograph what they are up to - but it's pretty much the same simple play that takes place year after year after year. Wheels, bubbles and chalks. Sometimes balls, sometimes an assortment of other toys, but always scooters, skateboards, bubble wands and street chalks. This bucket was half full at the start of the holidays - there has been a LOT of chalky art happening out there!

I didn't decorate for Easter this year, for the first time in ages (last year's efforts are here, if you are remotely interested in my chaotic hang-all-the-things approach). I don't know why I just didn't feel like I wanted to bother, but I'm not going to over analyse that fact. I was content with just a jug of very pretty little daffies on my table, wafting out the most delicious scent. 

In fact, thinking back over the past two weeks, I've spent a lot of time sat at my dining table indulging in quiet me-things. I finally plucked up courage to pull my cable sock out of the naughty corner and give it a thorough telling off. I then spent three hours pulling back the whole of the toe section which had gone horribly wrong and re-knitting it. The relief and the pride was enormous, considering it's just one sock, but oh I am proud! Since I took this photo, the second cable sock is also finished and believe it or not it was even more of a mare than the first one. It took me t-h-r-e-e attempts to do the toe on the second sock, I can't even tell you how cross it made me. But they are finally complete, and I love them, and I am super-proud. I'll write a proper sock update post soon to show you properly and give all the deets. 

In and out, this holiday has been thoroughly dictated by the weather it seems. We spent a lot of time snuggled up at home that's for sure, but on days when it was dry and we all felt like it, we ventured out to walk. 

We visited Bolton Abbey a few times this holiday, and I was surprised to see that the bluebells were well on their way already. 

The weather last week was cold and grey and felt much more like Winter than Spring, so the bluebells looked at odds underneath the still-bare branches of the trees. Still another week or two before they reach their peak here, so I must remember to prime the fam and warn them of an imminent Bluebell Appreciation outing. 

Gosh, never mind the flowers, there has been a lot of chocolate appreciation happening in the Attic these past few weeks. I've been filling little bowls with mini eggs here and there, partly for the pleasure of seeing them sitting prettily on the table, but mostly for the pleasure of being able to pop one in my mouth whenever the mood strikes. I happen to rather like a small chocolate hit with my first coffee of the day, and think perhaps I might need to keep having bowls of little foil wrapped chocolates about the place. The Little People are slowly working their way through their considerable stash of giant hollow chocolate eggs as I'm being very Mumsy and rationing it to small bits each day after dinner. The Teen rebelled a little and took a whole big egg out with him one day last week, but mostly even he is towing the line and sticking to his daily rations.

Did I mention that this past week has been cold? Freezing even? We've been back to lighting the fire, no joke, and although I would much rather throw the doors open and step out in my brand new flip flops, the fireside cosiness has been welcome this holiday. It's felt snug and homely here in the Attic, and we've all spent a ridiculous amount of time wearing pyjamas. 

The kitty has seemingly enjoyed having us about at home, she is a cat who likes to be close to her humans and I've frequently found her curled up with Little Lady or Little B.

As you can see from the above picture, my lovely Hydrangea blanket is very much in use here at the moment. Due to the persistent cold weather, all my blankets have been used a lot during this holiday as we've indulged in a lot of sofa time. It makes me really happy to see the Little People using my blankets (they've all got blankets on their beds right now too), and I wish for these blankety memories to stick fast and hold tight for a long time to come.

This is how the corner of our living room looks right now though, with the blankets being used to make a rather sprawling hideout for Little B. Goodness knows what goes on under there, but he's been in and out of it all day long.

In and Out - a different kind of out this time though, and as far from the bluebell woods as you could be. We took a train ride to Leeds for a day of shopping, lunch out and posh afternoon drinks in our favourite Sky Lounge. It was the first time we'd taken the Little Peeps to the Sky Lounge and they absolutely loved the whole experience - the big glass revolving doors into the hotel, the ride up to the 13th floor in the lift, the plush golden sofas and velvet cushions, the views, and the posh drinks delivered to our table (pictured above is my mojito which was stunningly delicious)

For the shopping portion of our trip we split into two - J took Little B shopping with his pocket money to the Lego store (huge excitement for this!), whilst I accompanied Little Lady on a bit of a clothes buying jaunt. I don't think I am the best clothes shopping companion (it drains me just thinking about it), but we did OK and she was really happy with her modest purchases. It was such a lovely day with the Little Peeps, one of those times when everything just clicks into place and feels easy and good. Little B was in his element, still so excited by simple train journeys, in awe of big city shops and streets, thrilled by escalators and lifts. 

Yesterday we went to the coast to meet up with J's mama who was spending a few days in St Annes. It wasn't particularly beach weather (it was freeeezing) but we wrapped up warm and made the most of the day. 

After a delicious morning coffee in the cafe on the pier, we set out to attempt to see the sea. This might sound odd given that we were right there at the seaside, but low tide in St Annes means that the actual sea is far, far away. This is more SANDside than seaside. The beach here is seriously huge with great long miles of gently rippled sand, and you need to be quite determined to make it as far as the shoreline. We walked and walked and walked.........

.....and after HALF an HOUR we still didn't make it. I kid you not. We did reach a shallow patch of sea water, but not the sea itself.

Impressive sand ripples though, yes, we saw lots and lots of those. And I loved watching the Little People lark about on the beach as we walked. Collecting shells, using driftwood sticks to draw in the sand and generally letting loose with all that stored up kidlet energy.

After lunch, we spent some time in the municipal park - Ashton Gardens is so beautifully designed and kept, it's a really lovely place to visit at all times of the year.

I went a bit bonkers when I spotted the tulip beds (the local lady walking her dog looked at me as if I were utterly crazy, getting down on my knees to really loooooook at the blooms, which were huge and beautiful and well worth looking at up close).  The Little People burnt off the last of their hot chocolate fueled energy in the play park before we called it a day and headed back inland and home. 

After some wonderful Outings this week, some In days are needed now though as I try and catch up with all that has been neglected recently. After all the excitement and long, full days which led up to the Hydrangea Blanket reveal (thank you so so so much for all your shared excitement over that by the way!), I've appreciated this quiet down time with my family very much. Back to it now though - lots of Yarndale stuff happening behind the scenes right now, as well as some other bits and pieces I'm working on for magazines too. I've been designing and working on a commission this week using this gorgeous, soft summery palette of cottons, as well as writing stuff for various features and generally trying to do what people are asking of me. 

Gosh, this has been a super-long post, I've been writing it on and off for days! It's been so lovely to catch up though, and I promise I'll be back very soon with a proper sock update (I'll have Man Socks on my needles next, what colour do you think J has gone for?????!), and some other yarny news too.

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...more little snippets from the Attic...

Coastal Walking :: Whitby

Dorset Summer 2015

Back Home

Hydrangea Stripe Blanket :: Ta-dah!

Good morning and welcome to what I hope will be a lovely floral and blankety ta-dah! I really love creating these uber-happy, ever so slightly showy-offy ta-dah posts, I think the over excitement is partly to do with the timing of these blanket reveals as it feels like I have to sit on my hands and wait for aaaaaaaaaaaaaaages before I'm able to fully share. So by the time I start to upload all the photos and tell you the whole story, I am already way beyond the point of giddy at the prospect of putting it all out there. It's excitement with a cherry and a liberal dusting of sugar sprinkled on top.

So today my lovelies, I'm going to show you what happened in the weeks/months following the Pilfering Of The Hydrangea Flowers From Unsuspecting Neighbourhood Gardens Incident. Or PotHFfUNGI for short. Do you remember me telling you about it back in October last year? 

I have love love loved having those flowers spread out on my studio table, and later hanging up above the radiator so that the petals could gently dry in the warmth. Almost every day I would study them, taking in the subtle yet rich colour variations whilst I pondered over a good many Hydrangea inspired creative ideas. The above photo shows the flowers at the time that I "acquired" them - they are only partly dried at this point, but the flowers were most definitely out of their summer finery and beginning their journey into the Autumn spectrum. 

As the petals dried out over the Winter they began to slowly change - it was fascinating to observe and although some of them faded somewhat, they definitely retained their beauty. My biggest disappointment was that most of the beautiful deep pink petals completely lost their colour and turned brown. But if you look at the "brown" petals  (at 3 o'clock in the image above), they are more dark golden yellow than mucky brown and I found I could get on board with that colour.

I made the above floral layout a few weeks ago using the now completely dried petals that have been in my studio since October, isn't it just sooooooo pretty? I love all the subtle variations of colour, they are delicate yet strong, faded but rich too. But above all, I find them incredibly inspirational.

As you well know by now (and I am most certainly predictable when it comes to these things), the inspiration I find in nature almost always sparks off a whole flurry of yarn related ideas. And when I say ideas, of course I mainly mean blankets. The more I pondered over the gentle colours of dried Autumn hydrangeas, the more I began to visualise those colours coming together as soft, warm blankety stripes. I just couldn't help myself, the blanket-maker in me is very much alive and kicking.

Over the weeks that I worked through my ideas for this colour palette, I certainly didn't obsessively try to match the yarn colours to each petal and leaf. I used the hydrangeas as a point of reference, but also tried to capture something of the emotion behind the whole story of the flowers. I wanted to describe the transition from living blooms to faded petals, to show the subtle depth of the colours that looked so beautiful as they changed and settled.

I also wanted to create a colour palette that was balanced and harmonious, something that was soft and pretty, perhaps with a slightly faded vintage vibe. These are gentle, sleepy colours that remind me of Summer easing into Autumn slumber.

I chose fifteen colours to make up my Hydrangea palette and the yarn pack contains 15 x 100g of Stylecraft Special DK, as follows ::

Top row, left to right ::

Violet ♥ Denim ♥ Cypress ♥ Mocha ♥ Pale Rose

Middle row, left to right ::

Grape ♥ Storm Blue ♥ Meadow ♥ Vintage Peach ♥ Mushroom

Bottom row, left to right ::

Raspberry ♥ Duck Egg  ♥ Pistachio ♥ Camel ♥ Parma Violet 

Ahhh, it always feels so good to have a fresh new blanket-to-be nestled in my yarn bag! Seeing the yarn balls like this always gets me really, really excited for the journey about to begin, it's a thrill that I never, ever tire of.

I am fascinated with how designers work, with the whole process of finding inspiration and developing ideas. Not many designers share the origins of their pattern inspiration, and I often wonder about this. Where do they look? How do they create their patterns? Do they look at vintage patterns, do they get inspired by what is already out there, do they sketch their ideas first, or do they get scraps of yarn and a hook and launch themselves into it blind? 

It's not often that I decide to show you the true origins of my pattern designing, as usually my early samples look pretty appalling to be honest. They are scrappy and half worked, ideas tried out and abandoned, plenty of failures in amongst those first stitches. But I thought it would be fun to share this time, so you can see how I arrived at the simple stripe I've come up with for my Hydrangea blanket. If you look at the sample above, you can see that I started out trying a variation of the V stitch. I didn't know this at the time I was playing around with my own sample, but I later found out that this "double-V stitch" already exists in the public domain and is often called Iris Stitch.

I liked the look of this stitch (and it is super easy to do which is always a priority for me when I design my patterns), but decided it was a bit too open and holey for me to like it for a blanket. So I had a try at filling in those holes - if you look at the third (denim blue) colour in the sample above, you can see where I began to add in an extra double crochet stitch in between each double-V shell. And by working two rows in the same colour, my stitch pattern came out looking a little bit like a four-petaled flower, which was a perfectly happy accident!!

Once I'd decided on using this stitch pattern I'd created, I had the headache of working out the numbers. Oh. My. Goodness. Crochet Maths is a necessary part of the design process, but it drives me nuts. However, once the numbers have been conquered and the blanket can go full steam ahead, wowsers, it is the very best feeling when it all works out. 

I knew after the first few stripes of this blanket that this pattern was going to hit the sweet spot for me - it is Super Easy in that once the first two "set-up" rows have been created, every row follows the same pattern and there is no counting involved. You can cosy up with this project in front of your favourite thing on TV (or in the pub/cafe) and hook away with only a small part of your brain needing to be engaged. 

This is speedy, rhythmic, pleasurable hooky, with the "double-V" made using a UK treble crochet and the infill stitch made using a UK double crochet. Working two rows of each colour means that there aren't too many ends to darn in and the stripes grow satisfyingly quickly. Also, you'll be pleased to hear that this is not a blanket that has wobbly sides either - the ends of the rows come out looking remarkably straight and neat, hooray for that simple fact!!

As the blanket grew, I was delighted by the unexpectedly lovely surface texture of the stripes. The hydrangea stitch pattern makes quite a dense fabric, which means that the finished blanket feels as if it's made from thicker yarn than a DK weight. Everyone who has seen and squished this blanket in real life has loved the feel of it, and been surprised that this is indeed Stylecraft Special DK yarn.

I have enjoyed hooking this blanket so, so much - the quiet ease of the pattern has pleased me on so many levels (especially coming after the intensity of the Moorland Blanket), and has been an absolute pleasure.

I have also loved the way the colours have played together - often the combinations ended up quite surprising and rather quirky (Vintage Peach next to Pistachio? Raspberry next to Denim?), but the overall harmony of these colours creates a  beautiful energy I think.

Whilst I've been making the Hydrangea blanket, I've also found myself playing with the flowers at the same time, it was instinct I suppose, to keep looking, comparing, referring, feeling.

I sometimes felt that the blues/purples I'd picked out were maybe a tad too dark - the Denim, Storm Blue and Violet yarn colours are quite intense against the softer more pastel shades. Yet when I looked at the dried hydrangea flowers, the deep stormy blues and purples are right there in real life, just as the pale baby blues, soft limey greens and delicate grey/purples are. 

I've lost track of the weeks a bit with making this blanket as I can't quite remember when I started it. Sometime towards the end of February I think it was, when my Moorland Blanket was awaiting it's border. It feels like it's been a short journey, and yet I've been pondering these colours since way back in October last year.

I put the final stitches into the blanket last week - I opted for a simple two-round Linen Stitch edging to very gently hold the stripes and give a very subtle finish. To be honest with you, the edges were so neat and straight (they pleased me so much!) that I even pondered the idea of leaving the stripes free of constraint and not making an edging at all.

But in the end, I decided that creating a narrow edging would be the thing to do, and as always it's amazing what a difference it has made to the finished blanket. It turns a whole load of stripes into a very definite Finshed Object, and I love to see and feel that transformation. 

There is that delicious moment when the last ends are darned in and the blanket is finished, and I confess that I do actually shout a grand "Ta-dah" out loud to whoever happens to be listening at the time. Sometimes it's just the kitty, but that's OK, she opens her eyes wide when I shout and gives me The Disapproving Look that makes me feel like I am behaving badly.

But finished blankets are so worth shouting about, they really are.

All those relaxing moments and happy memories locked up in those colourful rows. A crochet blanket is so much more than just a whole collection of yarny stitches, and I love more than anything to celebrate that fact.

And if I want to leap about and shout about it, then nobody (not even the disapproving kitty) will stop me............

.............TA-DAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

To be perfectly honest this blanket turned out differently to what I had first seen in my mind, which has surprised me as that doesn't often happen (my Creative Mind is surprisingly good at giving me accurate visual predictions). If I had to try and put into words why this is, I would say it has something to do with the energy that this blanket has. In my mind when I first chose the colours, I thought :: soft-sleepy-faded-vintage-floral. And yet this blanket isn't really those soft, faded things at all - it is much more energetic, striking, vibrant than I thought it would be.

I wonder if you agree with me? I wonder how these colours, these stripes make you feel? Do share, I would LOVE to know....

As with all my finished blankets, there is no softly-softly approach to their treatment around here. They are launched into family life the minute the last end has been darned in, and Little B has already had this blanket pegged up to form the ceiling to his secret hideaway at the weekend. I particularly like to see it draped over the grey of our sofa, those colours really do go very well with grey.

I love seeing these fifteen colours all together, even more so now that I know what stripy delights have come from them playing together! I also happen to think that these Hydrangea inspired colours would work beautifully made into a blanket of squares - there is just something playful and quietly energetic about them which I think would work very well with squares (I can so see the Harmony blanket worked with these colours - I am very tempted!)

I am really happy with my continuing partnership with the lovely folks at Wool Warehouse*, my Attic24 shop is celebrating three years this month, and I still feel such a thrill when I think about it all. I love that I can share my blanket journeys with you, and very much hope that you might find yourself inspired to embark on your very own creative journeys.

So....I think we should maybe round off with a few blankety facts?

♥ Yarn ♥ I used 15 x 100g Stylecraft Special DK to make this blanket and a yarn pack is available from my shop at Wool Warehouse. A full colour printed pattern is included with the yarn, and the lovely peeps at Wool Warehouse* will happily ship all over the world.

♥ HYDRANGEA YARN PACK ♥

♥ Size ♥ My blanket measures 120 cm x 170cm, but there is no reason why you couldn't increase/decrease the starting chain to make a humongous bed blanket or a lovely baby sized blanket. You would need to double the yarn quantity to make a double bed size blanket.

♥ Pattern ♥ I've named this pattern the Hydrangea Stripe, and you can find a full picture-heavy tutorial in the left hand side bar of my blog. This is a brilliant pattern for beginners, and I think one of the easiest I have ever written - it is pretty hard to go wrong with this stitch, once you've completed your foundation row and first pattern row it's a piece of cake. Included in the tutorial is a table which gives the colour order for working the stripes - there are 88 stripes in total.

♥ HYDRANGEA STRIPE PATTERN ♥

I was going to wait a while before talking about these crochet hydrangea flowers, but honestly they are so cute that I can't resist sharing them with you right now. I designed this little four petaled flower to use up the leftovers from my blanket as I've been so inspired by these flowers that I have in mind to make a Hydrangea Flower Wreath....

....I still need to make a lot more, and I'll be sharing the pattern for them here on my blog in the next few weeks.

As ever, thank you so much for joining me here in the Attic and indulging my over-sharing, I appreciate your company very much..

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ps * Wool Warehouse does a fantastic job enabling my yarn packs to be shipped all over the world and I really enjoy the way in which we work together. Wool Warehouse is the only yarn company that supports my blog and I earn a commission on sales of my yarn packs via my Attic24 shop. 

pps if you are sharing your own hydrangea blanket journey on social media,  please do add the #hydrangeablanket hashtag - I'd love to see your pictures. Happy hooking! xx

♥

....more little snippets from the Attic...

Gorgeous Sweet William

Crochet, Colour and Flowers

Three Sweet Things