Attic24

Happy Yuletide

I'm so happy I've managed to find time to pop into the Attic for a quick catch up and have a chat before Christmas, I've just not had the time or energy to sit at my desk since I got back from my Dorset trip on Monday. So helllooooooooo to all you lovely people who call in to visit, I do so appreciate you and I hope I tell you often enough what it means to have this window out over the rooftops where I can fling my words and pictures out into the open and hear your collective voices echo back to me. It really does mean the world to me.

My trip to Dorset was good, kind of emotional and at times quite hard going, but nevertheless still good. I am so looking forward to future visits where I hope to be there without all the overwhelming sadness/guilt as it really is the heaviest of lumpy feelings that lodges itself somewhere just underneath my ribs.

Last Sunday I went with my Dad's other half to the Bay and we wandered around the grey and blustery harbour to blow away the cobwebs. It was such a tonic, and I loved the wildness of the weather and the rather startling lack of people (so very different to the summer weekends).

We didn't walk on the beach as the tide was up and I have rather a big hole in the bottom of my right red boot. But we did walk all the way to the end of the promenade with the waves crashing and the salty surf blowing into our faces, and I finally felt at ease for a while.

I was away for four days, but travelling by train is a lengthy process and only really gave me two days to be in Dorset. But it was just enough, as much emotional feely stuff as I could cope with to be honest.

On the way home from Dorset I had a four hour stop over in London. At the time when I booked my train ticket I thought it would be marvelous to have this time in the city for some last minute Christmas shopping, to soak up the festive ambiance and see the lights. But crikey, I just hadn't thought about the reality of being in this particular spot just a week before Christmas, it was such a shock! After the calm, grey near-desertion of the seaside, London city centre was bustling in the extreme. It was exhilarating and overwhelming, shocking in it's over-the-top-ness. I wandered around Regent Street and Carnaby Street, taking it all in and feeling very, very small and provincial. 

I decided I just had to get off the over crowded streets so headed for John Lewis......

.....which was looking gloriously festive and beautifully extravagant. After some aimless wandering around I did manage to brave the Christmas department and purchased a few things for the Little People, but really my heart wasn't quite in it.  

By the time I emerged back out onto the streets it was getting dark on Oxford Street and the lights looked absolutely stunning.

I headed out of the city on the 18.30 train and four hours later I was finally flopped exhausted back in my own bed. Always such a  good feeling to be home again, gosh, I felt the relief right down to the very tips of my toes.

During the days since I came back from Dorset I've been really enjoying the simple things that bring the Yuletide season into our home. In amongst the endless shopping and the hectic school activities, I've tried to find moments in my day where I stop still and appreciate it all.

The scent of these hyacinths is just lovely at this time of year, and I think I might need to revise my idea that these are Autumn blooms. Having them on the Christmas mantel is making me very happy indeed.

On Thursday I flew around town for a few hours trying to finish up the gift buying so that I could mentally just unwind from the chaos of it all. I am never, ever organised enough to buy presents with ample time to spare, but I've learnt to accept that that's the way I am and that despite the inevitable layer of anxiety it always turns out OK. So after the rather manic shopping sesh on Thursday, I settled down to concentrate on celebrating Winter Solstice.

A few weeks ago I bought a cheap wire florists wreath and some inexpensive festive branch things.

My idea was to pull apart the branch things so that I could discard the plastic foliage and make use of the wired berries and cones. Cos this is Winter Solstice and it's all about the real, live, living greenery at this time of year......

.......ta-dah???????? Can I get away with saying that here????!!

Hmmmm....not sure, but this is what I made after playing around for an hour or so.  A rather wonky Solstice wreath using lengths of trailing ivy, bits of holly and some eucalyptus stems, all held together with the sparkly faux berries and wired pine cones.

It's very rustic, that's for sure, but I really enjoyed the scent of the greenery (fresh eucalyptus has the most amazing scent, I can't get enough of it at the moment), and the simplicity of twisting and coaxing those stems into something vaguely wreathlike.

The candle was a last minute purchase (part of my whirlwind local shopping fest) and is one of those ones with three wicks and forty hours burning time. The scent is "Golden Saffron and Cedarwood" and is rather lovely I have to say. Even J approves, and that is saying something. 

To celebrate the passing of the shortest day I also fashioned a Yule Log by wrapping a small log in bendy ivy stems, then tucking in some rosemary, pine and eucalyptus. I love these simple traditions which celebrate our connection to the earth and the seasons and although J looks at me as if I have two heads, I stand my ground and chat to the Little People about it in the hope that they might understand and absorb.  

Honestly, we had a beautiful time of it this year. I lit up our candle, made some mulled wine for J and I and some mugs of hot chocolate for the Little People and we spent a little time sat by the fire thinking about the turning of the year and the lengthening days to come. I for one am so so so glad to have turned the corner on these short dark days.

Our Yule Log went on the fire and we made our wishes, it was simple and sweet. I would so dearly love to know what the Little People wished for, but they wouldn't tell. I even tried bribing them with chocolate but lips remained sealed. 

School just finished up on Friday which was much later than usual, it's been the longest haul of a half term that I can ever remember and we have all been feeling it. Yesterday I finished all my wrapping and food shopping and today has been lazy and blissful. I've treated myself to a new pyjama top which is over sized and made of the softest, fluffiest material imaginable. It's a soft, pale grey and I am totally in love with it - it's taken all my will power not to put it on and wear it all day today cos I'm saving the luxurious cosy newness of it for this evening. I've got some chilled prossecco waiting for me to pop the cork in a short while and we are eating  a picnic-style dinner in front of the fire tonight - cheese, pate, cured meats, seeded crackers, sausage rolls, pork pie, olives, crusty artisan bread.

The Christmas tree is holding it's own against the constant kitty invasion, although she somehow managed to chew some of the light bulbs which put a whole set out of action. Ah well, she's having fun with it all I guess, there are fallen bells everywhere as she likes to bat them off and chase them around the room.  

I hope with all my heart that wherever you are and whoever you're with, that you are full of gladness for the Yuletide season. I wish you Fun and Joy in abundance!

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Woodland Blanket CAL :: Q&A

Today marks exactly three weeks until the Woodland CAL begins. That's only 21 days, or 504 hours, or 30,240 minutes, so you see it's not very long to wait at all!! There is still time to gather your yarn and hooks if you'd like to join in and start 2018 in a beautiful, blankety way.....honestly, I can't think of any better way to begin the New Year.

Following on from the Woodland CAL Introduction, I thought it would be useful to answer some of the most frequently asked questions about the Woodland blanket and Crochet-A-Long which starts on Friday 5th January 2018. But before I begin, I'd just like to say a huge big, massive, squishy thank you to everyone who has already bought a Woodland yarn pack, I really hope you enjoy swooning over the colours as you wait patiently for the CAL to begin. I am so so excited to start out on this journey, honestly, you have no idea how giddy it makes me feel when I think about how many gorgeous blankets will soon be under way all over the world. 

So lets get cracking with the FAQ shall we?

Do I need to sign up to join in the Woodland CAL?

For those of you who are new to my blog or haven't ever joined in with an Attic24 CAL (crochet-a-long) before, I'd like to reassure you that I run a very relaxed and informal hooky camp here. There is no need to sign up or commit to anything, just gather together your yarn and hooks and join in the fun. The pattern and first CAL installment will be published for free here on my blog on Friday 5th January 2018, then every Friday after that throughout January and February 2018.

Is there somewhere I can ask questions or share pictures once the CAL starts?

I always read all comments here on my blog - they come to me as an email, so I will always try and reply to questions in person via the email address you leave with your comment.

You can also ask questions on my Facebook page and I will do my very best to catch them all (Facebook is quite tricky for me to keep up with at busy times, but I do try hard not to miss anything). Every week I'll invite you to show/post photos of your blankets in progress on my Facebook page and I'll choose some of them to feature on my blog, so do please share!

And lastly, there is a fabulous Facebook group (called "Attic24 Moorland and More") which started with the Moorland CAL  and is still going strong. This is a very supportive and friendly group where you can ask for pattern help/guidance, share pictures and connect with lovely ladies who are crocheting Attic24 blankets all over the world.  Just to mention that this isn't a group set up or moderated by me, although I do pop in most days.

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

One Woodland 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 measuring 120 cm x 180 cm (approx. 4ft x 6ft).

I'll be giving advice about working a small sample piece before you begin your blanket so that you can decide on the correct hook size to suit your tension. If you follow my advice and make a blanket the same size/tension as mine then you shouldn't run out of yarn!

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

If you are using the Woodland yarn pack and following my colour order, the design will allow for enough yarn to make a border. I'm planning to use Lime, Gold, Spice and Tomato for my border which I think are the most beautiful Autumn colours and look stunning together. This might be subject to change (eg I might only use 3 of the above colours). The border will follow the wavy line of the ripple (there won't be any straightening out of that beautiful curvy edge), and will be simple to create.

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. I'll give exact numbers for you to work either a 6ft or 7ft wide blanket, but once you know the pattern repeat and crochet up a small sample, you can work out your own starting chain if you wish. I'll also be giving additional, optional stripe info each week which will add an extra 30 cm / 1ft onto the length of your blanket. 

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 4 mm. However, after much sampling and experimenting, I've found that this pattern looks and feels much better if it's not worked too tightly. For example, I'm a tight crocheter so I'm making my Woodland Blanket using a 5 mm hook. If you crochet quite loosely, then you will probably find that a 4 mm hook suits you just fine, or maybe you might even drop to a 3.5 mm.

In Part 1 of the CAL, we'll be working up a small tension sample to test out the Woodland Ripple 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/pastel/bright colours, do I have to use the Woodland Yarn pack for this blanket? 

I get asked this question about all of my blankets and the answer is always a resounding NO! Obviously, I would love it if you felt inspired by my colours enough to want to follow along, but I am equally thrilled if you want to use the pattern with your own choice of colours. If you fancy making a blanket using one of my other yarn packs, or your own colour palette, that's brilliant 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 18 Woodland stripes to create a yarny walk through the woods (I explained this colour idea in my CAL Introduction post). But really, the main thing is that we all enjoy making a blanket together.

I'd prefer a random stripe blanket rather than a blanket that tells a visual story, can you help me with choosing a colour order?

With this particular colour palette, I think it'll make a really stunning blanket if the stripes are worked up in a random order. So in addition to the Woodland colour story that I've got planned for the CAL, each week I'll also give you a random stripe option. There will be 105 stripes in the Woodland blanket, so if you are choosing to follow a different pattern (eg the cosy stripe which only has 90 stripes), you will need to make sure you stop in the right place! 

 

Is the Woodland Ripple suitable for beginners?

Yes 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) and tr (treble). Like all ripple patterns there is simple counting involved so you will need to concentrate on the repetitive rhythm of the pattern so that you don't miscount the groups of stitches. But other than that, the actual crochet part of this pattern is very, very straightforward.  I'll be providing my usual full-on picture-heavy tutorial to help you every step of the way, so I'm hoping even newbie hookers will feel confident to give it a go. 

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

The hardest thing about crocheting a striped blanket (especially for beginners) is working that first dc row into the foundation chain, so this is definitely something to practice. Try experimenting with going up a whole mm in hook size and see if this makes it easier for you. 

The other thing you might like to try is creating a foundationless double crochet row (PLEASE NOTE that's UK double crochet = US single crochet). I know many people who worked my Moorland blanket found this approach helpful, although I've tried it and hated it! It's a very personal thing. Remember that if you are searching for information on this technique, please please make sure you know if you are following a UK or a US tutorial (especially if you are on YouTube as it's not always made clear).

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?

Oh yes indeed, always! Nothing ever gets taken off my blog, so all patterns and tutorials remain here for free 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 whole year to make this blanket - you certainly won't be alone! You can start and stop, hop in and out as you wish. There is no deadline, no strict timing, no guilt. I really want you to enjoy the whole process of creating this blanket so that you LOVE it every step of the way, and often that means that your journey may well have stops and starts, or be a slow pootle instead of an energetic run.

I hope that's covered everything - please do leave me a comment if I've not answered something you need to know.

🍂 WOODLAND BLANKET INTRODUCTION 🍂

🍂 WOODLAND YARN PACK 🍂

One more quickie little thing before I go - The British Craft Awards are open for voting and I'm really delighted to have been nominated in the "Crochet Blog of the Year" category. The voting is open to both UK and Worldwide peeps (yippeee!) and closes at midnight on Sunday 17th December. There are only five categories in the Crochet section so it's a very quick vote, and I would appreciate it muchly!

Oh, it might help to give you the website (!)......here it is >> 

http://www.britishcraftawards.com/

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Autumn Moments {five}

🍁 Loving the low, low sun in the sky as we walk to school in the mornings, the very golden-ness of it is really uplifting. I've found that if I walk sloooowly down the hill instead of racing like a lunatic, I can stand and move my head around until I am gifted with the full force of all those golden sun rays right through the hedge and onto my face. It really is spectacular. And I love that I need to slow right down to a standstill in order to experience it (not easy when we are nearly always late leaving in the mornings). There must be all sorts of mega important analogies contained in that slowing-down realisation......I'll leave that with you!

🍁 The distinct lack of leafage in the treetops means that I am  very much more aware of the birds these days. I walk past hedges that contain huge flocks of chattering sparrows which would normally be hidden from view. I see all the jackdaws and rooks congregating for a morning meeting in some of the larger trees around town, and every so often I spy magpies hanging out right up there in the huge tree which grows at the bottom of my hill. Thank goodness there are often two. I'm not a superstitious person, but that childhood magpie rhyme is always right at the fore when I see these birds and I cannot bare to think that the day might contain a single magpie and a whole load of sorrow. I need joy, every time. Or possibly silver.

🍁 Four pee-em in the afternoon, coming out of the supermarket and I spy the moon already rising over the hill. So very beautiful. I think this was a few days before the Supermoon (which I'm peeved that I missed, as according to my neighbour it was spectacular here). I'm still counting down the days till Winter Solstice (8 more days to go), but truthfully, this Autumn season has been really pretty gorgeous and I'll be sorry to see it end.

🍁 Autumn mist at full tilt. Sometimes at this time of year, the weather is just a grey, damp mess and there is no getting away from it. Time to hunker down and enjoy the comforts of a warm home, with lots of coffee and possibly a bit of good chocolate just to assist with beating off the grey vibe.

 🍁 A stop up on the moor tops after a short walk at Bolton Abbey. It was just J and I (one of our Monday jaunts), we often like to stop up here on our way back home after a walk. We sat and watched the clouds moving across the sky and listened to a grouse calling. There is such tranquility in a beautiful long distance view, I never, ever tire of sitting quietly a-top a hill (or cliff) with a view over a gorgeous landscape (or seascape), it's one of life's true pleasures.

🍁 Alllll the blanket action happening in the Attic at this time of year, as we all make use of my crochet addiction on a daily basis. I cannot imagine a life without crochet blankets in it, they are just the most comforting and heart warming things ever, ever, ever. Mind you, the Teen has put in a request for a "Blanket with Sleeves" for Christmas instead of the usual onesie or pyjamas, and I am kind of aghast at the idea of actually purchasing a blanket. If I had a whole hoard of elves at my disposal I might consider designing a crochet version, but sadly I think the Snug Deluxe Fleece will have to be considered. At least the younger two still adore my crochet blankets, I'm holding that thought.

🍁 The hyacinths are growing oh-so-slowly but I am enjoying the gentle daily progress and very much looking forward to the eventual arrival of the blooms. At this rate, it's likely to be a New Year occurrence, but how lovely will that be?

🍁 Planning and list writing has featured heavily in my daily routine these past few weeks as I attempt to keep myself grounded and panic free. I've not been sleeping at all well so have felt tired and foggy recently, and the simple act of writing short to-do lists and making notes about the many things that are swirling in and out of my Creative Mind helps enormously. I tend to use my planner in two different ways - mostly it's all about the day-to-day practicalities, but I am also trying to get into the habit of more long-term planning. Thinking about the year ahead isn't easy for someone like me who much prefers to exist in the present moment, but I find more and more that having a slightly longer perspective on life is very useful. It's like zooming out into a landscape view instead of always looking at the blades of grass in macro mode. I'm excited for 2018, I've got some delicious and exciting plans for the next twelve months. Which reminds me, I must go and collect my new 2018 Life Planner which is currently waiting for me at the post office - can't wait to show you my new cover!

🍁 Oh, how I adore my precious studio space, most especially at this time of year when the temperatures drop and all is warm, colourful and cosy inside these four walls. There is a small, low radiator on one wall of my studio that packs out a surprising amount of heat and I find I work much better when my extremities are warm. I've been allowing myself the luxury of a "design day" each week where I grant myself time to play and experiment with new yarns, new colours and new pattern ideas.  Autumn seems to spark a flurry of new ideas, I think in part because my summer is always so darn busy and consumed by Yarndale that a good many things get shoved onto the back burner during the summer. 

🍁 Autumn has been wonderful at our weekly get-togethers at Coopers Cafe (where I have my studio), and I appreciate spending time with creative friends very much. I took this photo on Friday morning as I sat sipping my first latte of the day and waiting for the room to fill up with chatter and yarny folk. Our "Creative Coopers" sessions are popular all year round but in the colder months of the year it's especially lovely. There is something so comforting about being cosied up in the warmth of a cafe enjoying a delicious hot drink, a little bit of knit/stitch/crochet and a lot of chat and laughter. If you ever find yourself in my patch, consider yourself cordially invited to join us - we meet on Tuesday afternoons (1 - 3) and Friday mornings 9-11.30). During the school holidays we meet Friday mornings only, so during the Christmas hols we'll be meeting Friday 29th Dec and Friday 5th Jan (which is the first day of the Woodland CAL, yipppeeee!!!!). 

 🍁 Ahhh........my beloved view, such a gorgeous way to observe the seasons passing and changing each and every day. I prefer to celebrate our seasons by referring to the equinox and solstice days (that's the astronmical way rather than the meteorological way - more info here), so that means that technically we are still in Autumn until the Winter Solstice next week. However, this week has been so very wintry with snow and ice and sub zero temperatures that I've been forced into Winter thinking a bit early. I'm OK with that though - I've got candles and fairy lights and can light the fire (guilt free) in the middle of the afternoon. And I have crochet blankets and hand knit socks, early bedtimes with my hot water bottle and a good book, and slow, pyjama clad weekends which seem to last for ages. Yes, I'm OK with going into Winter, bring on all the cosy. 

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Previous Autumn Moments ::

❦ {one} ❦ {two} ❦ {three} ❦ {four} ❦

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Making the Seasons :: December

Hello, and welcome to the second of my Making The Seasons posts. This is me joining with my friend Gillian at Tales From a Happy House whilst we indulge in a little bit of gentle, therapeutic creativity inspired by the seasons - you can read November's post {here}.

December for me is generally less about Christmas and more about celebrating the living greenery, mainly because in this month I become completely obsessed with the upcoming Winter Solstice. I adore this celebration (probably more than Christmas) and love to make a fuss of the fact that the shortest day has arrived and that every day from then on will be ever so slightly longer than the day before. I know we've still got two weeks to go yet, but I felt inspired this week to go forth and gather in the green stuff to lift my spirits.

The whole green gathering adventure took me most of the morning, and even though the weather was uninspiring I knew I would feel better for being out and about instead of mooching at home. I went up to the allotment first (we have holly growing there), then off into the woods to gather in some ivy, and finally a detour up to the farm shop to see what they had in their buckets. The farm shop has a small but really beautiful floristry section, and I was thrilled to see a whole bucket of eucalyptus stems for sale. I really love everything about eucalyptus - I think the soft grey-green colour of the leaves is beautiful but that is nothing compared to the scent of the leaves. Eucalyptus is the scent of winter for me, more than pine or citrus or anything spicy. 

I've got plans to make a solstice wreath next week, so I've stuck the eucalyptus and holly sprigs in a jug of water for now, and am keeping the ivy outside so it hopefully doesn't dry out too much. Mind you, there is masses of ivy to be had in the woods at this time of year, it's growing rampant as far as I could see. 

Although I haven't made my wreath just yet, I did use some of the greenery to add a little bit of living decoration to an old enamel candle holder. Nothing elaborate, just some small bits of holly, pine, ivy and eucalyptus twined around the dish with a few shriveled up berries left over from my Autumn mantel display. Oh, and a weeny bit of gingham ribbon I found hiding in the Shelves of Doom, with a little wired toadstool added to the handle.

The reason for decorating this candle holder was so that I had somewhere suitable to stand my Advent Candle..................

...........ta-dah!!!!!!!!

Yes, I am performing a modest ta-dah as I am pretty darn pleased with my homemade advent candle. And yes, I did say homemade.....look..................

I've never had an Advent Candle before, but I've always fancied introducing this simple tradition into the Attic. Trouble is, as I am always without fail late for advent, by the time I go searching around the fifth of December there are never, ever any candles left in the shops. So inspired by some friends who both lit their Advent candles on the first of the month, I had an idea to try making my own. I used a white household candle from Ikea, and decorated it using some fine permanent markers. I made 24 numbered marks (placed 0.5cm apart), then added a bit of a foliage design running down each side. I drew the foliage completely free hand so it's a bit uneven, but I do rather like it. 

I drew on my candle using these Sharpie Ultra Fine Point permanent markers which are amazing - I wasn't sure how well they would work on wax, but providing you don't press too hard (which clogs the fine tip with wax) then they do the job beautifully. 

I lit the candle for the first time yesterday....

....and it really was a super-lovely moment in my day. Of course, I had to let it burn right down to the number six before blowing it out - I'll have to be more careful tonight as there will only be 5 mm of wax to melt through. It would be so typical of me to totally mess this up and burn the candle way beyond the relevant day, but I'm going to give it my best shot. I can do this.

During the past month I've been hugely inspired by this gorgeous book "Making Winter" written by my talented friend Emma. At first I spent ages just browsing through the pages, gorging on the stunning photos and drinking it all in. But eventually I made time to read the whole book cover to cover and it really is a very beautifully written book. 

Making Winter is all about combining simple creative projects with nature-focused outings to combat the winter blah's. I've been taking Emma's advice and just lately I've made myself head out for short walks along the canal/into the park/woods on the greyest of days and have always felt brighter for it.

Emma's take on creative projects is fabulous - some of the ideas are as simple as gathering bits of nature (leaves, seed heads, flowers, feathers) and identifying them in a nature book, or having a go at drawing them. 

But there are also some more advanced projects including jewellery making (which is Emma's speciality), paper crafts and crochet etc.

There are food and drink ideas too, and every single one of the baking recipes have honestly made my mouth water. I'm really looking forward to giving them a go, if not before Christmas, then definitely during the cold months of January and February when Winter really does have us in it's grip.

There are so many gorgeous projects and ideas contained in these pages that it was hard to know which one to go with first, but in the end I felt inspired by the idea of creating myself a small indoor flower garden.

Emma's photographs are incredibly beautiful - there is a simplicity and a stillness to them which I find captivating. The above image was enough to pull me out of my moochy mood this week and send me out into the cold to go track down some bulbs to plant. I didn't have to go far - the plant stall on the market was selling pots of narcissus for £2, and the cheap discount shop at the bottom of the high street had pots of hyacinth bulbs for £2.50. I like buying pots of bulbs that are good to go as they are already showing promising signs of growth, and there is earth and moss included.

Next job was to find some suitable containers. You can see from the pages of Emma's book that she went for a collection of tasteful, photogenic old terracotta pots and some quirky vintage jars and moulds. Well.....I went into my back yard and into my cellar and gathered together an eclectic assortment of old bowls, plus a floral mug and an old rusting enamel saucepan. Very Attic24. 

I really enjoyed the process of discarding the plastic pots and introducing the bulbs to their new colourful containers. 

There is something very optimistic about planting bulbs, and I love to see all the fresh green shoots and look forward to the anticipation of the fragrant flowers.

I thought it would be fun to add a few extra decorative bits to my bulb pots, so I gathered together a handful of colourful ceramic buttons, some pebbles and pieces of sea glass (all had been living in the Shelves of Doom for quite some time), and scattered them atop the mossy greenery. Such simple enjoyment on a freezing cold, grey December day, and gosh I do so love love love love love moss. I'll love it forever.

I had already decided that my bulb pots would do very well on the cold windowsill directly behind my desk. I sit here for many hours in a day and the window faces out to the back yard. However........this windowsill was in a disgraceful state of neglect and so I had to bite the bullet and sweep everything off and chisel through the dust layer. There was an inordinate amount of misplaced objects on this windowsill, it was all kinds of horrifying to be honest.

But after clearing and cleaning it all, I was able to arrange my new indoor garden with a few treasured objects (now all clean and dust free, yippeee!) which felt like a real satisfying achievement somehow. I really, really can't wait to see flowers growing behind my desk!

I bought myself an indoor watering can a few weeks ago too, and as you can see it's a rather uplifting shade of pink. I don't have many house plants any more (I had a lot at one time) but I do have my bulbs to water and a huge old potted succulent on this windowsill which has lived with me through various house moves for more than 20 years. How time flies.

Following on from my November Making the Seasons post, I know many of you loved the idea of the Craftpod subscription boxes and went on to make the winter Craftpod a complete sell out. I know Jo has been working flat out to make up all the winter boxes and get them mailed out (you can find her latest updates on Instagram).  I've received mine in the post and it is beautiful, but I've decided to save it until the New Year so that there's not quite such a big gap between winter and spring.

A couple of other Instagram related things - thank you to everyone who has joined in with our #makingtheseasons hashtag, it's been fabulous to see some gorgeous creativity happening in your homes, and to find you as inspired by the seasons as Gillian and I are. Also I discovered a new Instagram account today which I think you might like, it's full of the most beautiful seasonal photography, so do make yourself a nice hot drink and indulge in some therapeutic imagery...{@early.bird.post }

I'd love to know what you've been up to this past month, what has inspired you, what you are making, creating and loving about this time of year?

You can read Gillian's latest Making The Seasons post {here} - please do tell us if you're joining in and blogging about your seasonal making so we can all come and see whatcha doing!

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Quietly

Hello my lovelies.....I'm just popping in quietly to let you know that I'm alright but I'm having a tough ol' week.

My laptop suddenly stopped working, deciding to sport a bit of a pinstripe look across the screen and refusing to do anything else. Oh-my-word, what a trauma that's been. I'm so behind with emails and lots of on-going work stuff which doesn't get shared on my blog but nevertheless still has to happen behind the scenes (pattern writing, accounts, Yarndale website re-design etc etc), all of which is very dependent on me having internet and laptop stuff happening when I need it. I'm hoping that my very clever Other Half has managed to fettle it now - this is the first time I've been able to log on (and stay on) since the weekend.

I've been feeling a bit low, struggling not to feel overwhelmed by this time of year, fighting off some lurgy bugs and preparing mentally and emotionally for a forthcoming trip down to Dorset on what would have been my Mum's birthday. I'm feeling the wobble - I hope I manage to hold myself together. 

Tomorrow, all being well, I'll be back in the Attic to share some seasonal creativity with you all.....here's hoping!

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