Attic24

Making the Seasons :: February

It's the last day of February today and we're slap bang in the midst of a supremely wintry end to the month here in my patch. The freezing snowy weather which blew in from Siberia had been widely forecast and we were expecting it ("The Beast from East is coming!"), but it still felt like a bit of a shocker yesterday. The temperature dropped to -6° and the snow whirled in, bringing enough of the white stuff to lay down a 4 inch carpet, slow the roads to a near standstill and cause the schools to close for two days. Snow days home from school are such an excitable treat for the Little People, honestly, it's like their Birthdays and Christmas all rolled into one!

Here in the Attic, the cold, snowy weather has felt rather perfect for this exact time of year - it's precisely what springs to mind when I conjure up seasonal images of late February. So I am embracing it and delighting in these slow, lazy days when I can get away with existing for a while in my own creative bubble. During these times when the rest of the family is busy doing their own thing (Teenagers positively excel at this, don't they?!), I've either been crocheting or stitching. 

As many of you know, the Woodland Blanket CAL finished on Friday, although I actually finished making my blanket during the week before that. And so, well, you know, I erm.....well I may have started a new blanket in order to cope with my Woodland Bereavement. So far so good, it's working beautifully and I can report that I am coping with the loss of the Woodland Ripple rather well with a new set of stripes flowing off my hook. I'll show you what I'm up to once I've made a bit more progress.

In amongst the obsessive hooking I've been stitching, and I've been really, really enjoying it too. You might remember in my last MakingTheSeasons post I showed you the start of the Winterberry embroidery which came in the Winter Craftpod subscription box? Well I found a small window of time a few weekends ago to pick it up again and create some more berries......

....just look at those cute little blobs of seasonal scarlet! This embroidery was quite finicky to do (very fine and precise) but I found that the more I stitched, the easier it became. There were even a few times when I found myself gently lulling into that state of complete Mindfulness that can sometimes happen with repetitive, rhythmic crafting. I get this a lot when I'm crocheting, but it was a new thing to find it with stitching. It feels like a little bit of magic when it happens, it is such an unbelievably calm feeling where nothing else seems to register except for the gentle pull of the thread through the surface of the fabric. I've never tried meditation, but I guess this is what it must feel like. It's marvelous!

I finished my little embroidery hoop and just love the simplicity of it so much. It is perfect for this time of year. It's sitting sweetly on my mantel along with some other seasonal bits and bobs (which I'll show you more of in a bit) and making me very happy. Do you like the card too? This is actually a Christmas card, but as it seemed like the perfect partner for my Winterberry embroidery I decided to buy it for myself to celebrate February. The artist is called Clover Robin and is a recent discovery via Instagram. Oh, I love her work so much! You can read more about her {here} and find some of her delicious cards and prints in her Etsy shop {here}. Do go see, her work is a visual delight.

I really enjoy the inspirational nature of Instagram I have to say, and there is a heap load of creative talent to be found within those little square photos. I came across a stitchy lady a few weeks ago,  and boy was I in for a deep tumble down that particular rabbit hole.....crikey! I surprised even myself with how obsessive I quickly became when I decided to jump in to the world of Counted Cross Stitch with both feet. Who knew???? Certainly not me!! I've been embroidering and stitching since I was eight years old, yet I've never, ever been drawn to cross stitch. I've never in my life felt inspired by any cross stitch designs enough to commit to all those hundreds and thousands of repetitive little crosses. Far too boring. EH???!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well I'm eating my words now, that's for sure!!! 

So this ↑↑↑↑↑↑↑ is the thing that did it for me - all that C O L O U R!!!!!!! This lady creates her (very un-boring) cross stitch designs using the most glorious, amazing palette of colours, and I  just could. Not. Resist. It took me a nano second to be convinced that this Cross Stitch malarkey would be a Good Thing for me,  and before I knew what was happening I had downloaded the pattern, purchased the required 22 shades of DMC stranded cotton (all those colours, swoon) and tracked down the black fabric with special little cross-stitchy holes. Yes, you read that right - BLACK fabric!!! I know!!! See how powerful that colour must have been to convince me to purchase black fabric???!!!

So I had to learn quickly about all this - the holey fabric especially designed for cross stitch? Well that's 14 count Aida of course! Yup, I'm all in the know about cross stitch now. I am desperate to show you the excellent progress I've made, but I took so many photos that they really do need to be in a post of their own. 

I've found the business of sitting and slowly stitching somebody else's design so enthralling, and it struck me that embroidery is the perfect activity for these stay-home, freezing cold winter days. I can't wait to show you - more about the little crosses very soon.

Back to Winter white - the above photo was taken yesterday at 5.22pm as we walked home through the park after Little B's swimming lesson. After a day of white-out snow blizzards, we were blessed with a truly beautiful early evening. The light was so glorious, and I loved the pinky-golden glow to the whitened landscape. The past few days I've been thinking a lot about seasonal colour palettes - well , I think about this sort of thing pretty much all of the time to be honest, but this week I've been thinking specifically about what would make up a perfect Winter colour palette. You might remember my Winter Wreath from 2 years ago...oh actually, it was three years ago, well I never!! You can read all about it {here}. The colours I chose for my winter wreath are a very pretty representation of Winter I think - soft frosty blues, pale greens, delicate mauves and pinks, with a smattering of pearly grey and a dash of cream. That says Winter to me, probably more than white does.

Inspired by the thoughts of frosty winter colour, I gathered a collection of yarn balls into my yarn bag in order to make a seasonal garland for my fireplace. I've really missed my Autumn garland, and decided I would like to have something for every season to hang along my mantel. I was inspired by Instagram again, this time it was the re-connection with an old friend from my stitchy art student days. I saw a picture of her fireplace with a simple garland made from little crochet balls and loved the look of it - then realised that she had used my Little Balls pattern! Isn't that funny, that we managed to inspire each other without realising it?! So I've spent the past two days feverishly crocheting a stash of Little Balls in soft, wintry colours.

The pattern for these Little Balls is very easy amigurumi style (dc stitches worked in a spiral), first making a little half sphere.....

....then filling with a weeny blob of toy stuffing before decreasing to close the shape into a ball.

They are super quick to make (six little rounds of crochet), and insanely addictive. It's simply not possible to make just a few - you need handfuls! Bowls full! A whole hoard of these darling little things!

I thought you might like to see my colours - these are all scraps of Stylecraft Speical DK left over from past blankets. It's pretty much what I would think of as a Winter colour palette, with a subtle nod to the beautiful colours of Hellebores which flower at this time of year. 

❄ Cream ❄ Parchment ❄ Silver ❄ Grey ❄ Parma Violet ❄ Mushroom ❄ (winter neutrals)

❄ Lavender ❄ Grape ❄ Pale Rose ❄ Vintage Peach ❄ Soft Peach❄ (hellebore flowers)

❄ Sherbet ❄ Duck Egg ❄ Cloud Blue ❄ Storm Blue ❄ Denim ❄ (winter skies)

❄ Sage ❄ Meadow ❄ Lincoln❄ (frosty leaves)

I started out with 24 balls, although quickly realised this wouldn't be enough - I think I ended up with around 40 in the end. I used Storm Blue to crochet a simple chain, picking up a single loop on the side of each ball and working a slip stitch to attach it. I spaced my balls 8 chains apart. And I do find myself smirking as I am talking about my balls!! Tut tut, so childish.

I love what I ended up with - the simplicity and the speed of it made  this garland the perfect project for me this week.

Ohh...........cute!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cutesome little Winter Balls to add a dash of seasonal whimsy to my fireplace......

......look!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What do you think?

My fireplace is very rustic and not very photogenic with its dark carved wood and brick effect surround (my friends fireplace is gorgeous, with a white painted surround and elegant ceramic tiles.) But I try not to be overly bothered by the brown and concentrate on adding prettiness instead. 

I'm so happy with my Winter fireplace, it really makes me feel all sorts of contentedness right down into my soul. When I think about Gillian and I going about our "Making the Seasons" creative things each month, it's not always the actual making that springs to mind. Often it's more along the lines of Creative Faffing that Gillian and I both love to do in response to the seasons. I suppose in posh designer terms you might label this activity as "styling". There is so much of this over on Instagram - styling has become such a trendy thing to do in recent times, creating visual content especially for the purposes of  sharing on social media. Huh. Well for me, it's more a case of gathering together a collection of small things that make me feel happy and in tune with the seasons, never mind how photogenic it all is. If it means something to me, then that's what counts.

Want to see some more bits of my Winter Mantel Faffery?

Let me show you!

Awwww, lets just take an extra moment to oggle those Little Balls - don't the colours look lovely (please pretend the brown wood is in fact a lovely painted white, just for now)

I mentioned earlier that I'm enjoying having seasonal cards on my mantel which get changed around with the months, well I think I am going to make this is a Thing this year. It's such an easy way to bring a little bit of handmade into the home and there are some fabulous artists out there making beautiful images that look great on cards. I think it's brilliant to support these small businesses even if you can't afford a print or an original, then cards are almost as good. Up above is another Christmas card which was given to me by friends, and I later found out that the artist is Claire Henley. The little snowdrop print is by Clover Robin. I've got a pot of hyacinths looking gorgeous too - the label said they would be white, but they are opening up to be a stunning buttery yellow colour which I've never seen before. The washed pottery and glass was gathered on a recent trip to Silverdale in Lancashire - I took some lovely photos that day, I'll share them here soon.

I've got a few twiggy stems of blossom on my mantel too this week, the buds were tightly shut little green bobbles when I picked them. Slowly they are opening in the warmth of the room to reveal the most delicate little flowers.......

......so, so very pretty.

I've no idea what blossom this is, it's from an overgrown tree on our allotment plot which the neighbouring house is desperate to have cut down as it's growing right into the side of their house more or less. The lady said she thought it was an almond tree, but I'm not sure. I'd love to know if anyone has blossomy knowledge?!

Hyacinths and twiggy blossom stems are all accompanied by twinkly little fairy lights and candles at this time of year. I bought a couple of inexpensive candles in glass jars from the supermarket - they were supposed to be scented but disappointingly they haven't really performed any scenting activity as yet. The glass jars were plain so I decorated them using stickers which came inside the Winter Craftpod.

These stickers are so lovely! They are printed on a transparent background so are perfect for sticking onto glass jars - the illustrations are by Ukranian illustrator Nastias Leptsova, oh you do need to go see her work, it's so unusual and extremely cosy! I've been captivated by her Instagram feed (@nastiasleptsova) which has almost no colour in it whatsoever - a world shown in sepia tones, which I find strangely comforting somehow.

I've spent a lot of time in this room during February, sometimes sat in the light of the bay window stitching (black fabric, oh my word, a true test for the eyes), or sometimes sat on a floor cushion right next to the fireside with my crochet. I've run out of tall candles for my candelabra ( I need a trip to that big blue and yellow shop!) but aside from that, my mantel is making me very happy indeed. Oh Little Balls, I do so like having you dangling there!

Hmmm.....I'd love to know what your Winter colour palette would be, do tell! Would it be chilly whites and blues? Would it have any pink or purple in it? White vs. cream?

I've just peeked out of the window and there is still a proper snowy blizzard blowing around the house, so I'm wondering whether tomorrow will be another no-school day for us, with some vigorous sledging followed by some gentle fireside creativity. Sounds rather good if you ask me.

I hope that you are enjoying the season you're in whatever the weather you've got, and that you might feel inspired to pop a few seasonal cards on a shelf or hook up a simple little garland in seasonal colours. A little seasonal making/faffery is very good for the soul and I can highly recommend it.

✿ All my Making the Seasons posts have their own category so you can find them easily - {Making the Seasons}

✿ I'm really enjoying doing these monthly posts alongside my friend Gillian - you can find her Making the Seasons posts  {here}

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Woodland Blanket CAL :: Part 7

Wow, this Woodland journey has been one of the best things in my life during the past couple months and has kept me buoyant and happy on even the hardest of grey days. The pleasure it's given me has been amazing on so many levels, and I can honestly say that the therapeutic quality of this kind of soothing, repetitive crochet is not to be underestimated. 

I finished making the border last week whilst the Little People were home from school for half term and was so glad of the distraction they provided at the time. The end of a blanket journey is always a bizarre combination of elation and bereavement, and honestly I was seriously adrift once my hook was no longer busy on the edge of those beautiful ripples. So I've been reeeeeeeally looking forward to today, to sharing this last installment with you all and having a quiet little visual celebration that I know you will understand and (hopefully) appreciate. I've given up expecting the family to be wowed by my latest blankety makes, I'm fairly sure they have Blanket Blindness and don't even notice when one more joins the nest. Their loss!

Mind you, we've all been using the Woodland blanket here for a good many weeks now, way before it was finished. It reached a size where it looked suitably blankety and it was immediately pulled into the big chair and used for afternoon film watching (Little B) and morning nap times (The Kitty). I've delighted in seeing it draped over the chair, telling its gentle Woodland story, bringing dancing light and leafy colour into our living space.

I wonder how you've been enjoying your own Woodland journey? Do you regularly spread your blanket out and drink in those colours? Do you chat about it with your family? Do they pay attention when you do????!! I've grown used to my family being non-chatty about my creations  and am OK with it (to a point). It certainly makes me really, really appreciate that my blog (and Facebook/Instagram) gives me a blessed window out to those of you who do get it and enjoy sharing with me. I appreciate you all so much! 

As we've gone along during the last part of the Woodland blanket, I don't mind telling you that I fretted a little about the yarn quantities. I meticulously weigh and measure my yarn throughout the designing/sampling stage as well as all the way through the making of a blanket, to be sure that there will be enough. I hop up a couple of hook sizes to try and achieve an average tension for myself (I naturally crochet quite tightly), and I try and give as much guidance about size and tension as I can. I hope that you've managed OK, and that you'll have the 10-12g of yarn needed for each edging row. 

So this week we are going to chat about the business of creating a border for our Woodland Ripple, and the first decision to make is about the colours. If you remember, we used Lime yarn to make our foundation chain and first row, and this was done so that it would form part of the border. You will need to pick three additional colours to add to the Lime (or whatever colour you started with) - you can follow my choice or pick out your own. I've gone for Gold, Spice and Tomato - I deliberately chose very Autumnal colours from the bottom half of the blanket, so that when they are worked upwards and around the top half of the blanket, they provide a strong, visual surround for the sky. It helps to add a little bit of earthy balance to the airy lightness in the top part of the colour story, tying it all together as a whole.

The edging I've designed for the Woodland Ripple is very slimline, so whatever colours you choose won't have a massive impact on the overall look of the blanket. It's more of a subtle approach, so please don't agonise too much over the colour decisions! I reckon that pretty much any combo would look great, especially as The Woodland colour palette is very harmonious and well balanced. 

The first round of the edging is worked in double crochet, and to be honest it can look a teensy bit rough and ready as you work into those wibbly ends-of-rows along the sides. So long as you take your time and try to keep an even tension as you go, all will be well I promise you.

I love these curvy, undulating ripple stripes very much and decided that for this particular blanket I didn't want to loose those curvy ends. So rather than flattening them out I've kept them intact, allowing the narrow border to follow the curves. I'm really pleased with how this worked out - the edging did need a little bit of blocking at the end as the ripples curled very slightly, but all was fixable with some gentle puffs of steam. 

Looking more closely, you can see that using slip stitches in the back loops creates an almost woven, braided look, with the narrow lines of colour blending really well together. You will need to consider what your fourth/final colour will be as this has the most visual impact. Personally, I love the bright pop of the Tomato shade, but if it's too shouty for you, then do feel free to jig them around or choose your own colours.

The reverse side of the slip stitch edging looks different to the front side - the chains are replaced with running lines on the back. It's a very neat finish on both sides, and strong too. One of the main reasons I used slip stitch is because it creates a very durable, robust edging that doesn't stretch. The Woodland Ripple pattern makes a pretty stretchy crochet fabric, so this type of border will help the blanket keep it's shape over time and with frequent use. Certainly needed in my house, where blankets are regularly pegged up to make dens!

I took the above photo to show you both ends of the blanket so that you can see how the edging colours stand out/blend along with the colour story. You can hopefully get a feel for how good the richer Autumnal colours look around the sky - I love how it holds the colour story together somehow, and makes the blanket feel whole. And of course, those same colours blend really well around the bottom half of the blanket, adding just the right amount of detail without too much distraction.

I've called this edging "Slipstream", as a reference to the slimline look of it as well as the use of slip stitches. I've created a full tutorial with plenty of photos which is over in my list of patterns in the left hand sidebar........

SLIPSTREAM EDGING TUTORIAL

When you hop over to the tutorial, please do note my advice about hook size for working this edging - slip stitches are funny things and tend to misbehave if you don't watch out. They can seem as if they're doing fine, then after a while you notice that everything is pulling too tightly and the stripes are starting to look all ruckled up. The answer is to be mindful of your hooky tension as you work (deliberately keep your loops/yarn on the loose side), and to increase your hook size if you need to. It's OK to go up a whole millimetre hook size for this edging, it will make all the difference to the finished look of the blanket.

The tutorial also gives advice about blocking the blanket - I found that even using a larger hook size my edges did pull and curl very slightly and definitely looked loads better after a little bit of steam treatment. 

One of the most delicious things about working a CAL blanket is the huge amount of interaction that it generates on social media, not only whilst the CAL is taking place but often for a year or more afterwards. We are all part of a very vibrant, generous, caring and inspirational crochet community here on the world-wide-web and I can't tell you how much joy it brings me to be a part of it. I know that a good many of you have appreciated the friendship and support that goes hand in hand with a CAL project, and for me personally, it's been wonderful to witness so many amazing creations inspired by my Woodland yarn palette.

As I've done in previous weeks, I'd like to share some images that have really caught  my attention on Facebook. I hope you find them inspiring......................

Helen shared her random Woodland ripple stripe and it's the first glimpse I've gotten of the whole random stripe blanket in all it's glory. I think it looks fabulous!

You may remember in the CAL part 4 I showed you Doran's hexagon colour map? She has worked like the clappers and managed to make 180 hexagons (12 of each colour), isn't this impressive? As you can see she has already started to join them and when the blanket's finished the hexies will be ordered in a stunning colour wash, as her colour map describes. I am so impressed by this, and absolutely can't wait to see it when it's finished.

Stephanie chose to use Stylecraft Batik yarn to make her Woodland Ripple, do you remember me showing you the start of it in the CAL part 3? I love the results, especially the way the Batik yarn almost looks like it's bathed in dappled woodland sunlight. Beautiful work.

Judy's Mandala Blanket has gained a whole lot of admiration on Facebook, and no wonder - just look at all those stunning rings of pattern and colour! Truly a work of art, and one of the loveliest mandala blankets I've ever seen.

Carlyn Ann shared this gorgeous photo with us, and I swooned over all the beautiful Autumnal goodness! I love it when blanket projects have leftovers that are immediately put to good use rather than just becoming Stash, and the Blooming Flower cushion is a great way to use up yarn. You can download a printed pattern for the Blooming Flower cushion free from my blog (it's in this post, scroll down towards the bottom for the "Waterlily Cushion" link).

You might also remember my Autumn Garland which was made from Woodland yarn colours (in this post) - there are lots of things to do with any oddments you have left over.

Sonia in sunny Los Angeles worked a truly beautiful Autumn Wave blanket, then made an adorable Woolly Sheep to go with it. I love the colours of the flowers against that soft green, in fact, I would really love a floral jumper like that for myself! Woolly Sheep pattern is free on my blog (here).

This lovely four-legged model is called Hazel, and she is looking super cosy wearing her extra yarny layer. 
B made her Woodland blanket using the Neat Wave pattern - she also used two strands of DK yarn with a larger hook size to make an extra squishy, warm winter blanket. Doesn't Hazel look pleased with herself?!

Kathryn in super sunny Australia shared this fabulous picture of her finished Woodland Blanket.....can't you just feel the heat radiating out of the photo??? And in complete contrast.......................

............Marijke lives in northern Sweden and showed us her Woodland Blanket in the wild - don't the colours look incredible against the white snowy backdrop?
Marijke only crocheted half of parts 3 and 4 to suit her tension and make a shorter blanket , with very successful results. 

THANK YOU SO MUCH to everyone who has shared photos during the past few months, it's been an amazing visual journey and I've absolutely loved seeing you meander along with me. 

I haven't actually managed to take many photos of my finished blanket just yet - honestly I think a big part of me has been in denial as I really haven't wanted this blanket journey to finish at all!! So I'm not saying a Ta-dah just yet, not until I have some proper photos to share.

You might like to see this one though............................

.............just a quick snap of my blanket all laid out on the floor, before I folded it up to photograph the edging.

I came across these little leaves yesterday, the ones I made at the very start of the Woodland journey to show you the colour palette. I am pondering on the idea of maybe stitching them to the bottom of my blanket, not in any formal way, but more to look like they've just floated down from the treetops.................

......................I've just randomly placed these leaves on the blanket to see what they would look like, but I am really quite liking the idea. I'll show you if I decide to do this, I think it'd be a fun little twist, a bit like Sandra's squirrels.

You can find the leaf pattern free on my blog (here).

And so our Woodland journey is coming to a gentle close - I hope with all my heart that you've enjoyed stepping out with me along this curvy pathway. Or if you're still meandering along or just starting out, that you feel all the joy in these colours as you go. I know they've given me a huge amount of pleasure as I've worked my ripplesome rows, with lots of happy Woodland memories keeping me company along the way. 

I will keep all CAL posts and patterns available on my blog for always, so even if you are reading this post sometime way in the future, it's never too late to start out on a Woodland Walk. 

 The Woodland Blanket has been an absolute pleasure from start to finish. Thank you, as ever, for providing me with the most excellent company along the way.

🍂🍃🍂🍃🍂🍃🍂🍃🍂🍃🍂🍃🍂🍃🍂🍃🍂🍃🍂🍃🍂🍃🍂🍃🍂

 Here are the links to all previous CAL posts for the Woodland Ripple blanket ::

{WOODLAND BLANKET YARN PACK}

{WOODLAND BLANKET CAL : introduction}

{WOODLAND BLANKET CAL : Q&A}

{WOODLAND RIPPLE PATTERN}

{SLIPSTREAM EDGING PATTERN}

{WOODLAND CAL PART 1 : colour info for stripes 1 - 18 } 

{WOODLAND CAL PART 2 : colour info for stripes 19 - 36 } 

{WOODLAND CAL PART 3 : colour info for stripes 37 - 54 } 

{WOODLAND CAL PART 4 : colour info for stripes 55 - 72 } 

{WOODLAND CAL PART 5 : colour info for stripes 73 - 90 } 

{WOODLAND CAL PART 6 : colour info for stripes 91 - 105 } 

 🍂🍃🍂🍃🍂🍃🍂🍃🍂🍃🍂🍃🍂🍃🍂🍃🍂🍃🍂🍃🍂🍃🍂🍃🍂

 

 

 

 

Woodland Blanket CAL :: Part 6

I don't know about you, but I feel as if it's hardly any time at all since I started out on my Woodland Walk. Yet here we are five weeks later, preparing to complete the last set of stripes. Has it felt like a speedy sprint to you? Or are you contentedly meandering gently along the Woodland pathways, taking your time and breathing it all in?

I always find this particular part of any blanket journey has a bitter sweet taste to it as we approach completion. Although a big part of me is thrilled to see how beautiful the finished blanket looks, there is a sadness too as I realise that I simply don't want it to end. This is especially true of a CAL blanket as there is such a lovely feeling of community and friendship interwoven in all of our stitches and stripes, and that makes it harder to come to terms with it being over. 

We've still got a few weeks left though, so no sad eyes just yet!

This week has been devilishly cold here in my patch, with sub zero temperatures and icy snow flurries. I've enjoyed the very winteryness of the weather (it is February after all) and have been content to stay cosied up inside with my ripples. Fireside hooky is one of my most beloved pleasures at this time of year, it is Cosy with a capital C! Add in a hot cup of tea and possibly a little slab of good chocolate, and maybe even a purring kitty and oh-my-goodness, my cup of happiness runneth over.

Oh, and don't forget the woolly hand knit socks, they most definitely do add to the homely, cosy fireside vibe. 

As I've crocheted my colourful ripples this week, I've found myself drifting in and out of the most delightful, sunny little daydreams. This last set of stripes is all about the fresh air, the Autumn sunshine and the breezy treetops. The colours are light and airy and provide a great balance to the more earthy shades that we started out with at the beginning of our Woodland walk.

I took so many walks last Autumn when the weather was sunny and bright, and I tried to fill my mind and soul with the essence of the season and the way it made me feel. The sunlight combined with the rich, beautiful leafy colours was so inspiring, and I hope you've been able to see and feel some of that beauty in your blanket stripes as you've crocheted with the colours of Autumn.

I always say that Summer is my most favourite time of year (and it really is), but the Autumn of 2017 will be forever held in my memory and remembered with gratitude. It couldn't have been more perfect for the uplifting inspiration and joy it gave me.

All. That. CoLoUr!!

I've got some colour-filled images to show you this week, of beautiful blankets that have been shared on Facebook. It makes me so happy to see how much you've been enjoying the Woodland colours, and it's been amazing to see so many beautiful blankets that have been created during the past month.

Sharon turned her Woodland colours into a gorgeous granny stripe blanket, ordering the shades so that they made a "woodland rainbow". 

Anne is choosing to follow my Interlocking Colour ripple idea (my original blanket is here) to create a soothing transition of the woodland colours.

B has turned her Woodland yarn into a Neat Wave blanket which looks stunning - the colours seem to vibrate with energy when they are put together with this pattern.

Judy is making fantastic progress with her Circular Mandala Throw. Her creativity is a joy to witness as she re-designs the pattern to create something unique.

Lou finished her Woodland Harmony colourwash blanket this week and it is absolutely stunning. She is gifting it to somebody very special, and I know there is a lot of love in those stitches.

Samantha is also making a version of the Woodland colourwash, although she is choosing to make solid Granny Squares instead of my more open Harmony Squares. I'm really looking forward to watching this one grow.

Isabel shared this photo of her Random Stripe Woodland blanket and I just adore the way the colours are working. It has a slightly different feel to the colour-story version of this blanket, more jaunty perhaps?!

Sandra showed us this stunning photograph she took of her blanket in progress, inspired by my own leafy carryings on...oh, and she included some moss too,  gosh, I am such a hopelessly devoted moss-lover!

In fact, you need to scroll down a bit now and see what else Sandra has been up to........

......cutesome little Woodland things!!! Awwww!!!!!

Sandra says that as she's making this blanket for her 5 year old grandson, she wanted to include some fun crochet applique on the blanket. She has used my leaf patterns (which you can find here), but has also very cleverly designed her own squirrels.......yes, I know!! Too precious for words!! 

I'd like to say a huge thank you to everyone who has shared photos of their blanket during the past month and made this CAL a truly fabulous visual journey right from the word go. ThAnK YoU so very much. xx

Back to my own journey and Part 6 which will complete the Woodland colour story this week. I don't mind telling you that the transition of the colours came out even better than I had dared to hope, and I absolutely, completely love love love the way it looks and the way it makes me feel. Contented sigh...............SO GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So this is the finished colour story - all one hundred and five ripply stripes which sing a beautiful Autumn song.

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

I know I still have the border to create, but I couldn't resist prancing about and showing off my blanket to you this week, because I LOVE it so much. 

Those ripples have been a joy to crochet, they really have, and with all my heart I hope you feel the same about your own curvy stripes. If you struggled with the pattern in the beginning, I hope it now brings you happiness and a true sense of achievement.

I look at these stripes and they fill my mind with so many happy memories of time and place.

It's earthy and breezy, leafy and airy.

There is movement and rhythm, there is sunshine and shadow.

It looks and feels exactly right - it tells a story of a gentle stroll in the woods on a bright Autumn afternoon.

Kicking up the leaves, turning my face up to the sun.

Collecting acorns and fallen leaves, spotting lichen covered branches and and swoon-worthy moss.

Meandering pathways, dry stone walls, the sounds of the river and a lightness in my heart and soul.

Happy me, right down to the tips of my toes.

EDGING NOTES

In the final part of the CAL (Part 7, which will be in two weeks time) I'll be showing you how to finish off your blanket and create a neat little edging. You may remember that way back at the start, we used Lime yarn for our foundation chain and first double crochet row? This was done so that it would form part of the edging, so you will definitely need enough Lime yarn to go around the remaining three sides of the blanket.

I ended up with 23g of each colour after I had crocheted 7 stripes.

And I used approximately 15-16g of Lime yarn to complete the first round of the edging. 

If you are still meandering through your blanket, you may choose to miss out one of the Lime stripes so that you are sure you will have enough for the edging. The last Lime stripe came last week in part 5 and is stripe 82, so you can leave that out if you need to. Hopefully you'll have enough and won't need to play limey yarn chicken!

As for the other edging colours, I've chosen my favourite Autumnal shades - Spice, Tomato and Gold, but please feel free to choose your own combination if you wish. These rounds will be less yarn-greedy than the Lime, so you should only need around 10-12g of each of these colours. 

I hope the yarn quantities aren't worrying you. Ditto the length of the blanket - it's perfectly OK for you to stop at any time in this final part 6 of the blanket if you feel you've reached the length you need. I ended my blanket with a Storm Blue stripe, but it does't matter too much which colour you end with. I know some of you have decided you want less blue-sky in your blanket and will deliberately miss out some of these final stripes - that's absolutely fine too. It's important to me that you LOVE your blanket, so follow your heart and don't be afraid to tweak my colour order to make it your own. 

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WOODLAND BLANKET CAL PART 6

So your last stripe from Part 5 should be Duck Egg - that was stripe number 90.

Here is the colour info for Part 6 of the "Woodland Colour Story" : stripes 91-105, working from the bottom upwards.

Remember each stripe is worked in two rows, so 15 stripes = 30 rows of crochet.

*Please note - stripes written in *red text* are additional stripes to be worked only if you have 2 yarn packs and are making a double bed size blanket. If you have one yarn pack, please ignore the red!

91. Pistachio

92. Duck Egg

*Lincoln* (optional for large size)

93. Storm Blue

94. Silver

95. Mustard

96.  Duck Egg

97. Silver

98. Lincoln

99. Storm Blue

100. Duck Egg

101. Pistachio

*Silver* (optional for large size)

102. Lincoln

103. Silver

104. Duck Egg

105. Storm Blue (awww, is it really over?)

 

Kay shared a picture of her Random Stripe Woodland Blanket with us on Facebook this week, and I confess I swooned a little at the sight of all those gorgeous colours rippling along together. I hope very much that that you're loving your blanket if you're following my random stripe order.

I'm listing this weeks Random Stripe colours below......... 

Part 6 of the "Random Colours" Woodland Blanket is illustrated above (follow the pegs from the bottom to the top)

91. Mustard

92. Copper

93. Mocha

94. Storm Blue

95. Duck Egg

96. Lincoln

97. Lime 

98. Spice

99. Silver

100. Pistachio

101. Gold

102. Tomato

103. Grey

104. Meadow

105. Cypress

 ***A NOTE FOR THOSE MAKING DOUBLE/KING BLANKETS.......

I've just realised that I need to give you another block of random colours as an optional add-on if you're working with 2 yarn packs and  wish to make your blanket longer than 6ft / 180 cm. I haven't had time to work that out this week, but as soon as I can I'll add that information here.

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Next week we'll be taking a short break. I call this the "catch up" week and it's designed for you to either work a few more of your stripes if you need to, or darn in your ends if you've got a whole load of dangly bits to deal with. You will need all your ends tucked away before you can work your edging. If you're all up to date by next week, please make sure you enjoy your blanket to the max - snuggle yourself up in it and wait patiently for the edging tutorial!

Part 7 is all about The Edge, and I'll be giving you the pattern for this on Friday 23rd February. In the meantime, here are the links you might need this week.... 

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WOODLAND BLANKET YARN PACK 

WOODLAND RIPPLE PATTERN

WOODLAND BLANKET CAL : introduction

WOODLAND BLANKET CAL : Q&A

WOODLAND BLANKET CAL :: PART 1

WOODLAND BLANKET CAL :: PART 2

WOODLAND BLANKET CAL :: PART 3

WOODLAND BLANKET CAL :: PART 4

WOODLAND BLANKET CAL :: PART 5

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Have a fantastic time immersing yourself in all that glorious, ripplesome colour!

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Mandala Therapy

As much as I love and adore crocheting blankets and am passionate about designing and making them,  there are definitely times when a quick, creative fix is needed. Oddly enough, I mostly get hit by the urge to drop everything and make something small when I am part way through making something large - it's as if my Creative Mind craves a little bit of a detour when I'm on a long journey.

Over the past few years, mandalas have become my go-to solution when this kind of creative itch needs to be scratched - circles are quick and easy to make and a lot of fun. Plus, mandalas deliver plenty of opportunity for colour play which I find therapeutic, joyful and completely irresistible. 

Around the middle of January, on an ordinary sort of a Wednesday afternoon, I suddenly felt compelled to make a fresh mandala for my dining table. At the start of the year I began buying small bunches of daffodils and narcissus from the supermarket, and I fancied that my jugs of bright blooms needed something super-pretty and a little bit Spring-like to perch upon. I dived into to my bag of Stylecraft Classique Cotton and pulled out the following six colours ::

✤ Sunflower ✤ Shrimp ✤ Shell Pink ✤ Wisteria ✤ Sky Blue ✤ Soft Lime ✤

Ooooooo...........so pretty!

As I was doing this on a complete whim and I needed my fix to be instant, I didn't waste time searching for a pattern. All I had to do was go to my own list of tutorials and find the pattern I wrote back in 2014 and get hooking. Instant gratification!

I designed the Attic24 Mandala Wheel  to be a quick and simple make, something decorative that could be pinned to the wall or laid on the table to bring a flash of colour to the room. There are 12 rounds in total, so there are twelve colour decisions that need to be made when making this mandala. You could plan it all out in advance, or you could make each choice as you go along (which is what I do) - either way, the colour play is an important part of mandala making and I absolutely love it for that.

Mandalas can look quite complicated as they often use a whole combination of different stitches to create the rings of pattern. But I promise you that it's possible to take a very simple pattern (which mine is) and make something very beautiful and inspiring. Complete satisfaction right there in those stitches!

I have a whole collection of small jugs which I use purely for flowers, collected over many years. The one I'm using here was bought more than twenty five years ago from a craft fair, at a time in my life when I had very little money and £12.50 seemed like a huge amount to spend on a hand made jug.  But I have used it and loved it dearly for over a quarter of a century and it brings me such a lot of pleasure, so I'm very glad I gave into my heart and made this jug mine all those years ago. 

Do you like the idea of having a little bit of crochet on your table, or do you think it's a bit pointless? I'd love to know what you think of mandalas - they are such therapeutic, mindful, satisfying things to create even if you don't necessarily know what to do with them afterwards. 

If you've been following my blog for a while you'll know about my involvement with Yarndale, and you may well know about the large Mandala Hoops I've made which get displayed outside under the trees at the festival. You can read all about the making of these big mandalas (including pattern links) in the following posts :

✤ Starflower Mandalas

✤ Mandala Hoops

✤ More Mandala Hoops

This year I want to make a collection of smaller hoops to join the big ones at Yarndale, and after I  stumbled upon a beautiful pattern a few days ago I just had to give it a go.

I'm using Stylecraft Classique Cotton DK (my go-to yarn for mandalas), in the following colours  (from the outside of the mandala inwards ::

✤ Soft Lime ✤ Peppermint ✤ Sky Blue ✤ Wisteria ✤ Plum ✤Busy Lizzie ✤ Mauve ✤ Shrimp ✤ Fondant ✤

These thin metal rings are perfect for making mandala hoops - you can find them easily on Amazon and they come in all different sizes. The ones I'm using at the moment are 30 cm diameter which is the size of a large dinner plate. 

This pattern is called the "Spirit Mandala" designed by Tatsiana who writes a crochet blog called Lilla Björn Crochet. It was was gorgeous to make and I enjoyed the challenge of working some different stitches (hello popcorns!)

I used Tatiana's video tutorial to learn how she crochets her mandala to the hoop (which is a very neat method I have to say) and I am thrilled with the result.

 

One thing to remember when making mandala hoops - the finished crochet will need to be quite a bit smaller than the hoop you are using as you will need to stretch the mandala to open out the stitches and make it nice and taut. I find that the easiest way to do this is to use locking stitch markers (like these little plastic ones) to attach the mandala to your ring before you try and crochet that final round. 

The end result is so pleasing to look at, I just love the way the stitches open out and breathe once the crochet is stretched out into it's hoop. I can highly recommend a spot of Mandala Therapy, it's a perfect, colourful quick-fix project for a dreary Winter's afternoon. Tempted????? Go on........you know you want to!!

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Woodland Blanket CAL :: Part 5

Well, another Friday has rolled around and it's Woodland O'clock all around the world - that very thought makes me smile huge and wide!!! I love thinking about the Worldwide Woodland community that has evolved around this humble blanket, we really do seem to be a happy bunch and I am so enjoying watching your progress via the many photos and chatty threads on social media. Thank you as ever for joining me on this journey, I can't tell you how much I appreciate your company as we meander through the trees. CAL's are so much fun - this is my 4th annual Crochet ALong blanket, and I just don't want it to end.

This week I've been celebrating the arrival of Tomato yarn in the Warehouse of Wool, oh what a happy day that was! As many of you will know, my woodland yarn packs have been out of stock for over three weeks due to a shortage of tomato yarn at the Stylecraft mill. I'm happy to tell you that we are now back on track, so thank you so much for your patience if you've been waiting to join the Woodland Walk.

{WOodLAnD YaRn PaCks}

I've been reading lots of happy comments this past week from those of you who were making your way through Part 4 of the Woodland blanket.  It seems you've been loving those glimpses of  Autumn sky as much as me!

I absolutely love love love to stand still a while in the middle of the woodland and gaze upwards through the branches, it gives me a heady feeling of joy and lightness right down to the tips of my toes. I remember when the above photo was taken - we were walking as a family in our local woodland one sunny Sunday morning in the middle of November. It was such a glorious Autumn day, and the leaves were falling all around us as as we walked.

I was always told as a child that if you catch a falling leaf before it reaches the ground then it'll bring you good luck and you should make a wish. Have you heard this before? I told this to the Little People and watched as they instantly went full tilt trying to catch a leaf in their hands as they swirled down from the treetops. It's not as easy as it sounds, you'll know if you've ever tried it! I tried hard to capture a photo of the leaves dancing and falling but without success, so you'll have to imagine it instead.

The above photo captures those dreamy, light-filled Autumn days to perfection, and the glowing colours of sunlit beech leaves set against the sky is the inspiration for the top part of the Woodland Ripple blanket.....

......I really (really-really) love these colours together, oh they are sublime! The lighter part of the Woodland palette provides a superb balance to the more earthy, rich tones that we started our walk with. As you work your way through Part 5 this week, I do hope you'll enjoy the beauty of the colour combinations.

At the end of each week I spend time "creatively faffing" with my blanket, laying it all out and taking photographs to share with you on my blog. It's such a pleasurable thing to do, and I find that I enjoy the faffing and photographing almost as much as the actual hooking. Almost. I'm so in love with these ripples, the pattern is a dream to work and the soothing nature of the ripply rows has been a true tonic for me in recent weeks. This week I've spent time hooking at the cafe, at a friends house, beside the fire, tucked up in bed. It really has been therapeutic, relaxing, soothing and mindful and I've appreciated those gentle stripes very much.

As you can see, Tilly nearly always joins me as I partake in my faffery, she is never far from me when I'm home and insists on being right at the centre of whatever I'm up to. So I thought today you might like to see some photos from Facebook which show what your four legged (and two legged!) friends think of your Woodland Blankets............

Awwww.....

What a cutie.....

Sleepy head.....

Looking like pure mischief.....

What a beauty - the cat and the blanket.....

The above photo made my snort with laughter as it was simply titled "Bad Alice!" Hahaa!!!! Oh Alice, you naughty little kitty!!

Awwwwww!!!!!!!!!! Say hello to Benji and Bongo, enjoying a bit of Woodland snuggle time!

Geraldine shared this photo of her budgie "helping" her with her hooky (!) .....

....and this amazingly beautiful bird belongs to Nancy. Stunning colours, I wouldn't be able to take my eyes off those feathers if I had a bird like that living in the Attic.

Emmy showed us her horse who is doing a wonderful job showing off a beautiful collection of Attic24 blanket.

I love seeing your photos, thank you for sharing them and for making the Woodland community feel so friendly and warm.

Back to my own blanket, and the above photo shows you how parts 4 and 5 look together as the colours slowly shift and change as we move towards the top. 

I love the gentle movement that the ripples create, they are just soooooooo gorgeous to look at.

As the blanket grows it gets harder for me to photograph it all, but I do my best as I really want you to see how the colour story is playing out - I'm so proud of it! But................I really wish I had some Autumnal coloured stripy socks to wear for these photos!! I wish so much that I'd thought about that!! Next time I make a blanket, I'm most definitely going to knit myself a pair of matching socks. 

The whole colour story idea thrills me from a design point of view, and it's the best feeling to see the real thing finally coming to life after spending so many months working on it.

 A NOTE ABOUT BLANKET LENGTH

 At the end of Part 4, your blanket should be measuring around 120cm in length (2/3 of the completed blanket).

This is an approximate figure but will help to give you an idea of where you should be at. If you think your blanket is measuring too long, then this week is a good time to make some adjustments. So long as you end Part 5 with a Duck Egg stripe, you can quite easily reduce the number of stripes this week if you want to. So I've shown you above, you could work up to Stripe 78 and stop, or you could work up to Stripe 86 and stop. Or....keep going up to Stripe 90. 

At the end of Part 5, your blanket should be measuring around 150-160 cm.

Next week is the final week for making the stripes and there will be only 15 stripes to do in Part 6. I really hope your yarn is holding out and that you'll have enough left for the border. Remember that if you want to check, then weigh the yarn that's now finished with (either Cypress, Grey, Cooper, Tomato or Spice) and make sure you have around 23g left. You should be using approx 11 g per stripe = 77g of each colour in total.

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WOODLAND BLANKET CAL PART 5

So your last stripe from Part 4 should be Pistachio - that was stripe number 72.

Here is the colour info for Part 5 of the "Woodland Colour Story" : stripes 73-90, working from the bottom upwards.

Remember each stripe is worked in two rows, so 18 stripes = 36 rows of crochet.

*Please note - stripes written in *red text* are additional stripes to be worked only if you have 2 yarn packs and are making a double bed size blanket. If you have one yarn pack, please ignore the red!

73. Gold

74. Lincoln

75. Pistachio

76. Storm Blue

77. Silver

78. Duck Egg (aahhhhhh!!!)

79. Pistachio 

*Storm Blue* (optional for large size)

80. Gold

81. Lincoln

82. Lime

83. Storm Blue

84. Silver

85. Mustard

86. Duck Egg

87. Silver

*Pistachio* (optional for large size)

88. Storm Blue

89. Lincoln

90. Duck Egg

Annie shared this picture of her Random Stripe Woodland blanket after she'd completed part 4 this week. Isn't it a beauty? She changed the yellow shade by switching out Mustard and replacing it with Saffron, and I do really like the slightly brighter effect - it's like shafts of golden sunlight streaming through the leaves.

I'm listing this weeks Random Stripe colours below......... 

Part 5 of the "Random Colours" Woodland Blanket is illustrated above (follow the pegs from the bottom to the top)

73. Mocha

74. Pistachio

75. Lincoln

76. Cypress

77. Gold

78. Copper

79. Mocha 

80. Pistachio

81. Duck Egg

82. Grey

83. Tomato

84. Mustard

85. Lincoln

86. Silver

87. Meadow

88. Spice

89. Storm Blue

90. Lime

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Part 6 (stripes 91-105) will be here on Friday 9th February - here are the links you might need this week.... 

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WOODLAND BLANKET YARN PACK (finally back in stock - so happy about that!!!)

WOODLAND RIPPLE PATTERN

WOODLAND BLANKET CAL : introduction

WOODLAND BLANKET CAL : Q&A

WOODLAND BLANKET CAL :: PART 1

WOODLAND BLANKET CAL :: PART 2

WOODLAND BLANKET CAL :: PART 3

WOODLAND BLANKET CAL :: PART 4

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Have a beautiful week strolling along those woodland pathways!

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