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Making the Seasons :: September

By the time you read this, Yarndale will have been and gone and I'll most likely be collapsed in an unglorious heap. The weeks leading up to Yarndale are incredibly busy and full on for me, and I generally get through September feeling like I am clinging on by my fingertips. The juggling of my responsibilities can be overwhelming to be honest, but I try and take it in stride and not let myself get swept up in too much anxiety. I've been kept very busy working on the big Creative Community display for the festival which this year is all about butterflies. Thank you SO MUCH to everyone who made and sent butterflies for Yarndale (360 of you joined in - thank you!!!) - I've taken lots of photos to share with you next week.

Being up to my eyes in colourful butterflies for much of this month has meant that I've not had the time to do my Making the Seasons project. Wah!!!! I'm so disappointed that I haven't managed it (despite trying to be uber-organsied and planning it out well in advance this month), but that's just the way it is sometimes. So I thought I'd show you a little of my thinking/inspiration right now, with a view to actually getting creative in early October once life returns to more of an even keel. 

You may remember a few weeks ago I shared my crochet coat hanger project with you? Oh, that was such a delightful and spontaneous bit of hooky delight! I loved making it, and have been admiring it hanging on the back of my door ever since. I made the coat hanger specifically to act as a pretty prop for this upcycling project that I had in mind - I got it into my head that I wanted to have a go at jazzing up an old cardigan with a bit of colourful decoration. 

At the start of the month I searched on eBay for some likely woolly candidates - I wanted a plain coloured cardigan with pockets that I could add some embroidery to. After much crossing of fingers and some optimistic bidding, I failed miserably on eBay and lost all of the bids on all of the cardigans in spectacular fashion. So I decided to go on  a little charity shop run instead, and the Gods of Unloved Items must have been looking after me because they delivered an absolute beauty right into my hands in the very first shop I looked in.

I snagged this lovely teal coloured lambswool jumper for a very acceptable £3.99 in the British Heart Foundation shop, and I pretty much skipped out of there with a massive grin on my face. Hazzah!!! Who needs eBay with it's vastly over priced auction goods?!!!!!

The cardigan in question is of good quality and a lovely colour, but when I showed it triumphantly to Little Lady she raised her eyebrows and pronounced it "fit for an old granny". I admit the buttons are a little old fashioned, and most likely a Teen isn't going to think much of a second hand v neck woolly cardy, but I have great plans in my head for this garment. Granny Chic is within my grasp!

First thing I did was to search out some new buttons. I absolutely love love love cardigans with quirky mismatched buttons, always have done and probably always will. I searched on Amazon for something suitable and found myself paddling in a whole huge sea of button choices - so many buttons to go at! after much deliberation I decided on these little 15mm wooden buttons so that I could keep the size/shape of the button uniform but mix and match the patterns.

They are seriously cute, just look!

Here is the cardigan in all it's granny-ish glory. I've decided not to do anything too radical to it - all I really want to do is change up the buttons and put something pretty on the pockets.

I've long been a fan of folk-art style embroidery, and this lovely teal colour makes the perfect backdrop for some folksy flowers I think. Let me show you what I mean.......

.....I know these are mittens, but the woolly embroidery is just so gorgeous, don't you agree? And you can see how this might work on the pockets of my cardy? I can see it!! I want to do it so badly!!

These mittens are the work of Nienke Landman who lives and works in the Netherlands (I think. I'm pretty sure her blog is written in Dutch). I first came across her on Instagram - her photos are an absolute inspirational delight and never fail to make me swoon with pleasure. This lady is so talented! She knits and crochets and embroiders the most wonderful, colourful things, and images of her lifestyle do something to my heart which makes it feel like it's being squeezed. It makes me feel excited, emotional and full of joy, and maybe just a little bit in love with it all. Please do go peek at her Instagram feed and take a little scroll, you will see what I mean I'm sure. And as an extra bonus, there is a most charming video to watch too. It's beautiful. All of it swoon-worthy. 

Out of all the beautiful images by Mooi Van Draad, it's these embroidered woollen mittens and gloves which I have fallen deeply in love with. The stitches are simple but so beautifully done, and the sweet little colourful folksy designs have captured my heart.

Incidentally, as I was drinking in all the images, I came across one of a stitching-in-progress (SIP?!) and was intrigued to see that she uses something that looks like a thin soluble fabric to stitch over? I guess it means you can draw out the design on the soluble fabric, embroider onto it, then dissolve the fabric away in water when you're done. I've never tried this technique, does anyone have any experience of it? I'm going to investigate where I can find this magic!!

As you will probably know, once you get sunk into researching something like this, it's like tumbling down a majorly huge rabbit hole. I got stuck in Pinterest for all eternity (well a good hour, maybe more), chasing links and clicking away on a gazillion images of woolly embroidery. The above mitts caught my eye and I tracked them down to Ravelry - they are called Dala-Floda mittens which for some inexplicable reason makes me want to snort with laughter. I'm sure there's a meaningful translation behind those words, but they sound so comical to my English ears. 

At the very end of my Pinterest marathon, I found these embroidered leg warmers which made me gasp out loud - OH!!!!! SO so so beautiful!! Although to be honest I think I would prefer to see these on my arms rather than down there on my legs. They really are lovely, and I feel very inspired to try designing some woolly embroidery pocket motifs.

So that's pretty much where I'm up to as of now - I'm itching to get my stitchy fingers going with this, hopefully in the next few weeks once I've recovered from Yarndale. I'm going to try and find out more about the soluble embroidery fabric, and gather together some suitable yarn (I'm thinking 4ply merino - I've got a stash of this in my studio). I'll be sure to post a MTS : September : Part 2 post to share the outcome of the Granny Cardy - I hope after all this sharing that it's going to work out - no pressure or anything!

Gillian and I are almost at the end of our Making The Seasons year with just one more month left to go....do pop over to her beautiful blog and see what she has been up to in September, it's very inspirational.

You can find all my previous Making The Seasons posts {{ here }}. 

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Summers End

We passed the Autumn Equinox on Sunday, and that's our Summer over for another year. Often in the past, this time of year would absolutely flatten me with an overwhelming sense of melancholy mixed in with something akin to mild panic. I honestly used to dread the end of September which is a bit sad really because it's just a collection of emotions based on nothing tangible. I would mourn the end of Summer with a deep down feeling of real loss. But this year? Well...............I feel great about Autumn slowly arriving, really and truly! I think this is mostly down to the fact that we enjoyed such an amazing summer this year, oh it's been utterly glorious and I have so many warm, sunny memories to tide me over this period of seasonal transition.

It feels like Autumn has crept in early, just as Summer did back at the start of May. I ususally think of September as a "late Summer month", but this year, it has felt very autumnal right from the start.

This is the stretch of the river between Burnsall and Linton, which is a part of the Yorkshire Dales that feels very familiar and comforting to us as we walk here often. On this Sunday morning in early September it was warm and muggy as we ambled along, me, J and Little B. I remember feeling like we needed to make the very most of the last remaining days of holiday before the new school year began, and a slow walk along the riverside felt like just the right kind of thing.

Our destination was the Old School Tearoom in Hebden which I can highly recommend if you are ever in the area visiting. It's an absolute gem of a place in a charming Dales village - we like to go mid morning for coffee and brunch, and if the weather is mild there's a lovely garden you can sit in whilst you enjoy some very good food and drink. 

Being that this was an end of holiday treat, Little B took full advantage and ordered up a waffle, complete with toffee sauce, ice cream and banana. He declared it "soooooooooooooo good.....but not better than the waffle in Bruges", which I think is fair enough. I don't think any waffle will ever be as good as the one in Bruges. 

The following day, Little B and I went off just the two of us for a day in the City. During the summer he had kept asking, and I had kept promising, and quite frankly with only two days of holiday left I was running out of time to make good on my promise. When he tumbled out of bed that morning, I calmly told him we would be getting the train and heading for a day out in the City and he nearly jumped through the ceiling with excitement. It made me think that maybe I need to work harder at fulfilling promises, because he was so shocked that we were actually going to do it!

It was fun being just the two of us, he is terrific company, a real chatter box and still at an age where train journeys and trips out in general hold much excitement. We spent a bit of time shopping (very last minute school uniform, and some Lego as an end of holiday treat), and then it was time for the most exciting part of the whole trip.......a visit to The Alchemist......

.....and yes you would be right in thinking that this is a rather posh cocktail bar and not especially the kind of place for an eight year old to wish for with so much enthusiasm. We were lucky to get a table outside on the terrace (it's high up, with stunning city views), and proceeded to order up some mocktails. Oh boy, the excitement!!! Little B is quite a science geek, so the fact that the cocktail menu is set out like the periodic table really floated his little boat, as did the rather chemical looking drink that arrived for him. Such fun. He absolutely loved it, so much so that he chose to write about it in his "what I did in the holidays" report at school. I hope the teacher doesn't think badly of me for making a cocktail bar the highlight of his holiday.

I spent a bit of time towards the end of the Summer enjoying some non-crochet creative time, which was hugely enjoyable. Crochet will always be my passion and my first love, but every so often it gives me a lot of pleasure to follow other people's patterns and designs and do something just for fun. I knitted a pair of socks (more on those in another post), and I worked some more on my latest cross stitch.

I am totally loving this design (by Tiny Modernist on Etsy), and find that the extreme concentration needed to prevent a stitchy balls-up really frees up my mind and relaxes me. I've had to put it away again for a while as I've been concentrating on doing Yarndale work, but I'm really looking forward to life post-Yarndale when I'll have time to sit quietly and stitch again.

The Little People have been back at school for three weeks now, and all seems to be calm and settled in their respective childhood worlds. I was thinking about that fact this afternoon, and was suddenly overwhelmed with a wave of gratitude for the fact that right now, all three of my offspring are content, happy, doing well for themselves and thriving. I am so so glad. I walk along the canal every morning with Little B, and feel so happy that this is our routine, our life. We are blessed, and I never for one moment take it for granted. 

I treated myself to a new light weight summer cardy before all the winter woollies arrived. I bought it mainly because I loved the colour - it's kind of a cross between mustard and lime green and I've been wearing it with anything and everything, not caring if it matches or not. I thought the colour looked especially good alongside these leaves that I picked up from the bottom of the street. The big sycamore trees are always the first to start changing colour, reminding me that Summer is slowly slipping away.

I'm still so madly in love with my Cottonsoft blanket, and have become very possessive of it. I enjoy having it with me at night - even if it's too warm to have it on top of me, I like sleeping with it folded up at my feet. Don't ask me why, but it gives me such a lot of comfort and I love having those beautiful, soft summer ripples close by. 

My hill view is looking so lovely right now (well not right this very minute as it's pitch black out there now). The countryside is lush after a lot of rain these past few weeks, and there is something about the particular mellowness of the September sun that makes the light and shadows look very beautiful as they pass across the hillside.

We've been walking locally a bit just lately, Little B and I striding out after dinner to make the most of this time of year when the daylight hours allow an evening walk. We have a circuit we like to do which takes us up steep, steep streets of (posh) houses to the very edge of our town, then a wide farm track around the foot of the above hill, through a gate and into the top of the woods. We have to time it right, because walking in the woods as it starts to get dark is a bit tricky to be honest!

But it's lovely to emerge at the outer edge of the woodland and take in the early evening view over the town. I appreciate being able to do this at the end of my often hectic days, a chance to gently unwind as the day comes to a close. 

I hope that whatever transition you are making as we shift from one season to the next, that you find pleasure in your days.

Enjoy every moment!

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A Light Moment

I don't know many people in my everyday real life who write blogs, so I do really value talking about blogging with the few friends who have their own little nooks in Blogland. On Friday at my fabulous Creative Coopers hook/knit/natter meet up, I had just such a conversation with one of my lovely friends who has been writing her own blog since last summer. She was saying that she often feels as if she should only blog if she's got something very specific to write about - an event, an outing, a completed project - whereas I feel happy talking about pretty much any little insignificant thing that passes into my mind as a result of a quick photo taken on my camera. I remarked that when I'm reading other peoples blogs, it's the little snippets of daily life that I really like to hear about, the everyday kind of stuff. I mean, it's always a wonderful thing to share in someone's grand ta-dah moment, or read all about a fabulous trip they've taken, but oh, I do so love the comfort of sharing and celebrating the ordinariness of life. 

Something else we both agreed on, is that we wished we could find the time to blog more often. We talked about the huge amount of time it takes to create a fully loaded blog post (as opposed to a quick snap on Instagram), and that perhaps we would both benefit from making our blog posts shorter and more frequent. 

So rather than save these photos to add to many more in the coming weeks (they would fit beautifully in a summer-into-autumn style narrative), I'm giving them to you right now. They were taken on Monday evening as we walked through the park to the the swimming pool. The light was exquisite, made even more precious by the fact that the blast of golden sunshine against a moody grey stormy sky literally only lasted for around five minutes. Pretty much as soon as I'd taken that last photo (Little B holding up the leaves), the clouds covered the sun and the beautiful light moment was over.

At a time when we were rushing from A to B and may so easily have missed what was right in front of our eyes, I'm so happy that I took the opportunity to stop and marvel at how beautiful it was. It's a lesson in being mindful of our surroundings, which is something I really try to practice each day as I walk, even on days when I am late and in a hurry. It feels remarkable I can tell you. 

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A Crochet Coat Hanger

Every so often I find myself overwhelmed by the urgent need to drop everything and start on a new crochet project. Sometimes an idea pings into my Creative Mind as if from nowhere and sometimes something catches my eye online and makes me feel all inspired to try something new. You just never know when inspiration will strike, and that precious zap of creative energy demands to be acted upon!

Yesterday, when I should have been doing a gazillion other things, I fetched my basket of cutesome Ricorumi cotton balls and set about crocheting a quick cover for a wooden coat hanger. And I did this because??? Well, because I felt inspired to turn something plain and wooden into something pretty and yarny of course! Also, I've got a project coming up which will require me to hang a garment for photography, and after noticing that my friend Sandra always hangs her beautiful crochet creations on the most divine hangers, well I decided my wooden hanger just wasn't going to cut it.

A little note about hangers - these simple wooden ones which are curved and don't have the straight trouser-draping bars along the bottom are quite hard to find. If you are searching online, you need to used the words "wooden crescent hanger" to find them (the "crescent" word is important). I bought mine in a local shop but you can find them on Amazon in packs of 3, or packs of 10. Please make sure you double check the dimensions and don't buy a childs size by mistake! 

I wanted to also draw your eye to the lovely felty basket I'm using to hold my Ricorumi balls in....

....this was the prototype basket that I made during the summer to test out the idea of putting pure wool crochet into the washing machine to felt it. I'm soooooooo happy with this basket!! I'm working on the second one now (making bigger handles, and a slightly bigger base) using different colours and I hope to be able to show you the finished basket very soon. The idea is that you can store your yarn in it so that the whole thing becomes a working colour palette - I find it really, really useful to order my yarn and see all my colours at once when I'm working on decorative projects. More soon!

Back to the hanger cover. This is a really quick and simple make - all you need to do is produce a narrow strip of crochet, preferably in beautifully colourful stripes. First determine the starting width - this needs to fit right the way around the hanger so that you can join with a seam along the bottom curved edge.

Short rows are worked back and forth in double crochet (that's single crochet for US peeps).

I used a 4mm hook and made a starting chain of 13, which means each row is 12 stitches wide.

I worked 4 rows for each stripe, 19 stripes in total.

When you create your starting chain, leave a long 20cm tail end at the beginning - you'll use this to stitch up the end of the hanger cover later (you can see my orange starting tail end in the above photo)

Although this is a very simple project, I thought it might be useful to share a few tips to help you produce a nice, neat, no-end-darning bit of hooky (yes that's right, NO DARNING!)

Changing colour - When you come to the end of a stripe, it's a good idea to learn how to change colour when you create the last stitch of the row. To work the last double crochet stitch, insert hook into stitch, yarn over and pull a loop back through the stitch - you'll have 2 loops on the hook (red yarn in the above photo). Cut the yarn, leaving a 12cm tail end, then simply hook up the new yarn (pink in the above photo, leaving a 12cm tail end) and pull the new yarn loop through both loops on the hook.....

....see???

This allows you to chain 1 and turn with the new colour already on your hook.

Now here's a neat trick to deal with your ends - when you crochet the first row of a new colour, carry both tail ends horizontally along the top of your stitches, making sure your hook passes underneath them with every stitch you make......

....do this right the way to the end of the row so that your tail ends are carried right the way across and end up sticking out at the edge (as in the above photo). You can simply snip them off close to the work, so no darning required and no ends poking up through the middle of your stripes. Boom!!!!!!!!!

Keep checking the length of your crochet against the length of your hanger, remembering that the crochet fabric should stretch a little to give a nice un-baggy finish. I made 19 stripes in total which was 19 x 4 = 76 rows.

When you fasten off, leave a 20cm tail end for stitching up.

Fold your crochet in half along the length of the work, then using the tail ends at the start and end of your crochet, neatly stitch up the short ends. 

This is what you should have now - a long stripy length with the two short ends folded over and stitched together.

Find the centre of your crochet (mine was the centre of the 10th stripe) and insert the hook of your hanger through the centre point.....

.....then fold the crochet right over the hanger so that the short, stitched-up ends hold the crochet in place.

To make the seam along the bottom, I crocheted the long ends together around the bottom curve of the hanger, working a row of double crochet. This was then finished off with a row of Bobble-shell edging.

Begin at the far right hand end, insert your hook and pull through a loop of the edging colour, then chain 1 to secure.

Inserting the hook under the stitches of both edges, work 1 dc into the ends of each row (4 dc stitches per stripe).

Try and keep your tension and stitches as even as possible - it's a little bit awkward working around the hanger, but if you take your time and go slowly then it's not too difficult.

When you reach the end, you can fasten off if you want to keep the edging very simple, or keep going if you fancy creating a little bit of bobble-shell.....

.....I think the bobble-shell stitch gives a lovely finishing touch - it's just the right amount of pretty without being too dangly or fussy.

Now me being me, it was impossible to leave the stripes unadorned, it just wasn't going to happen. Crochet flowers are the obvious choice for embellishment, but I've seen lovely hangers with little hearts or buttons added as a finishing touch, or maybe a little ribbon bow would look sweet too?

I decided to make a couple of my Japanese Quince Flowers  - I thought two flowers with a couple of leaves would be just right.

The flowers are quick and easy to make, with just a little bit of additional fiddle adding in the yellow stamens. But they do look lovely....

....especially once they are tucked up against the stripes.

Super pretty!

I love my hooky hanger, and of course I am now fighting the urge to make more, more, more. Why is it with these things, one is never ever enough? 

You'll be seeing a bit more of this hanger towards the end of the month when I share my Making the Seasons post for September. I've decided to try a little bit of woolly upcycling this month, adding some colour and  creativity to a charity shop cardigan. I'm not quite ready to embrace Autumn just yet, but I could use a little bit of added woolly warmth on top of my summer linen dresses......still wearing my flip flops though!!

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A Hot Sunny Holiday

Isn't it curious how sometimes holidays can take on an almost unreal dream-like quality in the weeks that follow, even though the memories remain so clear and vivid? I've been looking back on these photos and can scarcely believe that they belong to me. Did we really do that, was that really us up there above the clouds???! Did I actually manage to persuade the whole family to climb into a plane and fly twelve hundred miles across land and sea so that we could spend a hot sunny week on a Spanish island? Why yes, I do believe this was Real Life and not just a dream inside my crazy, colourful mind, haha!!!!

So those of you who know a little about my family life during the past decade will know that we have always holidayed in the UK, favouring simple holidays either caravanning*, youth hostelling, staying with family or renting a holiday cottage. We don't generally do hotels (too tricky with 5 of us), and we don't do foreign travel either. This year we broke out of our UK based holiday history and ventured across the sea on a ferry to Bruges in April. It was a short trip, but we so enjoyed it and ever since then I've been consistently campaigning for more travel. The Teen was a tad unenthusiastic (his default setting), but Little Lady and Little B seemed excited about the idea of taking off to holiday abroad for the first time. J on the other hand was dead set against the whole idea right from the start. He hates flying, dislikes travel in general and is happiest when his feet are on Yorkshire soil.

It took months and months to get to the point where J gave in we all reached an agreement on the Holiday Abroad idea, and even more time to narrow down our options on where to go and how to go about finding something suitable for all five of us. Never has the age gap between our children been more difficult (they are 8, 14 and 16), but after much discussion we ended up with something of a checklist to work with. Short flights from our local airport, somewhere warm and sunny but affordable, enough beds to sleep in (harder than you'd think for a family of 5), self catering, preferably with a private swimming pool (this was my own personal tick box), WiFi (how can Teens even breathe without it?), a quiet resort with beach, shops and restaurants all within walking distance of our accommodation (we didn't want to drive whilst on holiday). So....lots to consider. It took a huuuuuuuuge amount of time and effort to search and search for our holiday, and Dorset began to look more and more appealing to be honest. But finally, after a determined last ditch effort and some creative online searching, I managed to co-ordinate affordable, well timed local flights with a modest 3 bedroom villa, and with less then three weeks to go I took a leap of faith and booked it. 

So at the start of August we flew to the Spanish Balearic island of Menorca, somewhere we'd never been to before but it sounded in theory like a good place for us to spend a week relaxing in the sun. The small resort where we stayed was very sleepy and quiet despite being a popular tourist destination, and I couldn't believe how little traffic there was on the roads. We arrived in the early afternoon in crazy-hot blazing sunshine, and as we meandered about the small town finding our bearings we suddenly came upon this...................

............our first view of the local beach. Wow, just.....WOW!! The colour of the sea was breathtaking and even more beautiful in real life than it had looked on my computer screen. The resort is called Cala en Porter and although it seemed a little old fashioned in some ways, it was great for the type of relaxed, low-key holiday we were after.

It was 3pm by the time we were able to access our villa, and I don't think we've ever been so grateful to see a pool of cool water. As you probably know, the weather here in the UK at the start of the summer delivered record temperatures, but nothing had prepared us for the slamming heat of a Spanish island experiencing a heatwave. It was H-O-T and humid in a way that we just don't ever get to experience here in England, around 36 C (97F) on the day we arrived wearing our English clothes. However, with a week stretching ahead and nothing better to do than lounge about the place dipping in and out of the pool, I was optimistic that we would all adjust to the heat pretty well.

Our villa was a single storey white washed home with a colourful, light-filled relaxed holiday vibe and I liked it the moment I stepped inside. 

The main living area and kitchen were spacious and open plan with a high vaulted ceiling, tiled floors and huge doors which opened to the outside at the front and back. There were three bedrooms which meant that we were able to give our eldest Teen his own space, with the other two quite happy to share (Little Lady is generally very easy going about these kinds of things). There was also reliable WiFi and satellite TV (which had UK children's TV, a godsend for Little B during those scorching hot afternoons), and with the luxury of having our own private pool, everyone was really very happy with their leisure prospects.

The only major downside was the lack of air conditioning, which made sleeping at night pretty difficult. The temperature and humidity remained very high at night, and although we kept the rooms shuttered during the day and had portable fans in the bedrooms, it was almost impossible to cool down enough to sleep properly. It left us feeling very low in energy during the day, which wasn't too bad for the most part (we were mainly lounging around which requires very little energy), but J definitely suffered the most. He was like a bear with a sore head and as the week progressed, he became increasingly grumpy with his lack of quality shut eye. With hindsight, we would most definitely add air conditioning to our checklist next time!

Early mornings were my most favourite time of day by far, and I absolutely loved being up and about outside at 6am as the sun was starting to rise. 

The temperature at this time of day was absolute perfection. I would sit at the end of the pool with my feet dipped in the water,  sipping a mug of hot coffee and listening to the gentle sound of the bees buzzing around the flowers.

The garden at the villa was fabulous, and probably the best part about the whole place. It was a large, private space with different seating areas including a large table and chairs for eating, five sun loungers and the above shaded area which became Little Lady's place to chill out during the heat of the afternoon. The villa was situated right on the very edge of the resort (about 15 minutes walk from the centre) and as a result it was extremely quiet. I appreciated the tranquility very much, especially in the evenings. 

Every morning a sprinkler system turned on automatically so that all of the beautiful plants and flowers were watered in the hot dry weather. The garden was so lovely!

It's one of the things I really enjoy about being abroad, seeing all the different flowers that would only grow inside a heated conservatory or greenhouse here. Delicate blue plumbago......

....and bright pinky red hibiscus. Beautiful.

But the star of the show was undoubtedly the swimming pool, which was pretty much in constant use from early morning until it got dark at night. When we were thinking about our holiday and making a checklist of must-haves, a private pool was at the top of my list. I've never stayed in a villa abroad before - the idea of having our own private space seemed like such a massive luxury to me, and something that I was keen to experience if we could find something affordable. I wanted to be able to relax beside the water knowing that my Little People were safe, and for them to have the freedom to be in and out of the water as they pleased.

On our first day we bought a couple of inflatable rings, a lilo and a ball from the local supermarket, and they provided endless entertainment for us all. In the late afternoon once we had rested in the shade/indoors for a while, we would all go into the water together to play. I would set up a makeshift pool-side bar (cans of Coke for the Little People, and cans of Spanish beer for J and I) and it was often the highlight of my day. I looked forward to my four o'clock beer and playtime very much!

As the heat was so intense for much of our week in Menorca, Little B found that he wasn't easily able to sit outside during the day. He would be absolutely fine if he was in the swimming pool, but the sun was simply too much for him to handle. Luckily I'd thought to pack a box of surprise Lego for him which he was really delighted with. Each day he would make one of the models, then at the end of the day I would break it all apart ready for him to build something else (3 in 1 Lego is fantastic!). He also took to playing patience/solitaire by himself as well as reading his book or playing on his tablet, or watching children's TV. He never once said that he was bored (although he often said how hot he was), and I was so thankful for that. In fact, all of the Little People were remarkably happy loafing about and existing in their own little bubbles whilst we were away - the Teens connecting to the world wide web, chatting to their friends or playing games on their phones. The times during the day when we all came together as a family to eat meals or play in the pool were the times that I enjoyed the most, and I have some truly precious memories stored away in my mental photo album.

Cala en Porter resort is a mixture of small hotels and apartments mixed in with lots of private villas, and with the majority of the buildings being low and whitewashed with lots of trees and flowers growing in abundance, it was a lovely place.

As you can see, the beach is situated within a deep rocky inlet which makes the sea very shallow and very calm. I was sooooo looking forward to a dip in that cool turquoise water, and I was genuinely surprised when nobody else really shared my enthusiasm....eh????!!!!! I think that the very hot mile long walk from the villa (which included a steep descent down a huge flight of steps), followed by a dip in the super-salty water and a towel laid down on hot sandy-sand did not hold much appeal compared with the ease of poolside life.

But I worked my best persuasive skillz on the Fam and we did make a couple trips down to the beach during the week to swim amongst the fishes. One evening, just Little Lady and I went down to swim - it had been an especially hot day, and after our evening meal I had a sudden urge to throw myself into the sea, so off we went. It was around 7pm I think, with very few people still in the water (the beach was in full shade by that time of day), but I loved being able to float around gently in the water and gaze at the sea and sky - all that blueness was intoxicating for my sea-loving soul! 

So....that steep descent down the huge flight of steps that I mentioned? Ah yes, well what goes down must also come up and the return ascent was an absolute beast!! I am not very fit I have to say, and my legs resembled jelly by the time I got to the top huffing and puffing and sweating buckets. It's funny, but looking at the above photo there is really no evidence of the heat whatsoever. The whole stone-filled image looks surprisingly cool in fact, but please do not be deceived. We climbed these steps several times in the blistering heat and it was no easy thing.

But the steps were very pretty, surrounded by lush greenery and rambling flowers and I was able to make frequent stops to catch my breath, rest the jelly legs and admire the morning glory growing wild all over the rocks. 

One the very best things about staying in the villa was the fact that there was a full kitchen, complete with a ginormous fridge and freezer. It made a massive difference to the overall relaxation of our holiday, and was also very budget friendly. Cala en Porter is a small resort, but due to the high number of self catering villas there are four supermarkets right in the centre. The supermarkets weren't huge, but they were fantastic for the type of food and drink that suited us - lots of fresh fruit and salad, a mouthwatering selection of cured meats and local cheese, bags of salty snacks (amazing nuts!), Spanish chocolate and magdalenas (we ate loads of these!), and of course drinks. We kept the freezer stocked with ice cubes and ice lollies, and the fridge stocked with lots and lots of water. Fizzy drinks and lollies were saved for our afternoon pool-side treat and the Little People were fine with this. We also got through a large volume of watermelon - so refreshing in the very hot weather to snack on ice cold slices of this fruit.

I was more than happy to do the catering while we were away as I love creating family meals and didn't really feel the need to take a break from that just because I was on holiday. I have friends who will only ever go to hotels where they have all inclusive access to food all day so that they don't have to cook or go shopping, but this isn't for us. Many of our meals were non-cook anyway, so it was more a case of just slicing things up and arranging stuff on plates. I wish I had taken some photos to show you, I created some very impressive mixed platters of meats, cheeses, olives and salad (oh those Spanish tomatoes were divine), and with pretty much every meal there was the most delicious fresh bread. I don't think I've ever eaten quite so much bread in one week!

The nearest supermarket to our villa opened at 8am, and J took on the daily job of walking down to forage for breakfast. Within the supermarket there was the most amazing bakery - it was tiny with just a small serving counter, but every morning J would come back with a couple of still warm rustic baguettes and brown paper bags of croissants. They were utterly delicious I have to say, and made breakfast a real treat. Being British, of course we had packed our own beverage bags in our suitcase to bring to Spain - Yorkshire teabags, and a new discovery for me - Coffee Bags! They were really pretty good actually, not quite as good as fresh ground coffee, but they made a decent mug for me to savour with my croissant each morning.

We did eat out a few times during the week, a couple of times we went out for breakfast (Spanish milky coffee is really blinkin' good) and we ate two evening meals out. I enjoyed the luxury of those meals out very much, but found the intense heat really knocked my appetite off kilter. On our last evening we had a fabulous meal in a Tapas restaurant which we all loved - it was great to see the Little People's enthusiasm for trying so many different types of foods (Little B took a real liking to calamari, much to my surprise), and it was a great end to our time in Menorca.

One of the nicest things about being on this type of holiday is the almost total loss of time awareness. We didn't have any schedules to keep to, or any place to be other than right where we were staying, so we were free to go with the flow as the days unfolded. Due to the extreme heat, we decided early on (like the very first day) that it wouldn't matter too much if we didn't venture out to explore. The whole point of the week was for us to spend family time together and for us enjoy total, sun-filled relaxation, and I think we managed that in spades.

My second favourite time of the day after the early morning was the gentle lull in the late afternoon after a day full of sun and swimming and before I needed to make food happen. We discovered sparkling rosé wine in the supermarket for around €2.75 a bottle which was absolutely scrumptious - light, fruity and refreshing and it was my favourite thing to drink towards the end of the day. I loved the fact that we didn't need to dress for dinner either - we always ate outside and often the Little People would come to the table straight from the pool with just a t-shirt thrown on over the swimwear. The laid back nature of our picnic-style dinners, and the slow, leisurely way our days and evenings rolled by was a joy, and one of the things I most treasured about our time away. 

It surprised me a little that we didn't feel the need to head into the resort in the evenings, as in the past when we holidayed Before Children, the night life was always something we really looked forward to. We knew the resort had music bars and various entertainment acts happening every night, and yet we were more than happy to stay put at our quiet, peaceful villa. I think the Teens might have enjoyed a bit of nightlife, but they never seemed to mind the quiet way we did things. We took to all sitting outside as the night descended, waiting for the stars to pop out one by one - Menorca is known to be excellent for star gazing due to the very low light pollution and very clear skies. J and Little B had great fun using a "star walk" app on the tablet, which enabled them to identify and name the stars we could see. Isn't technology amazing? 

With all the leisure time at our disposal, you would be correct in thinking that I did not set out on holiday without some crochet to hand. I took my woolly felting yarn, as with only 7 x 50g of yarn it squished down quite small. The days were way too hot to even think about holding a strand of wool in my hands, but during the early morning and in the evening while it was still light, I really enjoyed settling down onto a sun lounger to hook up some rings of colour. I read a lot on my kindle during the week too, some light hearted, fluffy, happy-ending romances which are my secret guilty pleasure. Books kept J happy too - he is a voracious reader and managed to get through two humongous paperback novels during the week.

I know for me personally, I never for one moment felt bored with the huge amount of sunny hours at my disposal, but then I am very, very adept at idling. I can drift and daydream and be perfectly content gazing at the sky or the flowers, or floating around in the cool water dreaming up future projects (I had crazy-exciting big creative ideas hatch inside my mind whilst I was away!). I was also exceptionally tired in the weeks running up to our holiday when I was working on the Yarndale Butterfly project, as well as producing content for the Yarndale brochure and a couple of other small design commissions. I was SO grateful for the type of holiday which allowed me to fully rest and recharge at a time when I really desperately needed it. 

As for the rest of the family, well I'm not too sure to be honest. I know J frequently told me he was bored and missed home, and I know the lack of sleep really did affect him especially towards the end of the week. He questioned the money we had spent on the holiday and whether it was truly worth it (I felt like it was, but I'm pretty sure he would say otherwise). The Little People all seemed to enjoy the week, and it certainly was wonderful to watch them at play in the water and with each other.

We've had a lot of family discussion since we came home about the holiday, and whether we would do something similar again in the future. I would jump at the chance as I genuinely had a wonderful time and came home feeling beautifully relaxed and rested (but there must be air con next time!). J thinks we should think about a different type of holiday with less lounging and more "doing", in a climate which is less of an endurance test.....he could be onto something there, and possibly we might look at some European travel which doesn't involve being up in the air. I can honestly say I would pretty much go anywhere, via any mode of transport as I love to experience new things and new places......it's exciting just thinking about the possibilities. But then again, we'll probably just book a cottage in Northumberland next year :)

For now though, it's enough that our Little People had the chance to visit a different country and swim in a warm turquoise sea - I hope the memories will stay with them long after their childhood years have come to a close. 

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*I wanted to tell you about Connievan - for various reasons we needed to let her go earlier this year and I had a lot of difficulty coming to terms with the loss. Silly I know, but I dearly loved that battered old caravan and we had such good, good holidays with her over the years....she is missed! x

 

Summer Reflection

Hello my lovelies, thank you so much for popping in to visit with me as I sit quietly here in the Attic having a little bit of a catch-up with myself. This past week my three Little People returned to school, J returned to work, and although I had every intention of being all super organised and energetically productive, I found myself drifting along in a weird kind of a slow limbo not knowing what on earth to do. I've labelled it as a PTW (Personal Transition Week) and am refusing to feel bad about my utter slackness in the work department. My PTW has mainly been about reflection and gathering together my many, many thoughts and ideas for future projects and doings. Unfortunately it's also been about fighting off a beast of a lurgy and restoring my energy levels after said beast has left me feeling completely flattened. I am on the mend now which is a relief,  so I'm hopeful for a more fulsome week ahead.

We had a good summer holiday here, pretty quiet and low key for the most part with the exception of our one adventurous week away (more about that in another post, coming soon. We went in an aeroplane!). I often struggle with a little bit of guilt regarding our school holidays, as they are mostly spent doing very little of note. I always have this nagging feeling that we should make more effort to leave the house, leave our town, head out to explorer and visit new places, experience new things. To be honest though, I'm pretty sure it's only me who goes through this parenting angst - the Little People (and J) seem perfectly content to be at home doing their own thing and show no signs whatsoever that they are unhappy with the way their days unfold. Leisure and pleasure for each of us means different things I guess, and although I do mourn the loss of Quality Family Time, I know that these days the Teenagers are happiest when they are with their friends and not hanging out with Mum and Dad. Little B - well he's another story. At 8 years old, I feel we should perhaps make more of an effort to get out and about with him, but honestly he seems happy being at home. I would love to hear your thoughts on this, are you an active, out and about type of family, or do you relish the ease of just chilling out at home? Do you plan holiday adventures, or do you go with the flow?

The above photo is Little B pedaling like fury through the park as we walked/cycled home after his swimming lesson one evening in late July. The weekly routine of a cycle/swim has been so enjoyable throughout the summer months, it's been a pleasure to see Little B enjoy himself so much in the water and on two wheels. 

I uploaded these photos a few days ago, and actually laughed out loud at the very randomness of some of them. Such an odd mixture of images really, but they do capture the essence of our summer days rather well. The above photo was our very first tomato picked from the allotment - huge excitement over this one small, perfectly sweet and beautiful little red fruit, it was joyous! We've had many more tomatoes since this weeny first harvest, including some huuuuuuuge Italian plum tomatoes which were amazing. 

The weather during the past month has been mixed, with some very warm and humid days mixed in with much cooler and wet ones. The drop in temperature (especially in the evenings) has meant that my crochet blankets have been very well used which has made me really happy actually. As you know, I love the hot sunny weather and never want it to end, but there is something undeniably blissful about being snuggled up in a handmade yarny blanket. I'm especially loving the Cottonsoft Summer Ripple, oh it's such a delight to use! I've shamelessly hogged it, and like a big kid I drag it up and down the stairs depending on where I'm doing my snuggling. I love it's gentle weightiness on my bed at night, and bring it downstairs with me in the very early mornings when I enjoy being wrapped up as the day slowly unfolds.

We've allowed Little B to indulge in a lot of screen time this holiday, which I have mixed feelings about. He's been ridiculously happy watching films and cartoons on TV or gaming with his friends on the Xbox, and in turn this has granted me valuable time to concentrate on work when I've needed it. I'm beyond grateful that I can work from home during the holidays and flex my time to fit with family life, but the constant juggling of all the household/Mum things has been quite hard. Every so often I would make a concerted effort to encourage Little B to switch off the screens and engage in something else instead. Sometimes we would head to the allotment to forage for blackberries and pick tomatoes, sometimes to the farm shop for fresh produce and a sneaky sweet treat, sometimes into town for a cafe drink and a potter around the shops. But often we stayed home and I managed to kick start some enthusiasm for non screen stuff - baking, colouring and reading mostly. He never finished the above picture, but over the course of a few weeks he would regularly work on it, colouring in the intricate patterns in a very considered and methodical way. It delighted me on so many levels to see and hear his colour-thoughts, as he views colour in a way that is remarkably close to my own creative approach.

The Lego also came back out to play after a lengthy stint in hibernation, and I've been encouraging it wholeheartedly. Lego is such an excellent, all round marvelous invention, especially the more complex stuff that exists nowadays. It keeps hands and minds engaged for lengthy periods of time, and gawd I do love it for that!

My allotment sweet peas never really grew like crazy this summer, but they did well enough to satisfy my simple floral desires. I've had a small posy on my table most weeks, and am so in love with the beautiful palette of colours and the stunning scent they provide. So much of summer is in those petals, they make me dizzy with happiness.

Ah the kitty has the right idea! I always get such a lot of pleasure from seeing my latest creations join the family gathering, and both of my Summer Ripples have been used a huge amount since they came off my hook. I just adore the play of the colours in this blanket, they are wonderfully upbeat, joyful and easy to live with, like the best days of summer right there in those stripes. 

Back in the middle of last month I joined in with an Instagram celebration called #grannysquareday (you can read more about it here). This is where thousands of yarnies all over the world post a close-cropped image of a granny square to their Instagram feed on the designated day (usually the 15th of August), which is more visual fun than you can imagine. It means that when you make a search using hashtag #grannysquareday2018 you can feast your eyes on a virtual granny square blanket filling your entire phone screen. It's awesome!! Last year I used one of my Harmony squares, but this year I wanted to do something new so I designed and made a brand new square which you can see above - the Popcorn Flower Granny. Popcorn stitches are fun to make and have a tactile, three dimensional quality to them which is very appealing.

Although my preferred style of blanket is a striped design, I do have a real soft spot for granny squares and this particular square got me very excited indeed. I will definitely be making a square blanket next year sometime, something happy and glorious which combines flowers and diamonds (the squares tipped onto their points). I'm very excited about the whole prospect!

More allotment gatherings, the results of leaving our plot for a week while we went on holiday then coming home to see what had grown whilst we were away. Sweet peas, cucumber, courgette and beans, such a treat to be able to enjoy a little bit of  summer home-grown. 

Now what's this that I'm giving cuddles to, it looks rather glorious and woolly wouldn't you say? This is a little gathering of  yarn that I've been working with over the summer - it's absolutely beautiful to crochet with and I'm enjoying the project very much. I'll be able to show you more very soon. 

More woolly stuff keeping me happy and quietly engrossed, this time it's yarn on my needles. It's been a while since I had a sock adventure and I have missed the satisfaction of making them, so I decided to break into a beautiful new ball of sock yarn and give myself a bit of a stripy yarn fix. You can see I was snuggled under my hydrangea stripe blanket in the big chair, I remember it was a particularly grey, chilly afternoon towards the end of August and I thoroughly enjoyed my cosy yarn time. It occurred to me how well the sock stripes looked against the blanket stripes, kind of harmonious wouldn't you say? There is a story behind this sock yarn that I'm looking forward to sharing when the time is right......it's rather exciting!

Oh, be still my beating heart!! Isn't that one gloriously beautiful pile of hooky blankety delight???!!!

Nine lovely blankets, all crocheted by me. I love my blankets more than I am able to put into words, they mean everything to me. My passion, my therapy, my relaxation and a constant source of creative happiness and pure joy.

This wasn't an elaborate stacking game set up by Little B, or a deliberately styled photo opportunity either. It was in fact a pile destined to be put into a huge laundry bag and taken off on a little jaunt to a rather fabulous yarn shop. A few weeks ago I was asked to go along and be a guest speaker at a lovely bricks and mortar yarn shop called Baa Ram Ewe in Leeds. The shop was hosting a "new season event" to launch new yarns for the upcoming autumn season, and as they have just become newbie Stylecraft stockists I was asked to take along my blankets as inspiration for their customers. I was a bit nervous (talking in front of a packed audience of fifty people!) but everyone was super friendly and I found that once I got over my initial nervousness I had quite a bit to say about the joys of blanket making. I hope I might have inspired one or two ladies to embark upon their own blanket journeys, I'm all about spreading the hooky love.

One of the highlights of my summer holiday was an impromtu visit to Dorset. I wasn't planning on going down there this summer, and yet I found myself craving some time by the sea and a re-connection with my home turf to the point where I began to feel quite desperate to take myself there. So rather than just dream about it and pine for it, I decided to take action. It was liberating! I booked a train ticket and three days later, off I went. I was lucky in that J had already booked some annual leave and so was free to look after things on the home front for a little while. I am so grateful for his understanding - he doesn't really get my emotional need to be in this childhood place of mine, and yet he encourages me to go ahead and do what makes me happy.

I enjoyed three nights away from home, staying with my Dad and Lady B which is always pretty easy going and enjoyable. When I first arrive in Dorset, my Dad always asks me (without fail) if I've made any plans for my time there and I always reply (always) that my only plan is simply to see the sea. That's as much planning as I care to do when I'm on holiday. 

On this morning we had walked from the town to the sea across the fields (it's around 2 miles), which is something I often did as a child when I lived there. The sense of nostalgia is always incredibly strong for me when I go "home" - so many layers of memories from the past five decades of my life. It's overwhelming at times, but in a way that makes me feel like I am finally breathing out after holding my breath for an age (if that makes sense?! It feels like relief and a lightness in my soul). 

When I arrived in Dorset I found out that it was Carnival weekend in town, and my absolute favourite part of that event is always the annual Torchlight Procession on the Sunday night. I've no idea what the origins of this are, but it's great fun to be a part of. 

When I was a child, torches used to be made of wax and were highly dangerous, but nowadays they just look like long grey sticks, a bit like gigantic sparklers. Traditionally the town Mayor lights the first torch at the front of the procession, then all the other torches are lit from that one, passing back down the street until the whole place is lit up and glowing. 

The atmosphere is loud, jolly and carvinal-ish, and there is an almost palpable energy in the air as we all wait to begin the two mile walk from the town to the sea. I heard on the grapevine that there were 1,500 torches this year - so many people all joining in with this end of summer ritual, it was a little bit wonderful to be a part of it. The front of the procession sets off at 9pm, and eventually around an hour later we arrive at the beach......

....our torches are about a third of the length by this time, and get tossed onto a big beach bonfire. There is a stage set up and a local band playing live music, but the main thing that everybody waits for.......

......is the firework display. We climbed part way up the steep cliffside to sit and wait patiently for the fireworks to begin - they are lit at the end of the pier, so the sight of them bursting over the sea is really amazing. I loved it all so much. The atmosphere, the smell of the air, the warmth of the summer night, the buzzing excitement, the lights blazing in the dark. Magical. 

I spent a lovely morning pottering around the town with Lady B, doing the kind of things that my Dad just won't go along with, ie drinking coffee in al fresco cafes and indulging in a bit of yummy retail therapy. He is more of a traditional pub person, so I was happy to go along with B, enjoying the delights of a warm morning spent in this lovely little market town where I lived my childhood years. The above photo is the hidden courtyard of the poshest hotel in town, which is a very pleasant place to enjoy a morning coffee. 

I asked Lady B to choose the cake to go with our coffee and she picked something that had no name, but it was utterly delicious. At a guess I would say it was a lemon and almond cake? It was low-rise cake, beautifully moist and kind of light but dense at the same time, with a gorgeous zesty zing to it. It honestly was the perfect accompaniment to my coffee, and made me sigh out loud with pleasure. 

Our retail therapy took place in the above shop which was a visual and textural delight.

Run by a really chatty and friendly lady, the shop sells mainly Italian linen clothes, with some beautifully curated jewellery and accessories alongside.

The clothes were all assorted linen things (dresses, tunics, jackets, pinafores etc), some long and some short, some simple and some elaborate, but the thing that struck me the most (quite obvious from the above photo) was the colour order of the clothes. Oh my goodness, it was overwhelmingly beautiful to be surrounded by so much saturated linen colour singing out a rainbow song! I loved this shop so much and could honestly have filled a small truck with clothes to take home. I settled on a beautiful blue linen tunic dress with little mother of pearl buttons and big pockets (I love clothes with pockets) which I'm saving to wear for the first time at Yarndale. I can't wait!

One afternoon I went to the place where my mum rests, a very small rural village where she lived as a child. It was a six mile round walk along quiet leafy country lanes, and I was glad of the gentle exercise and the solitude for a while. I talked inside my head a lot and tried to put some things to rest while I was walking. I still struggle with so much of what happened with my Mum, it's an emotional tangle and I guess it may be some time before I can free myself from the mess of it all. 

Back at Lady B's and a lot of time was spent sitting in her garden, enjoying fabulous home cooked food, chatting and drinking large G&T's as the sun went down. It was a relaxing and restorative trip for me, and I was so glad I was able to make it down there. It's such a long journey (7 hours by train which includes a jaunt on the London underground), but I enjoyed the travel, reading and crocheting and idling my mind as I looked out the window and took in the changing scenery.

It's always good to come home again though, no matter how wonderful the trip away. Yorkshire is looking lush after all the rain we've had in recent weeks, and you would never know how parched everything was earlier in the summer. 

We've done a few walks just lately with the Little People at Bolton Abbey and also further up the dale along the river Wharfe. Although my heart misses the sea, I do really love this little patch of England that I now call home. I love it very, very much and appreciate how lucky I am to live here. 

Sigh.....I am feeling quite emotional at the moment, so many memories flooding my brain and so many random thoughts of times past flitting in and out.

At this time of year the light is sublime at certain times of the day, making me catch my breath as the sun streaks in low through the windows. Its' golden and beautiful, lighting up my table for fleeting minutes before it's gone. Often times the dining table is a mess of objects - yarn and crochet and mugs and magazines and papers, the stuff of daily life strewn across the surface. But every so often it stays clear with the exception of a small jug of flowers in the centre. I love the illusion of tranquility this image creates, even if the rest of the room around the table is in utter chaos.  

I've got a lot to do in these next few weeks as we are in the frantic run up to Yarndale. My work schedule is a bit frightening to be honest, but I will do my best to do all the things that are expected of me. I feel the pressure of it all at this time of year, it's quite the juggling act I have to perform. This week (amongst many other things) I'll be working to finish off the above project, they are the stripes I'm crocheting from the arm full of yarn shown in the photo earlier. It's a Felting Project and I'm equal parts insanely excited and crushingly nervous about putting this creation into the washing machine....... eeeeeeeep!!!!!!!!! I don't know how I can stand the suspense of it all!!!!!

So I think we are more or less caught up on my Summer comings and goings now, with the exception of our one week away (we went to an Island!! We flew there!!!). I would like to tell you a bit about that trip, if you don't mind looking at a few holiday snaps. Personally I LOVE reading other people's holiday blog posts cos I'm a nosey parker and enjoy knowing how other families spend their leisure and pleasure time. 

I hope you're feeling happy and in good spirits, thank you as ever for your company here in the Attic. I love having you visit....come back soon, won't you?

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