We ventured out into the cold, cold wintry countryside yesterday, J and I, for a brisk walk around Grimwith reservoir. As you can see, the water levels are frightening low (photos from April last year show how full it was then) and I hope very much that we're not headed for any sort of water shortage situation.
It was blinkin' freezing out there in the Dales yesterday, and even though I was bundled up in extra layers, with my woolly hat pulled down low (yes I'm still wearing that very same hat), the cold wind seemed to reach my bones.
I am always fascinated by moss at all times of year (it's an enduring crush that I have), but in Winter it really makes me love it to distraction. It's so hardy and vibrant, like a bright beacon of natural positivity amongst all the muted dullness out there, and I adore it.
Now get this ---- I just did a quick online moss search and found a mossy blog!! It's called "Moss Musings" (seriously!!) and the tag line reads "for all the buzz about your favorite fuzz..." Oh. My. This is utterly brilliant. I'm laughing into my tea at this point, that tag line is just...well, beyond words really. Life is fantastic when you discover such small and quirky things that make you laugh out loud.
I like lichen too....any lichen fans out there? Its such a subtle and sublime colour, like the true essence of winter (along the lines of eucalyptus, that soft grey-green is just lovely). I do so enjoy the small details of a walk as much as the bigger long distance views.
Being out in the winter countryside is such a tonic, not just physically for the fresh air and exercise, but mentally too. It's like opening a window when the room becomes too stuffy, I find that having a stuffy brain can feel very draining at times, and fresh air and open views make a huge difference to my thought processes. It's liberating, and I really appreciate being able to do this on a Monday morning.
I like to chat to J about my crochet and blogging plans as we walk, I know he doesn't really "get it" but I enjoy offloading onto him regardless. I'm pretty sure he doesn't mind me laying it all out as we walk, it certainly helps me to feel clearer in my mind and more energised for the days that follow. I made massive in-roads into my ridiculous to-do list this morning, and I'm sure it was because of my outdoor walking therapy session yesterday. I can highly recommend it.
And to end the walk........a rainbow, the best winter colour of all.
Back here in the Attic, and Winter colour is mostly yarn related, of course it is. I gathered up a pile of clean socks this morning to take them upstairs - they'd been drying on the radiator downstairs and honestly I just swooned a little at the sight of all those delicious stripes. For those who don't know that I knit socks (I do, I do!), you can follow my "Socks" category in the sidebar for all previous sock posts with yarn and pattern details etc. I didn't make many pairs last year (I'm not sure why .... oh hang on .... yeah .... cross stitch happened!), but plan to have a few more pairs on and off the needles this year.
I fear I am obsessing about my eucalyptus in a way that is a bit weird, but I can't seem to help it. Gawd, I love it so much. It's become my daily ritual....I sit and sip that delicious first coffee of the day, and rub a little euc leaf between my fingers to inhale at the same time. I think smelly pleasures are highly underrated.
My sofa is a bit of a colourful mess right now, but I am really loving the riot of colour and pattern. In fact, the whole house is a mess, but I am going against the current January trend of decluttering and clearing and simplifying and choosing to embrace the cluttered, lived in look, just for the time being. Clearing may happen in the Spring, I'm in no rush.
I was working on my sweet pea blanket for lots of hours over the weekend, and found myself wishing (for the umpteenth time) that the yarn would magically smell like sweet peas. Actually, I read on Facebook somewhere about a lady who puts a scented soap in her organza yarn bag along with her yarn and current project, and I thought that would be well worth a try. So I'm off to search for sweet pea soaps now, I think this could be a Good Thing.
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I have been an avid crocheter for a long while now, since 2011, but there's one thing that I have always desired to make: Knit Socks! So I learned how to knit this year, my teacher said "why start with socks, that is so hard!" but that's all I dream of. Knit Socks. So, I started on Easter Sunday, finished it yesterday! Two whole weeks of learning! It turned out twisted and laddering on the edges of the gusset, but I love it. Can't wait for my sock collection to look like yours!
Posted by: Lacey | April 24, 2023 at 04:07 PM
The soap idea sounds like a winner!
Posted by: Rachel | February 16, 2019 at 03:28 PM
I have been reading your blog for about ten years; I’ve only commented a couple of times, but today I just want to say thank you. The fact that you put so much time and energy into your projects and patterns and then share them - absolutely free - is a generous act of kindness.
Posted by: Shannon | January 19, 2019 at 10:38 PM
I've adored moss all my life, as a child I would pick any mossy area as the place to play,and set up camp with my toys. I can still feel that spongy soft texture under my bare feet. Lichen is fab too, my eyes are always drawn to it especially in the winter months. We have several trees right out our windows that are covered in both and make such a love pattern, and spot of color against all that winter gray. I'm off now to read moss musings, have a fab day! xxxxxxxxxx
Posted by: Angela- Southern USA | January 18, 2019 at 02:10 PM
Now I have to get some Sweet Pea soap for my yarny bag. Off to Etsy to do some shopping. :-)
Posted by: Cheryl Thoms | January 17, 2019 at 08:30 PM
There's nothing wrong with clutter Lucy it's what makes a house a home for the most part unless your hoarding extends to odd newspapers and baked bean tins. I did strip back my crafty corner a bit just before Christmas as it was make a bid for world domination of the house. Its lovely to get out and blow the cobwebs away. Not managed this so far in 2019 as spent all last week in bed with the flu. I have my non working day tomorrow and a list of jobs to do in town so I may just stop off en route back if we haven't been snowed in by then in which case you will ind me tucked under a blanket instead.
Mitzi
Posted by: Mitzi | January 17, 2019 at 12:20 PM
I love lichen and moss, especially the grey and yellow lichens and the bright green moss after rain. Are you inspired enough to do a mossy colour palate pease! I'm not sure the Stylecraft is up to it. The greens are not great.
Posted by: Caz | January 17, 2019 at 08:44 AM
Hi Lucy, love your website but I am having trouble with subscribing or following the comment conversation. I just get a page full of unorganized words and signs which is unreadable. Can you help?
Posted by: Chrysta Stavrou | January 17, 2019 at 01:24 AM
Ilove moss & lichens, too, & sagebrush which is tan in the winter. & our many cedar trees here in Middle TN, very nice blog post--
Posted by: Donna Philpott | January 16, 2019 at 10:47 PM
PS Have just discovered Dr Bronner's do a EUCALYPTUS soap bar - thought you should know! CJ xx
Posted by: CJ | January 16, 2019 at 10:00 PM
Oh yes, I LOVE the idea of scented yarn, how wonderful. Gorgeous photos, and you're right, a walk in the great outdoors is an amazing tonic for the mind as well as the body. The rainbow shot is incredible. It has been dry hasn't it, I've noticed the streams around here are very low indeed. I'm off to look and see what scented soap I may have tucked away now... CJ xx
Posted by: CJ | January 16, 2019 at 09:56 PM
such a lovely colourful yarny fix needed that on this quite dark january day~ the land around You is very much like the land around me on the edge of dartmoor,devon such far reaching hills and open endless landscape. You will need those cuddly, cosy socks!~ how beautiful lucy, just checked out the many sock posts on your link! wow! you have made so many beautiful ones lots of yarny love. I have been de-cluttering but i still like a home that looks very much lived in like you say...i like 'things' around me that bring me memories, beauty and joy! i dont think a house should be bare of character and soul ;)
Posted by: kazzy | January 16, 2019 at 08:42 PM
Bronnley make Sweet Pea soap and hand cream. Try www.bronnley.co.uk. I have a bar in my underwear drawer. I think it might migrate to my yarn bag! What a lovely blog post today!
Posted by: Fran | January 16, 2019 at 07:00 PM
I love sweetly scented things! I have always wished for the drawer liners made by Evelyn & Crabtree but have never sprung for them. I keep my yarn in a big cedar chest, so my yarns are always scented like cedar... which is one of the comfiest and homiest scents to me!
Posted by: Autumn | January 16, 2019 at 03:09 PM
When my children were little we always left litchen and not carrots for Santa's reindeer...cos that's what they eat!!!
Posted by: Kathy, FRANCE | January 16, 2019 at 01:58 PM
Yes Martha, Sweet Pea scent is a good thing. It may have to be concocted from your own oil stash but I'm sure you have the ingenuity to get it done. I once folded a tiny heart shaped piece of felt to put inside a rag doll I made for my daughter. Just before tucking it inside and sewing it up, I doused the felt with vanilla. It did last awhile but even better was the little doll I sprinkled with baby powder every time I thought of it. Smells are certainly one of the top freebies we all have and I breath in lung fulls as often as possible while walking my dog past great gardening neighbors homes. Truly I believe that someday science will discover that odors can enhance our well being in some way like scented vitamins. Thanks for a beautiful post this morning. Your bakery window of socks make me warm just looking at the stack. YUM
Posted by: Mary W | January 16, 2019 at 01:44 PM
A delightful post as ever!
Totally with you on the lichen thing, must have a peek at that moss blog later . . . !
Posted by: Karen | January 16, 2019 at 12:25 PM
I keep a scented sachet in the box where I keep my spare yarn. Always smells nice!
Posted by: Liz | January 16, 2019 at 09:51 AM
I use Chanel No5 soap in my smalls drawer and lavender sachets with my woolly stuff, but this opens up a whole new world of scents. Also noticing someone's comments about using lavender talc. What a good idea!
Posted by: Strawberry Patches | January 16, 2019 at 09:25 AM
Well I am sure you found the RHS soap, sweet pea smelling? Great idea to put a bar of soap in the organza bag... I have some lovely locally made hand made soaps, so might give it a try.
How I wish I could manage a walk, once a week would be fine, but these days my hips and thigh muscles start to hurt after just a few minutes, and I find that depresses me, the lack of mobility, so I just don't do it. Lovely to see your pics though, reminds me of more mobile days!
Posted by: Nina Kellock | January 16, 2019 at 09:21 AM
You might like this poem about lichen: https://blog.education.nationalgeographic.org/2014/02/11/lichen-it-already/
Posted by: sandra dorey | January 16, 2019 at 07:27 AM
In another life I would be a lichenologist. It grows anywhere - even on my little old red car and I can't bear to wash it off.
Lichen could hold all sorts of secrets to benefit us in the uncertain ecological future - oh and the texture and colours! Mmmmmm!
Gorgeous - as are your socks!
Posted by: sandra dorey | January 16, 2019 at 07:22 AM
Hi Lucy - loved your walk. In that last pic, that house reminds me of Wuthering Heights! Let me know if you see Heathcliff or Cathy.... Re scenting your crochet, you can put a tumbler drier sheet in your bag to make it smell gorgeous. I put two under the front seats in my car and they're great. They last about 3 weeks. xx
Posted by: Laura Miller | January 16, 2019 at 06:34 AM
I love moss and lichen too. Funny thing is I picked up a big patch of moss that blew off my barn today to use in a photo with some of my hand-painted houses I've done in years past.. for my blog post tomorrow! :-) I took a break from crocheting on my Sweet Pea blanket to read your post. We have some really powerful east winds here.. so every time I go outside I get blasted by wind. Have a lovely week. ((hugs)), Teresa :-)
Posted by: Teresa Kasner | January 16, 2019 at 05:04 AM
Look up Mossing Annie for another good read about moss. Did you know you can mail order moss?!
Posted by: Leah Lynch | January 16, 2019 at 12:00 AM