Attic24

Home Safe :: Week Five

Looking back at my photos from last week it seems like it was all about the blossom for me.

I've been waking up early, well six-ish which feels pretty early for these weekendish kind of days. Sometimes I doze back to sleep for another hour, but mostly I've been finding myself so wide awake that I absolutely have to get up and start my day there and then. I've been leaving my pjs folded in a neat pile and instead pulling on what I call my "workout gear". Ha!! In reality, these clothes are very un-sporty and consist of an old, comfy pair of 3/4 leggings, a baggy vest top which I think once belonged to a summer pj set and an oversized sweatshirt of some sorts (I have several to choose from). About the only item I wear which could be considered remotely exercisey is a sports bra, as I cannot contemplate doing any sort of leaping about without full coverage lock-down on my top half. 

As the live PE sesh doesn't start until 9 am and I'm generally up and dressed by 7, I've been heading out to partake in some early morning blossom worshipping. It takes me less than 10 minutes to walk to my favourite park bench which sits beneath these beautiful flowering trees. Gosh, it's just so beautiful there at the moment, and standing underneath such a heavenly load of floral perfection gives me an almost overwhelming surge of emotional feels. I can't quite articulate what the feelings are about - joy maybe? Gratitude? Abundant thankfulness for the fact that Winter is behind us?

Whatever it is, I find I need to just stand still and let it flow over me for a short while until my equilibrium is restored.

I've really been enjoying these short early morning walks as it's pretty much the only time when I can truly be alone. I love being home-safe with the family, but at the same time I do miss having time by myself. 

There is much peacefulness to be found quietly walking the narrow path through the woodland with just my own internal dialogue and the sights, scents and sounds of a Spring morning gently unfolding.

The woodland path is short (the woods are small and sparse along the top edge of the park) and it's not long before I emerge into the sunshine and see the blossom trees in all their glory.

A couple mornings I've made myself a coffee to take with me, just to up the happy stakes and make my heart content. Finding pleasure in the small things, well that happens to be a special talent of mine :)

Cow parsley is a wild hedgerow flower which usually belongs to the month of May up here in Yorkshire, but it's just beginning to bloom now due to the very warm sunny weather we've had. It grows in abundance along the woodland edge at the top of the park so I picked a couple of little stems to bring home. I called in at the allotment to pick a few more bluebells to bring back too, and the resulting small wild posy on my table has been making me very happy.

We're going to miss seeing the bluebells at Bolton Abbey this year, so I'm super grateful to have a few to bring home from the allotment to enjoy up close.

Talking of bluebells, I spent much of last week stitching them, little crosses in two shades of blue creating the prettiest little flowers on my Spring sampler. I almost finished this picture too, but not quite. I was making good progress but then got completely overwhelmed by a crochet project which all of a sudden demanded my attention and refused to let go. I'll show you a bit of that in just a while, if you're interested to know what has got me into a giddy spin.

I count my early morning solo blossom jaunts as mental/spiritual exercise (yes, it's a thing) and my afternoon family woodland jaunts as physical exercise. I love both of these types of walks for different reasons, and am very grateful to have these beautiful places within walking distance from my front door.

The wild garlic is oh-so-close to flowering, the flower buds teetering on the brink of eruption. I absolutely cannot wait for the floral explosion, the sheer abundance of it (not to mention the intoxicating scent) is something I look forward to every year. 

During the past week of never ending sunshine and warmth the treetops have finally started to wear their greenery and it is just so bloomin' lovely.

It feels like I've been waiting such a long time for it, gazing up through endless bare twiggy branches and wishing for leaves to appear. And now that they are here, well I am hugely happy.

It's mainly the tender young beech leaves which are giving us that delicious bright limey green - the oak and ash are still in bud. But I'll take whatever is there right now, drinking in all that freshness and colour. I love it so much, this time of growth and abundance.

On the home front, week five has felt slow, slow, slow. I've been content though, continuing to enjoy my gentle routines and pleasures.

I baked flapjacks again last week, for the second week in a row as the Little People love them and they make a great after dinner treat. I've perfected the art of baking them but not actually eating them, which believe me I'm very proud of. Small victories in my quest for good health, I'll take them.

Ah, remember last week I was telling you that I cleared and tidied this little corner of my back yard? Well I thought I'd show you, so you can picture me sitting in that tired old camping chair in the afternoons when this teensy little space becomes a sheltered sun trap. 

I love love love that I now have trees (trees!!!!) growing in my back yard, thanks to a very kind hand-me-down from a friend who moved house and couldn't take them with her. So I am the proud owner of a pear tree and a cherry tree - and even have my very own blossom!!!!! It's oh so magical, and I can often be found sitting in that chair just gazing up at the wonder of those floral branches above my head.

See how sunny it gets? It's a very sheltered little spot and perfect for some quiet alfresco stitching or hooking.

I mentioned earlier about a crochet project stealing all my time and attention this past week, and here I am hooking away like a woman possessed. Yes, it's a new blanket that I'm working on, and it's such a joyful thing full of rich colours that sing to my heart. I can't wait to show you more. It's a square blanket with some glorious colour play and I am absolutely loving it, to the point of obsession. My hands are blessedly also *ok* with the hours I'm spending with the hook, and I am seriously delighted by this fact. Crocheting in the warmth of the sun most definitely helps.

Ahhh........crochet life on the home front, it's just so so so good.

Aside from sunshine and crochet last week, let me see what else there was.......oh yes..........did I mention the blossom???

I might have taken rather a lot of blossom photos as I visited the trees almost every day.

And I think we may have reached peek blossom froth too. Blossom season is short and although this sometimes makes me sad, I don't think these flowers would have quite the same allure if they lasted for ages.

Walking home through the trees I am usually only aware of the birds, but one day I came across a squirrel going about his morning business. I wished right then at that moment that Little B had been with me as he loves wildlife, but he was still deeply in dreamland when I left the house which seems like a miracle to me. We've had sooooooooo many years of very early starts (like 5am early) with our offspring all being extremely early risers. So I'm very much enjoying the quiet of the house first thing when all three children are still asleep, it's really something of a novelty. It's blissful actually, especially as I am sleeping well myself at the moment (although it does change from week to week) and am waking up feeling rested and energised and ready to get going. 

I was wondering to myself about these lockdown days, and whether after 5 weeks that this all feels like a new kind of normal? I'm not sure to be honest - in some ways the extremely repetitive, slow nature of our days makes it feel like we've been living this way for much longer than five weeks. I do quite enjoy the gentle structure of our days, the work and play punctuated by food and exercise. It's not always easy for all five of us to be together in one smallish, tall thin building, but we are managing OK. Normal though? I just don't think our lack of freedom will ever feel normal to me. 

I hope you are all doing OK out there in the big wide world - tell me about your routines and your days and whether you are enjoying the slower pace of life? I wish you all the joys this week, I hope that there are many little things that make your smile :)

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Home Safe :: Week Four

Here I am again, gently navigating the continuing strangeness of our Home Safe days. Last week was week four and the second week of our school holidays, so it felt especially slow and indulgent in many ways. 

The weather has been very dry and very sunny, although my goodness it has been super chilly too with a couple mornings where we woke up to ground frost. But oh, the blue, blue, blue skies have been heavenly, and I am drinking in all this bright light and colour like a parched starved thing!! It's almost too delicious for words, the frothy gorgeousness of Spring in full tilt. The large blossom trees around the neighbourhood are just this week beginning to open their flowers (we are many weeks later up here in north Yorkshire than the southern counties) and it is such a delight.

We continue to walk every day, enjoying the precious chance to escape these four walls and stride out along our local footpaths, tracks and fields. I am so grateful for what we have close by, and although I feel a little envious of those with gardens and greenery right outside their back doors, I do appreciate how lucky I am to have fields, woods, canals and rivers I can easily walk to.

We often rest a while at this curved stone bench to catch a breather, it's such a lovely addition to the woodland (you can read about it here) and offers a beautifully peaceful little stopping point along the walk. There is a woodland poem carved all along the stone seat, next time I'm there I'll make a note of it to share with you.

It amazes me how much change we see in the woods every single day, even if that change basically amounts to the ever expanding shades of green appearing all over. It is just so LUSH. Wild garlic reaching its peak (no flowers yet, but soon...) and many of the trees beginning to unfurl their delicate new leaves. I adore the feeling of Spring rushing towards us, there is such a palpable energy in the woodland air that you can't help but feel uplifted by it.

We walked out across the fields to Tarn House again on Sunday (this has become our weekend walk) and it was nice to be out in the open air for a change. I love woodland walking but sometimes I crave the open countryside and long views out across the surrounding hills. 

I did a couple of evening walks with Little Lady last week which is always a pleasure, she is great company, very chatty and we get along extremely well. Walking in the evenings has a completely different feel to our daytime jaunts, it's more relaxing in many ways with the soft golden light, low, low sun and lengthening shadows. 

Life on the home front has been a slow plod, and there isn't really much to report. I spent an afternoon clearing up the back yard, dismantling my collapsed and dilapidated old plastic tent-greenhouse, shifting around some large fruit trees in pots (inherited gifts from my very good friend who relocated earlier in the year and couldn't take them with her) and generally having a long overdue sweep up and tidy. I cleared my pots and they are now awaiting fresh compost and fresh flowers/plants, although at the moment I really don't quite know where/how I am going to get those from. I've been sitting out in my old camping chair in the afternoons, making the most of the newly cleared sunny sheltered corner (where my greenhouse used to be), sometimes wishing I had a real garden to play in but also quite content with my low-maintenance little yard situation.

I've also LOVED (really, really loved) hanging out my freshly laundered bedding to dry on the line, it's such a simple thing, but the pleasure it delivers at bedtime is massively huge. Sun-dried cotton bedding is just heavenly to sleep in, no two ways around it.

Another week of menu planning, food juggling and cooking, and all is well. I do really enjoy being in my teensy-weensy kitchen rustling up healthy home cooked meals for myself and the family. I need to get a bit better at writing the Monday Morning shopping list though, as I keep managing to miss off vital ingredients. It's no good making a menu plan if you don't actually look at it when making the shopping list. Ah well, we've been managing and our evening meals when we all eat together are real highlights of my days.

I continue to stitch, stitch, stitch my way through these slow home days. I'm so mad at myself as I managed to hurt my hand again last week picking up a very heavy shopping bag (osteoarthritis in my joints) so I am not able to crochet for a little while until that eases up again. I am very, very glad to have my stitching projects waiting in the wings to carry me through the days when my hook isn't an option.

I finished my "Love is All You Need" cross stitch and framed it up last week, so so happy with it! I'll take some photos and share with you later this week. I've now started stitching the April subscription project from Cotton and Twine which I've been very lucky to receive as an early preview. It's an absolute joy to work on and I've been quite obsessive over it.

Mostly I sit at the dining room table working on it in a quiet, solitary frenzy, but a couple afternoons last week I took it outside to stitch in the sunshine. My first ever alfresco stitching, and it was oh so good. I promise to show you more this week. If you want to see what the finished design looks like, click ((here)) for a peek - it's super lovely!

A dinky white fluffy cloud in a blue, blue sky - just a little moment in my day when I looked up over the rooftops and felt elated by the weather and the season. No more winter. No MORE WINTER!!!! Just a bit happy about that state of affairs, might have squealed a little at the joy of it being Finally Spring.

Soft and gentle routines continue here in the Attic, the days punctuated by many trips into the kitchen to prepare and cook food and drink, either for myself, Little B, or the fam at large. I drink coffee throughout the day (all decaff I might add), and really enjoy the familiar ritual of both making it and drinking it. I like to heat up and froth my milk (just by hand using a little whisk, nothing fancy) then stand as close to the coffee machine as I can while it slowly empties into my mug as I absolutely adore the smell of fresh coffee. I really miss my daily cafe visits, as much for the aroma and the familiar, warm comfort as for the milky caffeine drinks. 

Last week I completed five more morning PE workouts, making four whole weeks now. I am so bloomin' surprised by a) how much I enjoy it and b) how much stronger my body feels. Little B still does it with me, but his enthusiasm isn't always A grade. Sometimes he spends half the time rolling about on the floor wrapped in a blanket, sometimes his sole purpose seems to be to put me off balance and make me wobble, but we have fun with it and I'm careful to encourage him without trying to enforce it. 

I did a little bit of internet shopping last week, small treats and indulgences that arrived on my doorstep and made me happy. I bought a new candle tin in one of my fave scents for Spring - Bergamot and Green Tea. I also replaced my run-out posh hand soap (this one) which I love so much, it makes the ordinary  business of hand washing feel like a treat every time.

And there we are, another ordinary, very mundane week in the Attic, staying home and keeping safe and relishing life's little pleasures and small joys. Family time, quiet time, familiar walks and home routines. I'm so happy it's Spring, did I say that already? This week, my plan is to go out every single day to walk underneath the blossom trees, and that's as much planning as I'm prepared to do. 

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Oat Pancakes

I can't remember quite when I started making these little oat pancakes for breakfast, they are a fairly recent discovery but in the past couple of weeks I've been obsessed with them. They are the perfect mix of wholesome and indulgent and somehow deliver a level of satisfaction which far outweighs their humble ingredients and simplicity. The pancakes themselves are pretty plain and rely quite a bit on the generous toppings to really make your toes curl with pleasure. As with any pancake recipe you can add whatever toppings tickle your fancy - I tend to stick with a healthy combo of fat free Greek yoghurt and fruit.

To make three small pancakes (enough for one person) you will need just three ingredients :

❤️ 1 egg

❤️ 1 heaped tablespoon of Greek yoghurt (I use good quality 0% fat free)

❤️ 20g oats or oatmeal

That's it! There is no flour in this recipe which makes them low calorie and very healthy, and you'll notice that I haven't suggested any sort of sweetener either. If you wanted you could add in a teaspoon of runny honey or maple syrup or maybe a dash of vanilla essence, but I think if you have enough sweetness in your toppings then the pancakes themselves can remain unsweetened.

Lets talk a little about the oats - in the above photo I'm showing you stoneground oatmeal on the left and ordinary porridge oats on the right. We've only had oatmeal in the cupboard just recently, bought from the supermarket when there were absolutely no other oats to be found during the panic-buying food frenzy at the start of the pandemic. I love the texture of the oatmeal and it suits these pancakes really well. If you have ordinary rolled porridge oats then they are fine too - I like to blitz a few handfuls of oats up in the blender to make them super-fine, storing them in an airtight jar. I definitely prefer the way the blitzed up oats work out in these pancakes - if you leave the oats whole the pancakes are a little chewy and slightly lumpy. 

By the way, 20g of oats isn't a huge quantity - it's roughly 2 heaped tablespoons, if you don't have digital scales.

First of all, whisk up your egg in a bowl, add in any sweetener if you want it and dollop in the Greek yoghurt.

Whisk the egg and yoghurt together - it will look alarmingly lumpy at first as the Greek yoghurt tends to separate so don't panic. Keep going and all of a sudden the lumpy mixture will transform into a wonderfully smooth, pale yellow batter that makes you sigh with relief and rest your whisking arm.

Stir in the oats/oatmeal, then let your batter rest for five minutes or so while you heat up your non stick frying pan.

I use a little spray oil to lightly coat the pan, you don't need much oil so long as your pan is a good'n'.

Get the pan nice and hot, then dollop two spoonfuls of batter to make each pancake (three pancakes in total)...

....and use the back of your spoon to immediately spread the batter out as evenly as you can.

Cook for around 3 minutes - you will begin to see the pancakes "set" and turn slightly golden at the edges. Don't try and flip them too soon as they are delicate and will break, and hissy fits are never any good on an empty stomach. When you think they are ready, use a spatula to gently lift and flip each pancake....

....they should be beautifully golden when they turn over.

Cook the second side for another minute or two, then gently lift them out onto a plate.

Now pile on your toppings of choice - fat free greek yoghurt for me, sometimes with a little dribble of maple syrup if I'm feeling needy.

I slice up half a banana, and have ready a generous portion of frozen summer berries which have been defrosted in the microwave until they are oozy and soft but not cooked. I LOVE the way that frozen berries become so juicy when they are defrosted and much prefer them to fresh berries for breakfast toppings (also brilliant on muesli).

I've not tried any other toppings (well I have varied my fruit and loved a passion fruit/mango/raspberry combo) but I imagine chocolate sauce or spread would go down well, or maybe something caramel-ish? I'm more than happy with my fruit and yoghurt though. 

I can honestly tell you that every single mouthful will have you groaning out loud in pleasure, they are that good. It's like eating an indulgent pudding for breakfast knowing that they are freakishly wholesome and bloomin' good for you. Filling too. Oats, egg, yoghurt and fruit, it's all great stuff for keeping you satisfied and pleasured from the inside out. 

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Home Safe :: Week Three

Hello my lovelies! I find myself often thinking about you all out there around the world keeping home-safe as we go gently through these surreal days. I really hope you're all doing OK and that you're having many more ups than downs. Life here in the Attic this past week has been very peaceful for the most part - I had a couple of  "off" days where I felt a bit low and in desperate need of some quiet time away from the rest of the fam with nothing but my own company. There isn't anywhere that I can retreat to at home as we only have one open plan living room, so I told everyone that I needed to be left alone for a while and closed myself off in the bedroom to read and stitch a little. It did help, and yesterday I felt back to my usual cheery self again.

We continue to walk every day, our one stint of permitted outdoor exercise and it always feels so bloomin' good to get out and about.

We walk the same daily route, following very familiar pathways in a loop through the woods....

....then a climb up this vast hilly field to reach the wall at the top....

...ahhhhh, always such a great feeling to reach the highest point!

We have to climb over by means of a stepped stone stile - these are common features in Yorkshire where a pathway crosses over a dry stone wall. It makes a good place to rest a short while, catch our breath and spend some time chatting as we look out over our town spread out in the valley below.

A couple times last week, J and and Little B went off on an afternoon walk without me. I know that Little B sometimes really craves one-to-one attention and seems quietly thrilled when I duck out as he then gets to have his Dad all to himself. On these days, I've still taken my walk but have chosen to go out later in the day, making the most of the deliciously light, golden evenings we are gifted at this time of year.

Little Lady often prefers to walk in the evenings and will happily come with me for a late jaunt if I ask her. It's not late really (we are home by 8pm) but getting to see the sun go down and the moon rise behind the trees always feels quite magical.

I've made good progress on my cross stitch project (it's a design by Tiny Modernist on Etsy) and have really enjoyed the quiet me-time it has afforded me just lately. I talked in my last home-safe post about enjoying being "in the zone" with a cross stitch project like this one, and boy, have I been there! 

I have stitched and stitched and stitched, hundreds of tiny crosses, needle in and out, in and out. Breeeeathe, and let my mind just be full of the colours and the slow, satisfying business of seeing thread turn into leaves and flowers.

Last night I finished putting in the final little spray of flowers, and my goodness, the feeling of achievement was immense!! Finally finished after nearly two years as a WiP!! I'm working on a little DIY upgrade to the hoop frame for it now, so I'll be sure to show you when it's all washed, pressed and framed up beautifully.

Being at home all the time does have it's positives, and for me that equals plenty of creative opportunity as well as extra time to bake and cook. During the past couple of years I've been menu planning and food shopping daily as part of my morning walk to and from school. We have a tiiiiiiny kitchen with only two small cupboards for storing food and a standard size under-counter fridge. This makes it impossible to actually store enough food to last us a whole week without performing a major jenga-style stacking game. But at the moment we don't have a choice as I am now menu planning so that J can do a big weekly shop every Monday. It's taken a little bit of getting used to and we are having to use our stone floored cellar as a bit of a cool-store/pantry for the stuff that just won't fit in the fridge/cupboards in the first half of the week after the Big Shop. But we are getting by just fine, calling at our local bakery to buy fresh bread (we walk right past it on our return route from the woods), and thankful that our milkman is still delivering milk to our doorstep.

I love cooking for the family and every day I make a meal from scratch using fresh ingredients. We aren't a family that eats ready made or convenience food very often (save for the odd frozen pizza for the Little Peeps) so the cooking isn't a new thing by any means. I think what I'm enjoying the most is having my weekly menu mapped out in advance (I did this for many years but oddly got out of the habit in recent times), and not feeling quite so rushed in the late afternoons which would usually be taken up with the school run and after-school snacks/wind-down time.

For the first time in absolutely ages I made some soup for my lunch last week, gosh it was so satisfying and quick! I had left over garlicky roasted veggies from the day before (peppers, onion, courgette, sweet potato and carrots) and half a tin of chopped tomatoes in the fridge left from the day before that. I simply bunged everything in the blender, added in some hot stock and seasoning and whizzed it all up. There was enough for the Little People to have as well and even the Big Teen decided that a soup brunch would suit him very nicely, thank you very much. Actually the Teens both usually make their own breakfast/brunch/lunch but I know that when I offer to make them something (especially poached eggs) it does seem to make them very happy.

Baking is another thing that I've gotten out of the habit of doing, especially in recent months as I've been trying hard to eat a healthy diet. But during these home-safe weeks I've remembered that baking isn't just about eating the end product. It's an activity which the Little People really enjoy, the delicious, comforting smells that waft out of the kitchen, the cosy familiarity of keeping busy on the domestic front as a means to relieve low-grade stress. This week Little B and I baked sultana and cranberry flapjacks and the smell of them as they were cooking was so good! The Little People tell me they were yummy and asked what's coming next - I'm thinking some Oaty Cookies would go down well.

 I found that during the Easter weekend it was essential for me to indulge a little. The need for foodie feel-good was running high, and so there was chocolate (of course) and melty buttered hot cross buns eaten outside in the sunshine. I think it's always good to have balance, and although I've changed my diet quite considerably since December, I haven't eliminated anything at all and really enjoy the odd sweet treat.

I've been missing having fresh flowers on the table after so many delicious weeks of having daffodils coming home with the groceries. I ventured up to the allotment last week to see what might be growing in the wild banks of our plot which the previous people planted with bulbs and wild flowers. It was such a delight to pick a little posy to bring home, a rather raggedy bunch of muscari, bluebells (and pink bells!) and a pretty white flower who's name I don't know.

Another day and another walk to the woods, the repetitiveness of our routine honestly doesn't seem to bother me, although it hasn't been a full month yet.

The wood anemones are looking so beautiful....

....and I even spotted some dinky little violets which instantly reminded me of my Mum. She had such a love of wild flowers, especially primroses and violets as they mark the start of Spring which was her favourite time of year.

At the weekend we actually walked a different walk, one that takes longer than our usual hour long woodland ramble. This is a stride out across fields and down small country lanes to a neighbouring village which has a rather old fashioned but charming country inn with a beer garden for when times are normal. It's a gentle, quiet walk, well as quiet as it can be with Little B going at full pelt.

I loved seeing these sticky buds breaking open to reveal the very first new leaves (this is a horse chestnut tree), and realising that Spring really, really  is here. We've had some beautiful Spring weather this week with plenty of sunshine, although it has remained very cold.

I had a couple of lovely surprises at the weekend which made my heart very happy. The first surprise was left on my table in the back yard by my very good friend who is a nurse and working hard on the NHS frontline right now. She sent me a text early Saturday morning to tell me to to go look on my table, and there she'd left me a painted rainbow pebble and a bottle of prossecco. Well, what a generous Easter gift - rainbows and bubbles, I was so touched!

J also surprised me with a chocolate heart, he said he saw them in the bakers when he called in to get our weekend bread and thought I might appreciate a bit of a treat. Well yes indeed, unexpected chocolate is always a lovely treat.

Over the weekend we did not one but two jigsaw puzzles, which came about because Little B seemed to be absolutely beside himself with frustrated boredom. On the whole he has been absolutely brilliant during this lockdown and has entertained himself extremely well during the long, samey days. We've been keeping up with our 9am PE workout, and of course our daily afternoon walk, but when he has tired of watching films or gaming, he doesn't seem to know quite what to do with himself. He's grown out of toys really, although he will quite happily sit and play solitaire or jacks with himself. J plays cards or draughts with him most days, but he isn't remotely interested in anything creative that I suggest, other than baking. However when I suggested we do a puzzle together he shrugged and said OK (in a very unsure way I might add), so I immediately went with it. We've had these jigsaws for such a long time that they may almost be vintage (J and I bought them over twenty five years ago), one that has tropical fish and another one which has rainforest birds. They are fun to do, the different shaped pieces fitting together in unexpected ways, and certainly kept Little B (and me) happy for many hours.

I was thinking last week that I really miss walking along the canal - in normal times it's such a familiar part of my days as I walk to and from school, home from the supermarket or down to my studio. So on the spur of the moment I decided to stroll out early one evening, just to take in the sight of the water and reconnect with a little bit of my usual normality.

It was a beautiful, still evening with perfect reflections and soft light. This white flowering cherry tree towers over the tow path and looked absolutely spectacular as I strolled underneath it.

I am naturally accustomed to being very aware of my surroundings when I am out and about and always try to practice a sort of mindfulness as I walk. But during these home-safe weeks when our outside freedom is so limited, I find I am tuning in even more than usual to the little details, soaking in every teensy bit of natural beauty and colour. It's a good life lesson I think - to slow down a little and really pay attention to the beauty that surrounds us every minute of every day. It's right there to be enjoyed, so good for the soul.

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Spring Garland :: Ta-dah!

photo credit : www.gardeningdirect.co.uk/

When I was thinking about making a Spring garland for my mantel, the very first flowers that came to mind were polyanthus. They are so cheery and uplifting and the bright mix and match colours are perfect for using up all those little scrappy left over bits of yarn from other projects.

Polyanthus flowers have very distinctive colouring in the centre which creates a little pointed star shape - this was not at all easy to recreate in crochet I can tell you! But after a lot of experimentation I came up with a simple but beautifully effective design, and I'm really happy with it.....

....awwww!!! I think they are really lovely and I promise you they are easy and quick to make. They are maybe a little fiddly to crochet at first but I find that's the case with most crochet flowers until you get into the zone with them, and then they fly off your hook at speed. And I do love a quick little flying project every once in a while, it's good for the soul.

I gathered together a colour palette left over from making the Sweet Pea and Dahlia blankets...

The greens are from the Sweet Pea palette :: Cypress, Pistachio and Meadow ( I did end up adding in Sage, Lincoln and the new and beautiful Apple green)

Then I've got Mustard, Saffron, Lemon and Cream.

Spice, Pomegranate, Shrimp, Boysenberry and Magenta make up the darker end of the floral palette.

Apricot, Fondant, Blush, Powder Pink and Clematis make up the lighter end (I added in Lavender too).

Once I'd finished all the faffing and finalised the design, my polyanthus flowers bloomed very quickly. Ten out of ten for satisfaction I'd say.

I made twenty flowers in total for my garland.

The leaves were a bit more laborious, especially as I decided on two for each flower, meaning forty in total. I confess I did get a bit fed up towards the end.

But just look how beeeeautiful they are!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Glorious, floral deliciousness.

Earlier this week I photographed the making process, and I've just finished writing it all up. There is my usual step-by-step photo-heavy tutorial as well as a simple one-page PDF pattern that you can download/print. Click on the following link to go to the tutorial page >>

🌸POLYANTHUS TUTORIAL🌸

As I mentioned in my post the other day, I've also been making some teensy little hawthorn blossoms to go along with the polyanthus. These are such easy flowers to make, a chain-4 ring, then all five petals worked in one easy round. As follows: 

Hawthorn Blossom Flower

Using Cream/White yarn, ch 4; sl st into 1^st ch to form a ring.

All stitches in round 1 are worked into the ring.

Round 1 : *ch 2; 1 tr; ch 2; sl st;

Repeat from * 4 more times; sl st into 1^st ch of beginning ch-2 to close the round; fasten off [5 petals]

Note : if you crochet over the tail end as you make each petal, you can give it a firm pull when you finish and close up the hole in the centre. Alternatively, you could use the magic ring method if you prefer.

Inspired by Kate of "Just Pootling" on instagram, I coloured in my flower centres using felt tip pens.

I LOVE how these turned out - I did a mixture of yellow with orange and yellow with lime green for the centres, and I do think they look very blossom-like. I made 21 for my garland.

And now with all the flowers and leaves made, it's time for the fun bit, yipppeeeee!!!

First I arranged the flowers in the order that I wanted to join them for my garland.

I chose Pistachio yarn to make my chain. To make the hanging loop, chain 12, then slip stitch into the 1st chain to form the loop (you darn in the tail end afterwards)

You need to work out how many chains you want between each flower and make it consistent along the length of the garland. I chained 8 between mine.

To attach a flower, have the working yarn at the back, then insert the hook through a single back loop at the top of a petal and make a slip stitch.

Use the same number of chains in between each flower.....

....and the same slip stitch method through single back loops to attach each flower.

After all the flower and leaf making, the actual garland making is turbo-charged and incredibly quick.

Ahhhhhh, it's happening!!!!! My garland is growing by the second!

Soon enough the end is in sight - time to make the other hanging loop. Chain an extra 12, then count back and slip stitch in the 12th chain from the hook. Easy peasy.

The excitement is real - the garland lies in a pretty heap and I absolutely can't wait to see it all stretched out.......

.................Oh!!! How very, very pretty and Springlike!! Ta-dah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm so happy with it, it's exactly what I could see inside my Creative Mind when I first decided to create a Spring garland.

And this is what it looks like in situ. It really brightens up our wooden fireplace and it makes me smile every time I walk into the room.

The little copper wire lights are set on a timer so that they come on in the late afternoon and switch themselves off after eight hours (so clever). I love the extra little bit of twinkle that they bring.

When I was making the hawthorn blossom I got a bit carried away and made too many. So I decided to add the extra ones to some little twigs on my mantel and the simplicity of it makes me so happy.

I'd love to hear if you decide to make yourself  a garland - I can promise you that it really does bring a lot of joy, both in the making and in the decorative faffery potential. Give it a go, you know resistance is futile!!

🌸POLYANTHUS TUTORIAL🌸

x

ps Do you remember my Autumn Garland?? I thought it would be fun to see them both together >>>

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Home Safe :: Week Two

Today marks the start of the third week of the UK lockdown due to Coronavirus, and although we are now into the Easter holidays for the Little People, it doesn't really feel any different to the past couple of home-school weeks. It's been a time of acclimating to our new routines, and I would say we are doing pretty well on the whole. I don't think our days in any way feel "normal" just yet, and quite possibly they never will while we are living with such restrictions. But we are managing to create some small daily habits and gentle structure to our days, and maybe that's the best thing to aim for as we all muddle through.

I am so very grateful for our daily family walks, an hour each day where we can breathe in deeply, stretch our muscles and soak up the calmness of our immediate local neighbourhood. It really does help to balance our days, it helps a lot actually. We are pretty much doing the same walk every day which takes us up some steep streets of houses, along a farm track and into the very top of the woodland. We then follow footpaths up and down through the trees in a circular loop until we come all the way back to the farm track. We climb an old wooden stile, heading up across a huge sloping field until we reach the dry stone wall at the top (you can see our hilltop view in this post). We rest a while here, taking in the sweeping view of our town nestled in the valley, before walking all the way down the grassy slope and back to the streets which lead us homeward. 

I find I don't get bored of this walk, even doing it day after day - every day has it's own unique feel depending on the weather and the time of day that we head out. It's been fantastic to witness the wild garlic growing ever greener, and to see fresh new buds and the may blossom emerging. The Little People complain a little about the repetitive nature of it all, but we are quick to remind them to be thankful for what we have on our doorstep, to be happy that we can take these walks and experience nature in all it's wonderfulness. 

Little Lady doesn't always come with us, but I do love it when she does. A few times she's been for a daily walk on her own, choosing to head out in the early evening now that we're into British Summer Time (yay!) and it's not getting dark until after 8pm. But I really appreciate her company and happy chatter, and try to encourage her to join us as I think in these strange times it does us good to be able to talk with each other. 

I always carry my camera with me when we walk, but don't always feel in the mood to take photos. But I had an idea that I'd like to chronicle these weeks here on my blog so that I can look back and remember in years to come. In my mind, I call these posts my "Lockdown Diary", but I decided to change the title to be more positive and have settled on "Home Safe". So these photos today are a mixed bag of things that were captured on my camera last week. I sincerely hope that you don't get fed up of seeing a stupid number of woodland photos, I'll try and hold back with sharing endless trees with you.

Little B and I did some baking last week, for the first time in a long time. It was my idea - a solution one afternoon when he seemed to be climbing the walls with boredom and in need of a distraction. He really enjoyed it, taking control of the weighing, mixing and beating like a little pro.

We made and iced buns, finding everything we needed already in the cupboards, including some rather dodgy looking blue food colouring and some charmingly named "unicorn sprinkles". Cadbury mini eggs are a permanent fixture on our weekly shopping list right now (they just hit the spot when a little chocolate fix is needed) so they provided the finishing flourish. The buns didn't last long, and I am thinking a tray of cranberry and sultana flapjack will be the next thing on my baking schedule.

The kitty is finding it hard having us around all the time, she is used to a quiet house during the day and undisturbed kitty naps in the Big Chair. She has started taking herself away somewhere in the house to sleep in the daytime, I've no idea where exactly she goes but I do get where her head is at - I often find myself wishing I could find somewhere to hide away for some solitude!

I tell you what though, she really can't resist the lure of my crochet blankets, especially if a convenient human is positioned underneath one. Within seconds of me getting comfy on the sofa for a bit of magazine browsing, she lands, turns a few circles then slumps down to nap. It's the most comforting thing to have the warm, heavy weight of a dozing kitty on your lap, but it never fails to make me feel reeeeeally sleepy myself, like I could just nod off sitting up. It's the ultimate sedative.

I'm making some progress on my cross stitch and am still really enjoying stitching this design. Last week I kept it out on the dining table and found myself picking it up and stitching little bits in odd pockets of time in between doing other things. I like it best when I can really get in the zone with cross stitching, but I've been finding it hard to settle for any length of time as my attention span has been quite short of late. I want to start the Craftpod Spring embroidery too, but also there's my crochet Spring Garland, and I feel like if I have too many WiP's going on at the same time my mind starts to feel overloaded.

Another day, and another walk to the woods, this time made a littler more exciting by the arrival of a sheep and lamb train! The farmer was moving them from the small field to the big sloping one, and it was just lovely to see and hear the lambs.

Wood anemones are in full flower in the woodland and on sunny days when they spread their petals right out they look ever so pretty. Bright little beacons of Spring, I do love them.

One of the very best things that has come out of this strange stay-home time is the introduction of daily exercise here in the Attic. And I'm not just talking about the walking we do, but about actual, proper jumping about, heart-pounding exercise, the stuff that makes you heave to catch your breath and leaves your legs wobbling like jelly. Like many other families, Little B and I have been tuning into YouTube at 9am every week day to do a live PE workout with Joe Wicks the Body Coach. At first I decided to do it to encourage Little B to burn off some of his excess energy, and to create some structure to our school mornings. He eats breakfast at 8am, then at 9am we do the half hour of PE, then he gets straight into the shower afterwards and gets dressed ready to start some school work. The routine has been working very well for us, and I guess the half hour of PE takes the place of our usual walk to school along the canal and the 15 minutes of mad running around in the playground that Little B starts his day with.

Part way into the second week of following this routine, I suddenly realised that I was enjoying the workouts myself and now I actually wake up looking forward to it. It's been over a decade since I did any sort of exercise besides walking, and my muscles have been properly complaining! But oh, I do feel so good for doing it! And as you can see in the photo above, we have the best exercise mats ;) 

I have my breakfast after my exercise now on weekdays, which makes it around 10am. Like many of us at the moment I am pretty time-rich and so breakfast has taken on something of a weekend vibe for me lately. I'm really happy about that I have to say! Slow, weekendy brunch-style meals are my absolute favourites, and I am enjoying them enormously. I am obsessed with making these little oat pancakes, they make me sooooo happy, like I want to squeal with joy after every mouthful.

In these days of enforced stay-home, I am so, so grateful for my creative habits, most especially crochet. My Spring Garland is keeping me busy and making me ridiculously happy - the fresh happy colours, the floral cuteness, the simplicity of making small things which come off the hook at a fast pace, all of it. Love love love love love it. Last night I finished up all the crochet (40 flowers and 40 leaves) and today I worked on photographing the tutorial for my new Polyanthus flowers. Tomorrow I have the pleasure of pulling it all together and creating the garland, and I am very excited about it. I'll be able to share the patterns and making process with you all on Wednesday, I absolutely can't wait.

Last week was cold here in Atticland and even though we now in British Summer Time, the temperatures remain wintry. Luckily we have enough fuel in to last us through this month, and I am still relishing lighting the fire on the evenings when we need a little extra warmth and cheer.

I also pulled my Sunny log cabin blanket back onto the bed and love having the extra little bit of weight on top of me at night and the bright colours to cheer me up in the mornings. As always I've been finding a lot of quiet comfort at bedtime, climbing under the soft, well washed flowery cotton and feeling so thankful for the simple fact of being at home with my family all safe and under one roof.

I hope very much that you are all feeling safe and cosy at home, and that despite the worries we are living with at the moment, you are finding small joys in the ordinariness of your days.

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Winter to Spring

A couple days ago I spent some time faffing with my mantel and changing over my seasonal decorations - I can't tell you how good it feels to pack away winter! I know it's all inside my head really as the weather here is still pretty cold and winter-like, but nevertheless the Attic is now in Spring mode and I am majorly happy about it.

My Winter mantel was actually quite minimal, but I thought you might like to see what has now gone into hibernation. Some greetings cards, my Annabel Burton canvas, and my winter balls garland (thinking I might make something new for winter 2020, using patterns from my winter wreath - frosty leaves, snowdrops, snowflakes?) I admit I was quite sad to pack away my stitchy decs as I have loved having them on my mantel to cheer up the dark season.

In the above photo, middle left, you can see the Winter cross stitch I completed a few months ago, which I absolutely love. This is from a set of four designs by the very clever ladies at Cotton and Twine - Autumn and Winter have already been released and can be purchased as kits, and Spring and Summer are still to come. I'm going to write a separate blog post to show you more of these cross stitching projects (I've completed the Autumn one too), but in the meantime there are some lovely photos on their website ((here))

The two stitchy hoops came in the Craftpod subscription boxes which I am lucky enough to receive every quarter. They are such a treat, each one containing two projects as well as some beautiful and very thoughtful treats. The hoop on the right was part of the Winter 2017 box (which I completed in February 2018). The hoop on the left was a simple cross stitch designed by me (oooo, super proud of that!) for the Winter 2019 box. It was a wonderful commission to work on and I can honestly say I adored designing and stitching that little scandi inspired cross stitch.

Spring Craftpods plopped through the letterbox a few weeks ago, and I think this little serene embroidery is an absolute delight. I can't wait to get stitching - I find the slow, meditative qualities of embroidery and cross stitch are very well suited to these quiet, introverted stay-home days.

When I unpacked my Spring bag it seemed a bit sparse, but that's OK as I have plans to add more springy-inspired crafty things this year. The canvas is another original by Annabel Burton (I've collected quite a few over the years and absolutely love love love them). The two postcards are of Van Gogh paintings which I bought in the Van Gogh museum last year when we had a short Spring trip to Amsterdam.

Do you remember this Spring embroidery hoop I stitched two years ago? It was designed by the very talented Lolli and Grace as a "stitch-a-long" project for Mollie Makes in 2018. It was so nice to re-discover it again, to unpack it and bring it out into its rightful season once again. I really, really like seasonal crafting....can you tell?!

As part of my Winter-Spring faff-around, it was time to swap over my candelabras. I often get asked about these as I always have one of them on my mantel and light candles most evenings.  The one on the left is my Autumn/Winter one and came from the Swedish company Gudrun Sjödén. The one on the right is my Spring/Summer one and is from the Danish company Rice DK. 

I've had both of them for a good many years - they were quite expensive to buy, but the amount of pleasure they give me every day is huge and I really love them.

So this is how my mantel is looking at the moment - it's still a little bare, but I am definitely going  to be adding some more seasonal stitchy stuff this month.

The thing that is noticeably missing though is a garland of some sorts. I have my Autumn Garland and my Winter Balls, but so far nothing for Spring. So what to do? Well....................................

..............time to gather in some Spring colours and get my crochet hook on the job. Of course! The colours above are leftovers from making my Sweet Pea and Dahlia blankets, and I absolutely love them. I know the orange (Spice) is a bit bright for Spring, but I'll be mostly using this colour to add a little detail to my flower centres.

The greens are from the Sweet Pea palette :: Cypress, Pistachio and Meadow.

Then I've got Mustard, Saffron, Lemon and Cream.

Spice, Pomegranate, Shrimp, Boysenberry and Magenta make up the darker end of the floral palette.

Apricot, Fondant, Blush, Powder Pink and Clematis make up the lighter end.

I had in mind to make some Spring flowers and leaves, something quite simple which would look great against the dark wood background of my fireplace mantel.

The flowers that immediately came to mind were primulas and polyanthus - I wonder how many of you remember the PPP Project??????!!!!!

(that post is HERE, if you need reminding - goodness me, even I needed reminding, it was eleven years ago!!!!!!)

There are polyanthus in abundance around my neighbourhood at the moment, piled high at the supermarket and spilling out of front garden pots and planters everywhere you look. They are beautifully cheery and colourful, and I think the perfect inspiration for a bit of Lockdown hooky activity.

It took me many hours to perfect my design, which included a brisk walk through the woods where I managed to alter the design in my head, rushing home to immediately try out my new fresh-air improved version.

Want to see the end result?

...................................

..........ta-dah!!! I'm so so pleased with it!! It was difficult to get the middle bit to look like a star, but I managed it in the end and love how effective it is. I already know it's going to be great fun trying out different colour combinations.

I'm also making a load of very simple little cream flowers, loosely inspired by Hawthorn blossom which is just starting to bloom up here in North Yorkshire. A little while ago I came across a marvellously ingenious idea where the designer had crocheted small yellow flowers, but instead of trying to crochet a different coloured centre she simply painted them in! How bloomin' clever is that?! Many, many thanks to Kate of "Just Pootling" on Instagram for sharing this idea, I can't believe how effective it is. Kate used water soluble artists pencils to colour/paint her little mini blooms which isn't something I had to hand. So I had to resort to using a less sophisticated option and raided the Little People's felt tip pen pot - oh, it worked a treat!

Hahaha!!!!!!!!!!!!! Just so chuffed with these little beauties! 

As I only finished the design for these flowers late yesterday afternoon, I've not had time to make that many just yet.

Awwwwwwwwww, I already adore them! Oh, I forgot to mention, I also designed some rounded leaves to go with the flowers - in real life, polyanthus leaves are way bigger than the actual flowers, but I only wanted a little bit of simple greenery to poke out underneath.

So this is roughly the layout I'm thinking of for my Spring garland.... I think it's going to look very cute once it all comes together. Only another  30 flowers and 30 leaves to make.........I'll get right on it!

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ps, yes, of course I'll be making a tutorial for the flowers and will be sharing the pattern here on my blog. You're very welcome!!!!!!

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