Today I thought it would be fun to share a little of what I was involved with during September over on Instagram. I was asked by an online friend if I'd like to co-host a month-long photo challenge under the hashtag #yarnfriendsrock. It's the first time I've ever taken part in anything like this as I usually dislike the idea of any kind of structure being imposed on me (make of that what you will!), but I was instantly intrigued by this one and was all in right from the start. The idea of the challenge was to celebrate the yarn/crochet community on Instagram and to inspire/be inspired on a daily basis. The insta crochet community is incredible actually and I LOVE being a part of it. It's very active and inspirational, and pretty much all your favourite bloggers, designers, yarn shops, crochet magazines and yarn brands are represented there as well as a massive global community of talented makers and creators.
To take part in the challenge, all you had to do was post one photo every day in response to the list of prompts. The photos could be new ones, old ones, collages or single images and as I was involved in creating the list and putting forward suggestions I was fairly confident that I would be able to find or create thirty yarny photos without too much difficulty. One thing I'm not short of is yarn photos as I have a humungous archive stretching back more than thirteen years.
↑↑ These were the daily prompts, and typical of me I didn't do a whole lot of planning. I posted a mixture of old archive photos when they were a good fit, and I also created some inspirational collages of photos to illustrate particular themes. I'm assuming that many of you may well already follow me on Instagram, but I wanted to post some of the new photos that I created especially for #yarnfriendsrock here on my blog so that I have a record of them.
Day 1 :: This is Me
Gah, this was a tough one for me as I am really not accustomed to being in front of the camera, even for a mediocre selfie! But I put on my brave pants and took a photo of myself one afternoon and tried not to fret too much about having to publish my face online. I imagine you all know me by now and know a little of my personal history, but for the record, this is what I wrote...
"Helllooooo! It's not often I turn the camera on myself, but today I wanted to be brave and show up for this challenge which celebrates our fabulous yarn community.
Many of you already know me through my blog Attic24 which I started writing in March 2008 as a way to connect with other like minded souls at a particularly lonely time in my life.
I am a 51 year old quiet, introverted sort, wife to J (we met when we were 24) and mum to three Little People (aged 18, 16 and 10). We live in a rather shambolic but well loved old Victorian terraced house on the edge of the glorious Yorkshire Dales. I'm originally from Dorset and have an enduring love of all things coastal.
I taught myself to crochet in 2007, embarked on a colourful granny square blanket as my very first project and have been obsessed with crocheting blankets ever since. I strive to live a simple, mindful, creative life full of gratitude (and colour)"
I think that pretty much sums me up?!
Day 5 :: Saturday Share
I decided to share a little snap I took at Coopers Cafe at the end of the summer, an impromptu coffee with a few friends (socially distanced of course) and a little bit of yarny happenings. This is what I wrote...
"There is nothing I enjoy more than sharing my passion for yarn, colour and crochet with others who absolutely get it. Finding my Yarn Tribe has been one of the most positive, life changing experiences of my adult life, and I am so unbelievably thankful for it.
I value the online yarn community enormously, and thanks to blogs, Facebook and Instagram, over the years I feel like I've gained a massive group of friends to share my hooky obsession with. Gosh, arent we all SO LUCKY to have each other?!!!!
I am also extremely fortunate to have a tribe of real life yarn buddies, and in normal times (before the pandemic) we would meet twice a week at my fave @cooperscafeskipton for coffee, chatter and creative yarny things. These friendships mean the world to me and I would be lost without them.
So today's post is a massive big thank you to all my yarny friends both online and in real life. Thank you for sharing this journey with me.
Yarn. Friends. Rock!!!!!!!!"
Day 6 :: Colour makes me Happy
This is what I wrote about my love of colour (I had a lot of love for this photo!)...
"If you follow my blog then you will know how well todays prompt fits with my outlook on life. I am a passionate, life long colour-lover, and am hugely inspired by the way that colours effect our emotions and evoke memories of time and place.
Creating colour palettes for projects is one of my absolute favourite things and I always listen to my heart when it comes to making colour choices.
Today's photo shows a very small selection of my stash - this is yarn left over from my obsessive blanket making, and playing around with it makes me stupidly happy! The postcard is from Paperchase"
Day 7 :: Yarny Home
I knew I wanted to photograph my sofa for this prompt as it's the most yarnylicious part of my home and always adorned with colourful blankets and cushions. Tilly wasn't actually invited but she inserted herself and posed so beautifully that I just had to include her. She is never far from me when I'm at home and always has to nosy in on what I'm doing. This is what I wrote...
"Nobody would be able to come into my home and miss the crochet as it is here in abundance!
Every sofa, chair and bed is cosied up with colourful blankets and cushions, and I have bunting, garlands, mandalas and little decorative crochet pieces in pretty much every room.
It makes me happy to surround myself with my colourful creativity and the family don't seem to mind too much....in fact, Tilly is a huge fan of the yarny comfort I provide 😻 xx"
Day 8 :: Pretty Stacks
I was originally going to use an old photo of a stack of my blankets for this prompt, but in the end I decided to create something new. I settled on photographing my pile of hand knitted socks as I knew my blankets would be featured in some of the prompts later in the month. I'm really (really, really) proud of my socks! This is what I wrote...
"Although crochet is my true yarny passion I can also knit and these days my knitting is pretty much entirely sock shaped.
I learnt to knit socks five years ago, very much inspired by my lovely friend Christine @winwickmum who is the Queen of Socks. Her basic sock pattern is written as a complete tutorial for beginners, and I can't recommend it highly enough if you want to embark on a sock making journey.
Using a small circular needle instead of multiple pointy sticks was a real game changer for me, and I fell in love with knitting and wearing proper woollen socks in the most gloriously colourful stripes.
They really do make a very pretty pile."
Day 10 :: Favourite Make
Well, no question, it just had to be blankets, but which ones? How on earth could I choose when every single one is a favourite make? I had a lot of fun creating the photo for this, I had to stand on a step ladder to get myself high enough to fit them all in, and this time I did deliberately invite Tilly to join the party. I may have bribed her with some kitty treats in order to get her to sit where I wanted her....doing it for Instagram! This is what I wrote...
"Well today's prompt was a major challenge and seriously impossible to choose just one thing.
So I've gone with the general theme of blankets, because if you know me you know I am completely obsessed with them. As you can see, I have quite the collection haha!
This photo shows all the blankets I've made using @stylecraftyarns Special DK which has become my absolute go-to blanket making yarn. I LOVE the wide colour range, and the brilliant way the blankets seem to wear so well after years of loving (*robust*) family life.
So yeah, I adore all my crochet blankets. I love dreaming up ideas, designing them, crocheting them and filling my house with warm, cosy, yarny colour. They are without question my favourite thing to make."
Day 15 :: Colour Inspiration
I could have used so many of my archive photos to fit this prompt as pretty much every single one of my crochet projects has some major colour inspiration behind it. But I decided to do something new and set up a simple photo of my yarn pegs as a way of illustrating that colour is always my inspiration. This is what I wrote...
"Seeking out colour inspiration is at the heart of everything I do and I am never happier than when I am immersed in colour play.
I made these yarn pegs around six years ago as a way of having a visual colour reference for the yarn I like to use for my blanket making (@stylecraftyarns Special DK).
I use the pegs to work through ideas for colour palettes and stripe orders and they are probably one of the things I absolutely could not do without. They give me endless inspiration and are the Attic24 not-so-secret colour planning secret!!"
Day 18 :: Cosy Corner
I got Little Lady to take this snap of me knitting in my favourite chair. I attempted to persuade Tilly to join me , but nope, she was having none of it. This is what I wrote...
"I have a few favourite cosy places to sit and crochet, knit, stitch or read, but this is probably my favourite. It's an old oversized armchair which we rescued when it was being thrown out, giving it a new home in the curve of our large bay window.
It's a bit saggy with a sun-faded loose cover so I've given it the crochet blanket treatment and it is such a comfy, cosy place to sit.
We call it The Big Chair and truthfully it's not a place that I get to claim very often so I make the most of it when I can! It's Tillys main domain too, she loves to sit on the back and keep watch out the window, or curls herself up to sleep amongst the crochet"
↑↑ This was her being daft and not taking her job as photographic model seriously!
Day 24 :: Yarn Therapy
This photo was created especially for the yarn therapy prompt - I wanted to illustrate my bed as the place that I often retreat to when I need some time to myself. The yarn in the basket is little 25g balls of Ricorumi DK which I was using to make some flowers. I had no real need to make flowers, it was purely for the creative pleasure. This is what I wrote...
"I would bet that any one of us who creates with yarn is well aware of its therapeutic benefits. Sometimes just the simple act of gathering together a pretty collection of colours can give us a much needed boost as we ponder on the creative possibilities.
Creating with yarn allows our minds to calm as our hands gently work each repetitive, rhythmic stitch. I find it extremely relaxing ~ a truly mindful, meditative time to just enjoy being at peace and in the moment.
During the past six months I have been so grateful for my crochet and it has most definitely been my therapy. I've been crocheting in my bedroom, not because I especially want to be in bed (although it does up the cosy, indulgent factor!) but because this is the only room in the house where I can gently close the door and retreat into myself for a while. Precious time indeed."
Day 30 :: Colour your World
This was the final day and I created this photo especially to celebrate my love of colour and crochet, both of which are at the heart of my creative world. This was one of my most liked photos of the challenge, I think it is pretty eye catching?! This is what I wrote...
"Well, of course it had to be blankets, didn't it?!!
Crochet blankets bring colour to my life like nothing else, and I can't imagine living without them.
I'd like to say a huge big thank you for all your beautiful comments on all my September posts, I've absolutely loved reading your words and being a part of the #yarnfriendsrock challenge.
There was been loads of fantastic inspiration under the #yarnfriendsrock hashtag with over 12k posts. It's been brilliant!"
x
I really enjoyed being so involved on Instagram last month, even though it was quite time consuming some days. I always felt uplifted and totally inspired by seeing everyone's daily photos and reading all the commentary, the online crochet community really is fabulous, such a lot of kindness and feel-good.
I hope you've enjoyed sharing these with me today, and if you've been around on Instagram during September then I hope you didn't mind a little bit of repetition. Thank you so much for continuing to visit me here in the Attic, I really appreciate your company xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Really love your job, your passion and your adorable model.Keep inspirig
Posted by: Marly | October 09, 2020 at 05:47 PM
Hi Sandra
I’ve just looked right back through my sock archives, I made these ones in 2016.
The yarn is Opal
{Opal
Sweet Spicy 3, colour 9127 Fruchtgummi}
I’ve no idea whether you can still find this range, Opal bring out new ranges and colours all the time and often the older ones then get discontinued.
I hope this helps!
Lucyxx
Posted by: Lucy @ Attic24 | October 07, 2020 at 08:13 PM
Lucy, I love the colour palette of the socks you are wearing in the photograph above. Do you remember the yarn/colours that you used? Thank you for being so generous with your blog, it is most appreciated.
Posted by: Sandra | October 07, 2020 at 07:13 PM
Thank you for sharing! I love crochet more than ever because of you and I have gained some great skills because of you! I am also a lover of colors and I get so excited to see what you have put together for the projects. I haven't gotten them all finished yet, but soon. I am excited with a new job I begin next week. The school where I will be a nursing instructor encourages everyone to crochet and knit red hats for the hospitals we have our students do their nursing clinicals. The hats go to the babies in the Neonatal Units.
Posted by: Shelly Rawlins | October 06, 2020 at 06:46 PM
Such an amazing feast of colour- beautiful. So many fabulous crochet blankets- a real photo treat. Thank you Lucy x
Posted by: Beverley | October 06, 2020 at 04:09 PM
I've gained 20 pounds eating up all this eye candy!
Posted by: Mary W | October 06, 2020 at 03:38 PM
Ha! Looking GOOD for 50+ !! Dorset Maids wear well!
Posted by: Jo hyde | October 06, 2020 at 02:59 PM
Beautiful colours xxxx
Posted by: Susan | October 06, 2020 at 02:45 PM
Absolutely beautiful and inspirational. I'm glad to have seen your face as when I talk to my yarn friends about attic 24 it sounds like you are my absolute best friend. Thank you for giving me the tools to indulge in this new passion of mine. I have a large comfy chair that I would love to make this cosy, my head is sometimes to controlling for things not to 'match' but with all that's going on in this world and having seen things I wish I never had seen since March 2020 I am trying to breathe and fill some time with this art 💜 I am loving the little 5 mins of reading your blog daily and the space it gives. Thank you Lucy 💕
Posted by: George | October 06, 2020 at 01:02 PM
Love your daily blogs, I’ve made quite a few of your blankets, even managed to keep one for myself! I’m now using up leftovers to make the blooming flower cushion.
The life is too short for beige struck a cord, this summer two nieces and my daughter asked me to make them shawl/scarfs, ok picked a stitch, your hydrangea stripe pattern ,now colour, black please! Aargh..
Never mind, two down one to go then back to a blanket.
Thanks Lucy you brighten our days
Ellie
Posted by: Ellie Williams | October 06, 2020 at 12:20 PM
What a feast for the eyes....truly BEAUTIFUL, Lucy!
You are not just one VERY talented and creative ladies,
But a lovely looking woman...your photo is so reflective
of who you are..beautiful soul x
PS...I hope to resume crocheting ..would love to make
your Paeony rose blanket.....one day..
Thanks for all you share with us...keep safe x
Posted by: Nora McGrann | October 06, 2020 at 12:20 PM
I really enjoyed the #yarnfriendsrock on Instagram! It was so inspiring seeing people's makes and joy of making. It inspired me to get crafting again - making my first ever snood now!
Posted by: Tonia | October 06, 2020 at 12:18 PM
It's good to see you back again , you have been missed. I thoroughly enjoyed this post , the pictures are AWESOME ! And girl , you look great (southern talk).You don't look your age at all , whatever you are doing keep doing it. I should be as introverted as you, haha. I will check you out on instagram if I can figure out how to navigate it. Thank you for sharing and have a fabulous weekend.
Posted by: Miss Daisy | October 06, 2020 at 11:40 AM
You thank us, I will certainly THANK YOU Lucy for all your yarn creativity and inspiration!!
Posted by: Jeanette | October 06, 2020 at 11:19 AM
Wonderful photo Lucy. You are,without a doubt, the Queen of Colour. A visit to your house would be proof of that!! I do instagram but only just I still have to understand how to use it! Keep well Amanda x
Posted by: Amanda Smith | October 06, 2020 at 10:28 AM
The photo of you is absolutely lovely. I often think about dipping my toe in Instagram - I follow a few people there, including you, but I have never posted anything. I am often short of photos though, nothing very exciting to photograph here! So I am still not sure. We shall see. But it was lovely to follow you there throughout September. CJ xx
Posted by: CJ | October 06, 2020 at 10:17 AM
Thank you Lucy, for sharing your creations, your love of color and some of the more personal side of you and your family. Absolutely love your blog. Love those colors! Stay well and safe in these crazy times.
Posted by: Victoria Oyama | October 06, 2020 at 08:16 AM
Oh, those lovely colours. Which colours have you used in the granny stripe blanket shown in the Yarny Home and Cosy Corner pictures? They are different from the colours in your granny stripe blanket-tadah. I would love to make this blanket with these brighter colours, they're so cheery. Lucy, thank you for so generously sharing your creative mind and being such an inspiration.
Posted by: Meadow | October 06, 2020 at 07:27 AM
What beautiful colours, I loved looking at the photos and seeing all the love you put into your work. I have to say that the photo that really caught my eye the most was the 'Colour your world'stash of blankets! So colourful and the colours are so calming. Your colour mix is wonderful. Nice to match the face to the work and blog.
Posted by: Amanda | October 06, 2020 at 06:33 AM
What a lovely post and the photos are wonderful! I love the display of deliciously colored yarns and wow - did you make all those beautiful blankets?
Posted by: Tierney Davis Hogan | October 06, 2020 at 04:28 AM
Uplifting, pretty photos 😃
Posted by: Kathleen Alice | October 06, 2020 at 03:36 AM
Oh so colourful and wonderful to see YOU This aussie met you 4 years ago at yarndale while we tripped around UK and Scotland ❤❤ Love your kitty too.
Posted by: Wendy | October 06, 2020 at 03:01 AM
You had a very busy month in September. At the end of September I thought that you had become a once-a-month blogger. So very glad that I was wrong. Love to see the pictures of your yarn adventures. Thanks for sharing.
Posted by: Charlotte | October 06, 2020 at 12:41 AM
Thanks for sharing those instagram bits here. Instagram came up on the morning show on TV. Hubby & I both said, "I don't do instagram." :-)
I too haven't been crocheting. I did pick a scarf that is half knitted and been working on that when life allows.
Posted by: Pat | October 05, 2020 at 11:23 PM
So nice to see the photo of you - you look lovely. Your writing is inspiring and your eye for colour is sensational! Thank you for all you do. I’ve just got the kit for the Aria blanket and my daughter and I are going to make it together as a winter project.
Love and Best Wishes. Pat x
Posted by: Patricia | October 05, 2020 at 10:54 PM