Attic24

Blogtober 2024 :: Day 6

Blogtober Day 6 :: Amsterdam

Here are a few of the things that have made me heart-skippy happy this weekend in Amsterdam....

♥ taking a boat trip along the canals and learning more about the history and architecture of the city

♥ a visit to the de Hortus botanical gardens, the huge glass house was amazing

♥ stunning butterflies in the botanical gardens.....

♥ ....and a tropical glass house full of butterflies, I LoVed it!

♥ a stroll along the Singel canal to see the floating flower market

♥ popping into a random shop called Papier which was a colour-lovers dream

♥ warm Dutch apple pie, eaten with a very good cappuccino at a little canal-side café this morning

♥ the abundance of flowers and greenery in Amsterdam, and the picturesque beauty of the canals

♥ having a few beers at J's favourite bar, warm enough to sit outside right beside the water there

♥ the weather, it was autumnal perfection. The above view was just before sunset last night, from our hotel room on the 14th floor overlooking the river

Such a beautiful few days, I've enjoyed every moment. Currently just setting sail to begin our crossing back over the north sea, so I'll post this before I get disconnected.....see you tomorrow, back in Atticland:)

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Blogtober 2024 :: Day 5

Blogtober Day 5 :: Saturday in Amsterdam

I've had the most wonderful day, a slow and happy pootle along the picturesque canals and atmospheric streets of Amsterdam. It's been leisurely and so enjoyable, and as you can see it was deliciously warm and sunny all day long.

I'm sharing just a handful of postcards with you today which I hope you enjoy - more next time!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

 

 

 

Blogtober 2024 :: Day 4

Blogtober Day 4 :: Friday

Ahhh, Fridaaaaay.....yaaayyyyyyy!!!!! I've got that bubbly end of the week feeling because I've got plans for this weekend which I'm really, really happy about.

It was a stunning start to the day, my goodness, the sky was insanely beautiful, all firey and over-the-top dramatic. We walked along the canal at at 7am and my heart was full of gratitude for it all.

A few hours later I was out again into a crisp sunny day, yarn bag in hand, excited to spend the morning with my hooky/knitty friends. It's such a highlight of my week, spending time chatting and creating with wonderful friends and sharing our projects over coffee.

I worked on the colour palette for the canal inspired blanket way back in June/July and already have a basket of samples and yarn doodles from that time. It means that I'm certainly not starting from a blank slate, and although it's early days I've got a very definite idea for the design and can see it very clearly in my Creative Mind. Now the hard work begins as I try and translate my imaginings into something workable and real, which is exciting and nerve wracking in equal measure! I shall of course keep you updated on progress over the next few weeks as Blogtober ticks along.

Other things that made me very happy today - a gift of some homegrown baby tomatoes from my friend Judi's allotment. She said they were for Little B who has been obsessed with tomatoes since he was a very small weeny boy, but honestly I kind of think that I want them to be mine, mine, mine. We can share I guess?

Also, an unexpected visit from a lovely blog reader this morning, all the way from Australia! Sandy, it was such a pleasure to chat to you, and thank you for calling in to see me at the café. I do have the loveliest worldwide hooky friends and it's always a true delight when I get to meet you in person.

I mentioned at the start of this blog that exciting weekend plans were in place.......and in about an hour I am setting off on a jaunt to Amsterdam. Eeeeeeeeepppp! Hugely happy about it, especially as this time around it is just J and me, a special little trip for the two of us. You might remember that we visited back in the Spring and had Little B with us then. We love the city very much, and the option of taking the ferry makes it an affordable and really wholesome kind of a short holiday. The ferry experience is quite old fashioned but I love it for that - we shall be tucked up in our little two berth cabin tonight, being lulled to sleep by the waves.....ahhh, I'm so looking forward to it.

We arrive back into Hull port on Monday morning, but I'm going to try and share a few Amsterdam postcards with you over the weekend if I can. If by chance you visit here in the next few days and nothing is showing, then you'll know where I am and can forgive the Blogtober gap!

Have a fabulous weekend, I hope you have something lovely to look forward to!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

 

Blogtober 2024 :: Day 3

Blogtober Day 3 :: Thursday

I was wide awake and up suuuper-early this morning (like 4 am kind of early) when it was still very dark outside, and actually it was quite a nice feeling. It's rare I am ever up before J, so I felt like I had stolen some secret alone time when everyone else was still sleeping. Time to sit in the quiet of the house for a little while with a hot cup of tea, fussing the kitty because she is always very needy for attention first thing in the morning. At 5 am we swapped over, J coming down to the kitchen to make his first coffee of the day, and me yawning and sneaking back up to a still-warm bed to grab an extra hour of zzzzzz. Going back to bed felt like an indulgence somehow, and yet when I woke up for the second time it was only 6am.

We are still heading out to walk at 7am each morning, although it doesn't always happen if we sleep in or if it's absolutely pouring with rain. This morning was especially beautiful, a clear, crisp sky with the mist still sitting over the damp fields and the sun just about to rise.

The above photo was taken at 7.45 as we were returning home along the canal, such a happy part of my day despite the ridiculous early start and double wake up. I love the energy I get from an early morning jaunt, and the beautiful connection to nature, the weather, the seasons...there is something wonderful about being out and about and breathing in the start of a new day while many people are still tucked up in bed.

Some other things that made me happy today included a cup of good, sun-drenched frothy coffee....

....and the colour of the sky as I walked home from doing the food shop. That shade of blue made my heart sing, so beautiful and infintely nicer than our usual dull shade of grey.

This afternoon was a bit of a muddle, I felt tired and really could have done with a nap but with one thing and another it just wasn't happening. Little Lady is poorly and was home from work today, and I've found that it doesn't seem to matter how old the offspring are, it's still a worry when they are unwell. I couldn't seem to settle to anything, although I did have a play with my blankets which is always an immediate source of feel-good.

Little Lady made herself a nest on the sofa as she sat eating a bowl of soup and watching a film, and I found myself folding and tidying up around her as my substantial collection of comfort blankets were in wild disarray. We are avalanching here, piles of colourful crochet stripes and squares cascading all over the furniture. I really should pack some of them away but it's impossible to choose which ones and it feels so cruel to relegate them to a dark cupboard!

I was going to buy myself some fresh flowers today, but as my colourful chrysanths are still looking good (after eleven days), I decided that they can stay a little longer. I had a bit of a tidy up around the dining table this afternoon, it's all a bit chaotic and messy in my makeshift work space. I came across the above basket stuffed with scappy yarn balls and honestly the colours made me so bloomin' happy. I think there are a few Sungold leftovers in there as well as the remnants of a new colour palette idea that I was playing with in the spring (the easter-egg influence).

These colours aren't lined up for anything at the moment, but I do feel there might be a very pretty blanket idea sitting right there on my table. However....I must not get distracted as I have my canal boat design to work on next and I am ridiculously excited about it.

Now then, do tell me what you do with your crochet blankets, do you fold them? Stack them? Drape them over the furniture? Store them away in a basket or cupboard until you might need them? Rotate them according to the season? I'd love to know your thoughts on blanket storage and appreciation, please do chat to me about it!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

 

 

Blogtober 2024 :: Day 2

Blogtober day 2 :: Wednesday

Before I begin with today's blurble, I just wanted to say a really big, squishy (((thank you))) for all your beautiful comments on yesterday's first Blogtober installment. What a joy it's been to read them all (they come through to me via email so I make sure never to miss any). I LOVE that we can have a little chat and it's so nice for me to find out where in the world you are and read about your days - that connection we have is precious and I value it very much.

I was admiring the October page on my calendar this morning, it's hanging on my wall right next to my yarn shelf. I have an enduring love of calendars, especially artist-designed ones with great seasonal images, and this one is a beauty. The colourful paintings are by Vanessa Bowman whos work often follows a seasonal theme and her annual calendars are really lovely.

I've had a day out of the house today as my lovely friend Christine drove over from Winwick to visit. After a spot of brunch and coffee at a very nice café in town, we decided to drive out and take a walk at Bolton Abbey. I think walking in the countryside is such a nice way to spend time with friends, it's the perfect mix of relaxation and energy expenditure. Christine and I generally get together once a month for a day of yarny chat and I really appreciate having somebody to talk to who has the same kind of focus as me in terms of designing, creating, writing and nurturing an online community.

Bolton Abbey is lovely and quiet during the week days and we had a slow, ambling circular stroll along the riverside, around the Abbey, over the bridge and back through the woodland. Beautiful views, abundant greenery and good company, it was a lovely way for us to spend time catching up with news and chatting through ideas.

 And at the end of the walk, the café was waiting for us and it was warm enough to sit outside which made me very happy. I don't often drink coffee in the afternoons, but we were sharing a really indulgent slab of chocolate brownie and somehow in my mind that just had to have a frothy coffee to hold its hand. It was the decaff version, so hopefully all will be well tonight when I need to sleep!

I got home around 4pm, just in time to chat to Little B who was home from school and getting ready to head out to work. Yes, you read that right, my fourteen year old has landed himself a job....and for some reason I am seriously struggling to process this fact. He set off today for his first shift working in the kitchen of a lovely local pub, and well, he is growing up so fast and going out to WORK and my Mummy self is feeling weirdly emotional about the whole affair. Sigh. I am proud of my Little Peeps though, all three of them have worked from the age of 14 and I do believe it's very good experience for them.

Unusually today, J was also out at work (he usually works from home, but had to go into the office today) so there was a short period of time (precisely 85 minutes) where I was suddenly and unexpectedly all alone in the house. Hubby at work, two offspring at work, and the eldest boy-child at the gym, wow, the house was DeAdLy quiet and it was all a bit odd. I sat for a while and luxuriated in the total peace and quiet, then Miss Tilly came to join me for a little while before I needed to get up and start cooking some dinner. It was a really lovely little quiet pause in my day.

Something that wasn't quite so lovely was the fact that I came downstairs this morning to discover that Miss Tilly had puked on my beloved Flowerpress blanket, oooooo, the outrage!! Harrumph!! Luckily, when I was still in the very early design stages with this blanket I did a series of wash/dry tests with my ReCreate samples (I always do this with any new yarns, just to be sure that future blankets will be durable and machine washable) and it passed with flying colours. In fact, I would go so far as to say that the blanket really improves after a little jaunt in the washing machine cycle, it's very pleasing indeed.

The ReCreate yarn contains 30% recycled wool, and when it's washed it blooms beautifully - you might be able to see from the photo above that the fibres of the yarn are now slightly fluffed up and very soft looking, making the blanket feel much more cosy and blankety. The softness is the main thing, this really isn't a scratchy, itchy woolly yarn at all, not at all, it feels more like a lovely soft cotton. Currently I've got it spread out on Little Lady's bedroom floor (she has the most available floor space) - I spread it out slightly damp straight from the wash and after 24 hours natural flat drying I know it will look and feel dreamy.

Anyhow, I thought it was worth mentioning, for those of you who are making the Flowerpress blanket or who might be considering using Stylecraft ReCreate yarn in the future, it really is a wonderful fibre and I would highly recommend you putting the finished blanket into the wash and flat drying/blocking if you have the floor space. 

A happy end to the day, and Miss Tilly has been forgiven. I hope you've had a lovely day too, and I'll be back to chat to you again tomorrow ..

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

 

Blogtober 2024 :: Day 1

Blogtober day 1 :: Tuesday

Hellooooo.....! Happy first day of a new month, and also the start of another year of Blogtober. I first took part in Blogtober in 2021, and this will be my third year of "daily blogs throughout October" (I skipped 2022 because I was away in France teaching a crochet retreat in October that year). I'm not sure how popular it still is to do this kind of thing, especially nowadays when slow, silent, non-filmy online content is becoming quite rare. I'm still a massive fan of slow, thoughtful, chatty words and images and I also love the challenge of creating posts for you every day which follow along with the organic and genuine twists and turns of daily life. It's quite a hard thing to commit to (especially as I'm going to be away from home at least twice this month) but I'm here for it and I'm thankful to those of you who always drop in to read and chat back to me in the comments section.

As usual there are no plans in place for this challenge, but I do want to share my recent Morrocco trip with you so some of the days in early October will be given over to that. Other than that, I shall be winging it and taking you along for the virtual ride, so here's hoping it's going to be a lovely kind of a month!

We seem to be well and truly into the Autumn season all of a sudden and we've had a cold couple of days with heavy grey skies and much rain. I can feel myself wanting to hibernate already, and find I'm putting off my daily walks when the rain is tipping down.

I did just about manage to dodge the showers today and enjoyed my slow walk along the canal - this wall of Boston Ivy puts on a spectacular show every Autumn and it's just starting to change from green to red. I love watching the gradual but inevitable creep of the seasons, it's one of the real pleasures of living in the UK, despite the rain.

We celebrated our wedding anniversary at the weekend, J and me. We met in September 1993 (31 years ago) and 8 years after that (23 years ago) we got married. We don't usually do anything much to mark this occasion but on Sunday we did take the three offspring out to the city and treated us all to a very lovely lunch followed by a few cocktails. It's quite rare for us to have all three kiddos together these days as my big boy-child is very independent and it's quite hard to pin him down for things that involve specific times and practical arrangements. I think the offer of food and drinks was enough to bring him on board and we really did have a lovely day all together. No photos to show you of any of that mind you, as for once I left my phone in my bag and didn't take a single picture.

This past week has been deliciously slow and steady and for that I am grateful. I think slow and steady days are highly underrated, they bring a gentle rythmn and peacefulness which keeps me grounded in the present.

Since I settled back into home life after my recent trip to Morocco, I've enjoyed some gentle social time this past week. I met up with a very good friend for morning coffee and a long overdue catch up....

....and a gorgeous morning with my yarn tribe which involved some slow crochet, lots of chatter and a very pretty bowl of breakfast. I know that some viola flowers are edible, and after much soul searching I did eat the one sitting in my yoghurt but felt dreadfully guilty afterwards. Flower guilt, who knew?

Canal boats are still taking up a lot of space in my Creative Mind, and I am just about to start work on a new blanket design inspired by the colours and decorative details of the boats I see on my walks. I've got a fabulous collection of inspiration photographs that I've collected over the past year and I'm looking forward to getting stuck into the crochet design work.

However, before I can properly let myself loose with new creativity, I'm desprately trying to get the tutorial for my recent Flowerpress blanket finished for you. During the past week I did get the square tutorial made and published, even though Typepad has been driving me absolutely round the twist with frustration. It's really misbehaving at the moment and not uploading photos properly, so I've had to dig deep for lots of pateience, and hoping that my attempt at daily blogging won't be sabbotaged by the technical blogging gremlins.

I've kept the written pattern in place and added the full photo tutorial right after it so that you can choose which one to use. Sometimes it's easy enough to follow a written pattern, but the extra photos can be very useful for guidance and clarification.

https://attic24.typepad.com/weblog/flowerpress-blanket.html

I'm now in the process of finishing up the square joining tutorial and the border instructions (insert praying hands and all other positive emojis here, pleeeease Typepad) as I'm keen to get everything done and online for you so that I'm free to move onto the next thing (the canal boats are calling).

It would be lovely to hear back from you if you've time to write a comment. I'd love to hear about your day-to-day comings and goings and the things that are keeping you grounded, and I'll chat to you again tomorrow...xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx