Attic24

Happily Novembering

After all the chilly grey tones in my most recent blog post, I felt like I should reassure you that mostly my November life is lived in glorious full colour. It's funny looking back at that post (((here)) if you missed it) because it really doesn't look like it belongs to me, if you know what I mean?! I think it's safe to say that shades of brown and grey are not really my aesthetic.

The above photo was taken on Friday, a beautiful morning but don't be fooled because it was an absolute icy nightmare. Somebody was coming slowly down the long hill from her house and just as she was walking extremely carefully down the slope towards the canal bridge, she performed the most dramatic comedy slip-up and came down with an ungainly thump onto the icy ground. Yes, ouch. Luckily I wasn't badly hurt (got a bit of padding in the nether regions), but ever since then I've been very stiff and achy. 

I know I write an awful lot about the weather, and I try not to be overly obsessive about it but it does play a major part in my life as a pedestrian who likes to walk a lot.

I'm happy to report that once the snow and ice had melted, we had a couple days at the end of last week which were really delicious, with the colour back in the sky and the sort of crisp, bright and uplifting light that I love love love.

My daily coffee has been really savoured in this cold weather, and I've enjoyed being cosied up in this little upstairs café room, defrosting my hands and warming myself from the inside out.

My orange roses slowly drooped and faded (they lasted really well), and I chose warm-hued chrysansths to replace them this week. I cut the stems short so I could pop them in this dinky little red spotted jug. I have a real soft spot for small jugs, jars and posies of flowers, they are so homely and simple but still bring such a lot of life and colour to the room.

On Thursday when I was out shopping, I found myself drawn into the magazine aisle without really knowing what my feet were doing, it's funny how that happens sometimes.  I hardly ever buy magazines these days, but as someone who struggles with the whole festive season in general (I'm not a massive fan of Christmas), I thought that maybe there could be some inspirational feel good in these pages which would rub off and pep me up a bit.

I was happy to find a lot of welcome colour and homespun creativity inside which is very heart warming, and I'm looking forward to having a proper good read rather than the quick flick through that I've managed so far. The magazine I picked up (in case you were wondering) is the Country Homes & Interiors December issue 304 which came with a free Christmas magazine.

In other news, look what I've got!!!! Yes, yes, tis HyAcinTH season once again and I am absolutely delighted as always by the joy of it. It was actually a lovely friend of mine who gifted me my first pot of the season, and as soon as I got them home I had them whipped out of their brown plastic pot and into a sweet new home. I am beyond thrilled every year when I get to go out to my little front garden with it's overgrown grass and sad looking shrubs, because beneath the old bench there is always moss growing. A home grown harvest of moss is possibly right up there towards the top of my Life Achievement list, it makes me exceptionally happy to have access to it, and to have the pleasure of bringing a little bit of it indoors to nestle around my bulbs.

The first flower is now in bloom and it's so delicate and dainty and pretty I just fall in love with it every single day, over and over. The cup it's in is an old Laura Ashley one that has a chip in the rim, and it makes such a sweet home for my festive bulbs. I wish I had more of them - I think I'll start doing regular rounds of the charity shops to see if I can find any more mismatched red and white mugs or bowls that I could use. I want them on every surface.

I've been spending my afternoons crocheting of late, and it's been making me so, so happy. As J is currently working in my favourite spot in the bay window Big Chair during the daytime, I've been taking myself upstairs and sitting on Little Lady's bed to crochet. It's at the front of the house with a large sash window (I'm effectively sitting directly above J) so the light is generally very good and I can look out to the distant hills beyond the rooftops.

I don't get into her bed, but I do make myself a blankety nest on top of it (sometimes with a hot water bottle if I feel the need for extra cosy, or if my joints are feeling stiff).

I often have the kitty for company, she just can't resist a warm human under an even warmer crochet blanket. You'll be pleased to hear my colour stripe order sampler for the Canalboat blanket has been progressing really well and the blanket itself is looking super. I'll be able to share the design with you towards the end of this week I think. EEEeeekkk!! Exciting times.

We had a visitation from Bert at the weekend, like much of the UK it seems. Bert was a bit grumpy and a weeny bit wild but for us in the north he didn't do too much damage, although my goodness he did bring an awful lot of rain with him. It was tipping it down for much of the weekend, and it wasn't very nice having to head out to do the food shop in it. Our veggie guy was holding up the market single handedly, he was literally the only market trader brave enough to set up stall and stand against the weather for his local customers (so grateful).

On Sunday we went out for coffee in the morning, joined by the two youngest kidlets who both regularly like to join us for shopping/walking/coffee dates at the weekend. I love their company and it makes me really happy to know that at ages 14 and 20, they are more than happy to still head out with Mum and Dad, I think we are very lucky indeed. We had a little mooch around the shops which we don't often do - a new pair of trousers for Little B (he desperately needed them, he's growing so, so fast), and some pleasure-browsing for Little Lady and me......

.....in this gorgeous shop (Emma's Apothecary). I am absolutely going back in there to do some Christmas shopping because they had a humungous array of gorgeously wantable and very pretty things.

Do you remember in October I showed you their Autumn window display (the blog post is ((here))?

Well take a look at the Christmas window......

.....ooooooo, isn't it an utter delight?????

Inside is just as full and eclectic and beautiful, and take it from me it smells heavenly (they make a large range of their own soaps and bath bombs which scent the whole shop). 

Shopping isn't my favourite pastime I have to admit  as I'm far too indecisive for it to be pleasurable, but I do have some special people that I buy gifts for at Christmas and I like to support local shops if I can.

Outside on the street it was all going on, a day of community spirit in full swing. In the morning the Santa Fun Run charity event, with the main high street bustling with food stalls and santa-suits and live music and even more santa suits and then in amongst the crowds (and santa suits) we came across a merry band of morris dancers doing their thing.

I am really fascinated by morris dancing (more background info ((here)), it's such a colourful and quirky form of entertainment with a long and ancient history interwoven with folklore and tradition. These ones had black and red faces and were very colourful with their decorated hats and ribboned clothes (one lady even had a hat decorated with big crocheted flowers which of course I loved).

I've just performed a little bit of internet research and can now tell you that these lively dancing folks are the Flagcrackers of Craven, and they seem like a lovely happy bunch, it was a pleasure to watch them perform.

The daylight was fading but the town was still buzzing with people and music and the smell of food cooking. The big Christmas Light Switch-on was all set for 5pm, but we weren't able to wait around that long. Instead I treated the big Little People to some freshly cooked churros to eat as we wandered homewards in the twilight.

Lighting the fire is one of my all time favourite seasonal pleasures and I usually get it going around 3pm. Little B comes home from school at 3:40 and  we usually spend some time sitting by the hearth catching up and chatting about his day. At the weekends I light up a little earlier if we are home in the afternoon, especially as we are often all in this one room watching films, eating, working, chatting. We only have two rooms on our ground floor - the tiny kitchen at the back which has no heating at all, and our main living/dining room which runs the whole length of the house from front to back. As you can imagine it's a very well used room day and night and I enjoy keeping it warm and cosy in these cold months of short daylight hours.

Living my days in full colour no matter what the weather, life should not be grey.

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A Wintry Week

During this past week we've been flung into a very cold, wintry spell and although it's been a bit of a shock to the system, it's been really very beautiful out there in my immediate vicinity.

On Monday we woke to freezing fog and sub zero temperatures, the sort of weather which adds teeny droplets of ice to foliage and spiders webs and makes it look like they've been decorated with minute glass crystals.

We decided to drive out for a short local walk, stopping to take some things to the recycling centre which is one the way. In the above photo you can see how unusual the weather was on Monday - the recycling centre is on a fairly high road heading out of town, and down below we could see a very low band of cloud running the whole length of the valley. It has certainly been the the month for low cloud, and this particular phenomenon is called a "cloud inversion".

We didn't go far, just to the reservoir which is only a few miles away from home.

We used to come here a lot when the Little People were small because it's not far to drive, and also it only takes around 40 minutes or so to walk the trail around the edge of the water. It used to be just enough when little legs were very little.

It was a cold and still day....

....and I thought the landscape looked like a picture of autumn with a winter filter layered over the top.

The light was beautiful with so many subtle shades of grey....

....and the cloud inversion made the landscape look incredibly atmospheric.

It was a very tranquil, slow stroll around the water's edge, just J and I enjoying being out together, reminiscing about the many, many times we've been here over the years with the kidlets.

Afterwards we drove a slightly different route home, and suddenly we were back into the very frosty chill.

I asked J to make a quick stop so I could take some photos....the plants all along the roadside were breathtakingly beautiful wearing their ice crystals and I couldn't bear to just drive on by.

I mean...look....^^^....so, so pretty. A real taste of winter (even though I feel we are still in autumn).

The following day (Tuesday) we woke to the same cold temperatures and the first small snowfall of the season.

We ventured out for our morning walk (just after 7am in the above photo)...

....with the moon still shining brightly in a clear sky. It was bitingly cold, a winter snap which seemed to suddenly make the softness of autumn seem like a distant memory.

All week we've been in this freezing winter grip, and it's been a challenge if I'm honest. We've had almost daily snow showers, never enough to really be the playful, fun kind of snow, but just enough to cover our world in a treacherous icy layer. Walking has been difficult (some days literally impossible, with the pavements covered in black ice) and so I've felt a little bit off kilter without being able to walk my usual therapeutic miles. But spending a lot of time indoors has also really made me appreciate the cosy comforts of home....

....and the fireside never looked so good.

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November Thoughts

My early morning walks continue, although since these photos were taken about a week ago, it's now pretty dark at 7am. I guess we are rapidly coming towards the end of the autumn season now, as the Winter Solstice (the shortest day) is just over four weeks away.

Autumn has been especially charming this year, well, maybe I should say that it's me that's felt charmed more than usual by the season. I don't think November is any different this year to last, but possibly I've got an extra layer of gratitude for it all?

I don't know what exactly it is, but I do know that I'm enjoying it very much.

Not every day is as beautiful as this (I realise that the light makes a big difference to how I experience each day) but there have been some truly breath taking mornings during this past week.

As the leaves continue to fall, the woodland is lightening up again as there is far more visible sky through the treetops. So while it's not too muddy and there is just about enough light, J and I are enjoying a few early walks through the trees again. 

Just lately I've been thinking a lot about the place where I live and call home, and honestly feeling incredibly grateful that I've landed in this lovely little patch of North Yorkshire. This is J's home ground where he spent a portion of his childhood years (he went to school for a while at the same school where our Big Boy went and Little B now goes), but I settled here quickly because I think it's a very similar kind of town to where I grew up in Dorset. Historic rural market towns all have quite a lot in common, and there was never a time where I felt like I didn't belong. 

We moved house to come and live here at the very end of November seventeen years ago, so every year when November rolls around I find myself thinking back to that time. My life was obviously pre-blog back then so I can't go and chase down any written archives from November 2007, but there is a lot about making that move that I remember clearly. The Little People were aged 5 and 3, so top of my priority list was getting them settled into school and nursery. It was a fairly smooth transition for them I think (and J was continuing to work at the same place so his life didn't change too much), but it was definitely the beginning of a brand new life for me. Maybe I had the hardest transition of all, it's quite tricky to start again from scratch as an adult, finding new routines and new friends at the grand old age of thirty nine.

Three and a half months after we moved here to number 24, I started my Attic24 blog in March 2008. It was a way to keep myself busy during the mornings when I was all alone in the house and at a bit of a loss, and was/is a wonderful creative outlet for me to express myself through writing and photography. But more importantly it gifted me an online community of like minded creative souls who immediately felt like good friends. And now here we are...I'm still writing and taking photographs and I'm beyond grateful for your company in my cosy little Attic home on the interwebs.

Before we moved here to Atticland we still lived in North Yorkshire, but over the hills in the city of York. I really like the city and have great memories from the nine years we lived there, and as it's only 43 miles away it's pretty easy to plan return visits.....

....in fact I was there last week! I have a wonderful group of friends still in York, my original Mum-crew who I met twenty two years ago at a post natal group when we were all first time Mums with new babes. We keep in regular contact via a WhatsApp group (I LoVe that app for chatting and keeping in touch), and a meet-up dinner date was arranged which I'd been really looking forward to.

I went over on the train in the afternoon so that I could have some time playing tourist in a city that I know very well. 

It's been many years since I was right in the heart of the city (my friends all live out of the centre) and it was absolutely amazing to see it all again with fresh eyes. York Minster is always a magnificent sight and I walked all the way around it feeling in awe of its sheer size and grandeur. It's reeeeeeally, reeeeeeeallly massive.

I had forgotten just how ancient and quirky York is around the Minster Quarter, where many of the streets and buildings are centuries old.

You can see why it's such a draw for tourists from all over the world, the layers of history run very deep.

I walked down to the market square which hasn't changed at all over the years...

....and stopped to admire the flowers which have always been sold in this spot for as long as I've known.

I found my way through the maze of back streets into the Old Quarter....

....then cut through Coffee Yard snicket.....

....to come out onto Stonegate. This is probably one of the most popular shopping streets in York, with a beautiful and eclectic mix of shops, cafés and pubs. The old building on the right in the photo above is the Punch Bowl pub and has a super long history spanning almost 350 years. Yes, that's an awful lot of years.

On the left in the above photo is another very well know shop on the same street - this is Kaethe Wohlfhrt, a shop dedicated to celebrating  Christmas all year round. You can see in the above photo that the daylight was fading (4pm) and it was time for me to make tracks and go and meet with my lovely friends. We were due to have a meal in a pub that we've regularly visited with our families over the years, a real nostalgia trip.

Before I hopped on the bus I took a quick walk along part of the old city walls, it's a lovely thing to do if you are ever visiting York, and you get to see the city from a different perspective.

A brief 24 hour visit which was great because I was able to stay overnight  - many of my friends have spare bedrooms now that their children are away at University - so it was a lovely time of reminiscing and walking down memory lane with a group of friends who I know very well. 

Life at home has been slow and quiet this past week. When I came home from York I had a few days where I didn't feel all that well, so I slowed myself down and rested during the day when I needed it, and whatever was pulling me down seemed to pass.

We walked at Bolton Abbey on Sunday morning....

....just J, me and Little Lady (Little B has taken on a extra shift at the pub on a Saturday night and said he wanted to stay in bed Sunday morning). It was beautifully quiet when we were there at ten o'clock, and with the river seeming fairly tranquil for a change, J and LL decided to "Do The Stones". Well I can tell you that I absolutely did not do the stones, it didn't even cross my mind for a nanosecond. Nope. No, no, no-no-nooooo. There is a perfectly high, dry, sturdy bridge for crossing over this wide river, and you can bet that my feet were safely on it. They said it was quite scary in the middle bit where the water runs deep because as you can see, the stones are quite small and very close to the surface of the water, and psychologically I think it can mess with your mind a bit. My goodness, no. But also, well done them, relief all round!

Walking back towards the café we were gifted with a very brief but beautiful golden hour of sunshine, oh the woodland was looking exceedingly pretty I have to say. We enjoyed a very lovely frothy coffee and a toasted teacake at the end of our walk, a Sunday morning well spent.

Two hours later I was walking to the supermarket to pick up some food for dinner and the weather had flipped as you can see. No more golden shafts of sunlight, just the steady pitter patter of rain falling on the water. I didn't mind too much, because I had a date to prepare for........

.....a date with my beloved Fireplace. As soon as I walked back in the door all damp and cold and weary, I stripped off my outer layers, got changed into my comfies, powered up the fairy lights, lit the candles and built the fire.

Ahhh, pure bliss, right there. An afternoon of tea drinking and fireside hooky, warm and cosy as the rain continued to fall. It's what November Sundays are made for.

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Blogtober Review :: 2024

It's a little under three weeks since the end of Blogtober twenty twenty four, and I've been wanting to put this review post together ever since. I like the feeling of putting October to bed, of drawing a gentle line under what is always quite an intense month of creating content for thirty one days straight. The week before last I spent a whole afternoon creating some nine-square collages in my usual style, and also performing my Blogtober Big Count. I know it's a little bit crazy because it takes me aaaaaages to do the counting (there is no easy or quick way, it's a manual job of adding up numbers), but I'll share the results of all that brain power at the end of this post.

I tell you what though, it's been really nice looking back through all my photos and remembering what I did with October, it was a lovely month and my photos tell a colourful and happy story of time well spent.

There was certainly a lot of sky appreciation last month....

...and there were many, many days where the clouds and colours up there above the Earth made me literally stop in my tracks and stare in wonder.

Undoubtedly the most memorable day for the skies was on Day 11 when I shared the incredible experience of seeing the Aurora Borealis dancing above our rooftop the night before. Wow, what a treat that was, I don't think I'll ever forget it.

As you know, I walk a lot in my day-to-day life and much of my camera roll is filled with scenery, views and seasonal observations. October was a month that felt like there was still a welcome hint of lingering summertime at the start....

....but towards the end we had experienced our first frosts and the rapid onset of autumn. 

I absolutely LOVE to spend time walking and observing the seasonal rhythms that play out in the rural market town where I live. Being connected to the natural world is endlessly inspiring and it makes me really happy to capture the colours with my camera. It's something I do instinctively, and sharing it here on my blog adds an extra level of appreciation for the visuals of my outdoor life.

As well as my daily walks through the woodland, along the canal and round the town, it's always a pleasure to jump in the car (or hop on the train) and venture a little further afield. 

In October this year we walked twice at Bolton Abbey (Day 2 and Day 12).

On a sunny Saturday (Day 19) we walked over the fields to a nearby village with the Little People, a leisurely outing to enjoy a drink at the scenic holiday park that we often visit.

A bit further afield, on (Day 18) Little Lady and I enjoyed a spontaneous jaunt on the train to Saltaire. We visited Salts Mill and had a lovely afternoon browsing and soaking in the unique atmosphere of this historic place.

One of my favourite outings was to the west coast at Arnside (Day 13). We packed a picnic and planned a circular walk and it was such an enjoyable way to spend the day. Re-reading the blog post I wrote, I'm instantly transported back to that day and it's one of the many, many reasons I continue to love blogging - these posts are such wonderful memory preservers.

Without a doubt, my bestest and most favouritist trip of October was our few days spent in Amsterdam. Everything about it was a joy - the nostalgic ferry journey, the gorgeously warm sunny weather, the relaxed atmosphere and beautiful visuals of the city, the enjoyment of spending time with J - all of it was a pleasure.

I really LoVed looking back through all my photos from this trip and picking out nine to make the above collage (mmmmmm, that apple cake!), what a wonderful trip filled with happy memories. You can see more photos here : (Day 5) & (Day 6)

October also saw me travel to Dorset towards the end of the month, a trip that I make every three months or so. I was lucky to enjoy the most beautiful weather, it was unexpectedly warm and sunny and spending time by the coast was a real pleasure-fest. After three nights in Bridport (Day 26) : (Day 27)  & Day 28), I travelled on to Weymouth.....

....and treated myself to a couple of nights in the towery turret of The Royal hotel. My, my, what a heap of happy memories I made for myself living out my Princess Era, it was a very restorative few days of tranquillity and coastal feel-good. You can re-visit my Weymouth stay here : (Day 29) & (Day 30).

As you know, my visits to Dorset aren't always the easiest trips for me to take and behind the very scenic photos there is a little bit of emotional melancholy. But you know me, I am very adept at looking for the bright side of each day and finding the joyful glimmers that always seem to shine if you are practiced at looking for them.

Crochet in October was all about catching up with myself and getting things done. I worked hard to finish off the Flowerpress tutorial (Day 21) which ended up being a huuuuuuge beast of a thing and I'm really proud of it. My own Flowerpress blanket has found its forever home on Little Lady's bed and the Kitty is very contented with the whole set up as she spends a lot of time day-napping on it.

There was a lot of design work going on behind the scenes in October which is kind of frustrating because I couldn't share it with you at the time. I was busy working on the Canalboat CAL design, getting the stitch pattern finalised and working on the colour order for the stripes which is proving to be quite challenging. I'll be able to share my progress with you very soon, and of course I'm the usual mix of high excitement and nervousness.

I did manage a small, quiet little Ta-dah moment when my latest socks came off my needles and went onto my feet. I wore them straight away and was down in Dorset at the time, so it was fun to share them with you.

Other yarny excitements in October were in the form of these twenty glorious shades of Special DK. Stylecraft announced their brand new Made in Yorkshire yarn, and the very exciting news that went along with it. I wrote two blog posts and had loads of fun creating the content and sharing it all with you - I hope you didn't mind too much that these posts had to be included within the Blogtober schedule. You can find them here : (Day 17) & (Day 23).

Daily blogging seems to naturally divide itself into three themes, well I'm not sure how it is for other bloggers, but it's certainly the case for me. The way I see it, I have days where I'm out and about and documenting my longer walks, outings and short holidays. And then there are days where crochet or colourful creativity is the thing that I'm sharing. And last of all, there is the every day sort of mixed-bag blogging which makes up the majority of Blogtober, and these are by far my favourite sort of posts to create. They are a recount of my simple days spent doing ordinary things, with an emphasis on finding the beauty in each day. There is often quite a seasonal theme to these posts because I walk every day and really enjoy capturing the slow changes in nature as the seasons shift. And in amongst all the seasonal things, there is the gentle hum of domestic routine underpinned by colour and creativity.

My daily life is very rarely without yarn, and you can be sure that even when you don't see it, it's there! I crochet (and knit) pretty much every day, and you will often see the evidence in my photos. There are usually flowers too, well, the two seem to go hand in hand somehow, probably because I spend a LOT of time at this old wooden table. It doubles up as my crochet studio, office desk and dining table - actually that's a triple whammy, isn't it, so a very well used space in my house which you often see in my blogging. 

I enjoy chatting to you about food....

....and taking you with me to run errands and visit the market and the historic town where I live. Daily blogging has a repetitive rhythm to it which follows along with family life and it's not always exciting or particularly interesting....and yet....I absolutely love to tell the tale of these ordinary days because really that's what life is all about.

You get to share my daily frothy coffee....

....walk along the canal with me....

....and have an insight into my many little visual obsessions.

I am well aware that I live life in quite a quirky way, and my Creative Mind can become very obsessed with capturing the visual narrative of my days. I think I am like this all the time, but Blogtober does seem to ramp it up into overdrive! It's a lot of fun though, and I really can't imagine living life in any other way.

So, my homely October was a month of autumn colour, cosy afternoons, seasonal flowers, comfort food, gentle routine, candlelight and yarny creativity. Add in country walks, coastal trips and a fantastic European city break and I think we can safely say it was a wonderfully fulfilling, creatively inspiring thirty two days.

I think it's time for some numbers now....

Number of daily blogs completed : 32  (I went above and beyond)

Total number of photographs shared : 346 (that's a lot of visuals)

Total number of words written by me : 28,538 (yes, that's an awful lot of chat)

Total number of beautiful comments : 927 (thank you so much for chatting back to me)

What a beautiful month of colour, creativity, chatteryness and community spirit, thank you as always for your most excellent company, it's been wonderful on all fronts.

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♥ Blogtober 2023 review

♥ Blogtober 2021 review

♥ Blogtober 2020 review

 

 

RHS Harlow Carr :: Autumn 2024

On Mondays I'm lucky enough to have J free from work responsibilities (he works a four day week) and it's something that we really appreciate and don't take for granted. Usually we chat together on Sunday evening and decide what we'd like to do with our precious child-free, work-free day. 

This week, with the weather looking very promising indeed (had to dig out the sunglasses!), I suggested a visit to the RHS  gardens at Harlow Carr to catch the last of the autumn colour before the cold weather really kicks in. J isn't quite so keen on flower gardens as I am, but he is a sweetheart and can generally be persuaded to indulge his needy wife when she declares she needs a nature colour-fix. 

I think we're ever so lucky to have these gardens within an easy drive (just 22 miles away) and they provide a lovely place to walk, picnic, drink coffee and flower-gaze pretty much all year round. Obviously in wintertime the floral offering is limited, but the gardens are a mixture of mature, structured planting alongside more naturalised woodland, riverside, ponds and green open space so it's always a pleasure to spend time there.

My favourite season in the garden is summer (I know, I'm totally predictable with this), and I absolutely love July-September at HC with its abundant flowers and the beautiful kitchen garden at it's exuberant best. It's a riot of colour (remember the Sungold inspiration?) which is obviously high on my personal list of priorities, but really, I'm very happy in this kind of place at any time of the year.

I've enjoyed a few Autumn visits over the years (see Blogtober 2021) so I knew that even as late as November there would probably be some delicious seasonal colour still in the foliage and trees. Add in a much longed for bright and sunny day with blue skies and well, it was visually stunning in the gardens on Monday.

As we don't have a garden here at number 24 (well not one that has borders, trees or shrubbery), I don't visit places like Harlow Carr for gardening inspiration. For me it's purely a creative/visual experience and I love to take photographs to capture the colours and seasonal vistas.

It was even more lovely than I had hoped, with some truly stunning leaf and foliage displays. There is a sizeable collection of Japanese Maples, all different leaf shapes and colours, and all of them looked glorious.

This one in particular was an absolute beauty, it had small, wispy, feathery type leaves in a whole range of colours from green, through yellow, orange and red.

The low afternoon sun absolutely lit up the leaves so it looked like it was glowing against the blue sky, it really was a wow moment.

I find that once my brain slots into colour-seeking mode, I become a little bit obsessed. J is very understanding (well I've always been this way, so he's had more than thirty years to get used to my brand of cray-cray), and patiently waits while I frame and take oodles of photographs.

As well as the colourful leafage, there were the most beautiful berries too...

....and with such intense colours set against the blue sky it was a colour-lovers dream.

There weren't a huge number of flowers to be found and many of the large herbaceous borders were in definite sleep-mode for the off season. There were a few hardy performers though - dahlias of course (a little stunner pictured above)...

...and surprisingly quite a few roses still blooming too. 

When I took photographs for my Sungold blanket last year, it was very early September and there was still a lot of floral colour in the garden then. HC has a large collection of salvias, and quite a few of them are still flowering now, although not in the great swathes that add so much colour to the summer borders. The above one really caught my eye, that deep violet-blue was really striking amongst all the greenery in the tropical garden.

The kitchen garden is always one of my favourite parts of any gardens that I visit, and I especially love the one at HC. It's large and laid out in a series of raised beds (made from recycled plastic bottles), with upright structure provided by lots of different tee-pees, arches, living willow fences and espaliered fruit trees. I generally think that veggie gardens won't be up to much in November, but there was still a surprising amount growing in this one (and looking soooooo bloomin' healthy and lush), and I spent a happy time pottering around admiring it all while J waited for me on a sunny bench.

We saw quite a few robins in the gardens, they are really friendly birds and not at all shy of the human visitors. This little one perched so beautifully for his portrait, enjoying a sunny afternoon hanging out by the Swiss Chard.

I mentioned earlier that HC has come lovely uncultivated and natural areas which is mostly woodland. I say uncultivated, but obviously these trees are beautiful specimens that are well looked after and many of them are labelled with their names. I enjoy walking the quiet, sun dappled woodland pathways, and at this time of year there is the added bonus of spotting these......

....oooooo, aren't they spectacular things? Fly Agaric of course, the famous, fairytale toadstools.

There were around six of them dotted about amidst the trees, some of them had seen better days but honestly they are so striking even when they're not at their best. There was a sign explaining what they were (although I think most people know, they are the famous rock stars of the toadstool family) and it was just lovely to see them doing their autumnal thing.

We had a picnic lunch which I'd made to take with us, sat on a sheltered bench with a lovely view (I think every single bench at HC has a lovely view), then treated ourselves to a very delicious coffee afterwards from the newly opened RHS café. 

It was a wonderful visit, rounded off with a beautifully inspiring, Christmassy browse in the RHS garden centre and shop on our way through to the exit. Ohhh, so, so, so many gorgeously wantable, decorative things! Whoever buys the merchandise for the RHS shops has extremely good taste, and the displays are always a delight. Next time I go (and I think that won't be too far in the future because hellloooooooo, shiny new Season Ticket), I'll take some photos of the displays to show you. 

I bought a bar of scrumptious chocolate by my fave local company Choc Affair (dark chocolate with clementine and cranberry, ohmygosh, it's divine), and two sweet little christmas decorations which I'll try and remember to show you.

We also bought three of these home in a paper bag.......

......famous Fat Rascals from Betty's bakery. Well at least they are famous up here in Betty-land. They're like a cross between a mildly spiced rock bun and a fruit scone (eat them warm with butter and jam), and the Little People were delighted. We definitely scored parenting points when we brought those home.

Such a bright and happy day, full of sunshine and the visual joys of the autumn season. I hope you've enjoyed sharing it with me, the colours really cheer the soul, don't they?

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November Weekending

I found out a few days ago that this endlessly grey weather has an official weathery name - welcome to the "Anticyclonic Gloom". Apparently it's been widespread throughout the country for most of November, and so far this month we've received less than one tenth of the sunshine we would normally get at this time of year. Huh, it's no wonder we've all been feeling the dampening effects of these low light days.

We walked in the woods at the weekend, and as you can see....

....so many of the leaves are now now off the trees and down on the ground. I tell you what though, even though everything looked and felt very dull, there was a lovely smell of damp, leafy earthiness which felt perfectly Novemberish. I expect that during this next week we'll be seeing mostly bare trees - it always seems to be that the leaves tumble down all at once and suddenly bare twigs everywhere. I try to be prepared, but every year it catches me by surprise.

With this week of high pressure and low cloud, everything has also been very dry and still, no rain, no wind. Massive advantage for me, the Eternal Reflection Lover, and I've really enjoyed walking along the canal and viewing the world upsidedown in  the water. Grey and dull, yes, but also weirdly calming and tranquil.

This weekend when I was out and about, I made a conscious effort to seek out the bright spots of colour. They are certainly there if you look, and I've been delighted by the sight of the reds, pinks and greens keeping the grey at bay.

Red Virginia Creeper....

...dusky pink hydrangea flowers....

...and yellowy-green ivy flowers.

Beautiful nature never fails to lift my spirits and keep me endlessly inspired.

Home life in November is one great big cosy affair and I'm doing my best to enjoy it and embrace the indoorsiness. I made soup on Saturday, a flung-together recipe which involved leeks, some wild garlic leaves from the freezer, a random tin of butter beans and some frozen edamame beans. It wasn't fantastically tasty if I'm honest, very mild mannered and in need of a little pizazz I thought. So I stirred in some fresh green pesto and drizzled extra on the top and oh my, that really did make it something special. So leek, bean and pesto soup, yes I'd make it again.

November weekending most definitely involves plenty of Hearth Worship, and as always I was right there soaking in the light and warmth and love love loving it. I'm really enjoying my new socks by the way, the colours are soooo pretty and please me greatly, plus they are really warm and cosy. Sock perfection. 

I spotted (and purchased) the first little crate of leafy clementines from the supermarket this weekend, oh, happy days! They taste so good, the perfect balance of citrussy tartness and juicy sweetness. I should also tell you that now the leafy clems are in, I am keeping daily watch for the pots of hyacinths because it's almost time for my annual Hyacinth Appreciation ritual.

In fact, the more I think about it, the more I realise that November does bring a lot of seasonal joy into my life.

After a ridiculous amount of dithering and indecision, my fresh flowers this week are orange roses. Now, supermarket roses are usually one of my last-resort choices (along with carnations and alstroemeria), but there was something charming about this orange bunch which drew me in. I decided to cut them short so they would fit in this lovely pale yellow handmade jug, and I added in a few rogue stems of Alchemilla which I found still flowering in the front garden.

I remembered that the colour of roses has all sorts of symbolism attached, so I looked up the meaning of giving/receiving orange roses - apparently they symbolise "fascination, enthusiasm, desire, and energy". Well, that sounds like a bit of alright and I'm very happy I gifted all those positive emotions to myself.

Talking of orange energy and enthusiasm, my latest blanket is officially off the starting blocks and the very first stripe is orange. This is the Canalboat blanket which I'm making for my new year Crochet-Along, and sadly my yarn packs have been delayed somewhere between Turkey and the UK. Isn't it funny to think of the yarn out there somewhere, making its journey to Yorkshire, maybe floating on the sea right now.....ahhh, I hope it makes it safely to our shores. I think it's going to be early December before the yarn kits will be in my shop at Wool Warehouse which isn't ideal, but I'm beyond happy to be on this new blanket journey and I think I'm going to share more if it with you during this next week.

This morning, Monday, we finally saw an end to the anticyclonic gloomdom and wow, wow, wow, what a fiery show it was too. The sky.......oh, just LOOK!!!! Seven twenty this morning and everything was glowing like it was on fire.

The day continued to brighten and we ended up with the brightest of blue skies full of sunshine, such a welcome feeling and something of a relief too. Finally, the sun is back, and what a joy it was. J and I drove across the hills to visit the gardens at Harlow Carr and it was stunning with so much colour still. I took a raft of colour-drenched photos, and I'm looking forward to sharing those with you.

I hope your weekending was good and filled with cosy little rituals and joyful moments. I hope there was colour and warmth and things you felt grateful for. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

 

Shades of Autumn

After my lazy indoorsy weekend, I woke up on Monday morning feeling pretty desperate for some fresh air, exercise and outdoorsiness. It was a very grey and misty day with low light levels and I was craving some woodland colour, so J and I drove to Bolton Abbey to stroll and breathe it all in.

It's always beautifully quiet and peaceful along these pathways on a Monday, a real contrast to the crowds that come over the weekend. There was evidence of the recent Pumpkin trail (a giant wooden spider, massive bat wings, a huge witches broom) but everything was slowly being dismantled and there was an air of calm which I greatly appreciated.

We walked the high pathway through Strid wood, a circular trail of about 3 miles or so with some good hilly bits to get you puffing and feeling it in your legs. I adore the above photo, you can see we were high up above the river where it cuts deeply through the rocks (this is the Strid) - can you spot the man wearing a red coat down below?

The colours were really striking, the beech trees in particular were putting on a good autumnal show with so many beautiful shades of copper, gold and lime green.

We are on the return route now, coming back along the lower path which follows the river....

....a very leafy affair which added an extra layer of autumn feels.

It was such a pleasurable way to spend a few hours on a Monday morning, and as ever I felt full of gratitude for having this extra day which feels like an extension of the weekend.

Yesterday the grey damp gloom was still there and I said to J that I felt like the weather was broken and stuck on the wrong setting. 

I had the pleasure of Christine visiting from Winwick yesterday which is always a lovely thing, and after enjoying a late breakfast with a solid amount of chatter attached to it, we decided to get out and stretch our legs. I took her along the very familiar pathways beside the canal....

....and into the woodland, which was a lovely way for us to carry on chatting while enjoying some pretty seasonal nature.

We spent the rest of the afternoon cosied up in a hotel bar of all places - it sounds odd, but we've found the bar at Herriots hotel is very quiet during the week and they are happy for us to spend a few hours crocheting/knitting over a drink or two. 

By the time we had said our goodbyes and I was walking home it was 4.30pm and the light was already starting to fade. I'm still getting used to our shortening days, it isn't an easy adjustment to make.

Today - more grey weather (I'm telling you, it's broken), but the autumn shades in the leaves and trees really helped lift the gloomy feeling.

I took the above photo this afternoon as I was walking home from the supermarket. I was crossing the swing bridge just after a boat had passed through and I thought it looked so picturesque, almost like a watercolour painting. I feel very grateful to live in a town that has canals and streams and a woodland, and is surrounded by hills, moorland and open countryside. It means I am constantly connected to nature and very aware of the seasonal shifts throughout the year which makes me very happy.

As I walked slowly up the steep hill towards home, I used my phone camera to capture some snippets of colour that caught my eye in the various front gardens I passed. When we think of autumn colours it's generally all about the leafy shades - yellows and golds, oranges, russets and coppers, with some lime green thrown into the mix. But there are still quite a lot of flowers about in early November, and the bright pinks were positively glowing.

↑↑ I love these leaves and am always fascinated by the way they change colour in this crazy patterned way. It's the leaf of a "smoke bush" which is a shrub that I would love to have in my own front garden. The leaves are a deep purple shade in the summer, and then in autumn you get this stunning effect, it's such a showy performer in the garden.

My neighbour directly opposite me has a huge and thriving hydrangea in his front garden and I've been watching the flowers slowly change colour as the temperature has dopped and the season has shifted. It instantly makes me think of my striped blanket inspired by autumn hydrangeas, and the huge amount of fun I had creating the colour palette....

....ahhh, such happy memories of seasonal faffery and creative sparks flying!

My Woodland blanket was another design inspired by my walks in the autumn woods, and I still adore this colour palette.

I find nature to be endlessly inspirational and love the blankets I've made which reflect my seasonal observations.

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Cosy Autumn

I've had such a lovely few days here at home, fully embracing the cosy autumn season and feeling very content with it all. My weekend was luxuriously slow paced with no major plans in place, just a general idea to take it gently. We took our usual jaunt into town on Saturday morning for the market and food shop followed by breakfast at the café, and the afternoon was mostly spent doing jobs around the house and then some delicious crochet time (more on that at the end of this post).

We had talked about going for a walk on Sunday morning but somehow I ended up lounging around in bed drinking coffee and reading blogs for far longer than I usually do, and all of a sudden it was almost eleven o'clock. Wow...I can't remember the last time I loafed around in bed for that long, it was wonderful!

The kitty is very happy when her humans are in lounging mode - the above photo is her sprawled out full length on Little Lady's lap on Sunday morning. 

After lunch yesterday I walked along the canal to the supermarket, it was chilly and grey but it was nice to get some fresh air and gently stretch my legs after the morning of laziness. 

Coming back home, I had a little chat to my violas on the door step, they are still looking pretty and make me smile every single day.

Something else that made me happy yesterday was this box of tissues, sometimes it's the littlest pleasures that really stand out in a day. I bought them from Tesco because I liked the box (pretty Cath Kidston design), and at the time I had no idea that the actual tissues were printed with the cutest little hearts and flowers...I mean, could tissues be any cuter?? Such an unexpected joy that keeps on giving. 

Today has been cold and very, very gloomy and it felt like exactly the right day to light the first fire of the season. I cleaned and polished up the mantel then spent a happy time decorating it with my collection of autumn guff. The fire made the whole room come to life, not just the warmth (which was needed today) but the cosy glow too. Oh, how I love love love having an open fire, and now the season of Hearth Worship has officially begun.

I felt a surge of joy when I unpacked my little handmade autumn treasures, I love them very much and have many fond memories from making them over the years.

The embroidered toadstool hoop from Craftpod ((here))

The cutest crochet pumpkins ((here))

The Autumn cross stitch canvas from Cotton & Twine ((here))

And of course my beloved autumn garland ((here))

With all the fireside excitement I felt a bit peckish so I made myself a little mid afternoon snack. I'm very happy that persimmons are in season again, and the clementines are also very good at this time of year.

For a few hours this afternoon I sat beside the fire and applied myself to my canalboat blanket sampling, picking up where I had left off yesterday with a serious amount of frogging. Making these stripe samplers is very much two steps forward-one step back kind of progress, and I'm OK with the back and forth of it. The more times I re-do, the better I get to understand how the colours like to play with each other, because this is a bright colour palette with bold contrasts and it's taking some careful handling. I can't wait to share more with you, I hope you're going to love it. 

3pm and it's time for a brew, as they say here in Yorkshire, and how lovely to be sat right next to the fire to enjoy it.

So, about this square.........I swear I was NOT going to touch it until I'd made more progress with the canalboat sampling, but weeeeelllllll.....it was being VERY shouty indeed and I just had to give it some attention to quieten it down.

As you can see by the above evidence, I not only cracked the maths but I fell completely in love with the idea of this eventually becoming a blanket design. It was such a pleasure to make and positively flew off my hook - pure hooky joy.

I think I explained on Friday that currently this is just a pattern experiment, and these colours are random choices taken from a basket of little scrap balls. I was thinking that the pattern would be wonderful with the new Made in Yorkshire colours, although I do love this pretty random stash-bust colour palette too. 

It feels unbelievably good to have my crochet spark back again as well as my blogging bug, and both things in tandem are lighting up my days. Happy in my soul, this cosy season is treating me well so far.

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Blogtober 2024 :: Day 32

Blogtober Day 32 (I bet you didn't know that October had 32 days, did you?) :: Friday

This is the fifth Friday I've documented through Blogtober and as anticipated it's been a really lovely day. J and I walked this morning, then coming home I remembered the shortage of toilet roll situation and made a quick dash to the supermarket and back, all before 9am.

I had a huge snit of indecision over what to take to Coopers with me, argghhh..I'm in a frustrating situation with my canal blanket as I'm still working on the colour order and it's not something I can do when there are distractions. I can't wait to get properly started on this blanket because once I've done all my sampling and made all the difficult colour decisions, it'll be beautifully easy-breezy hooky time guaranteed.

In the end, I packed my yarn bag with a basket of SSDK oddments with an idea in my head of something I wanted to try.

Coopers was just wonderful, so much happy-ness in the room! I love spending time with my yarny friends, we had a proper good laugh over so many weird and random things today and I felt really, truly happy in their company. 

I had to go to a couple shops in town on my way home which is a bit of a detour, but I never mind extra walking in my day. I did a sort of round loop up to the top of the town, then back down to the very bottom, then home along the canal. Autumn leafage is bobbing about on the water and I thought it looked very pretty.

I loved this gorgeous boat that has arrived in the last few days, it has a slightly sun-faded look to it which really caught my eye. The round porthole windows had traditional lacy crochet doilies/mandalas hung in them, but I felt it might've been a bit intrusive to take a photo.. They were very charming though (you can see examples of what I mean via Google images ((here))

I made myself some soup for a late lunch today and it was absolutely delicious. I shall call it Zero-Waste soup as it was a proper using up of a motley array of very sad vegetables, but the resulting soup was amazingly good.

Yesterday after I'd carved my pumpkin I had a whole big bowl of rather stringy yellow innards which I confess I would usually just parcel up in a bag and sling in the bin. This year though, I decided to pull out the less stringy bits and try roasting them in the oven. I added some miscellaneous stuff I found lurking in the fridge - half an onion, half a sweet potato and some very soft and bendy carrots that had definitely seen better days. I also tossed in some thinly sliced garlic and glugged in some olive oil, then roasted the whole lot on a big baking sheet for about 25 minutes or so until the carrots were soft.

So today, all I had to do was add some hot veggie stock to my bowl of golden roasted veggies, whizz with my stick blender and voila......

....a really beautiful bowl of autumn nourishment. I toasted some pumpkin seeds under the grill for an extra posh flourish and the whole soup event was heavenly. 

I bought myself flowers today, some cheap and cheerful chrysanthemums that have that very distinctive chrysanth smell. Three pounds well spent, there seemed to be a lot of stems for the money.

I confess they aren't my favourite flowers, but at this time of year there is very limited choice in the supermarket and I do like that these flowers are very seasonal. The variegated colouring on the petals is pretty I have to admit.

So my crochet playtime today.... I had this idea to adapt the Sunny Days square I designed for my retreats this year (you can see that project in this post). I wanted to make it more suited to Stylecraft Special DK (wider bands of colour) and work out a way to alter the stitch count in the early rounds so that the maths would work out for a repeating sequence. Crochet maths is such a FAFF (with a capital F) but I find I weirdly like the gritty challenge of it once I get an idea stuck in my head. After a Lot of frogging and bad maths, I finally cracked it (multiples of 4+1, and one more stitch in each of the corners!!) and have created a three-round repeat that should work and stay consistent as the square grows. 

I have a really strong urge to make another big square blanket (like the Yuletide) and think this could be a good candidate for using the new SSDK Made in Yorkshire shades for a spring design. I could see this becoming a big bedspread type square blanket. Let me know what you think? My plan is to keep going with this sample square using all my odds and ends of colours in this basket and I'll make a cushion cover to see how it looks and make sure the numbers do really work.

Let me know what you think of this idea, I know so many of you were keen for me to design a blanket using the MIY shades and I think this could be pretty fabulous. But >> the canal blanket needs my immediate attention, so I do need to be sensible which is always a challenge. I need to focus! Concentrate! Not be distracted! Like I said, a major challenge.

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