Attic24

The Here and Now

Hellloooo......hello, hello!! I thought it was high time I re-opened my window to welcome you back into the Attic, thanks as always for taking the time to visit. It's been a few weeks of my sleep being off kilter and my chatty voice refusing to come forth, so I've needed to withdraw a little and patiently wait it out. I've also just come back from a week away, as in properly AWay-away, a fully fledged holiday where I disconnected from life online and spent some wonderful time with Little Lady just the two of us. I'll tell you more about that another time as my writing voice is still a bit croaky. It's sometimes harder than you might think to come back to blogging after a break, so for now I'm keeping it simple and sharing some simple photos from the here and now. 

J and I ventured out into the freeeeezing cold for our usual walk at seven o'clock this morning. There was a stunning full moon shining bright as we set off, the last full moon of the year. I still really love being out and about at this time of the day while the town is still quiet and sleepy, and of course in winter there is the added bonus of seeing the sun rise which always feels very special.

Later on in the morning I needed to call at the supermarket and decided to walk down through the park instead of taking the road.

When I mentioned it was cold I really wasn't kidding, it was minus three degrees in these photos taken mid morning. 

 But look how beautiful it all is, ooooo, these bright, sunshiny, cold, frosty days in December make me so happy!

The canal was frozen for the first time this season, and I suspect that it's going to stay icy for a little while yet. Even though I am a summer loving soul, I do really appreciate it when the weather does the exact right thing for the month we are in (I call it "seasonal correctness"). Today was exactly that, a day that felt truly Decemberish and the simplicity of it made me really happy.

I came home from the supermarket with the food that we needed, plus one or two extra items that wriggled into my basket by accident. A wooden box of leafy clementines and a beautiful bouquet of flowers - the latter was an absolute bargain and therefore totally irresistible. Would you believe me if I told you this bunch was originally priced at £18? Seriously, I kid you not. I rescued it from the reduced bucket and paid the bargainous sum of £2.70. To be fair they were a bit on the wilty side when I bought them, but with a fresh drink of water they have perked right up so I feel pretty delighted to have them on my table.

Being rather disconnected from online these past few weeks, I've inevitably fallen behind with a bit of admin. I spent the afternoon sat at the table drinking hot water with lemon and honey and getting caught up with emails, accounts and organising my photos. I hate leaving my photos swilling about in the online cloud, and feel much happier once I've downloaded them and organised them into folders on my laptop. It's usually something I do every couple of days, so I'm glad to have finally caught up with the last month. 

The kitty has been glued to me the past few days since I came back from holiday, she really does seem to miss me when I'm away. Every time I sit down, she is right there attempting to sit on top of me and pin me to the furniture. 

Ahhhh, do you know what, it's so good to be back here chatting with you again, I'm enjoying stringing my words together and sharing snippets from my day, the things that have made me happy. I was looking at my photos earlier as I was organising them and realised my blogging diary has so many gaps through October and November - sigh - I try hard not to feel bad about it, but I do sometimes feel like I'm failing when my blogging becomes erratic. There is then the dilemma whether to try and perform something of a catch up, or to just leave the words and images in the past and carry on marching forward with current stuff. I don't know really - what do you think? 

I'd love to hear from you in the comments - tell me what's what, what's making you happy, whether you'd like to see November bits from me or whether you are all wintry now and racing forward to Christmas? Nothing festive happening here yet aside from some mini mince pies in the house, I really am behind with life it seems. Ah well - I'm doing it my own slow way, and I think I'm OK with that xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

 

 

 

Summer 2022 :: A Yarny Trip

During July I was lucky enough to enjoy three trips away from home - one of them was a family holiday just a fortnight ago (can't wait to share that with you!), but for the other two jaunts it was just me, myself and I. With J working from home and the Little People being of an age where they are pretty low maintenance, it's possible for me to take off for a few days here and there without too much to organise. I count myself very lucky to have a really supportive hubby who always encourages me to enjoy time away when I need/want it and I appreciate it a lot. Like, a LOT-a-lot.

As you will have seen by the title of this post, this particular trip involved yarn and I needed to hop on and off two trains, then in and out of a taxi to get to my destination. Train travel is a bit of a hit and miss affair right now in the UK and very rarely runs smoothly. Trains seem to be breaking down on the regular, staff shortages cause all sorts of last minute delays and cancellations and the unusually hot weather has played havoc too. So it took me rather a long time to get to where I needed to be....

...which was this amazing, historic boutique hotel down in the very middle of the country close to Birmingham.

I arrived hot, weary and late, the last one to join the table in fact.....

...but I was sooooooo happy to see some familiar smiley faces waiting for me. Hellooooooo Blogstars and lovely Stylecraft peeps, how I have missed you all!!!! You can see me in the above photo (bottom left) smiling widely with an ice cold drink in my hand, soaking up the chatter and laughter and enjoying the late afternoon sunshine. We were a smaller group than usual as many of the  blogstars were unable to make it this time. But let me introduce you around the table - there's me bottom left, then moving clockwise around we have Sophie (Stylecraft), Helen Shrimpton (Crystals and Crochet), Bronagh (Stylecraft), Janie (Jane Crowfoot), Catherine (Catherine's Crochet Corner), Phil (who is hiding a bit - she's The Twisted Yarn) and Lucia (Lucia's Fig Tree). And taking the photo is Juliet who's part of the Stylecraft team and was the ninth seat in our party.

It's been a good long while since I was able to meet up with these yarny friends of mine, back in those long ago days before Covid put some huge spanners into all of our social works. Looking through my bloggy archives tells me it was in fact three years ago in 2019, can this be true? Well however long it's been, it really did feel good to be back in such creative company. We enjoyed a delicious evening meal and I personally also enjoyed the tremendous luxury of having a double bed all to myself, yes, it's often the little pleasures which unexpectedly feel like such a treat.

The following morning before breakfast I took a quiet stroll around the hotel grounds which were really lovely. This is a very ancient old building with over four hundred years of history, and in the peace of an early summers morning it was very atmospheric. But old stone walls and tall chimneys aside, there's yarny business to attend to so I better head inside and see what's on the agenda.

In case you were wondering, the Stylecraft Blogstars are a group of crochet and knitting designers who share their love of the craft across various social media platforms (not just blogs, but also Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Ravelry etc). We all really enjoy using Stylecraft yarns and it's been great to see this well loved UK yarn brand grow and expand over the years. There are currently seventeen designers in the Blogstars group and you can find us all listed on the Stylecraft website ((here)). 

The first part of the meeting is always a catch up session where we find out what we're all working on and what plans are in place for the year ahead. Often times when you see a new project released by a crochet/knit designer, it will have been many months (and sometimes years) in the making. It's exciting for us to be able to talk through our plans when they are still in the early baby stages and kept secret from the world at large.

The second part of the morning is all about Stylecraft and we are given a presentation where we gain insight into the year ahead in terms of design trends. This is where we learn about colour palette predictions, fashion shapes and details, and general "moods" for garments and interiors. The Stylecraft team also showcase their new yarns and patterns for the upcoming season  as well as any new colour additions to existing ranges. In the above photo you can see one of the brand new yarns that has just launched (I did double check that I'm safe to show you, because it would be just like me to get the dates totally wrong!)

To be honest with you, most of the new yarns are really lovely but not necessarily yarns that I would personally use, being more suited to knitting or to making garments. It's still fascinating to find out about them though, and we do get to fondle actual balls and have a really good squish. We are also given yarn wraps (shown above) so that we have reference to all the colours in new ranges to help with design decisions and to spark inspiration. In the above photo you can also see another of the brand new yarns which has just launched - this is called Colour Twist and is such a clever yarn made up from different coloured strands twisted together.

One thing I am always interested in, without question, is colour. Colour palettes form the beating heart of all my crochet designs and it's the very first thing I think about when I'm starting something new. In the above photo I was attaching the final squares to my blanket (yes, it's perfectly OK to crochet and have a meeting simultaneously), but in the background you can see a lot of yarn out on the table. We had been discussing the possibility of adding some new colours to an existing range of Stylecraft yarn and I am always, always up for this kind of chat. Colour, colour, colour, yes, let me at it!

I have to say, the team at Stylecraft who make the colour decisions are extremely talented and have art-based backgrounds, so every single range of yarn is always very well balanced and carefully thought out in terms of colour. However, it's still an exciting thing when we get asked for input from a design point of view and can help add some lovely new shades which we'll all be able to create with in future.

After lunch it's time for some gentle creativity and new skill learning, and at this meeting we were treated to a workshop by our very own Jane Crowfoot. We were taught how to add beads to our crochet which is one of Janes trademark design elements and something I've always wanted to learn.

My goodness, it's clever!!! Right from the start when Jane taught us how to actually get those teeny glass beads onto our DK weight cotton yarn, my mind was blown - did I mention how clever it is??! 

Jane actually has a video tutorial for this technique over on the Tube if you're interested in learning - you can find it by clicking the following link : {Janes beaded crochet tutorial}

We followed one of Janes patterns for a beaded flower motif and they turned out soooooo pretty!

If you are interested in using beads in your work, Jane recommends using these very pretty glass beads by knitting designer Debbie Abrahams, they come in around 30 different colours I think and you can find them online ((here)). 

The day passed by so quickly and soon it was time for us to pack up, say our goodbyes and head homewards. I generally enjoy train travel very much and find a lot of value in being gifted time to just sit quietly as you pass through changing landscapes, towns and cities. On this journey I was travelling up the backbone of England, through parts of the West Midlands, Derbyshire and into South Yorkshire, then finally tipping into my home county of North Yorkshire. It's always a sweet moment when I spy my hill view and know that I'm getting close to home.

My trains were delayed and running very slooooow, so it was almost eight o'clock in the evening by the time I was walking from the station towards home. The canalside always feels especially peaceful and still after the constant movement of a travel day...

....and I'm always glad to stop and catch my breath at the top of the steep hill climb and admire my familiar view.

Home.

I took a few photos of my finished beaded flower to show you, isn't it pretty? The whole technique of adding beads to crochet has lots of potential and I love the extra decorative element it adds.

Well I think that's a wrap and hopefully you've enjoyed a little insight into the "working" part of my life as a crochet and colour addict. A big thank you to Stylecraft for gifting us the opportunity to meet and enjoy such a happy, yarn-infused time, I'm already looking forward to the next get together.

⇧⇧ I've got some salty seaside tales to share with you next......yes, July was a very, very good month

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Summer Snaps :: end of June 2022

♥ Enjoying evening walks with the sun still golden in the sky at 8pm

♥ The bright cheerfulness of sweet williams on my table

♥ A glorious, long sunny walk with J around Hebden Bridge

♥ Stopping for refreshments towards the end of the aforementioned long sunny walk

♥ More beautiful evening strolls (this was summer solstice)

♥ Making a big batch of elderflower cordial which was delicious as always

♥ Putting ice on my sprained wrist after a ridiculous comedy fall out of the bath. Talk about painful.

♥ Love her. She's such a diva, but she's ours and she is so well loved.

♥ First baking I've done in ages, a banana loaf with sultanas and apricots - yumm.

♥ Weird, heavy stormy weather and high temperatures - I've LOVED it!

♥ Hellooooooooooooooooo....... :)♥

How have you all been? All good here mostly, we are swinging through the summer at high speed and I thought to myself this morning that I really feel the pull to be present here again to write/share so that I don't forget all the goodness that's been happening in the beautiful day to day of full summer.

So this is the start of some catching up, a little collection of snaps which take us through the end of June. It was mostly glorious, the highlight being the weather and all the amazing warmth and sunshine we were blessed with, the summer solstice (the 5th photo of the canal, it was soooooo sunny for solstice this year!) and the end of Little Lady's A levels....lots to be thankful for.

The major low point for me was a stupid fall which had me sprawled across the bathroom floor with my wrist taking the brunt of it. My goodness the pain was something else, and I spent a good few weeks feeling very sorry for myself, especially as it was my right wrist. Luckily after the third week I had more or less recovered and could at last manage to crochet again (YAY!) 

I've almost finished my latest blanket, just dithering on the edge of it, as is the norm. I cannot wait to show you, it's turned out so, so, so beautifully, way better than I ever imagined. I'm quite obsessed with it, seriously. I'm actually wearing it right now, folded in half and draped around my shoulders like an oversized shawl because suddenly after a warm humid day I was feeling a little chilly sat here. 

July is at an end and it's been a busy month for me with three different trips away. I took a gazillion photos this month, I've just spent the past hour uploading them to my laptop and organising them into folders. Would you like knowing about my July jaunts do you think? Because I would really enjoy sharing them with you. Do chat to me in the comments, tell me your highs and lows and how you've been, I'd love to hear....

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ps I'm so glad you popped in to visit.....thank you, thank you xx

 

 

 

And so into June

So here we are, racing through June at such a pace I can hardly catch my breath. Just this morning I happened to catch sight of the date and was astounded to find out that we are already in the middle of the month and goodness me, the Summer Solstice is less than a week away! Say what???!!! I remember it was just the same last year, so maybe this is what May-June feels like at this time in my life? I think it's because our winter season seems to take foreeeeeveeer to be over and done with, that once Spring finally arrives it rushes in and out like a flood tide. 

Towards the end of May my Dad and Lady B journeyed all the way from Dorset to visit for a week, it was a holiday that had been postponed since 2020. Back then in pre-covid times my Dad's memory and general health was very much more robust, so I was a little worried about how he would cope with the lengthy train travel and also being out of his usual environment and routine. Lets just say it was a challenge - whether he was really aware of it or not I'm unsure, but his level of general confusion was pretty heart breaking. So yeah, it was a very intense week, not stressful as such, but highly emotional and draining nevertheless. 

On top of the worry about my Dad's health decline, I also tend to experience a surge of emotions at this time of year - ever since I lost my Mum five years ago, the month of May weighs heavy on me. I'm the kind of person who tends to deal with these things silently and inwardly which is probably not the best way, but keeping everything tightly wrapped up is just the way I am. I'm still trying to come to terms with many things to do with my Mum and the way her life came to a very sad and abrupt end, gosh this kind of deep rooted stuff isn't easy is it?

Anyhow, I'm not here to dig into my past because my childhood and my relationship with my parents has always been quite the messy tangle which I keep locked down tight, but I did just want to let you know a little of what I've been going through lately. Thankfully these times never seem to last for long and I'm pretty adept at bouncing back - boing! I'm here, it's mid June with summer almost upon us and all is warm and well.

At the beginning of June the UK commemorated the Queen's Platinum Jubilee and as such we were treated to a four day bank holiday weekend. The weather was mixed (of course it was) but it mostly held dry if a bit on the chilly-breezy side. The town was hugely busy with visitors, both on the pavements and the waterways and I love the hustle and bustle of a high season holiday weekend when the atmosphere is joyful and celebratory.

On my friendly little street with it's terraced houses all tucked together in close proximity, we collectively organised a laid back Jubilee street party. We applied to the council for a permit to close the road to traffic, hung up strings of red, white and blue bunting and gathered together enough food and drink to feed a small army.

It was a lot of fun just being able to sit in the middle of the road and chat to neighbours from up and down the street, most of whom we did already know (thirty houses in total). There was cake....

....and of course there was Pimms served in paper cups. It was really ever so British and made me remember how very much I love Pimms (and cake) in the summertime.

May and early June is such a l-u-s-h time in the countryside and the abundance of greenery and general floral frothiness has really lifted my spirits lately. 

My daily morning walks in the woodland have continued to keep me simultaneously grounded and uplifted and I'm so thankful for this place that I call home.

Up until this week, the weather has been unseasonably cold (and very windy) during the past few months. I really hope that Summer will bring plenty of warmth and sunshine as I desperately feel a need for both.

I've been keeping an eye on the elderflowers around and about as I'm hoping to make a nice big batch of cordial again this year. The above photo was taken nine days ago, and since then most of the bushes I walk past are now in full floral froth. It's a glorious time of year and I absolutely love to (literally) bottle it up - I'll go and buy the sugar, lemons and oranges tomorrow so that I can get busy with it over the weekend if it stays dry. The recipe is on my blog here >> {Elderflower Cordial recipe, scroll down through the long-winded chatty blog post to find it}

What else to tell you? Building work finished here early last week, resulting in the safe dismantling of an old disused chimney stack and the back wall of our house being repaired and repointed. We asked the builders if they could leave the actual chimney pot for us as I thought it would be fun to plant something in it - my goodness, we were totally unprepared for the monstrous size of it, it's gigantic! It must stand four feet tall and was on top of a stack of heavy stone which was as high again - imagine, an eight foot tall chimney sitting very precariously on top of our bathroom roof, it blows my mind every time I think about it.

Our back yard is still in disarray because the scaffolding hasn't yet come down. I'm impatiently waiting for that to happen and then I can get busy with cleaning and tidying and planting up my pots for the summer.

The past few weeks I've been in full Mum-mode, supporting Little Lady as she revises and sits her A level exams. I think she's doing remarkably well in terms of managing both her time and her wellbeing, putting in many hours of revision and coping with a certain inevitable level of daily anxiety. She's only got two more exams left to do now, so next Tuesday I anticipate there will be much rejoicing, and I will finally be able to breathe out again.

This past week or two I've been working steadily away behind the scenes, finalising the colour palette for my next CAL blanket which will be revealed in November. I generally work around five months in advance which can be quite challenging for someone like me who much prefers the do-it-right-now spontaneous approach. Ahhhh......I can't wait to show you more, so exciting! I'm now working on the stitch design and it's been the usual frustrating, stop-start affair, but I spent a good few hours noodling with yarn and hook today and think I'm finally getting somewhere.

Goodness knows how many hours I've spent at the dining table during these past few weeks as it takes a LOT of time to work through the colour and pattern design process for one of my blankets. My whole heart and soul goes into each and every blanket and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Well I think that's about all for now, I hope you are doing ok out there in the world and enjoying these mid year months. Despite the emotional ups and downs, this really is my very best favourite time of year by far.

Thanks as always for popping into the Attic to visit, it's always so good to be here for a chat and a catch up....see you again soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

 

Routine Days

I was reading back through my very early blog posts the other day, the ones that I wrote in March 2008, fourteen years ago. I went back to find the first Easter I ever wrote about, and once I was re-living my memories I carried on reading through a whole chunk of the first spring and summer that I shared in Blogland. It was fascinating, honestly, to see how my writing style has changed over time - in my head I haven't changed the way I write at all, but reading back I see that my written voice has definitely altered with age and experience.

One thing that really struck me was how massively my word count has increased as the years have passed. In the early years of my blog I pretty much posted daily Monday-Friday but my posts were often super short with just a couple of photos and a few paragraphs of blurb. It made me ponder on which style makes for better reading - longer, chatty posts published less frequently, or short blog entries posted four or five times a week? Which do you prefer? I think I really like a mixture of the two, and that's because I like to keep my posts spontaneous and true to how I'm feeling at the time. 

Anyhow, that's what's been on my mind of late, in case you were wondering. And in other news, I've got fresh flowers on my table again and they are giving me all the happy, joyous feels, I absolutely adore tulips.

On Monday the Little Peeps returned to school and that meant that my 5.30 alarm clock was back in action. I was weirdly excited to get back into my morning routine which included my first workout since having covid over a month ago (boy, that was a killer ten minutes), followed by a 45 minute walk with J. 

I've missed these early morning adventures, the light is really beautiful at this time of year and for the past three mornings I've been drinking it in with gratitude.

These photos were taken this morning as we walked through the park around 7 o'clock, and as you can see it was bloomin' cold with frost still clinging to the grass in the shady areas.

Oh, but just look at the trees, the blossom is finally blossoming and it is absolutely glorious. What a beautiful way to start the day.

Always enjoying my morning coffee (yeah!) but then you know that by now :)

I'm back to healthy eating this week, a reset of sorts which I feel is much needed. I indulged quite a bit over the Easter holidays eating and drinking a lot of things that I very much enjoyed in the moment (hello gin and tonic, also hellooo cake and hot cross buns and chocolate) but which made me feel sluggish and disrupted my sleep patterns. So I'm cutting right back on refined sugar and I'll stay alcohol free for a little while now too. It feels good to be nourishing myself with healthy food choices again, I do genuinely love eating this way so I'm happy creating meals that make me feel energised.

I'm trying to drink more water too, because coffee is fabulous for the emotional feel-good but our bodies really need to be properly hydrated throughout the day. I've started adding cucumber slices to my water bottle and oh-my-gosh this has been such a game changer for me. I don't usually find plain water especially appealing, but cucumber-water, well, that's on a whole new level - so refreshing!

Getting back into routine also means getting back to my hooky life. I'm currently crocheting a new bag made from pure wool in a lovely squishy aran weight and I'm really, really enjoying the yarn therapy. The squish factor is delicious, it really is xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blogtober 2021 :: Review

In early November last year after my first ever attempt at Blogtober, I decided to write a review post to chat about my experience of taking part in a whole month of daily blogging. It was a really enjoyable post to put together, and I got a lot of satisfaction from looking back through all my photos and creating a visual overview of the month. You can read my 2020 blogtober review ((here)). I had so many comments after that post (131 of you wrote to me) that I guessed you enjoyed it and and hopefully you'll enjoy this year's offering just as much. I spent this afternoon looking back through my photos and creating some collages to share, so it's been a whole lot of creative fun for me too.

October will always have a little bit of a celebratory flavour because it's my birthday month, and I turned 53 this year.

We also had a much needed week-long break from school towards the end of the month, and there was Halloween to celebrate too.

Looking back through my photos today I realised that October was a much busier month than usual with quite a few outings and day trips. I really enjoyed every single jaunt that we made out of town, and realised (not for the first time) that I positively thrive when I'm out and about. Even if we are visiting familiar places, there's still a certain level of anticipation and excitement when there are walks and picnics and lots of lovely photogenic vistas to lift my spirits.

We walked at Bolton Abbey on Day 3.

On Day 11 we drove to the west Lancashire coast to spend a few sunny hours by the sea.

Day 9 was an exciting train journey to visit Newcastle university with Little Lady and it was wonderful to see and experience a completely new city.

I had the pleasure of Christine's company on a gloriously sunny Day 21 and we visited RHS Harlow Carr which was absolutely magnificent. Looking back at the post I wrote on that day fills me with joy, oh the colours were something else! Such a lovely day, and I know the memories will stay with me for a long time.

The most out of the ordinary thing I did in October was to travel south to Dorset to spend some time with my Dad. After my holiday back in August, I made a promise to myself that I would try and visit every season, and I'm so, so glad that I made an Autumn jaunt happen. I think I've mentioned before that my Dad has aged quite a lot since the start of the pandemic and without being morbid about it, I do really feel that I need to make the most of the time we have left together - who knows how long we have? With any luck it'll be many, many years, but something in my heart tells me not to take any of this time for granted.

I had a really lovely time in Dorset, but to be perfectly honest it was a major challenge to carry on with Blogtober each day while I was away. I mean, I took loads of photos so always had plenty of things to share but it was the extreme end-of-day tiredness that was the hardest thing for me. I'm telling you, the air down there is potent and makes me sooooooooo sleepy! Anyhow, reading back through my Dorset posts I'm so happy that I have my memories preserved for the future. You can find my Dorset Blogtobers here, here, here and here. 

Creatively, October was a really good month and I found a lot of comfort and happiness in designing and making. I worked on an idea for a new mandala based on the Yuletide blanket stitch pattern and I love love love the results.

You can find the blog post on Day 7....

....and the tutorial and pattern can be found ((here)).

October was also a month where I dusted off my knitting skills, specifically the joy of knitting a pair of gloriously stripy socks. I treated myself to this lush Regia yarn, the colours expertly put together by Kaffe Fassett, and cast on on Day 13.

I tend to knit in short bursts as and when the mood takes me, so progress can be a bit on the slow, stop-starting side. By the end of October I'd managed to knit one and a half legs (I knit both socks at the same time) and with any luck I'll have them on my feet by the end of this month.

Throughout Blogtober I showed some snippets here and there of my other main project of the moment which you can see in the above photo. I actually did a LOT of crochet throughout the month and am absolutely beside myself with the feelings I have for the colour palette and these delicious little ripples. So. Much. JOY!!

I'm going to be writing more about it to share with you tomorrow (the 4th) so I'm really looking forward to that. It's been hard not to blab about it allll the time, since I first began working on the design ideas back in May.

Aside from the daytrips and holidays, the celebrations and creative endeavours, Blogtober is mostly all about the ordinary every day stuff. It's about sharing daily routines and capturing the little snippets of life that spark inspiration and emotion. Confession :: it's actually a pretty tough challenge in terms of the space it takes up inside ones head! When I'm blogging every day it's constantly on my mind and I find myself writing sentences in my head and searching for visual inspiration pretty much all the time. But my goodness, it's worth it. SO, so worth it. All those thoughts, emotions, ideas and inspirations are like food for my soul and I absolutely love the process of allowing them to eventually filter out into the world via my Attic window.

Daily blogging is a constant reminder to practice gratitude, and to really open your eyes and see the world around you. It's an opportunity to search out the things that bring happiness, to train your eye to see and appreciate a moment in time that will make a good photograph or tell an honest story. Using photos and words to capture all those memories and experiences that flow through each day is such a rewarding thing to do, and even after all these years I still absolutely love it.

Blogging daily life also provides a beautiful snapshot of the season, and year after year it's fascinating to see the rhythms of nature play out as the months pass.

A lot of my photos during Blogtober captured the early days of Autumn and the seasonal changes happening in my local neighbourhood. Each month of the year has it's own "flavour" and I find it fascinating to see how the light and colours change as the year passes.

I also enjoyed sharing many snippets of daily home life too, although I did often worry that the sameyness might get a bit repetitive. October was definitely a month of home comforts - blogging by candlelight and the warmth of the fire, hand knitted woolly socks on my feet and on my needles. Mugs of milky coffee and bowls of nourishing home made soup. Cosying up under layers of blankets, and enjoying the comfort of having the kitty close by. Fresh flowers are a constant here in the Attic and October gave me colourful shop bought blooms as well as little posies of back yard flowers. There was baking and of course there was crochet, there is rarely a time when I don't have any hooky going on!

So that about sums up Blogtober 2021, it's been a good month, hasn't it? I know from the hundreds of comments I've received here and on Facebook that you've enjoyed your daily visits, and I'm so thankful for your company. Thank you for being here with me as I jaunt through my days.

I thought it would be fun to share this years stats with you, just as I did last year.....

Number of daily blogs completed : 31  (yay for one hundred percent attendance)

Total number of photographs shared : 350 (out of 442 taken in total)

Total number of beautiful comments : 1,049 (thank you so very much)

Total number of blog views : 884,848 (ooo, that's a lot of eyeballs)

Total number of words written by me : 27,276 (yes, I added them all up, took me aaaages)

Will I do it again next year? : oh yes indeedy, #blogtober2022 is already on my to-do list.

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ps huge gratitude also for these wonderful bloggers who took part in Blogtober 2021 alongside me :

Christine at Winwick Mum

CJ at Above the River

Barbara and Coastal Ripples

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The Here and Now

Last week I was having a conversation with a good friend of mine about the business of how to return to ones blog when one has been absent for a period of time. She was telling me she hadn't blogged since February and really wanted to find her way back to it. My advice went something like this ::

1. Don't get caught up in the reasons for your absence. Don't feel you need to explain if you don't want to, and definitely don't fall over yourself to apologise. Blogs belong to the blogger, and gaps in the narrative are a natural part of writing a genuine, truthful blog which follows the ups and downs of life. There is no need to say sorry, or feel guilty.
2. Jump right in with something short and current rather than trying to back track and create a hefty "catch-up" post. Your blogging voice may well be a little bit croaky after a break and keeping things short and of-the-moment will be a good way to un-croak yourself. Lengthy catch ups and more specific posts can happen when you get back into the general swing of things.
3. Let the photos lead the way if the words aren't coming easy.

So......this is me sliding back gently into blogland and taking my own advice. Hellooooo!! I've missed this space, and am very glad to be back. The above photo was taken this morning on my daily tramp into the woods. It's been a warm and muggy day today with a heavy feeling in the air, as if it needs to really pour with rain but can't quite manage to make it happen.

I found a beautiful feather on the woodland path today and had to bring it home to add to my collection - it's the super-tall dark black feather in the above photo. Actually, it's a very, very dark blue rather than being black but you only see the blue hue when it catches the light. Needless to say, even though I tried to be very stealthy about introducing it into the house, Tilly has already sniffed it out and had it onto the floor. I have no idea why I'm so surprised.

I've had a jug of white stocks on my table this week and the scent they bring to the room is heavenly. 

I took the above photo to share on Instagram this morning, for no other reason than to document the joy my dining room shelves are delivering to me at the moment. After a very long spell of them making me feel very frustrated and irritated, I finally decided last month to put some effort in and and sort them out. I performed a major declutter, re-organised all my things, and finally managed to tame the chaos. 

I had a long overdue clear out of my books and donated some huge bags to our local Oxfam Bookshop which felt wonderful. Owning less books has given me more shelf space and now that it's pretty tidy and clutter-free on those shelves I'm working hard to try and keep it that way. Daily diligence is needed, honestly, it's a full time job. I check on them every single day and make sure to re-home anything that lands there and doesn't belong. Who even am I??!

Funny thing, I took some before and after photos whilst this was all going on because I also tackled the twin Cupboards of Doom at the same time. I've just looked back at the photos and gasped out loud - it was really pretty bad here for a while last month when everything was in utter chaos. I might be brave and show you - is this something that you'd be curious about, the behind the scenes state of my messy home that you don't usually get to see? Would you like to see inside my cupboards which are no longer doom-filled? Let me know eh?

I'm currently dragging myself back into healthy eating after way too much over indulgence during the past few months. Artisan sourdough bread has a lot to answer for, as does chocolate. I've discovered that gluten and sugar are really not good for my body these days, both my mood/energy levels and my joints really start acting up if I eat too much of it. So I'm diggin' deep for some self discipline this week and thankful for our weekly trips to the market and the delicious fresh produce we can purchase. Natural fruit sugars are wonderful....I keep telling myself this, as I sit and fantasise about eating a piece of cake.

As well as daily shelf-clutter checks, I'm now also performing daily plantlet checks as I've got actual living things growing in my back yard that are making me so bloomin' happy. Lots of flowers are now in residence, and I'll show you some more photos very soon. For now, please do appreciate how healthy my sweet peas are looking - this is one of three big pots I've got going on out there, and I am mothering them to death. My plant babies. 

And in crochet news, my Yuletide blanket is slowly but surely growing and I am very in love with it. Coopers café re-opened a few weeks ago after being closed since the start of the year, and I am so happy to be back. It's not back to the full social group of old yet as we are still restricted to sitting in small groups of 6, but it's a step in the right direction.

This week I'm also working behind the scenes on the design of another blanket project but annoyingly I can't show you just yet. On the whole though, I've been enjoying some slow down time during the past few months and haven't done much crochet at all. I've been percolating some ideas though, and there is a list of things I want to make - an actual list written on paper, not just free floating inside my messy head space, so that's something. I very much hope that June will treat me better than May did, I lost my way for a while last month, it' was a tricksy, emotional month for various reasons. 

Well, I'm so happy to be back here and I promise to not be so quiet and croaky-voiced and will come back very soon to chat some more. Back soon...........xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

 

March End

A cup of frothy coffee enjoyed in the cosy warmth of my bed is how I really like to start my mornings. It's the perfect way for me to gently adjust my mind to the new day and to process what I want to try and do with the hours stretching ahead. I don't meditate, but I am very good at just sitting and being in the moment. Often I wake up and my mind is so chockablock full of stuff it's hard to think straight, so I've been meaning to try and do a mini morning brain dump but I keep forgetting! I'm sure there is a lesson to be learnt there.  I was chatting about this with my bloggy friend Rachell who was telling me that taking just five minutes to empty your mind onto paper in the mornings is hugely beneficial. I'll try and remember to do it tomorrow morning, and I'll report back on how it goes. Do let me know in the comments if this is something you have tried or do regularly, I'd love to hear.

I was on a real go-slow this morning after another poor nights sleep, and as today is the first day of my monthly cycle I was not feeling the best. I know I must have been feeling low because even though the sun was shining I really didn't feel like taking my morning walk. I just didn't want to expend any energy, so I simply decided to stay put. I feel extremely fortunate to be able to make these decisions for myself I have to say, and I do really appreciate that fact. My Little People are at an age now where they sleep in late and are self sufficient in the mornings so I'm at liberty to please myself when there isn't a school run to do. I've had many, many years of very full on parenting, often starting my days at 5am as all three of my littln's were very early risers. This is my time now, and my goodness I'm grateful. 

After a very slow start, I eventually got myself together and went about my morning chores - emptying the dishwasher, putting a load of laundry in the machine, feeding the kitty, a quick tidy up of our downstairs living space. We had a family dentist appointment in the late morning which involved a drive to another town, oh, huge excitement to be leaving the boundaries of our local area and seeing Fresh New Scenery for the first time in months! It was a thrill, honestly. 

I get very nervous going to the dentist (even though this was just a check up, and my teeth are pretty good on the whole), so I wasn't able to eat very much this morning. By the time I got home at 1pm I was seriously hungry so I made myself a healthy lunch bowl. Yesterday I got a new gadget to play with and I'm pretty sure I'm about to become a little bit obsessed with it. The gadget in question is a spiralizer, but not one of those huge machines with a handle that takes up half the kitchen, oh no, this is the most amazing low-tech little hand held gizmo and I am so impressed with it. You can find it on Amazon ((here)), and I tell you it works a treat for making courgette noodles.

I made a simple salad dressing for my courgetti today (olive oil, lemon juice, wholegrain mustard and maple syrup), and tossed them in with cucumber, tomato and a bit of left over cooked chicken, then crumbled some feta cheese on top. Oh my goodness..... sooooooooooo good. I've been reading up on courgetti recipes (courgetti puttanesca, or a garlicky pesto - yes yes, I could make wild garlic pesto courgetti!) and I am most definitely going to be spiralizing my lunch on the daily for a while.

Lunch time rolled around into mid afternoon and I felt restless but weary at the same time. I couldn't decide what to do with myself, so in the end I decided to do nothing much. I made a coffee (all my coffees are decaff at the moment because of the rubbish hormonal sleep sitch), and sat myself in a sunny corner of the back yard to absorb some of the warmth and light into my brain. I think the sunshine must have helped recharge my batteries a little because once my coffee was finished I felt ready to do some work.

I spent some time caking up my Meadow blanket leftovers so that they can be neatly added to my yarn stash boxes. I needed to do this to free up my big baggy yarn bag because I'm starting out on a new blanket project and I've been sampling for it this afternoon. I'm still in the very early stages of working out the colour palette but I'm very nearly there with it I think. I'm beginning to get that fizzy feeling in the pit of my stomach that tells me that this blanket is coming in with alllll the feels, so I know I'm close to nailing it down. There is a teensy clue in the above photo - two shades of red. Tis VERY exciting! 

It's taken me an age to write this blog entry (it's now gone ten o'clock and I've been sat here for hours, literally), so I hope I've not written a huge pile of gibberish. As you probably know, I don't faff my posts at all (other than a quick check through for typos) so what you read is the actual unedited stream of words that pours forth from my brain. Some days it pours in a flowing torrent, and other days it's a slow trickle, but at least it's always the true essence of what I'm thinking/feeling at the time.

Ah.......see that above?? Now that is partly why this blog post has taken me so long as I spent an AGE choosing and editing photos for my March round-up. Ha, I had forgotten all about that, honestly, my poor brain is so thick with fog sometimes, it's a wonder I can get anything done. 

Today being March End and all, my two weeks of daily blogging have come to a gentle finishing line. Thank you so very much for joining me and for all the delightful comments you've written for me too, I really appreciate your company. I don't plan on disappearing so you can expect my blogs to keep on coming, maybe not every single day but I'll do my best.

A new month begins tomorrow and I'm so excited for it, the start of my favourite quarter of the year. I'm ready for all the light and sunshine and greenery and flowery things.

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ps huge thanks to my two friends Christine and Kate who have kept me company with my daily blogging endeavour this month, it's been wonderful to have them with me xx

 

 

 

 

Springlike

Gosh, it's been the most beautiful day here today, a truly wonderful, glorious, springlike day full of warmth and full blown sunshine. It was forecast to be this way, but here in England you can never ever rely on the forecast as our weather is notoriously unpredictable. I slept in this morning after a very restless night, so my early morning wake-up-walk didn't happen until 8.20am. That's OK though, we're on holidays so I'm making the most of being able to go with the flow. 

It was stunning out there this morning and I was so content to be strolling through the park with the sun on my face and a coffee in hand.

I took a little walk around the edge of the meadow which was still wet with morning dew.

Although we're still a few months away from buttercup season, there is hawthorn blackthorn** blossom in the hedgerows to enjoy right now. I drank in the fresh air and sunshine, absorbing it right down into my soul.

** thank you to those who corrected my mistake, I always get those two muddled up!

I don't know what it is about the meadow, but even without all the beauty of the wild flowers and tall grasses it still has a magical appeal. I find that by the time I've walked around the perimeter and arrive back at the little wooden gate, I feel calm and restored somehow. It's a really beautiful feeling, and was needed today.

By the time I got home I realised I was running late, so I had to rush to get ready to meet my friend for our weekly park walk at 9.15. Actually, we really didn't do much walking - we got into the park with our lattés and walked as far as the very first wooden bench, and there we sat for over an hour having a jolly good catch up. 

Pretty much as soon as I got home, J was reaching a lull in his work day and was ready for our daily walk - you can see how I easily manage to knock fifteen thousand steps a day out the park, can't you?! Today was Little B's first day of freedom after his self isolation period, so we were able to take him with us today. He was really glad of the fresh air I think, and to be outside finally after his very cooped-up existence of late.

And pause......so grateful for finding my home in this little town.

I made myself a cold coffee when I got home from walking, do you ever drink cold coffee? It was like an iced latté I guess, but without the ice. Last year in lockdown I treated myself to a good milk frother (it's the Lavazza A Moda Mia one, it gets rave reviews and I would definitely give it five stars). It's hands down the very best purchase I made in lockdown and I can't tell you how much I love it. It really does elevate the whole home coffee experience to something special. Anyhow, it has three settings, one for a super thick frothy cappuccino, one for a velvety smooth foamed latté, and a third one which makes the latté style milk but keeps it cold. It's surprisingly good to drink a cold coffee on a warm day I have to say. I should maybe have put it in a fancy glass and drunk it through a straw, but I didn't happen to have either of those things to hand. Hmmm....now I want to go off and search online for a fancy cold coffee glass. I'll resist for now, but know that I'll be shooting off as soon as I've finished this blog to go virtual glass shopping.

The warm weather meant that for the first time this year I could hang the bedding out on the line to dry. Oh, the JOY!! Such happy feelings as I pegged out my duvet cover, pillowcases and sheet, because I know that tonight I've got the super-charged pleasure of getting into a sun-dried clean bed. I can hardly wait.

I had five things on my to-do list today, and I managed to tick three of them off so I'm calling it a win.

1. go to post office to send a bar of chocolate to my Dad ✓
2. sow sweet pea seeds
3. Buy and plant new flowers to replace deceased cyclamen and half-dead winter cherry
4. cut grass in front garden ✓
5. retrieve Easter Box from Attic eaves and decorate dining room mantel ✓

I bought my Dad a bar of the Lime and Sea Salt dark chocolate for him to try as he loves dark chocolate and I was telling him about my fave ChocAffair bar last time I  saw him. I hope he likes it.

Sweet peas - gah, I just clean forgot about them. I must try and find some compost tomorrow.

New flowers - I did try, but honestly I couldn't find anything suitable. There's a huge shortage of small, cheap flowering things right now, I'd thought I'd at least be able to lay my hands on some primulas but I couldn't find a single one. Might have to drag J to a garden centre, ooo, now that sounds like it could be A Plan.

Cut the grass....that was a tick.

Our front garden is tiny and very unkempt  and although I do have plans to spruce it up a bit this year, firstly I figured a bit of a trim would help a lot. Because the grassy patch in question is so small, I'm easily able do the grass cutting with hand sheers. It's surprisingly satisfying actually, and wasn't too much effort. I took the opportunity to also tidy up some of the few perennial plants we've got growing, and sweep the steps and little pathway. A little TLC goes a long way when you have a miniature sized garden.

The last thing on my list was retrieving the Easter guff from the attic eaves and arranging it just so. Tick!

This mantel had been standing bare since Christmas as I hadn't bothered to put back all the objects that got cleared from it in December. It's had some cards on it at various times (Little B's Birthday, then J's birthday, then Mothers Day), and my jug of bare twigs has remained in place. So it was a breeze to prettify it for Easter and I had a fine old time doing it.

I was especially happy to be reunited with my cute little chicklets and the weeny Easter Rabbit, they did really make me smile.

(chicklet post/pattern HERE, rabbit post/pattern HERE)

Little B was with me when I was unpacking and starting to faff my mantel, but he is at an age where he finds this kind of thing insanely boring. I've long given up on the idea that I decorate for the Little People, nah, of course I don't!! It's all for me, me, me!! Ha, well that's absolutely fine by me, I'm more than happy to indulge myself. 

While I'm pondering on this mantel and the decorative possibilities, just scroll up a bit and have a look at my crochet heart garland....I made this so long ago it was actually pre-blog, can you believe that? It was only just pre-blog mind you, I made it in late Feb 2008 and I started my blog about three weeks later. 

I still love it, but it's looking a little bit faded and worn now and I'm thinking about making a new garland for here - maybe a string of slightly smaller hearts? Let me know what you think.

Being that it's Easter week I have of course got mini eggs in the house - Easter is simply not complete without them. Mini eggs, hot cross buns and Easter biscuits are the three things that make Easter for me, way more than the big giant commercial chocolate eggs that seem to be the norm these days. Having said that, I know that the Little People are definitely expecting a large boxed chocolate offering, so it's just as well that I've already managed to purchase those and get them squirrelled away. I'm actually really looking forward to Easter weekend - we've got nothing planned at all, but I still think it should feel a bit special somehow. I may even have mini eggs for breakfast, just because I can.

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Pottering

I've enjoyed a pottering kind of a day today, the sort of day where not a lot of note has happened and I've felt weirdly unsettled and preoccupied. I didn't sleep very well last night and so waking up at 6 really felt a smidge too early. But I decided to go with the flow of my natural body clock and got up anyways - it was strange because we've gone back to darkness again at 6am with the clocks changing and I wasn't prepared for it. It made me realise how much I love waking up when it's already light, it makes such a difference to my energy levels. 

My early morning wake-up-walk was at 7.30 this morning, it was cold and blustery but as usual when I make the effort to get out early, I was so so glad to feel my body filling up with fresh air and to feel myself truly waking up to the day. Instead of walking through the park, I decided to take my walk in the opposite direction to our local bakery, having just discovered that they open their doors at 6am. Well I never, thirteen years living here and I never knew that. Although I did often wonder how come they sometimes sold out of their freshly baked croissants before 9.30. I bought our usual large wholemeal loaf, plus some pain au chocolat for the Little People as a treat, then wandered my way back home along the canal tow-path.

I love walking underneath this old low bridge (it carries the road across the canal) and soon I was home again and ready to get straight on with my twenty minute workout. I'm enjoying this morning routine I've got going, and feel it's doing me a lot of good. I'm not sure how I would feel about getting outdoors if it was raining though, I think in all honesty I'll be labelling this as a Fairweather Morning Routine.

Oh, I had some very, very happy post arrive this morning as my special Spring Treepeep arrived. Isn't she beautiful? Lynn painted her especially for me as I couldn't make my mind up between tulips and daffodils, so she painted both for me. I said she could choose the background colour and she picked this wonderful shade of fresh turquoise, and you all know how I feel about this colour....it's the colour that sings to my soul. I love her so very much.

I was really happy to settle her onto the Spring mantel and she looks very at home in the blossom orchard there.

J and I took our walk through the woods late this morning, I think it was almost midday by the time we were setting out. I noticed that the little anemones have started to flower by the top gate, a sure sign that spring is underway at last.

I thought you might appreciate an update on the blossom hedge, it's looking blooming marvellous. It makes me so happy just walking past it and the dainty little flowers have a very delicate sweet scent which hangs in the air. It's an utter delight.

Do you remember me planting up my wall basket back in October? Five months later and the ivy and violas are still doing very well but the winter cherry is on it's last legs and the cyclamen are deceased. The extremely cold icy winter finished them off, but that's OK as I wasn't expecting them to last more than a few months and I really enjoyed them while they lasted. This week I'm going to buy a couple of new plants to pop in there, maybe some little narcissus would be lovely?

I do so love the violas, they seem to be permanently smiling. Beautiful little things they are.

Thinking about flowers this afternoon got me on to thinking about my little back yard space which really needs some serious TLC. Last year I didn't really plant anything much in my pots, I just kind of made do with what I already had going on. This year I want to have lots more flowers so I've decided to have a go at sowing seeds. It's not an easy thing to do here as we have very narrow windowsills and next to no space available with enough light for seed growing. But I'm going to try and see if I can make it work. I've been collecting up some cardboard toilet roll tubes for sowing sweet peas, my friend Judi (who has the greenest fingers I have ever come across) tells me that this will work nicely for these seeds. Two seeds to a roll, and then when the plantlets are ready to plant out, you can just pop the cardboard rolls straight into the soil, thus avoiding root disturbance which sweet peas dislike. Sounds like a plan, no?

I'm soaking the seeds overnight (something my Mum always told me to do with sweet pea seeds) and tomorrow I will try and find some compost. I think I might have a small bag of seed compost in the cellar but I can't be sure. It's an awful mess down there "below stairs", I shall have to venture forth into the cobwebby depths and see what I can find.

Making the most of the longer days is something I'm sure I'll be doing a lot of as we head through the next few months. Having daylight until almost 8pm feels unbelievably good, and this evening Little Lady asked me if I'd like to take a walk to watch the sun go down at the top of the hill. Although I felt really weary I couldn't refuse her request and so at 7.15  I set out for my third walk of the day. As you can see, we timed it brilliantly and the sun was just about to slink down behind the horizon as we reached the top of the hill. It was gloriously golden and uplifting.

Well right now it's 9.30pm and I'm sat in bed tap tap tapping away on my laptop. I'm warm and cosy and I've been drinking a mug of peppermint tea but honestly, I feel bone tired. My fitbit is telling me I've walked 18,564 steps today which is around 12km, and yes I can feel that it's true. So I think I shall love you and leave you for now, I hope you've had a golden day full of happy pottering moments, see you tomorrow xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx