Attic24

Sungold Blanket CAL Update

It's just over a week since the new Sungold yarn pack was let loose on the world (blog post HERE in case you missed it), and the response has been fantastic. It's always a bit of a wobbly feeling for me to share a new design, it's a weirdly emotional experience, a combination of fluttery anxiety and almost overwhelming excitement. Even after all these years and the many new blankets I've shared I do still get nervous, hoping that you'll like what I'm creating enough to feel inspired to join me for the ride. I want to take this opportunity to thank you for the all round lovely response you always give to my designs and colour palettes, I appreciate it very much indeed.

As always, the team at Wool Warehouse are doing a stellar job and yarn packs have absolutely flown out, so much so that at the moment Sungold is temporarily out of stock. We are awaiting one missing colour which has been delayed, but all being well there should be lots more packs coming together in about ten days or so.

I am SO excited for this crochet-along journey, I know that I'll be more than ready to embrace these uplifting colours in the New Year and get stuck into some pretty floral inspired stripes. I love love love that there will be thousands of you joining me, isn't it a wonderful thought? All over the world there will be new Sungold blankets growing, it makes me so ridiculously happy just to think about it. So thank you again, our crochet community really is something special.

In my Sungold introduction post I mentioned that alongside my stripes there would also be the option to make a square blanket. This will be run as an alternative CAL in the "Hooked on Attic24" Facebook Group, and is being made at the moment by my crochet friend Kaz Hall. You can find more details about all of Kaz's crochet work on her Facebook page {Insomnia Crochet}, and I'll keep you updated about accessing the colour information for the squares when we get closer to the start of the CAL.

Kaz is really hooking up a storm and as you can see, her progress photos shared on social media this past week have been amazing. I am soooooooooooooooo excited about this blanket!!

As of today, this is where Kaz is up to.....oh my!! The COLOURS!!!!!!!!!!! I mean, I know I chose them, but seeing them like this puts a whole new delicious spin on the colour palette, it's utterly glorious. And now can you imagine what's going to happen when the greens and golds and reds start washing in on the diagonal....it's going to be spectacular. 

Remember that if you want to make this version of the Sungold blanket, you'll need the Sungold yarn pack (15 colours), plus an additional ball of Meadow and Violet (17 colours in total).

Now then, I've got some hot yarn news to share with you today, and it's all related to the above photo. Do you see all that glorious yarny colour, all One Hundred and Twenty balls of it? That's the new extended range of Create DK yarn, which is part of the Yarnsmiths range. And if you hadn't already heard of it, Yarnsmiths first launched in the summer of 2022 and is the in-house yarn brand belonging to Wool Wearhouse. You can see all the current yarns in their range ((here)).

The first set of yarns that Yarnsmiths worked on is called Create, and it comes in double knit, aran, chunky and super chunky weights. It's a premium acrylic yarn wound into 100g balls, very similar to our beloved Stylecraft Special DK.

Initially the Create DK range consisted of 44 shades, and as a good many of those were neutrals, there wasn't quite enough colour to really float my boat. However, a few weeks ago, there was an almighty big colour explosion and the Create DK range expanded to now boast a whopping 120 shades, and let me tell you they are beeeeeeautiful.

I was lucky enough to be gifted a full yarn peg set which came in its very own hand crafted wooden display box.

Do you want to see?

OK, let me show you the entire Create 120................

......ta-dah!!! Isn't that a sight for weary eyes?

These pegs have been meticulously made by Emily who runs an online Etsy shop selling them - you might have already heard of it, it's called Eliza and the Giraffe. She makes up yarn pegs for many of the most popular yarn ranges on the market, the ones with a focus on colour that are favoured by crocheters.

You have probably seen me faffing with my own yarn pegs many, many times here on the blog - they are one of my most valued "tools of the trade" as a designer. Did you know that I made my own set of Stylecraft yarn pegs way back in the day, long before I ever saw anybody else doing it? I do believe I pioneered the humble clothes peg/yarn sample idea - I made my first ones back in 2014 when I had my studio and was designing the Cosy stripe blanket for my very first crochet-along. You can read more about the way I personally use yarn pegs as an aid for colour planning and design in this archive post.

Anyhow......back to Create DK. The colours....oh, the COLoUrS! They are wonderful - still rather a lot of neutrals to be honest, but the vast yarny colour spectrum that Yarnsmiths have given us is a true delight.

And what about the yarn itself? Obviously this is a relatively new yarn and I haven't had the opportunity to work extensively with it just yet. But I can certainly give you my current opinion.

The first thing I noticed was the softness. As you can see in the above photo, Create yarn has a certain amount of surface floof which gives the yarn a very soft feel. It's not fluffy as such, but it's not what I would call a smooth yarn either. This means that it handles a little differently - I find it slightly slower to crochet with.

And it's definitely not a shiny yarn (which is a personal no-no for me), no, Create has a delightfully soft, matt look and feel to it which makes it feel cosy and warm. This is very noticeable in the finished crochet fabric as well as seeing/feeling it in the yarn ball.

The other thing I've noticed relates to the yarn strand itself - the ply of the yarn doesn't have quite the same twist as the Stylecraft Special. Less twist generally gives the yarn strand more "loft" which means it's a little airier in feel and appearance. You can see in the above photo, the difference in the ball sizes - both are 100g balls with the same yardage, but I would say that the Create feels a little plumper, simply because there is slightly more loft in the strands.

Now do please keep in mind that I am no expert on these things, and this is merely my observations and opinions as a yarn lover. And the differences are very slight. Take a look at the next photo......

....I took the two balls of Sage (Stylecraft) and Spearmint Green (Create) and laid out the yarn strands for you to see. In the above photo, the Stylecraft yarn is on the top, and the Create yarn on the bottom. There is very little difference to be honest, and in terms of the finished crochet these yarns produce, the gauge and feel of the crochet is very, very similar.

I had a little play with working up a sample of my new Sungold stitch pattern (shown above) and I really like the way it crocheted up in the Create yarn. It's got a slightly different feel to the Stylecraft Special, but I honestly can say that I like them both.

Now this wasn't planned, but during the past week I was chatting back and forth with Wool Warehouse and we decided to do something spontaneous and put together a Sungold yarn pack using Create DK yarn. I thought it might be a good opportunity to see how the colours can work together in an Attic24 blanket, and it also gives you (the worldwide hooking community) a chance to give this yarn a try if you are curious about it. I think having choices is always good.

You can find the Sungold Create yarn packs in my shop at Wool Warehouse (they are at a discounted price right now).

Here's the link >>

SUNGOLD CREATE DK YARN PACK

SO what does this mean for the Sungold CAL in January? Well, I'm making my own Sungold blanket in Stylecraft yarn as it's still my favourite. But if you are curious about the new Create yarn and want to give it a go, when the CAL begins I'll list both sets of colours for the stripes. I'll only be crocheting with the Stylecraft myself as that's my personal preference, but I want to make it easy for you if you wish to try out the Create. Does that make sense?

Coming back to the Sungold Harmony blanket that Kaz is making, remember I said you will need 17 colours for this version? Well if you are going to use the Create DK yarn pack, you will need to add in Grass Green and Dark Lavender as your two extras. Kaz will also be offering two charts in her version of the Sungold CAL, so you can easily choose between using Stylecraft Special DK or Yarnsmiths Create DK.

The Crochet-along begins in five weeks time, on Friday 5th January, so there's still time to gather in your chosen yarn and get ready to join in the fun.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

Slow November

Brrrrrrr, it's cold here in Atticland right now and dare I say it feels more like winter than autumn. We've had some hard frosts and this morning the first teeeeeny little flakes of snow swirled about in the wind.

It's mostly been wet and grey (of course it has, this seems to be the November default setting), but when the sun has decided to pay us a visit it has been glorious.

We walked through the woods on Saturday morning - 9.30 am in the above photos - and this is a surprise because not one but two teenage offspring were with us. It's rare that they are up and about this early on a weekend morning, and truly a very happy occurrence when they both decided to come out with us with no persuasion needed. Ok, yes there was the promise of breakfast in the café after our walk and Saturday market shop, but I do believe they weren't really bribed on this occasion. Totally of their own accord, I swear. 

The treetops are mostly bare now....

...but the wind was bringing down the remaining few leaves in a beautiful swirl of golden colour. I managed to catch one before it hit the ground and closed my eyes to make a wish, because that's a rule that can't be broken. Goodness knows what I must have looked like dancing around under the tree trying to catch a falling leaf, but I was so happy when I managed it. It's way harder than you would think. 

Reflections are still very much my thing, I just can't stop loving them. And trees reflected in water, well that's my second favourite type of reflection (clouds always have the number one spot).

An upside to the bareness of the branches in November is the sudden increase in light levels in the woodland. Usually this spot is very shady and so it's rather lovely to see The Huntress doing  a bit of sunbathing.

Saturday morning market shopping was great as always, and my best buy were hands down these kiwi fruits. You maybe can't tell the scale from the photo but they are petite, and my goodness the flavour was huge!!!! It's the first time I've ever tried red kiwis and they tasted of raspberries and kiwi mixed together - so sweet, I was in fruity heaven with these things. I wish I had bought more, and am keeping all fingers crossed for Wednesday because I shall be racing up into town and hoping to find them again.

No new flowers this week because as predicted my chrysanths are still looking amazingly good considering they are now a week old. I did dither around the fresh flowers in the supermarket today because they had parrot tulips in the reduced price bucket that looked amazing, and I was very tempted. In the end I walked away - but the regret is lingering. Parrot tulips (magenta ones), oh they were a bit special. 

I do have a pot of hyacinth bulbs on my mantel which I bought yesterday, and I'm sooooo so so so happy about it. I love having these in the home, and over the years it has become a favourite November ritual of mine. I still so clearly remember buying my first hyacinths for this house, November 2008. Fifteen years ago. 15. Fif-teen. WOW. Sometimes my blogging history blows my mind to pieces. I don't know the colour - pink or blue - so it's a bit like waiting for a Gender Reveal party to happen. I shall keep you posted.

A new cheap and cheerful little candle on my mantel, also a result of the weekend supermarket shop. The scent is Spiced Apple and Berry and it is delightful I have to say.

I also took delivery of some new wax melts from the Botanical Candle Company - I've gone for the scent named "Half Light" which is absolute perfection for this time of year.

The blurb (because I do love a good bit of descriptive blurb)>>

Half Light was made to bring back memories of a childhood spent studding oranges with cloves in the run-up to Christmas. The gentle sweetness of clementine is perfectly balanced by the resinous spice of clove to make a rounded, homely and familiar scent.

As I burn wax melts regularly next to my bed, a while ago I decided to buy some good quality non-toxic tea lights and I can highly recommend them. They are made from rapeseed oil (no paraffin or nasty chemicals) and burn slow and clean, plus they come in clear plastic cups which can be wiped out and popped into the household recycling. They are here on Amazon, if you burn tealights at home and want to switch to a cleaner alternative. And this is the ceramic burner I have, I love it.

I put my Big Blanket on the bed at the weekend too, it was time. Temperatures have been dropping to zero degrees at night, and we are forecast snow showers this week so the weather will remain chilly. This blanket is made from pure wool (it cost an absolute fortune to make), so it has a satisfying weightiness to it which is very comforting when you're pinned underneath it. I've actually slept really well the past few nights so perhaps I just needed to be immobilized a little.

I took this photo of my hill view today as I was walking down the road to the supermarket. I love the hillyness of where I live, it's a constant reminder wherever you are in the town that this is a rural community and the hills are (and always will be) bigger than the buildings.

I was working some more stripes on my Starbright blanket over the weekend, it's the perfect activity when the weather is cold. I really need to get the border pattern together to share, I keep forgetting to do it, especially with all the Sungold activity during this past week. I've been very busy on social media, it takes a lot of my time to keep up with all the platforms (my Facebook page, 3 different Attic24 Facebook groups, plus Instagram) but I do my best not to let it all slip slide. My apologies if you've reached the end of your v's and now want to add the border, I am prioritising that job for this week.

Thank you as always for calling in to read my rambles, I hope you're enjoying these cosy, shortening days as we move towards the Winter Solstice here in the Northern Hemisphere. And if you are upsidedown and heading towards summer, do tell me what you've been up to as your season heats up? In fact, lets have a global seasonal weather report in the comments, I'd love that! From me here in the north of England - mostly very cold and wet, with low digit temperatures and showers forecast for this week. Over to you........

 

EDIT >> THANK YOU so much for all the weather and activity reports from all over the world!! It's absolutely wonderful to read about where you all are, thank you!! I've loved the comments on this post so much, and I hope you've enjoyed reading and connecting too xxxx

 

Sungold Blanket :: Introduction

Morning, morning!! If you'd like to go and grab a Sungold yarn pack before coming back to read my blog post, click on the following link to go to Wool Warehouse :

♥ SUNGOLD YARN PACK ♥

Today I'm really excited to share the inspiration behind my latest blanket design which I've named SUNGOLD. As you can see from the photos I'm sharing, this a blanket inspired by flower-filled gardens. Not just any old ordinary back yards though, no, I've taken my inspiration from the type of gardens created and nurtured by skilled teams of horticulturalists. Picture the type of grand English gardens that have grown up around stately homes or the select gardens that've been created by horticultural societies to showcase the very best in garden design. 

I first came across our local Royal Horticultural Society garden when I was capturing photographic inspiration for my Sweet Pea blanket in 2018. RHS Harlow Carr near Harrogate in North Yorkshire has been a beautiful go-to place for me and my family ever since then, and during this past year we even had a members season ticket so we could visit as often as we wanted. It meant we got to see the garden in all four seasons, but my most favourite time of all has to be late Summer, hands down.

I'm a fairly recent newcomer to visiting big gardens, I think because I only have a teeny-tiny back yard I've never been particularly interested in seeking out grand garden design as inspiration. But flowers on the other hand, yes I've been a massive flower addict for pretty much all of my life. And late summer flower borders are nothing short of magnificent, so full of glorious colour glowing in that particular golden sunlight that comes in late August and early September.

Visiting these gardens full of floral colour never fails to leave me feeling happy and energised. And I can tell you that crocheting a blanket with these same colours has exactly the same effect, it's colour therapy that is seriously good for the soul.

Over the past few years I've taken hundreds of photographs of the famous flower borders at RHS Harlow Carr, and I used this collection of images to help me create the Sungold colour palette. The colours are rich and uplifting - joyful floral shades glowing with golden warmth. In late summer there is definitely a lot of heat in the floral colour palette - rich shades of gold, burnt orange and copper, deep reds and russets and the most beautiful rich purples and saturated pinks. And then there are the softer mauves and silvery greens too, creating an overall feeling of rich abundance, softened by golden sunlight.

The Sungold Blanket is going to be run as a crochet-along (CAL) and I like to think of it as me inviting you to come on a slow garden stroll with me, with the sun on our faces and the late summer borders in full bloom. If that sounds appealing, then read on and I'll tell you more about the yarn colours and new pattern I've designed for the Sungold CAL blanket.

 

 

For the Sungold blanket I've put together 15 shades of Stylecraft Yarns Special DK, and I absolutely love the way they look together. I wanted this colour palette to be a little dose of summer perfection - colours that remind me of a sunny afternoon strolling amongst brightly coloured flowers buzzing with bees.

 

 

Here are the fifteen shades of Stylecraft Special DK that make up the Sungold colour palette :

Top row :

♥ Lavender ♥  Proper Purple ♥  Plum ♥  Boysenberry ♥  Fuchsia Purple ♥

Middle row :

♥ Gold ♥ Tomato ♥ Copper ♥ Claret ♥ Magenta ♥

Bottom row :

♥ Dandelion ♥ Lime ♥ Lincoln ♥ Sage ♥ Cyprus ♥

You can find the Sungold yarn pack in my shop at Wool Warehouse, click on the following link... 

♥ SUNGOLD YARN PACK ♥

As you know, one of the things that I am very passionate about is designing blankets with simple patterns to encourage new crocheters to feel confident about embarking on a large project. I also like that my simplified designs are great for more experienced crocheters too - these stripes are designed to help you unwind and relax and enjoy the rhythmic and therapeutic nature of working easy rows of glorious colour without having to faff with difficult pattern reading.

 

It's actually harder than you might think to come up with new stripe patterns which use basic stitches in easy repeats, and I work very hard to keep it simple for you. For the Sungold, I've designed a really easy little lacy shell which creates these beautiful, curvy stripes, inspired by the shapes I see in the wide flower borders. Let me show you what I mean...

 

 

....can you see the soft, rounded shapes?

When perennial flowers are planted in abundant layers, they create a series of overlapping curves which I really love the look of.

 

The above photo shows my Sungold sample with the light shining through, which gives you a clearer idea of the very pretty pattern. It reminds me a little of the flowers as they grow in overlapping clumps in the border, well that's what my mind sees anyhow....I guess it doesn't really matter what the stitch configuration looks like, only that it all works together to create a super lovely stripe pattern for you to enjoy :)

 

This is an easy pattern to learn, and providing you can hold an even tension and crochet the basic stitches (a UK treble and double crochet), then this pattern is very achievable for newbie hooksters. You might need to practice working a row of treble crochet into a foundation chain, but I don't anticipate you having any problems learning this stitch pattern. There will of course be my usual full (and I mean FULL) photo tutorial to help you every step of the way, and I'm quietly confident that all of you will adore crocheting this new stripe. It's pure hooky pleasure.

 

In the photos above, I've shown the Sungold colours arranged in a very ordered "warm rainbow" (note the absence of blues in this colour palette, very unusual for me), but the CAL blanket is going to be worked as a mixed stripe.

 

 

By "mixed stripe", I mean that the fifteen colours are going to be mixed together in a harmonious way that resembles the pleasing mix you would see in a flower garden. 

 

 

The above stripe sampler gives you an idea of how stunning the Sungold colours look mixed together, and how rich and uplifting they are - sunshine and flowers, what more could you want?! The blanket is going to be stunning, I can just feel it in my bones.

However, if you prefer the look of the colours following the natural order of the colour wheel, then I'll also be creating a "colourwash" stripe for you to follow in the crochet-along if that's more your thing.

 

 

This year there is also a third option, and that involves making squares!

One of the Attic24 Facebook groups ("Hooked on Attic24") is going to be running an alternative Sungold CAL, offering a square design alongside my stripes. Talented crocheter Kaz Hall is creating a Sungold version of my Summer Harmony Blanket, and will be sharing the colour charts in weekly instalments as part of the Sungold CAL. We discussed the colours together and decided on adding Violet and Meadow to the 15 Sungold colours, making 17 in total.

As you can see from the photo, she's off to a flying start and we'll be sharing snippets of progress in the coming weeks. In my opinion, it's already looking absolutely gorgeous!

If making a Sungold Summer Harmony appeals to you, make sure to join the "Hooked on Attic24" Facebook group for all the details. You will also need to add Meadow and Violet to your basket when you pick up a Sungold yarn pack.

 

 

OK, lets talk about the CAL details now, just in case this is all new to you and it all seems a bit daunting. I promise you it's easy-peasy and crochet-alongs are a lot of fun.

Firstly there is no need to sign up for this CAL - it's all very relaxed here in the Attic so all you need to do is gather your yarn together and join in when the free pattern is released on Friday 5th January.

♥ The Attic24 SUNGOLD CAL will will run for 8 weeks in total, beginning on Friday 5th January - that'll be the day when the pattern will be published here on my blog and I'll give you all the information you need to get started. I'll then give weekly updates every Friday throughout January and February 2024 so that we can make the most of weekend hooky time.

♥ There will be a full picture tutorial here on my blog for the new Sungold stripe pattern. Weeks 1-6 I'll share the colour order for a set of stripes (around 15 each week). Week 7 will be a catch-up week (darn in those ends!), and the final week 8 will be all about the border.

♥ The SUNGOLD YARN PACK contains 15 x 100g balls of Stylecraft Special DK and is enough to make one blanket/throw. The blanket will measure approx. 120cm x 175cm. You will need two packs if you wish to make a larger/double bed size blanket. I'll give starting chain/pattern guidance for those of you wishing to make larger (or smaller) blankets. 

♥ There is no printed pattern included in this pack, all pattern info will be here on my blog, with updates every Friday throughout January and February 2024. 

♥ All CAL instalments (pattern and colour info) will remain FREE on my blog into the future so that it's there for you to access at a time that suits you. You don't have to squeeze your blanket journey into 8 weeks if you don't want to - take your time and work at your own pace.

♥ Something I often get asked - can you use your own colours, or use one of my other yarn packs and still join in with the CAL? The answer is YES, of course you can! I appreciate that many of you will probably already have yarn that you want to make use of, and I really look forward to seeing your creativity with stash busting. 

All in all, you've probably guessed that this is a relaxed crochet-along project and the main aim is for us all to enjoy crocheting together. It's such a lovely way to start the New Year, and I hope you'll look forward to it as much as I do.

Before I go, I just want to say how grateful I am for my continued partnership with the lovely folks at Wool Warehouse, they really are fabulous. We've been working together since 2014 and they are just the loveliest people, a true family business who genuinely care about their customers. And for full transparency, I do receive a commission for every Attic24 yarn pack sold through Wool Warehouse, so thank you ever so much for your support, I appreciate it more than I can say.

Well I think that's about all for now, and I hope these rich, sun-soaked colours have inspired you to plan a new blanket journey with me.....roll on January!!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

♥ SUNGOLD YARN PACK ♥

 

 

Designer of Blankets

Hello, my name is Lucy and I am a Designer of Blankets. They are my passion and my obsession, my creative spark and my relaxation therapy. And how absurdly wonderful it is that I get to live this colourful life of mine, and that designing blankets has become the thing that I do to thrive. 

Attic24 blog started over fifteen years ago and I was crocheting blankets right from the very start. Then six years later I met the owners of Wool Warehouse and that was when we began to create yarn packs together to sell online. It was (and still is) amazing to me that I could design blankets that other people would want to make for themselves. How amazing to share my ideas and inspire people all over the world to crochet blankets!

The above photo is an old one from my archives, I really should create an updated image with all my blankets included, that would be something to see. To date I have created twenty blanket designs using Stylecraft Yarns, each one having its own beautiful colour palette inspired by things I love. I have used colour to describe my enjoyment of the countryside and the English seasons - walks over hills, along woodland paths, through meadows and along the beach. There is also my love of flowers in those blankets too - sweet peas, hydrangeas, wild flowers, summer annuals, cottage gardens and dahlias. There is sooo much gorgeous colour inspiration to be found out there in every day life!

Over the past few weeks I've been thinking a lot about my crochet and the way things have evolved and grown over the years, evaluating where I'm at with it all, and what I might want to do next. I'm very proud of what I've achieved so far because I am passionate about spreading the joy of colourful crochet and inspiring people to find happiness in being creative.

A few days ago I was reading something online which reminded me of the British Knitting and Crochet Awards. Sadly they no longer happen but they ran every year from 2014-2022. I won my first award in 2016, and do you know, I won the title of "favourite crochet designer" for seven years running. As well as the crochet designer category, I also won the "favourite crochet blogger" category many times, and last year scooped the "best ready-to-make kits" award too. 

It's a funny thing winning awards because there is a part of me which pops champagne and dances with delight, but a bigger part of me which just wants to keep my head down and not be a show off.  Trumpet blowing is not my style. But all in all, I think it's safe to say that crocheting blankets has been a good thing for me. A very good thing.

Today I want to share some crochet which literally fell out of the Cupboard of Doom yesterday and landed at my feet. I was in that precarious cupboard trying to get to my yarn winder, and suddenly there was a colourful crochet avalanche happening.

These colourful bits of crochet represent the preparation I do in the weeks and months before I embark on a new blanket journey. A blanket doesn't just happen for me, no no, there is a lot that goes into the design process before I sit down to crochet the actual blanket itself.

For every blanket I've designed, I've crocheted up one of these colour palette samplers. I spend a really long time choosing the colours for a blanket and often this process happens over the course of many weeks. Once I think I'm pretty much there with my palette, I set about crocheting a little square for each colour. This gives me a chance to get a true "working" feel of how the colours want to play together and make sure everything is balancing properly. Sometimes at this stage I will make a last minute change, but that's quite rare - usually by the time I'm crocheting these squares, I'm living and breathing the colour palette day and night and it's giving me all the shivery excitement.  By the way, I did write up the pattern for these little solid squares if they appeal to you - here it is >> ((Solid Granny Square pattern))

The second stage in my preparation is shown above - these are long, skinny stripe samplers made using rows of double crochet, one row to represent each stripe. I've found this a great way to work out the final colour order for the stripes and although it's all extra work I really think it's worth me taking the time to do it. It means that by the time I come to crochet the actual blanket, I'm one hundred percent confident that the colours are going to look magnificent.

On the right are my two festive colourways - Yuletide and Starbright. It's the first time I've seen them together and I have to say I absolutely love love love them. 

Look!! ^^ don't they both glow with joyful Christmas spirit?! Both very different, and yet they both have my trademark colour signature. It's a hard thing to define, but I do think my colour palettes are very recognisable, aren't they? They simply glow with Attic24-ness!

And finally...this is the third stage of my preparation. These are the samples which showcase the colour palette combined with the stitch pattern. Before I get to this stage, make no mistake, I've already done a tonne of work to design the stitch pattern itself. I don't tend to look in books for stitch ideas, I prefer to work them straight out of my head, a bit like doodling or making notes, but using yarn and hook instead of paper and pen. I've got a massive messy box containing dozens and dozens of trial and error stitch samples made over the years. Loads of them. It takes a while to work through ideas and there is a lot of failure in this process. 

So by the time I'm making the above samples, well, I'm already beyond thrilled with the pattern and raring to get going on the blanket.

I love these samplers, I really do. I pour so much emotion into all my blanket designs that they are like an extension of my heart.

I don't have all my samples here because my earlier ones are packed away in storage from when I cleared out my studio during covid. But these are the ones pictured above, from left to right...

♥Dahlia ♥ Dune ♥ Aria ♥ Meadow ♥ Harbour ♥ Springfrost ♥ Starbright ♥ Sungold ♥

You probably recognise them all from seeing them here on my blog over the years.....except for that last one.

Sungold...........ooooooo, that's something new!

Please say hello to the Sungold blanket, well the beginning of the Sungold journey at least. This blanket is going to be my TENTH annual crochet-along which begins in January 2024. I've designed a very pretty stripe for these colours, a soft and curvy little shell pattern which has a light and slightly open look to it.

Do you like the colours, aren't they joyful?

The colour palette was inspired by my many visits to see the famous flower borders at RHS Harlow Carr. I wanted this colour palette to be a little dose of summer perfection - colours that remind me of a sunny afternoon strolling amongst brightly coloured flowers buzzing with bees. The Sungold colour palette is rich and uplifting - beautiful floral shades glowing with golden warmth.

Just look at it compared to this year's CAL blanket (the Springfrost), what a difference in temperature! From frosty chill to golden warmth, I love that these colours literally make you feel the seasons.

My Sungold blanket hasn't started yet because truthfully I'm still caught up in the Starbright. I'm working on the border design for the v-stitch this week because I know there are those of you waiting for it. But if you look at the above photo, you can spot the Sungold stripe sampler....

......here it is look ^^, just to give you a taste of how amazing the colours look together. I'm going to be making a mixed stripe blanket, but there will also be the option to work the Sungold stripes as a colourwash if you wish. Both versions will be given as part of the CAL in the New Year.

Yarn packs are coming very soon, next week in fact. Mark your calendars - Tuesday 21st November at 8am, my shop at Wool Warehouse will be buzzing with sunny Sungold vibes. Maybe you'd like to join me making this blanket along with our wonderful worldwide hooky community? I'd really like it if you did.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

 

 

And...Exhale

I was walking down the street this morning thinking about Blogtober and my recent contributions to life on the World Wide Web. I pondered on the fact that the gentle, daily routine of stringing together some words and photos can be so, so nurturing and fulfilling. After fifteen years I still love love love this blogging life I've created for myself. It feeds a need in me to connect, engage and inspire, but also it's a valuable way for me to empty my mind of visuals and thoughts so that I don't feel quite so congested in my brain. I can spill it all out onto this digital page and exhale with relief.

It's been a beautiful day here, and I really don't want to sound smug as I know the weather down south has been horrendous. But here in Yorkshire it's been all blue skies and sunshine and I have walked around soaking it in. Breathing out all the tension of the past months and reminding myself how to stand down from the high alert status I've been caught in of late.

Being Friday, my morning was spent at Coopers in the company of friends and my slowly growing Starbright stripes. I was sat next to my very good friend Samm today, and she's making a Starbright colourwash ripple, oh it's looking magnificent! I had a special little zip of joy seeing our two blankets side by side.

I'm being slow with these stripes because I keep getting distracted by other things. But I've got a weekend ahead with zero plans (which is the best feeling) so I'm going to make sure that I grab me some cosy hooky time.

Remember the one hundred foot chimney I showed you last week (Blogtober Day 27)? Well I took a photo of it from the other side today because it looked very picturesque in the Autumn sunshine.

This is an unusual spot (the chimney is just up and to the right of the above photo) because the canal is carried over the stream via an old aqueduct bridge. I often walk this way home from Coopers café - if I go up those stone steps, that's the canal tow path right there.

I took advantage of the weather and walked this afternoon, taking in all the glorious autumn colour and loving the gentle feel of the sun on my face.

I often take myself out and about, just for the pleasure of being outdoors and enjoying some slow, strolling steps along familiar routes. It's my therapy I guess, and really helps me to unwind and feel calm.

I walked along the canal to the supermarket to buy a few essentials that we'd run out of, and to treat myself to some fruit. I'll be going to the market in the morning to buy fruit and veg, but today I had an insane craving for tropical fruit - I guess not a bad craving to have. I bought passion fruits, persimmons and kiwis and when I got home I made myself a bowl of greek yoghurt with the fruits piled on top. Yummm.

The kitty has been in this position on the sofa allllll afternoon, and right now at 7.45pm she is still right there. She must be feeling very happy indeed because the fire is blazing (I'm sat right beside the hearth chatting to you today) and this room has reached the perfect cosy temperature. 

Today I have felt more like my normal self than I have done in quite a while, and my inner energy and spark is returning slowly but surely. I am quietly hopeful that November will be a month of healing and closure in many ways, and that thought is making me happy, like there is sunshine in my soul again. 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

 

Starbright Love

T-I-N-S-E-L!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! With S-T-A-R-S!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If there was ever a tinsel to make me fall head over heels in love, then this is it. Isn't it glorious?

You remember yesterday me showing you all the tinsel and garlands hanging up in John Lewis and me telling you I made a purchase? Lots of you guessed the felt star garland (and that was indeed lovely), but it was this perfect "Starbright" tinsel that I fell for. How could I not? The beautiful colours and the shimmery shininess caught my eye straight away and I instantly saw my Starbright colour palette right there....

...these are the colours of my childhood Christmases and that starry tinsel took me right back to those young years.

It's been a little over three weeks since I shared my Starbright blanket with the world, and I've been blown away by the response to the colours, the design and the yarn packs that I created with Wool Warehouse. Thank you so much for loving this blanket as much as I do, your comments all over social media have truly warmed my heart.

This week I've seen the first completed blankets being shared in the Facebook groups (details of the groups can be found at the end of this post). Yes, I did say Completed!!! There have been some very fast and happy hooksters blazing a Starbright trail and I've been so excited watching the progress unfold in their photos. Elizabeth J and Heather P - your ta-dah moments were such a thrill for me! Also a mention for Lou S who joined all her squares in record time and is onto the border now I think. Bravo ladies, such wonderful, bright and happy blankets now living their best blankety lives, spreading comfort and joy.

I thought that today I would share some inspirational Starbright photos with you, a celebration of the creativity, happiness and friendship which always surrounds my blankets. I hope you enjoy the visuals....

↑↑ Lou - this lovely lady really inspired a lot of people when she shared her idea for making the Starbright squares using a "production line" method. This is when you make all the round centres of the squares (so 81 in total), then you move on to crochet all of the round 3's, then all the round 4's etc etc. It means you get into a good rhythm because your hands and brain can just enjoy making the same rounds over and over until all 81 are complete, before they need to process and work the next stage.

But the genius thing that Lou did is shown above - she used a length of cord to thread her crochet onto, so that the squares were always kept in number order....my goodness, this is so simple, but so bloomin' clever too! I never would have thought to do it this way, but it makes perfect sense. It means you can follow my colour chart and keep everything in order right up to the joining bit.

↑↑ Clare was inspired by Lou and decided to work her Starbright squares in the same orderly way. She cleverly used a long circular knitting needle to thread her crochet onto so that they stayed in number order - brilliant thinking, and so practical.

↑↑ Patricia opted to make the v-stitch stripe and has really cracked on, doesn't it look great? She is up to stripe 67, so around two thirds complete.

↑↑ Liz decided to follow my stripe order for the colourwash version of the v-stitch, and is working through the final few colours. Another super-fast blanket coming very close to the finish line.

↑↑ Mandy has also been sharing progress of her colourwash Starbright, and I've really enjoyed seeing this grow. With each new colour added, the whole feel of the blanket changes.

↑↑ Debbie used the Seashell stripe pattern and made some gorgeous Starbright minis - a pram blanket and a doll blanket which look so bright and cheery with the colours ordered in this lovely repeat.

↑↑ Natasha went even mini-er!  Her delicate little doll blanket is super cute, I love it!

I've seen quite a few Starbright blankets growing as large squares and this is very exciting for me as I really wanted to try this out myself. 

↑↑ Ann is using my very popular Yuletide Square pattern, and following the ordered Starbright repeat that I shared in the ta-dah post. It's already looking really good and I'm excited to see more as it grows.

↑↑ Elizabeth is also making a Yuletide, but she's decided to follow the colourwash order. This is going to be amazing as it grows, because the colours are going to shift and change and "glow" as they pulse outwards. Exciting!

↑↑ Another Yuletide-Starbright combination (I think we are collectively calling is "Startide" in the Facebook groups), this one is a work in progress for Lindsay. It's delightful, I love it. 

↑↑ Jo has chosen to crochet the Starbright square but has gone LARGE!! By repeating round 7, you can grow the Starbright square and make it as big as you like. It's so nice to see and very evocative of Christmas for me - it's tinsel and baubles and all the happy festive things.

↑↑ Helen is doing the same large Starbright square but with her own choice of colours. This reminds me of May time - blossom and bluebells.

If you wish to go large with a Starbright square, you need to repeat round 7, but do remember to keep turning your work after every round (alternate between working on the right side and the wrong side) to keep the sides straight and stop any distortion/twisting.

I do always love to see alternative colours being used with my designs and find it very inspiring. You know I do always support stash busting, or choosing your own unique colours, so don't ever feel you have to exclusively use my yarn packs.

↑↑ Joanna is making a v-stitch stripe using up colours from her stash, with repeating cream stripes every third row. It's super effective adding a cream or neutral in between bright colours and gives a softer, gentler look ideal for baby blankets.

↑↑ Ally is doing a similar v-stitch with cream in between her colours. I didn't realise it at first, but the colours are from my Hydrangea yarn pack and the vintage feel of it is really appealing.

↑↑ Just look at these glorious Starbright squares made by Maya, aren't the colours lush? This is a stash bust project using up oddments of brightly coloured yarn and I love the playful look of them.

↑↑ Sarah is also making her very own version of Starbright with such a beautiful palette of colours. I came across this photo she shared on Instagram (her cat Louie is stealing the show somewhat, but he can be forgiven), and loved it at first sight. The colours remind me of old fashioned vintage eiderdowns and faded patchwork quilts. 

↑↑ And finally Anja - what more can I say except WOW!!!!! This is an absolutely stunning blanket in progress, showcasing the Starbright colour palette to perfection. The pattern is the Havana Afghan which uses the mosaic crochet technique - Anja, you've outdone yourself, I couldn't love it more. 

As I mentioned earlier, the Attic24 online crochet community is thriving and I absolutely love love love it. Instagram is as popular as ever and there are some wonderful crochet creators on that platform.

But I think the best community feels happen in the Facebook groups, especially around the times when I release a new blanket design. If you like using Facebook and aren't already joined in with the groups, you very welcome to join in over there. Currently there are three main Attic24 groups that I'm aware of, as well as a wonderful Dorset group who chat online and meet up in real life. These groups aren't run by me - they are managed by super teams of admins who keep everything running smoothly and I am so grateful to them all. Here are the links if you are interested in joining >>

Hooked on Attic24

Attic24 and Lots More Group UK

Just Attic24 Friends

Friends of Attic24 Dorset

If you wish to join it's very straightforward, but do please remember to answer the questions at the start otherwise the admins won't be able to accept your join request.

I hope you've enjoyed today's post, it's been fun for me putting it together. More regular Blogtober content will resume tomorrow xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

★ STARBRIGHT BLANKET TA-DAH

★ STARBRIGHT YARN PACK

 

 

The Starbright Blanket :: Ta-dah!

Good morning! If you want to go and grab a Starbright yarn pack, here is the link to Wool Warehouse >>

STARBRIGHT YARN PACK 

And if you're after the free pattern and photo tutorial, here is the link to it (it's in my sidebar listed in alphabetical order)

STARBRIGHT BLANKET TUTORIAL

Please do read on if you'd like to find out more about the blanket design and drink in lots of colour!

Hellooooo, and thank you so much for being here to share this merry and bright Ta-dah occasion with me. I love to chat to you about the creative things that have been occupying my time, especially if there is a tangible source of inspiration behind the colour palette I've been immersed in. You can be sure that by the time you read my ta-dah posts, I've been obsessively designing and crocheting with these colours for many, many months - this particular colour palette has been jigging about inside my mind for more than a year now.

As you can see above, I gathered together some photos to give you an idea of the colour inspiration behind the Starbright blanket. I dreamed of a blanket inspired by those delicious weeks in December when decorations and twinkly lights take centre stage. I began to think a lot about the excitement of it all, about those nostalgic, child-like feelings that always surface when the month of December comes around and you realise all of a sudden that Christmas isn't too far away. It's everything I love about the festive season - the lights, decorations and bright colours which bring so much joy into the house. With these nostalgic feelings in mind, I chose colours that celebrate the winter season in the most joyful way I could think of. 

A lot of my inspiration for Starbright came from my own childhood memories and so there wasn't anything that I could photograph or look at. Memories of the old christmas decorations that would be unpacked year after year after year. The mismatched collections of baubles and the fairy lights with their brightly coloured plastic flowery petals. Strings of foil garlands which pulled out in a concertina of intricate folds and cuts, and brightly coloured foil stars which hung from lampshades and shelves. And a big round tin of colourful foil wrapped Quality Street chocolates (always a highly anticipated gift from my Grandad).

In the town where I grew up, every shop along the high street would display a small living christmas tree above the upper storey window, strung with brightly lit, multi coloured festoon lights. I LOVED those lights - I don't think trees are decorated like this any more, but the lights were always so bright and colourful due to the large bulbs. It meant that walking or driving through the town in the weeks leading up to Christmas was incredibly joyful, oh, I can still picture it so clearly in my mind and I absolutely adored it.

My idea for the Starbright colour palette was to create a background of deep blues as a nod to the dark winter skies, then light up those blues with all the bright shades that exist in my memory of childhood Christmases.

Lights in the dark if you like. 

You can see my colours here - heavy on the blues because I wanted that feeling of cosy nights and clear starry skies. I added in some greens for the evergreens and trees that we associate with christmas, and then a handful of festive brights to really bring the whole idea to life. Taking these rich, bright shades and setting them against the deep blues of a starry night sky makes this a blanket full of Winter Magic.

As is usual for my blankets, I've chose fifteen shades of Stylecraft Special DK for my Starbright blanket

Top row :

♥ Gold ♥  Magenta ♥  Fuchsia Purple ♥  Pomegranate ♥  Lipstick ♥

Middle row :

♥ Apple ♥ Kelly Green ♥ Empire ♥ Teal ♥ Bottle ♥

Bottom row :

♥ Turquoise ♥ Aster ♥  Lapis ♥ Lobelia ♥ French Navy ♥

You can find the Starbright yarn pack in my shop at Wool Warehouse, click on the following link...

STARBRIGHT YARN PACK 

There is a whole backstory to the Starbright blanket design which I won't bore you with - suffice to say I went through a LOT of failure to get to the blanket that I'm showing you today. Stacks of samples and partly made and abandoned squares. A whole ginormous, massive HEAP of really wrong colour decisions resulting in three months of work being thrown in the bin (literally - the whole lot went in the kitchen bin). I started again from scratch with a fresh bag of yarn - the above photo was taken on 22nd July on the first day of our summer holiday in Northumberland when I was just about to start Starbright V2.

I'm very happy with the square pattern I designed -  a star in the centre, radiating out into simple v-stitch rounds. I wanted the square to have something of a vintage bauble look, and the zig-zag of the v-stitch reminds me of those concertina foil garlands, do you know the ones I mean?

I planned to start each square with a jolly bright centre and finish with some of the darker blue shades - I was trying to create something that described lights shining out into the dark.

The above plate was my summer holiday crochet - eighty one little starry centres.

The stars soon turned into baubles.....

....and on through the weeks of summer I turned the baubles into colourful squares.

The above photo shows the squares with the first three colours complete (there are 6 colours for each square).

I really, really love seeing a blanket journey evolve like this, it's such a thrill to have this idea inside my head and to witness it literally come to life in front of my eyes.

You'll notice that at this point, all the squares are very colourful as I've kept the darker blues to be used in the outer rounds.

The squares continued to grow....

.....and grow.....

....and grow, until they were at the stage where they were ready to join.

Now this is where the hard work really starts - it's really hard to explain to you just how difficult this process can be, and what a humongous amount of concentration and creative vision it takes to make these colour decisions on the fly.

Using the join-as-you-go method means that I need to try and imagine what the joining colours are going to look like before I actually make them. I also need to do things like make sure I use each colour an equal number of times, and separate squares that are too samey...so many decisions to make. My method is to use the floor, and make little yarn twists to represent the colour of the joining round. I place the yarn twists alongside each square, trying to balance the colour placement, and making sure that I can visualise them working. It's hard! Reeeeeeally hard!!

But I go forth with confidence, joining, joining, joining, and hoping and praying that it's going to look as good in real life as it does inside my head.

I work out from the centre because I'm trying to move the joining rounds from light to dark. Lighter in the centre and radiating out to the darker blues and greens around the outside.

The kitty oversees all decision making and work in progress, testing the quality of my workmanship at all times.

It's worth mentioning that it's inevitable that I make colour mistakes with this process, and so I leave all my joining tail ends dangling in case I need to perform surgery. I think I frogged out four squares in total, removing them completely, remaking them with better colours and then joining them back in again.

Finally, I had joined all 81 squares (they are arranged in a 9 x 9 format for this blanket) and began the task of darning in those dangling ends. Luckily for me I was at the café with friends while I tackled this bit so it wasn't too painful, but in normal circumstances crocheting a square blanket, I would always, always darn my ends in as I go.

I LOVE the join-as-you-go method and have used it in most of my square blanket designs. It's so neat and means that the blanket comes together pretty quickly.

So shall I give you a few numbers to roll around in your mind?

81 squares in total. 

6 colours in each square. No two squares are the same, they are all different.

That makes 486 colour decisions in these squares......and I am SO PROUD of it!!!!!

The border keeps the v-stitch design and is worked in the darker shades of blues and greens. This creates a  grounding framework around the squares and settles the whole design down a bit - those squares are pretty rowdy and shouty and need a bit of calming.

The little red border at the end was a last minute decision and I love the way it adds a final zing of joyful spirit.

Ahhhh.........it really is more than a little bit lovely.

As always, as soon as I darned in the last end, the blanket was put into use. My blankets don't get folded up and put away, no, no, they get to become a part of family life right from the start. It quickly became a firm favourite with the Little People and I can't tell you how happy it makes me when I see my blankets being used and loved by my family.

Oh - I took this photo yesterday and wanted to show you - I held my blanket up to the window to let the light shine through to highlight the stitch pattern. Isn't it lovely? I really like how the stars look like they are shining.

Miss Tilly didn't wait a second to road test the newly completed blanket - she was literally on it in an instant, as soon as it touched down on the sofa. I love the way cats just assume you are spreading out a blanket for their personal comfort and use. That look on her face that says well of course you made this just for me, I expect nothing less!

I want to show you how the whole blanket looks now, so you can see the play of light and dark, and the shine of the colours out from the centre.....

............TA-DAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am immensely proud of this blanket, it has proven to be a real challenge for me with my depleted concentration levels and not an easy make by any means. I mean, the actual crochet bit was easy-peasy, but the endless decision making was not. 

But just look at it - isn't it a beauty??

I honestly adore it, and part of me can't believe I actually designed and made it. I did it! And I love it and I'm so bloomin' proud of it.

So. STARBRIGHT. It's done and I love it, and now I'd love you to love it too.

There is of course the yarn pack which contains 15 balls of yarn as well as a 12 page A4 printed pattern.

STARBRIGHT YARN PACK AND PRINTED PATTERN

You will need a 4mm hook as standard, but you can go bigger or smaller if you know your crochet tension. I think this pattern looks and feels better if it's kept on the tighter side.

The join-as-you-go method is written into the printed pattern, but there is also a full photo tutorial here on my blog to help you along with it.

STARBRIGHT TUTORIAL

I often get asked if my patterns are suitable for beginners, and with Starbright I'd say that yes, it's a good one for adventurous beginners to try. The actual stitches are easy (mostly just UK trebles and chains), but you do need to be able to hold a good, even tension, and you do need to concentrate with making squares!

And then of course we have the ends to deal with. Please don't groan......darning in ends is all part of the blanket making journey, and I'd really like you to adjust your mindset when it comes to tucking those ends away. Think of it like this - you are darning love into your blanket with every colour change, and ensuring that it becomes an heirloom that will stand the test of time. My method is to darn as soon as I snip, NO EXCUSES. Scissors and needle stay together, and as soon as I cut that yarn, I thread it straight onto my needle and darn. it takes just a few seconds. Seconds. It's not an endless, thankless task if you do it this way.

STARBRIGHT STRIPES

Now I know that not everyone loves squares like I do, and some of you would prefer to work on a striped blanket where you have an easy run of it up and down those long rows. I hear you - I love the ease of stripes too, and the way that they provide a really therapeutic and mindful crochet experience. So last week I worked up a sampler to see how these bright winter colours would look as a stripe. OH. MY. GOODNESS. I hadn't been expecting to fall head over heels in love, but unexpectedly it happened.

I knew as soon as I took the above photo that I would be making my own striped blanket. I mean look.......

......WOW!!!!! This is my skinny sampler which has 105 rows. It's how I like to sample a stripe blanket so that I know for sure the colours are going to balance and play nice with each other.

It's safe to say that these colours together are powerful - this is going to be a power-stripe! It's rich and vibrant and joyful, if a little bit on the boisterous side. Gosh, I do love it.

I started out on my next blanket journey as soon as I'd finished my sampler, I couldn't wait to get going.

I'm using the same v-stitch as I used for the Starbright squares and the border - it's a simple v-stitch which is compact and doesn't have chain spaces, so it makes a nice dense crochet fabric. I'm working two rows of colour for each stripe so it's not quite so zig-zaggy, but half the number of ends to darn in. I just couldn't face one-row stripes.

This pattern is very, very, very easy, so there won't be a photo tutorial for it, just the written pattern. Of course you don't have to use the v-stitch if you don't want to. I have twelve other stripe patterns to choose from, so if stripes are calling to you, then choose whichever pattern pleases you the most.

Click on the following link for the V-stitch pattern >>

V-STITCH PATTERN

The graphic below shows the 105 stripes I made in my sampler, it really is going to make a glorious blanket. 

Now depending on which stripe pattern you choose, each pattern will have a different number of stripes (because the height of each stripe pattern varies). I'm going to aim for 99 stripes for my v-stitch to make my blanket 175cm long. You can choose to make as many stripes as you have yarn for, in whichever pattern tickles your fancy.

Here is a run down of my stripe patterns, and the suggested number of stripes to make a 6ft length.

♥ Starbright v-stitch :: 99 stripes

♥ Neat Wave :: 115 stripes (as used in the Moorland Blanket)

♥ Woodland Ripple :: 105 stripes 

♥ Seashell Stripe :: 100 stripes (as used in the Dune blanket)

♥ Spike Stitch :: 99 stripes (as used in the Dahlia blanket)

♥ Springfrost Stripe :: 95 stripes

♥ Cosy Stripe :: 90 stripes

♥ Granny Stripe :: 90 stripes

♥ Meadow Stripe :: 90 stripes

♥ Hydrangea Stripe :: 88 stripes

♥ Neat Ripple :: 84 stripes

♥ Easy Eyelet Ripple :: 84 stripes (as used in the Harbour blanket)

♥ Trellis Stripe :: 84 stripes (as used in the Sweet Pea blanket)

I hope this pattern/stripe info is helpful - all patterns (including starting chains etc) are in my sidebar in the usual place, I expect you will already be familiar with many of them and will have a favourite.

I made a worksheet for you so that you have the exact colour order that I'm using for my stripes. Click on the following link to download/print.

STARBRIGHT STRIPE WORKSHEET 

There are 105 stripes listed on the worksheet, but obviously depending on which pattern you choose, do remember to stop when your blanket reaches the length that you want!

The other thing I've done is make up a sampler with the Starbright colours ordered into a sequence which loosely follows the colour wheel. I think this repeating stripe would make a fantastic blanket and if you like the look of it, here is the order (from bottom to top) :

1. Aster
2. Turquoise
3. Empire
4. Bottle
5. Kelly Green
6. Apple
7. Gold
8. Magenta
9. Pomegranate
10. Fuchsia Purple
11. Lipstick
12. Lapis
13. French Navy
14. Teal
15. Lobelia

You can see how different the same fifteen colours can look when they are ordered differently. I much prefer the higgeldy-piggeldy energised version on the left, but I can also see the appeal of the calmer, more ordered colourwash version on the right.

If you like the idea of making a colourwash blanket, I created a worksheet for that too. It has 99 stripes, so would be suitable for a shorter stitch pattern like the v-stitch, or the seashell (Dune) or Springfrost stripes would also work well.

STARBRIGHT COLOURWASH WORKSHEET 

Well, I think that's all for now. Thank you so much for reading all about Starbright, I hope you enjoyed the colourful visuals and a little peek into my creative working process.

STARBRIGHT YARN PACK

STARBRIGHT TUTORIAL

V-STITCH PATTERN

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

 

 

Little Zippy Bags :: Ta-dah!

Aren't zippers amazing little things when you actually stop and think about it? While I've been making these bags I've been zipping the cute little coloured zips back and forth and really appreciating their cleverness and usefulness. I haven't made many things with zips really, because sewing them into fabric (or crochet) always seems to be an overly complicated affair and just a step too far. That is why, when I hit on the idea of using a ready-made zippered bag, it seemed like such a GrEaT idea! Crocheting around the bag so that the zip is already inserted AND you have a ready made canvas liner.....well my goodness, that just sounds like loads of crochet fun waiting to happen without any of the sewing stress.

I think I mentioned before, I bought a pack of these small canvas pouches a few months ago. So when I had the idea to crochet around them, I already had everything I needed to jump in and try it out while the inspiration was hot and my Creative Mind wanted to explode with excitement.

The bags measure 21 x 12 cm (pencil case or make-up bag size) and I adore the different coloured zippers. I got them on Amazon - there are loads of different listings for them, but these ones are similar ((HERE)).

I decided to use Ricorumi DK and I love this cotton yarn for decorative projects. It comes in dinky little 25g balls, so you can really have a good load of colour play going on for an affordable amount of money.

My method of attaching the crochet to the bag starts with this ↑↑ a line of  chain stitches worked directly into the zipper with a sharp Chenille needle. It's a neat idea because the chains are spaced to simulate a crochet foundation chain all around the zipper, and can be crocheted into very easily....

......do you see? That's a round of double crochet worked into the stitched chain to form the beginnings of a stripe-fest.

I worked rounds of double crochet in back loops only to give a lovely surface texture.

The rounds are worked upwards, but also inside out.....eventually you will flip the crochet back down.....

....so that the right side is showing and the stripes completely cover up the canvas from the top down.

Wheeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

It's LOADS of fun playing with colours, and I love the slightly crazy clash of it all.

There are 26 little rounds in total, and because this is only a small thing and not a giant blanket, they whizz off your hook in no time. In my tutorial I teach you how to create an invisible join at the end of each round so that the whole thing is seamless, it really is neat.

Me being me, I couldn't resist a little added floral decoration....

....so I made a Polyanthus flower, a baby flower with a little French knot centre and a couple of leaves.

Oh, and as a little bougie extra, I also added a slender tassel to the zip.

Ta-dah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh, my heart fell hard for this little stripy bag!

The one pictured behind with the turquoise zipper followed immediately after the first one, I was deep into obsessional territory by this point. I started the second one in exactly the same way, but the stripes are made with half trebles worked into the spaces between stitches which give a wider stripe but keep the dense kind of look.

On Monday I decided to try out this pattern with my extensive stash of Stylecraft Special DK, just to see how it compared to the cotton. These small balls are all leftovers from making my blankets and they make a wonderful working colour palette for stash-busting projects.

I used some fresh floral shades of SSDK and really love how it turned out.

I added a layered flower for a bit of extra something-something (I used my Triple Layer flower pattern, but only made two layers instead of three). Actually I think the stripes on their own are enough, but I just can't seem to stop myself with the flower thing.

The inside of these canvas pouches are little bit primitive because the edges of the zips aren't concealed inside, and the overlocked seams of the canvas are also visible. But I don't really think it matters too much, and they are certainly practical little  bags for storing your crochet hooks and bits and bobs, or for holding small things. I'm currently using one to keep tissues, paracetamol and a lip balm in my everyday rucksack which I use in place of a handbag (It's THIS one, in case you wanted to picture it)

Comparing these two finished bags (SSDK acrylic yarn on the top, and Ricorumi cotton yarn on the bottom), I have to say I prefer the look and feel of the cotton. I think the texture is very pleasing and I think it would be more hard wearing too. But as so many of you have probably got leftovers of Stylecraft Special tucked away, then honestly there is no need to purchase cotton - use the stash you have! Each stripe of SSDK only uses ONE GRAM of yarn, so less than 30g for the whole bag.

Do you feel inspired? Would you like to give this a try? Be warned....they are very addictive little things, and real time stealers too. You won't be able to step away once you get whizzing along on those stripes!

As promised, I've made a  full photo tutorial to show you step by step how to go about this project. It includes links to the canvas bags and other bits you'll need, I hope I've managed to explain myself OK.

The tutorial is free to use, and you can find it in the left hand sidebar list as usual. The following link will take you there >>

♥ ZIPPY BAG TUTORAL ♥

Well that's all from me for now - I'd love to hear what you think of this project and I hope if you give it a go that you enjoy the creative process. Happy hooking!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

♥ ZIPPY BAG TUTORAL ♥

 

 

Away and Back

Hello, hello, hello, I'm baaaaack!!! Maybe you didn't even know I'd been away, but I did indeed journey far away from the Attic (1526 miles to be precise) and now I'm home again trying to navigate myself gently back into normal life. Did I tell you I was going to Madeira? I think I might have mentioned it in passing - I was teaching a crochet retreat with Stitchtopia and it was absolutely, utterly and completely wonderful. Oh, I LOVED my week in Madeira, it's such a lush and beautiful island with a sub tropical climate and the sunny warmth did me a lot of good. The above scene was part of the expansive vista out of my floor to ceiling bedroom window, and I snapped that photo on my first morning....imagine lying in bed and waking up to that view, it was honestly the loveliest thing. 

Me being me, I took a ridiculous number of photographs during my week flouncing around that beautiful island. I just had a look and did a quick count - 369 images, seriously, I need to get a grip. I'll try and get them into some sort of order and work out the best way to share my Madeira experience with you. I have so much I want you to see!

Three and a half days out of the week were workshop days, and I was teaching a crochet project to a group of fifteen lovely ladies. I created a bespoke yarn kit and designed something brand new, but I'm going to wait and show it to you a bit later in the year. The reason being, I have a second group of ladies coming to Madeira with me in September and I don't want to spoil the surprise for them. I feel it's OK to show you some of the touristy outdoor things we did, but I do want to keep the crochet element under wraps for now. Suffice to say, it all went really well and the feedback I received from the ladies was glowing so I feel like I did a pretty good job. I was reminded what a privilege it is to be able pass on knowledge and inspiration, it's truly my passion to inspire creativity and share my love of colour. How lucky I am.

I arrived back home last Thursday night after a long travel stint - a coach, a plane and three trains which was roughly twelve hours on the move. Oh, I was missed it seems! My Little People were so happy to have me back and I got the biggest hugs when I stumbled in through the door. The kitty was waiting for me too, and J of course, yes, I think he was VeRy pleased to have me back and be relieved of domestic duties. He does a terrific job when I'm away, combining his high tech professional  world with additional cooking, shopping, laundry and the general parenting stuff required for a school age child. I'm very grateful I have to say.

I found I was quite tired for a few days after all that excitement and travelling, so I spent my weekend pottering around quietly, seeking out pockets of stillness and calm. Apparently it rained a lot during the week I was away and my sweet peas seemed to suddenly come alive. I'm only picking small handfuls, but they are so precious and fragrant. 

I like to put them in a little jug or small glass bottle and then I can move them around the room with me so that I catch the scent wherever I happen to be sitting. A divine summer pleasure.

I enjoyed reconnecting with my little patch of home turf at the weekend, even though it's been pretty grey and wet for a lot of it. We strolled around town, visited the market, walked along the canal, through the park and I took time to appreciate the visuals of my daily life. Sunflowers in painted pots on top of a narrowboat roof - I do live in a really pretty place.

I snapped the above visual for my Instagram stories on Sunday morning as I was waiting for the barista to froth up my cappuccino. I absolutely love going out for coffee, did you know that about me already (??!! kidding, of course you knew, I tell you often enough). A Sunday morning coffee always feels just that extra bit special to me, it's a slower pace with more time to sit and sip and chat with the fam (J and Little B with me on this occasion). We shared some cinnamon swirl pastries and it felt indulgent and pleasurable and just down right lovely.

I'm taking time to make nourishing food for myself this week after an awful lot of indulgence while I was away. Hotel food, what can I say? It was abundant, tempting, full of variety and extremely hard to be moderate really. I ate and drank a lot more than I'm used to and now I'm trying to regain some sort of balance - I'm enjoying it actually, and enjoying cooking again too after the luxury of not having to do it for a week.

Yesterday was damp and humid and as J and I both have Mondays free from work, we drove to Bolton Abbey to walk along the river.

The riverbanks are a wild, tangled mass of tall summer grasses and wild flowers at the moment and it's such a joy to see. There were masses of these glorious purply-blue flowers (Meadow Cranesbill) which are so pretty - that violet colour is stunning.

On Sunday afternoon something very rare occurred. VERY rare indeed. Shall I tell you? Well, I was here in the house pottering about and suddenly realised that the house was unusually quiet and for the first time in a very long while I was all alone. The big two kiddos were away at a muddy music festival, and J had taken Little B to go and play pool, so it was just me and the kitty in a silent house.

Peace. Solitude. Space.

I was lost for a while, wandered up and down the stairs a few times, folded a pile of laundry, ate a banana, talked to the kitty and then suddenly out of nowhere I was hit with an overwhelming desire to create. I dug into the Cupboard of Doom, pulled out my stash of Ricorumi cottons, and pulled together a spontaneous bright summer colour palette. I had this idea I wanted to try out, something that I'd been thinking about for a while, and a quiet Sunday afternoon seemed like the perfect time....

....can you see what I'm up to? I've had this stack of plain canvas zipper pouches for a while, I bought them a few months ago with the idea to crochet little flowers and things to appliqué onto the front. But somewhere along the line I changed my mind and thought about trying to cover all of the canvas with crochet stripes. I had a play, and with some trial and error I eventually worked out a way to crochet into the zipper at the top, then build my stripes downwards. 

Oh. My. Goodness. Such fun!! Such colourful, stripy, happy, creative hooky fun! It's been a long, long time since I felt this overwhelming urge to design and create just for the joy of it, and I can't tell you how good it feels to have my spark back.

This is as far as I got on Sunday, but today is Tuesday and I've since finished the first pouch and started making a second one so that I could photograph the process for a tutorial. I'm excited about this crazy little project, and I'm excited that I'm excited, if you see what I mean. For a lot of this year I've felt like my spark might never return which had me all kinds of worried.

Anyhow.....I've got a busy few days ahead because we're off on a little holiday on Friday and I want to try and write about Madeira before I go while it's still fresh in my mind. But I'll  see if I can manage to create a photo tutorial for this crochet zipper pouch idea - if I can't make it happen this week, then definitely when I come home from my jolly.

Well I think that's about all my news for now, thanks as always for calling in for a catch up. Life's good, isn't it?

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

 

 

 

Hooky Retreats

Well today I have something lovely to share, and I hope I can do so without getting too ridiculously over excited.  It's not often that I set out to "promote" myself but I do like to chat to you openly about things that are happening in my life and the joys that come my way as a result of me putting myself out there on the World Wide Web.

You may remember me writing about teaching a crochet retreat in the south of France back in October? I shared my trip to beautiful Carcassonne on my blog, and if you missed it here are the links >>

((Carcassonne Part 1))  and ((Carcassonne Part 2))

It was a wonderful experience that will be forever in my memory.

Carcassonne was actually my third Stitchtopia retreat as I was lucky enough to teach my first two in 2019 when I went to stay in a chateau in the French Alpes. I know, it sounds ridiculously dreamy and so far removed from my rather mundane and humble life here in North Yorkshire, doesn't it? 

I was looking back through my blog archives yesterday and realised sadly that I didn't get round to writing about the chateau retreat. I can't remember the reason why it slipped through the net, but I thought I'd share just a few photos with you today. I based my workshop around mandalas, and used them to teach some elements of colour theory. I created a bespoke yarn kit especially for the retreat, along with three new mandala patterns. The crochet in the above photo used my simple granny mandala pattern, designed as an easy way to experiment with using the colour wheel and learning about hot and cold colour combinations.

I also designed a decorative mandala which could be crocheted onto a small hoop, with some fun dingly dangly bits to add a bit of extra detail. I named this one the Daydream Mandala.

And finally, the third design encouraged the guests to plan their own harmonious colourways for a much larger 30cm mandala hoop. I named this one the Chateau mandala. It was brilliant fun to teach these projects with some practical colour theory lessons to help with planning projects and creating harmonious colour sequences. And I'm sure you'll agree, the finished mandalas look absolutely stunning.

Spending a week on a crochet retreat isn't all about hook and yarn though, as there are excursions and day trips planned into the itinerary. I LOVED going out and about just as much as I loved the crochet time and found it really inspirational.

One of the things I appreciated about going on this kind of trip was the complete relaxation of it all. Everything is organised so well, and we had a fabulous English tour guide with us at all times so that we felt very well looked after. Some ladies came in pairs (two best friends for example, or Mum and daughter) but most ladies come on their own, knowing that they'll will be with like minded souls who share their love of yarn and crochet. It's such a friendly, inspiring and sociable type of holiday experience, and I can highly recommend it.

This year I'm going to be teaching two more retreats on the sunny Portuguese island of Madeira, and I absolutely can't wait. The first trip is next month and I'm busy preparing the kits and working on the pattern and colour lessons for the project I'll be teaching.

When these retreats were announced in January they sold out very quickly and I didn't even get a chance to tell you about them here first! So when we began planning my next set of retreats for 2024 I decided that I really wanted to announce it here on my blog first so that any of you who fancy coming would have a chance to investigate before the Sold Out sign goes up.

Would you like to see where I'm going next year?

I'm veeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeery excited!!!!!!!!

The first trip of 2024 will be at the very end of June and will take me to Portugal. This is a twin-centre holiday with an amazing itinerary, I mean - Lisbon and Porto - both stunning cities that have been sitting on my must-visit list for a long time. 

The Portugal retreat is now open for bookings and you can find out all the details and dates etc by clicking on the following link >>

https://www.arenatravel.com/holiday/portugal-crochet-retreat

My second trip of 2024 will be in September and I can hardly believe this, but I will be going to Morocco. Yes, Morocco!  This retreat hasn't gone on sale yet but I think it'll be coming up soon. Here is the official blurb I've been given, just so you have an idea of what it'll be like >>

"Lucy, crochet designer and blogger at Attic24, invites you to join her on this 2-centre holiday in Morocco. Experience the rich culture of Morocco as you explore the imperial city of Marrakech and the coastal port town of Essaouira. Accompanied by a local guide throughout, enjoy discovering architectural treasures, spice-filled souks bursting with vibrant colours and enchanting gardens. Stay in the charming 4-star Riad Baraka and Karam in Marrakech and the 5-star Le Medina in Essaouira and enjoy a series of crochet workshops with Lucy and leave with plenty of colourful inspiration."

The lovely folks at Arena Travel who help customers with their bookings asked me to give out their telephone number, just in case you wanted more details about the Portugal retreat, or if you'd like to pre-register interest for the Morocco retreat.

The number is 01473 357036.  

I hope you'll forgive the salesy nature of this blog post, I feel a bit uncomfortable doing any kind of sales pitch here in my lovely Attic space. But these retreats are important to me and as you know I am passionate about sharing my love of crochet and colour.

Thank you for always supporting me, I do appreciate it very much. Normal day-to-day blogging will resume in the next day or two, I've got buttercups to wow you with......I know you'll be on the edge of your seat wating for such thrilling content ;)

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

ps.......almost forgot to mention.....there is also a UK Attic24/Stitchtopia retreat in the planning for 2024, it'll be a 3 night long weekend kind of thing. I'll give you details as soon as it's all finalised x