Attic24

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?

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Joyful June

We are almost at the end of this early summer month and hand on heart it has been an utter dream. The weather - ohhhh - the WeAtHer!!!! It has been perfectly perfect, really hot and sunny and light and bright. And then after a good few weeks of parched dryness we had some terrific summer storms with giant claps of thunder which shook the whole house, and I mean literally, the house ((shook)). It was quite scary at the time, possibly the loudest thunder I have ever heard in my entire life. We've also had some wild downpours, bringing us the most lush smell of summer rain on dry ground. I've loved it, the heat and the sun and the rain and the smell of it all, it has made me so bloomin' happy.

We've still been trying to get out and walk every morning at 7am, but these past few weeks it's been harder than usual for us to wake up in time. I think it's because J and I both suffer from hayfever and the pollen has been very high in this hot, humid weather. The first weeks of hayfever season do kind of knock the wind from your sails and we've both felt unusually tired even though we've been sleeping very well.

But on the mornings when we are up and out, it is so, so beautiful in the woodland in June, the greenery is in full tilt and the slant of sunshine through the leafy trees makes my heart sing.  

These long, hot golden days have drawn me out in the evenings too, even though honestly I've had so little energy to spare. Little Lady often pulls me from my slump on the sofa and I can't resist when she is so keen to have my company.

I mean, eight o'clock in the evening and it looks like this ↑↑ - I would give anything to experience this in midwinter! So outside I go, making the most of these deliciously long, bright summer evenings.

Summer views out over the town as we stroll home from the woodland, gosh, I do feel so lucky to have all this on my doorstep.

It's almost been too hot to walk through much of June (and by that I mean the sort of walking that eats up the miles), but J and I have done a little bit. Mostly local ambles across the fields and down quiet lanes, time to stretch out our muscles and chatter together about this and that. 

The kitty has been flopped out all over the place, sometimes lolling over the furniture but often times she's taken to hiding away under my bed which I guess must be a cool spot for her. Did I mention it's been hot??? ;)

Our routines continue to flow through these early summer weeks - Saturday morning trips to the market where the fruit and veg is abundantly ripe and lush. I ate a lot of asparagus this month.

The strawberries are especially good at the moment and we are eating our way through punnets and punnets of them each week. I'm not big into ice cream, but last week I had a craving for it and bought a small tub of plain vanilla, mainly to have with strawberries. Oooo, it was stupidly good, I had kind of forgotten the deliciousness of good vanilla ice cream with very ripe strawberries.

On Friday mornings, I like to try and walk to the bakery if I have time before 8am. It's not very far to walk, less then ten minutes each way, and I can walk part of it along the canal. The bakery is just over this wooden bridge and across the road to the right there.

I like to treat the Little People (who are no longer little) on a Friday, because I think to myself that this is the kind of mothering that might stick in their minds when they are grown. When I was growing up, we used to have croissants once a year at Christmas, and if my Mum had gotten up early to go to the bakery to fetch me fresh pastries for breakfast on an average Friday, I would have been absolutely beside myself with the luxury of it. I tell this tale to my Little People of course, and in return I do receive genuine thanks and gratitude which I believe are the foundations for true happiness.

Spending lots of time outside in our modest little yarden, and enjoying the simple pleasure of unpegging and folding warm, fragrant, sun dried laundry. The joy of it never gets old.

We had our town's annual charity Gala, the usual  procession of decorated floats, walking entertainers and marching bands passing the very end of our street as they made their way to the park. It's such an old fashioned tradition and a bit faded nowadays I suppose, but always touches some deep rooted memories I have of experiencing many carnival processions as a child. Here in Atticland, the tradition of a charity Gala is positively ancient, with the very first one being held in 1901. As well as the entertainments, there is always a travelling fairground set up in the park, and at precisely 10pm on Saturday night there is a free firework display. I'm a sucker for fireworks and absolutely love the dramatics of an aerial display, it really was excellent this year.

A few weeks ago my good friend Christine came to visit from Winwick for the day which is always a lovely thing. As the weather was far too warm to be doing yarny things inside a café, we opted for a walk at Bolton Abbey instead.

Eeeep, it was hot! With hindsight it was maybe far too hot for a five mile walk, but as much of it was through shady woodland we thought it would be OK. It was a moderately sweaty affair, and I was really glad when the bridge came into sight and I knew that a a sit down and some much needed refreshment was in my near future.

I opted for old fashioned Victorian lemonade, and at the last minute I decided that I really, absolutely needed to top up my energy levels and picked out a generous slice of Victoria sponge. My very Victorian refreshment combo was exceptionally good I have to say.

Don't worry though, I have still been drinking coffee right through the recent summer heatwave. Spending Friday mornings in the company of good yarny friends continues to be a true highlight of my weeks and I love my "Coopers" times so much. The past few Fridays I've been knitting instead of crocheting because none of my current crochet projects are particularly portable or sociable.

I cast on these "Frost" socks at the beginning of March, so I was keen to get them finished up and off my needles.

I'm happy to report that a) they are indeed finished and off my needles, and b) they fit like a dream and feel amazing on my feet. Obviously June hasn't in any way been sock weather and my toes have been permanently living an airy, sock-free life. But my newly completed socks did get a wash, a blocking session, and then a try-on which is the law when you finish knitting a pair of handmade socks. If anyone is remotely interested, the yarn is an old, hard-to-find Regia yarn, the "frost" colourway designed by Kaffe Fassett. I purchased from a lovely little online company called KnitUK. The sock pattern I always use is the beginner-friendly Basic 4ply Sock by Christine at Winwick Mum.

Hmmm.....what else to tell you about the joys of June? Flowers are featuring in my daily life and I am thrilled by them as always. The climbing rose is blooming in my front garden ....

....and in the yarden the first sweet peas have flowered. I was late planting the plantlets so they are still quite small and straggly, but they are so good at popping out floral abundance even when the plants themselves look less than stellar.

The first flowers had very short stems and in all honesty I felt very guilty snipping them because it seemed a bit cruel to strip the plants. But I know from experience that the more you cut them, the stronger the plants will grow and more flowers will be sure to follow. Plus there is the obvious bonus of this.............

..........the most uplifting, joy-inducing jug of flowers on my table, making me ever so ridiculously happy. Love love love love love times a gazillion. There is nothing nicer than a small homegrown posy in a jug - well maybe a large homegrown posy might be nicer, but I was still delighted with the humble nature of this small arrangement. Absolute Joy in a Jug.

Summer Solstice came last week and it was the usual emotional affair for me. I find this particular day in the year so full of feels - gratitude, joy and relief for the abundance of daylight, but also the rather sinking realisation that days will now get shorter. As my darling husband delighted in telling me, and I quote - "It's all down hill from here. Soon be Christmas". Well bloody hell, what can you say to that?!!

Anyhow, I ignored his harsh, winter-loving words and went forth into the evening to marvel at the very lightness and beauty of it, and to drink in the knowledge that at this time of year the sun sets at a quarter to ten in the North of England. Wowsers, it's absolutely lovely out there in June.

I had Little B with me on this Solstice jaunt - 9.42pm in the above photo as we were strolling home from the meadow together. We'd been on a little walk around the fields to see if there were any elderflowers still blooming because it's been a very early, short season for these precious flowers this year and I feared I might have missed them.

I had no need to worry because we found a whole hedgerow of trees still in flower, so we went together the very next day to gather some in.

So pretty! 

We managed to snip enough to make 3 litres of cordial (recipe in this post, scroll down to find), so all was fragrant and floral and zesty in my kitchen for a while last week. We're all really enjoying this delicious summery drink and I have lots of small bottles of it stashed in the freezer.

I'm well aware that I've had very little to share with you on the creative front this year, and I feel weirdly sad about it, like I'm letting you all down a bit. As you know, my annual crochet-along finished at the end of February and ever since then I've been in a real dither with my creative endeavours. 

However - stuff has been happening in the background, in slow, stuttering stops and starts. In April I created a colour palette for a new blanket which is a square design - I think I might have shown you a few little bits of it here and there. It's been a challenge to find the necessary focus and concentration to tackle this blanket, but I have a September deadline and I hope to be able to show you some progress once I've actually done a bit more work on it. Right now it's just messy piles of part-made squares which don't really make much sense!

Overlapping that, I had to then create another colour palette ready for my next annual CAL, as it's necessary for me to work five months in advance when choosing my colours with Stylecraft. So I was working hard on that last week, and I'm happy to say that as I already had the spark of inspiration in my mind, the stitch pattern and colour palette came together like a dream. Following on from the beautifully muted Springfrost colours, this next one is rich and colourful and I am so so excited about what I've chosen. 

And finally, this week has been all about preparing for my upcoming crochet retreat to Madeira (I fly out next Thursday), and yet again I'm so sorry that I can't show you what I've been working on. All this invisible behind-the-scenes stuff is very boring, isn't it?!

Do you like the sky in the above photo? It was a-maz-ing to stand underneath it, I felt a bit like I was going to fall into it, sort of like a reverse kind of vertigo. 

Well.....this has turned into an epic blog post, over two thousand words of ramble about the month of June. I am never short of things to yak on about it seems. I wonder how you've been, and hope that there have been plenty of joyful moments for you during this lovely mid-year month. Drop me a line or two and tell me what's been making you happy of late, I do really enjoy reading all about life at your end.

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Golden Buttercups

I took these photos a few weeks ago, an evening in early June when I felt the meadow call to me. I expect you've heard me talking about The Meadow before - it's a beautiful, natural piece of land about five minutes walk from the Attic, tucked away through a wooden gate at the edge of the local park. I often find myself drawn to it when my mind is overly full or I need to unwind or think about things, sometimes in the still of an early morning, but most often in the golden lull of a summer evening. I absolutely love the tranquillity and peace that I experience when I walk there and it gave me the inspiration for the colours of a blanket a few years ago too.

It's become something of a ritual for me to visit the buttercups - this incredible golden, flower-filled view doesn't last for very, maybe three or four weeks from the end of May until mid June. It is absolutely stunning, especially on a warm June day when the sun is still shining well into the evening, and at 8pm there is this wonderful golden glow over the landscape. I love love love it, almost overwhelmingly so, it makes me feel so many feels - ALL the feels!!! I overflow with them until I feel like I might burst.

On this evening I stopped to pick a few stems - buttercups, clover, cow parsley and a few delicate grasses, and carried them back to pop into a little glass ink bottle. They never last long, but for a few days I get to enjoy a little snippet of the meadow at home.

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All the Thank-You's

I've been thinking about you a lot this past week and wondering how I got lucky enough to have so many beautiful souls in my life. This community that you and I are a part of, the one that has grown and flourished around my Attic window over the years, is absolutely amazing and I couldn't be more thankful for each and every one of you.

After my last post where I had a long chat with you about my recent trip to Dorset and my Dad's health, I was deeply touched by your words which flew in through my window and wrapped me in the biggest virtual hug. (( T h a n k ~ y o u ))....so, so much for every comment both here on my blog and on Facebook too, you've no idea how much it helped me when I was feeling quite raw and worried. Your kindness and empathy was so very much appreciated, but also thank you for the great practical advice too. I made notes, wrote a long list, and have lots of amazing suggestions which I know I can work with to help ease the pathway forward.

I've felt quite a lot brighter this week actually, and for that I'm thankful. I hate feeling so overwhelmed and flattened by worry, it really doesn't suit me one little bit and I usually try and do everything in my power to rise above it.

I generally find that flowers help, and these gorgeous tulips have really brightened my days this week. They were a cheap supermarket buy and worth every penny - I snapped the above image one morning when the sun was streaming in through the window and lighting up the petals, honestly, such a simple moment which made me really happy.

The sun has helped too, when it decided to come out from the grey. Right now as I sit and write at my desk, it is really bloomin' cold, an unwelcome return to single digit winter-like temperatures and grey skies. But during the past week we've had days here and there that have felt like real Spring, not the pretend kind which appears to look like Spring but which still freezes your extremities, no, this was real, genuine warmth and I love love loved it. I even went out without a coat!!

The grass in the park had it's first cut of the season and it looked so good, although the smell of freshly cut grass weirdly wasn't there which was very disappointing. Can you see that line of trees in the above photo that have a very faint pink tint to them?

Well that's the double line of cherry trees which I obsess over every year around about this time. I'm in full on stalker mode, and during the past week I've made all sorts of weird excuses in my day to go and look at them. Need to buy groceries? Lets go the long way to the supermarket via the cherry trees! Need to get some bloomin' work done? Nah.....why not procrastinate BIG TIME and instead of sitting at my laptop, get outside and go see the cherry trees instead! 

But just look ^^^ we are on The Cusp of Bloom! How exciting, and how totally irresistible, I'm sure you can see why these trees call to me every day. You can just call me the Blossom Stalker, and I shall keep you updated on floral developments.

J and I are loving our early morning walks still, and at 7 o'clock we head out the front door to go stretch our legs and enjoy walking these familiar pathways together.

Now that Spring is well under way, the sun is fully up as we walk through the woodland and the bank of wild garlic is growing greener by the day. It's such a pleasure to be out and about this early in the morning and well worth the effort it takes to get out of bed and make it happen.

Book-ending a fresh, sunny spring day with a walk is the loveliest thing - first the morning woods with J, and then out to the meadow in the early evening with my girl. I absolutely love that she'll ask me to go on a walk with her when she feels the need to unwind her mind or talk things through ♥

It's a quarter to seven in the evening in the above photo, and we (Little Lady and me) were walking homewards from the meadow. The blackthorn blossom is at it's peak here in the north of England and it's looking absolutely delicious. We're now into the wild floral season and we've still so much to look forward to - the wild garlic will be flowering soon, the bluebells will be out next month, and then the cow parsley and buttercups will show up. It's no wonder that May is my most favourite month of the year.

Yesterday I finished my sampling and made the final colour adjustments for my next blanket, and it felt SO GOOD! My crojo hasn't really been in full flow the past few months and I've been working on this new design in very stuttery stops and starts. This is going to be a square blanket which will take quite a lot of concentration as I'll be working on a gazillion colour decisions on the fly. But I'm committed to the cause, and more importantly I'm inspired and excited by it too. I'm looking forward to sharing the journey with you, and hopefully by next week I should have made enough progress to put a blog post together to share the inspiration behind the colours.

Well, I feel all talked out now it seems, even though this is a relatively short post. I just wanted to show up here to send you all the thank-you's, and to let you know that I've turned a bit of a corner out of the worry cul-de-sac I was stuck in for a while. Clear roads ahead I hope.

I'll be back soon - J and I went on a date on Monday and I took some photos to document the rare occasion, I'm sure you'll be riveted (!)...........more soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

 

Springy Easter Things

There's a small but prolific ornamental cherry tree growing in my next door neighbours front garden and during the past two weeks this tree has bloomed it's little heart out. After a very cold,  slow start to the spring season it's been absolutely glorious to gaze up at these gorgeous flowers and feel the gentle warmth of the sun on my face.

The tree has been a-buzz with bees and it made me feel grateful for our neighbours who grow such lovely flowers, shrubs and trees in their small patches of front garden.

There aren't any floral trees in my own front garden just yet (our butterfly bush is an August flowering shrubby tree), but I did plant up a large terracotta pot of grape hyacinths and narcissus which is looking rather lovely on my door step. 

I've had these daffodils on my table during the past week, and I've been swooning over them on a daily basis. I splashed out an extra pound on this fancy-pants frilly bunch in celebration of Easter and they've been so lovely, if just a bit extra.

Also on my table this week is a cute bowl of mini eggs. Along with hot cross buns, these delicious little chocolatey morsels are an essential taste of Easter for me and I absolutely go mad for them. The mini-egg season is over for another year and I'm quite sad about it, but then again I don't think they would be so special if you could buy them all year round.

I unearthed the Easter Box from the depths of the attic eaves and was overcome by a tender wave of fondness and nostalgia. So many memories held in this miscellaneous pile of bits n bobs, a precious reminder of years gone by when the Little People were still oh-so-little. 

I love decorating for the seasons (I think Easter is my favourite actually), and bringing out the same decorations year after year feeds into my emotions for sure. At one time I used to decorate purely for the enjoyment of the Little People, but that faded away some years ago and honestly, now I do it all for me, me, me. 

Easter weekend was mostly quite sunny and warm and I was able to use my outside washing line for the first time this year. Sun dried cotton bedding has to be one of life's great pleasures - getting into bed in the evening when it's all fresh and clean and smells DiViNEly of the outdoors is just the most joyful thing.

Day by day the trees are waking from their winter rest and this particular shade of new-leaf-green really makes my heart sing. 

On the woodland floor there is no shortage of greenery because we are right in the middle of wild garlic season and I'm very happy about it.

I picked some leaves to bring home a few days ago so that I could whizz up some wild garlic pesto. I generally manage to make one or two batches each year (here is my recipe blog post) - the wild garlic picking window (when the leaves are young and fresh and before the flowers arrive) is pretty small so you've got to be motivated when the time is right.

I made a jam jar full of this vibrant green sludge and it tastes wickedly garlicky, it's incredibly potent. In fact, I'm almost too scared to eat it because I fear I will reek of garlic for weeks on end and repulse everyone. I went and bought the most expensive and Italian-looking spaghetti I could find in the supermarket to make a simple bowl of garlic pesto pasta....but I've yet to pluck up the courage to do it. I've got the garlic fear.

Since Easter weekend came and went, the warm, springlike weather vanished and a storm has blown in across the UK. It's been rotten, absolutely rotten this week. Really cold, seriously blustery and wet, wet, wet. I think the official term would be "Squally Showers" (and shamefully I just had to look up the spelling of squally). In amongst the weather chaos there have been odd little patches of unexpected sunshine, and we were lucky on Tuesday to time it right and spend a couple hours walking at Bolton Abbey without getting drenched. 

It was a lovely amble along the riverside, made even more special by the sighting of a peacefully grazing deer. This is only the second time we've spotted a deer at Bolton Abbey, although I'm pretty sure they are there all the time and are experts at staying hidden. I love walking with the family so much (we had Little Lady and Little B with us), and the pleasure of it has only grown over the years since they were small little peeps walking with us.

We drove home via the "scenic route" which takes us up over the top of Barden moor, and it was lovely to see the hills rolling into the distance under a blue sky with nooooo raaaaain. We stopped the car very briefly and Little Lady and I got out to get a blast of fresh air - it's the kind of fresh that steals your breath clean away and I love to inhale it right down to my toes.

Do you recall the very first photo of this rambly blog post, the one where I showed you my neighbours cherry tree? Well it has reached its peek now and due to the squally conditions this week, we've been showered in petal confetti every time we step out the front door. So pretty, despite the bloomin' rain and wind.

Did I mention how cold it's been too? I wish my Springy April narrative was different, but alas we've been plunged temporarily back into winter and the past few evenings I've even lit the fire to keep out the chill. I hear next week's supposed to get better, and this morning the ladies in the coffee shop told me to expect double digit temperatures next week, woohoo.

I wish I had more exciting things to talk to you about, but truthfully life just lately has felt like a bit of an uphill trudge. I think my immune system must be a bit fed up because I've got yet another cold, hot on the heels of recovering from that awful one last month. I've struggled with low energy levels, and not a lot of motivation to do anything much. 

The week before Easter I went down to Dorset, my second visit of the year. I travelled by train to go and stay for a week with my Dad again, a trip planned so that Lady B could take some days away from the responsibility of caring for him. I never know quite how much to share about this kind of thing as my family affairs are pretty personal...but the reality is that I am carrying a fair bit of worry about my Dad's health and it does affect my equilibrium quite a lot. We are around two years into a steady dementia decline and I can tell you it's tough. I do try and deal with it in as positive a way as I can, and of course I do still love to be down in Dorset - but yeah, it's not at all easy. Maybe I'll chat to you more about it in another post, and show you some of the photos I took there?

Thanks as ever for calling in to visit, and if you have time to leave me a comment then I'd love to hear your news. 

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Autumn Snaps :: November 2022

♥ Early November brought the first frosts and our seven o'clock morning walks were suddenly very chilly. Such a beautiful and invigorating way to start the day though, I love the energy it gives me.

♥ Continuing to walk around my lovely little rural home town, observing the beauty of the changing seasons.

♥ Even on damp, dull days the autumn colours cheered my spirits and I took so much pleasure from being out underneath the trees.

♥ Most weekday mornings I head out by myself for an hour or so, mostly to pick up groceries or run errands around the town.  I realised just the other day that this has kind of taken over from the school run that used to be such a big part of my routine, and the thought of that made me smile. 

♥ Two weeks ago we celebrated a whole fifteen years living here at number twenty four. This house, in this friendly town with this remarkable hill view fill me with gratitude every single day. I'm so glad we live here!

♥ Ahh, a random photo of a leaf, of course. This is the exact kind of thing that literally stops me dead in my tracks as I'm walking up the street. The colours in nature fill my brain to bursting, it's no wonder I can't remember stuff - there's just no room for information in amongst the leaves.

♥ November is a month full of cosy. The rapidly shortening days and cold, snappy weather makes me appreciate the comforts of being indoors, covered in the all the yarn. Socks, mitts and blankets, layers and layers of warmth.

♥ Waking up and realising it's Friday - allllllll the happy feels. I get to jaunt down the hill to the café to spend three delicious hours drinking coffee, hooking up something colourful and chatting with my very good friends. I bloomin' love Fridays.

♥ The joy of sharing a love of yarn and colour with my tribe. Sitting opposite my talented friend who's been knitting a circular blanket in the most glorious shades of Autumn. My Fireside cushion really looked good with her blanket, such a photogenic pair.

♥ Haha - mid November, and I was still hanging onto the last remains of summer, I just couldn't seem to let it go completely. The little wood and wire sculpture is a recent purchase from one of my favourite makers Helen of Thimbleville. I love the simple words because they remind me to stay positive on days when it feels like a struggle.

♥ Cheap and cheerful autumn flowers on my table, bringing colour into the room for almost three whole weeks. 

♥ November has long been the month of the indoor hyacinths, ever since I first moved here and found them in the supermarket in November 2008. I've had them in the house every single year since and look forward to them very, very, very much.

♥ Here's an observation though - they really don't seem to smell any more? The scent of hyacinths would easily fill the room once upon a time, but in recent years, not so much. They are still the most beautiful things to observe though - there are six days between the two photos above, don't they grow fast?

♥ A weekend family walk at Bolton Abbey, taking advantage of some unexpected afternoon sunshine.

♥ The low sun was blindingly bright at times, but I couldn't get enough of it. Sometimes I just stand still and face the sun with my eyes closed - J says I'm solar powered and need to recharge my panels. I think he might be right.

♥ Gorgeous, gorgeous light as we drove home over the moors - it's just after 3pm in the above photo. The long, tall shadows are me and Little Lady prancing about while the boys sat patiently in the car waiting for us to finish.

♥ Cosy crochet by candlelight - very, very Novemberish I'd say.

♥ The first mice pie of the season, such a perfect little afternoon sweet treat. I adore these little mini ones that you can buy from the supermarkets and much prefer them to the big filled ones.

♥ November is generally waaaaay too early for me to think about anything Christmassy, but it's hard to avoid as little signs creep in everywhere you look. I can cope with the odd bauble here and there, and maybe some extra twinkly lights about the place.

♥ All in all, November was a good month, really good actually. Ohh....yes! There was also this.....

....a few days spent by the sea which was absolutely, wonderfully restorative and energising. I'll show you some more photos in  my next post xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

 

 

 

Home into Autumn

Hellooooooo to you all, how have you been? It feels like a good long while since I was here chatting to you but that's mainly because I've been away from home, and I think time away often moves at a different pace to the normal, everyday sort of tick-tock time on the home clock.

Actually, this time last week I was still travelling, making my way from the south France to London, then up along the backbone of England all the way north to Yorkshire. It took thirteen hours in total, a coach, a plane, the underground and two trains, with some weary walking up the hill at the very end. 

I've spent the last week resting quite a bit and easing myself back into gentle home routines. It's been a pleasure to allow my days to gently unfold and soak up the quiet, comforting homely vibes here at number twenty four. 

There has been a distinct chill in the air this past week and honestly, it has felt really beautiful. I've often said that I am happiest when our English seasons run true, and so far autumn is feeling wonderfully autumnal. Happy me!

It was my birthday last week and I celebrated fifty four trips around the sun. I had coffee with my good friend (we have a standing date at a favourite café every Tuesday morning) and she gave me a card, a little wrapped present, a bag of pears and a solitary beetroot (complete with roots and soil attached) which she'd dug up from the community veg plot on her way to the café. It was the funniest gift which made me double over with laughter, and that reminds me I really do need to cook it! I think I'm going to roast it in the oven. She also very kindly gifted me the most stunning bunch of fragrant stocks and I inhaled their sweet, peppery scent all the way home.

Don't they look lovely? Stocks and a muddy beetroot - what more could a girl want, eh?!

My birthday was on Wednesday and the day was bright and blustery, perfect for a lunch time stroll. 

J doesn't often take a proper lunch break when he's working (something which we often argue about), but on this day he made time  to come to the woods with me. We had Little Lady with us too, and I must say I am really, really loving the fact that I still have her at home for the time being. 

The leaves are just beginning to fall in the woodland and although it's still mostly green in the treetops, there are lots of leaves now on the ground. There is seasonal beauty all around, and I am absolutely here for it.

We are continuing to manage without our central heating, and I'm kind of getting used to the house being a bit on the cold side. I can't say I like it that much (I take after my late Mum, and really don't like to feel cold), but I am coping. I'm dressing in multiple cotton layers, adding a thick jumper when I need it, woolly socks constantly on my feet and blankets, blankets and more blankets. If I'm sitting, then I'm covered in at least two blankets. I shall be known as Lucy Layers this season. Thank goodness for the fire, my gosh I worship this thing, it brings me immense pleasure and comfort and I absolutely would not be without it.

Since I came home from France, I'm taking even more pleasure than usual from my every day views. I really do love where I live and looking at it as if I were a visitor is something I do quite often. Do you do the same I wonder? Or is this just another of my weird and wonderful habits?!

I walk along this narrow road beside the canal almost every day as it's the quickest route into the centre of town, and it's such a sweet way to observe the changing seasons too. 

On bright days when the sun has felt juuuuuust about warm enough for us to sit outside, J and I have had our morning coffee al fresco. There are a couple of small bistro tables outside our regular coffee shop and I've really enjoyed having the October sun on my face as I slurp my frothy coffee. These small pleasures bring such a lot of joy to my days.

I don't really have much to say about the above photo to be honest! It was an afternoon walk to the supermarket to pick up a few bits that we had run out of. The flowers caught my eye as I walked along the tow path to Tesco, and my immediate thought was to take a photo so that I could show you. Blogging is such a deep-rooted way of life for me that I very rarely stop to question myself over it. Take a photo of a boat with some flowers to share with the twenty thousand strangers who visit the Attic every day (give or take a few)? Completely normal.

I almost forgot that in between the slow, mundane, restful days at home last week, I took off on a very quick jaunt. Good job I snapped a photo of the platform or else I would have forgotten! So yeah...three days after returning from France I was back on the trains again, but a quick journey this time just over to York to visit some of my dearest friends. It was a reunion with the ladies who kept me sane during those very early new born baby days, celebrating twenty years of motherhood and friendship. It was honestly the best night, so full of laughter that I had to work hard not to actually pee my pants. I count myself very lucky to have these kind of friends, it's something special to be able to pick up with each other over the years and feel like no time has passed.

I haven't had chance to chat to you much about the Fireside blanket which launched about a month ago. But I just wanted to say a massive, heartfelt THANK~YOU to everyone who bought a yarn pack and started out on this cosy blanket journey, it's been wonderful for me to see so many new blankets taking shape in recent weeks. I know that many of you are new to using Stylecraft Highland Heathers yarn and it's been great to hear how much you've liked it. 

My own blanket is in constant use and it's the perfect size to wrap around my shoulders (my name is Lucy Layers, remember) or cosy across my legs.

A few days ago I came across a photo on Facebook which made my heart skip a beat, and I knew I had to show you.....

......what do you think?? Isn't it BEaUtiFuL??? It's made using the twelve Fireside colours following my random stripe order which you can find ((here)). The pattern is the Seashell Stripe (which I used to make my Dune blanket) and I think it looks absolutely stunning. Amanda, if you are reading this, I just love love love your blanket, thank you so much for sharing on Facebook, what an inspiration.

At the moment I'm using the leftovers from my Fireside blanket to make a circular cushion and I am absolutely crushing on the colours all over again. They somehow look different when in a circle, a bit brighter and more lustrous? Is lustrous a real word or did I just make that up...hahah....I kind of want to say Lush-trous?!! 

Anyhow, this is the second side of the cushion and I'm almost finished so I'll show you later in the week when it's done. I started the project when I was in France as I needed something fairly easy to work on in the teeeeny gaps of time when I was free from teaching and wasn't out walking and falling in love with stone walls and cobbled streets.

Speaking of France, I had a wonderful, amazing time teaching on my Stitchtopia retreat and I fell a little bit in love with beautiful Carcassonne. It was ridiculously picturesque and atmospheric and I took a gazillion photos which I've spent aaaaaages organising and editing over the past few days.

I'd like to share my trip with you, if you'd be interested to see what an Attic24 Crochet retreat looks like? It was pretty colourful (of course) and there was lots of crochet and coffee and beautiful views and the sunniest sunshine.....more soon!

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September Seasonal Shift

September was such a lovely month here this year, an absolutely perfect mix of summer and autumn. This seasonal shift has caught me by surprise in the best possible way, and I have to say that one week into Autumn and I am really loving it.

Early September still felt very summery with warm, dry weather and many days of sunshine. My toes were certainly happy :)

Little B went back to school in the second week of September and setting an alarm again after the ease of the summer holidays was a bit of a shock to the system. I do enjoy the school routine though, and once the youngest, noisiest child is out of the house for the day a rather delicious quietness settles on the home front. 

The kitty has wanted to be close to her humans just lately and in the quiet of the morning I really enjoy her cosy company. She's not a cat that you can entice onto your lap very easily, so these kind of snuggles are always very much on her terms and it's lovely when she decides I'm the place to be!

I bought summery flowers for my table and gave our downstairs living room a bit of a tidy up and a refresh. I don't mind telling you that I was very lazy over the summer months when it came to housework, but there is something about the back-to-school vibe which returns the focus to home routines.

I continue to really enjoy my weekly yarny meet-ups at the café and in September I was obsessed with knitting these socks. I managed to finish one sock down to the end of the toes, and the second sock is ready to start with the heel I think. I had to put them away while I concentrated on creating the Fireside tutorial, but with the colder weather snapping in I really want these socks off my needles and onto my feet. It's firmly on my to-do list.

Middle of September I was gifted some beautiful produce from my friend's allotment plot which almost made my cry with gratitude and delight. A punnet of the most delicious sun ripened tomatoes and a bunch of flowers for drying so that they'll last right through the winter months.

Such beautiful late summer colour wrapped in newspaper, a nostalgic reminder of my childhood too as my Mum used to grow these flowers on her allotment.

I made a caprese salad for my lunch with some of the tomatoes and ooooohmygosh it was ever so good. Such simple, fresh flavours and a real taste of summer.

This was a sunny Saturday afternoon walk around local fields and lanes because it was just too nice to stay indoors.

 I stood for ages watching that tractor ploughing up and down the side of that huge hill, it was crazy satisfying to observe the slow but pleasing toil of it somehow. I remember also thinking that the colours of the landscape in mid September perfectly matched the seasonal shift from summer to autumn.

I love this view as we get near to home after our walks out to neighbouring villages. We live in quite a hilly area of the town and I love to see all the old Victorian terraced streets following the contours.

We had some really beautiful weather once we'd passed over the autumn equinox, the sort of bright, clear skies that invite you to walk just for the pleasure of it.

I found myself wandering through the park and up to the farm shop one morning, just to get a feel for the season and see what was fresh and inviting. Lots and lots of baby pumpkins greeted me as I walked in the door, leaving no doubt about the season we are now in. Bye-bye summer.

I didn't buy baby pumpkins, but I did buy chocolate. This is one of my favourite local chocolates made in York and I just love it. I love the packaging and I love the gorgeous flavours they come up with - dark chocolate is my preference and this Blood Orange Gin flavour did not disappoint. Crikey it was insanely good.

Some days have felt very much more autumnal than others, and although September was a pretty dry month we did have our fair share of the damps. Low, low cloud pressing down on the landscape....

....spinning teeny, tiny droplets of water into the hedgerows and over everything, us included.

Other days were just amazingly golden and gorgeous, I mean, look how StUNning this light is!! Seven o'clock and the sun is just rising over the hilltops at this time of year, my goodness it really is something special to be out in the world at that time of day.

A gorgeous reward for those early alarms and a reminder that a brisk morning walk is so, so, so good for the mind and soul as well as for the body.

I am still wearing my sandals on days when it's dry and not too chilly, but I often find that by mid afternoon my toes need a little snuggle time. So far we've managed to keep the central heating off and have been making very good use of the crochet blankets and woolly layers as the temperature continues to drop. I light the fire most evenings now, and am truly embracing the cosy vibe of the autumn season.

So here we are into the beginning of Autumn and summer is most definitely over for another year. I've got an exciting trip coming up though, and I'm hoping for some wonderful, warm sunshine which will be such a treat. On Monday I'm going to be travelling south, all the way down to south west France in fact to spend a week in the medieval walled city of Carcassonne (pictured above). This is a working holiday for me - I'm travelling with Stitchtopia and will be teaching on a crochet retreat with a lovely group of ladies, and I'm pretty bloomin' excited I can tell you.

I'll look forward to catching up with you all once I'm back here in Atticland, I will probably have one or two photos to show you from France.........! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

 

 

 

 

Summer Snaps :: July 2022

♥ a rose blooming just outside my front door.....I'm gifting it directly to you, to say thank you! I've just been reading through all the wonderful comments after my last post, such beautiful words and such lovely sharing of news and happy chat and just thank you, thank you...SO much....for taking the time to write to me in the comments. I read and treasure them all, they bring a lot of joy in through my Attic window xx

OK....on with the July snaps.....

♥ a single rose bringing instant happiness into the room, making my heart sing

♥ hot sun, blue skies and fluffy clouds - July weather was a dream come true

♥ in the heat of the summer I was drawn to the quiet shallow waters of the riverside

♥ I can never resist a pretty feather and found four stunning duck feathers on this river beach

♥ enjoying someone else's roses on an evening walk to the meadow

♥ dreamy, slow evening walks at the end of a hot summers day, warm and golden

♥ the summer meadow is in full tilt, swaying with tall grasses and eye catching seed heads

♥ taking a little time to sit, savouring the golden moment of quiet and still. It's 8.30pm in the above photo, the stuff of my winter dreams.

♥ an intense heat wave came and went, we reached 33 degrees (in the 90's!) here in my patch and honestly, I loved it

♥ morning walks with the fam, enjoying the summer warmth and clear views

♥ evening walks just me and Little B, a gentle stroll across dry fields and along quiet country lanes

♥ still enjoying my daily morning coffee break with J, sitting outside in the café garden making the most of the sunshine

♥ many of my meals eaten outside too, I'm sure they taste better this way?!

♥ working away on my latest crochet blanket, falling madly in love with it all over again

♥ this yarn, these colours = cosy, snuggly joy!

♥ this kitty, checking that all is well with the yarn and taking it very seriously by the looks of it.

I know I haven't shown you very much of this blanket in progress, it's been a crazy journey and at times I've felt quite unsure of it to be honest. But now that I am almost at the end (I'm finally on the edge!), well, I am just head over heels in love. It's one of the snuggliest blankets I've ever made, and seems to glow with warmth and cosy vibes. This week I'm starting on the lengthy process of photographing a tutorial and creating a full colour printed pattern for the blanket kit which will be available in September.

So that was July - it was a beautiful month full of sunshine, heat and glorious summer vibes and I tried my best to soak up every golden minute of it. And now that we're all caught up with the ordinary day-to-day snippets of the month, I'm looking forward to sharing my trips away with you. I had a good many wonderful, happy, memorable summer days in July, so much summery goodness came my way and I'm beyond thankful for it. I feel rested and recharged and excited to see what August brings.

Thank you as always for your most excellent company here, I appreciate your visits so very much. More soon!

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Spring Joy

After a long winter, the spring season has exploded all of a sudden here in my patch and it really is quite something. Despite the temperatures often remaining very wintry, it's been utterly beautiful and I've been out there drinking it in at every opportunity.

The blossom in the park reached it's peak at the start of May and it was absolutely breath taking this year. During my early morning walks I would stand underneath those floral branches and sigh with pleasure. They filled me with joy every single morning (even in the drizzle).

I went for a little rummage in the antique centre one morning and realised it had been a good few years since I'd last been in. It's a very quirky old place set across three floors, kind of ramshackle and chaotic with an old fashioned, nostalgic atmosphere. It's a wonderful place for a poke about as you never know what you might find - I picked out this teeny old glass bottle for £2 and it was love at first sight. It's perfect to display some miniature spring blooms, and yeah I'm a bit in love with that cute little viola too.

Do you remember me telling you a while back that I've got some new bedding? I've wanted to change my bedding for ages as my bargain £10 supermarket set has faded a lot with constant wash and wear over the years and was looking very tired. As I only ever own one set at a time, it's important to me that I really, really like it because it will be on my bed all the time for many years to come.

I fancied something relaxed that had the look of faded linen and I fell for this Pyjama Stripe design which has exactly the relaxed holiday vibe that I was after. It's not actually linen but is 100% cotton so it feels ever so soft, and I bought some blush pink linen covers for our second set of pillows. It occurred to me when I was plumping my pillows that my Dune blanket would go really well with this new look, adding to the coastal feel. It's inspiring me to think about decorating and refreshing our bedroom, it's about time we gave that room a bit of attention I think.

May weather so far has been very mixed, and in amongst the unseasonal cold we've had a few warm sunny days here and there. You can be sure that I've been out and about making the most of it and we enjoyed our first al fresco morning coffee of the year a few weeks ago. One of our favourite cafés has the cutest little courtyard garden for customers to enjoy, and it felt so good to be sitting outside enjoying the early spring warmth. 

The past couple of Sundays we've taken a local walk along the canal, setting out quite early before the tow path gets busy with cyclists and walkers. We have a good reason to walk this way, and that reason has feathers......

......which belong to this flock of chickens!

They free roam in this large field right next to the canal, and close to the farmhouse there is a wooden stand where you can put money into a little flowery tin and pick up a box of eggs. It's one of the joys of living in a rural area, and being able to see the chickens looking so happy and content going about their clucky business makes the eggs extra special.

The eggs in question are very fresh and are excellent for poaching because the whites hold together in a very satisfying blob (if you've ever made poached eggs using this method, you will know the utter satisfaction of whites that hold tight).

The yolks are super-golden.....

....and make my oat pancakes turn out bright yellow. As a result of our canal side jaunts, my Sunday brunch meals have mostly been of the eggy variety, and have made me very content with weekend life.

I'm getting a lot of joy from food at the moment, there is something deeply satisfying about making a meal for one that sits beautifully in a bowl and looks colourful and nourishing.

This was my lunch on Monday, a roasted sweet potato and chickpea salad with a simple olive oil/lemon juice/maple syrup dressing that really hit the spot. The secret ingredient was little snippets of sundried tomatoes, gosh, the flavours were something else.

J and I are walking every morning still, and have gone back to our woodland route now that mud season is over.

The wild garlic is in full flower and looks unbelievably beautiful at the moment. I think any flowers en masse have a really striking effect and although I get to see this spectacle every single year, I can never quite get over the sheer abundance of it.

The flowers are so, so pretty, and don't get me started on the heady scent in the woodland after a night of rain....I can't find words to do it justice.

On the morning when I was taking the wild garlic photos above, I came across a huuuuuuuge feather just laid in the middle of the pathway waiting for me. It was absolutely pristine and so big, just like you would imagine an old fashioned ink quill pen to look. I can't imagine what bird it would have come from as it's way bigger than any feather you'd expect to find in the woods. Any ideas?

Tilly was beside herself with the Wanties so I've had to hide it from her for now because I just know she would have hunted it down if it joined my feather collection on the mantel. Yes, I have a feather collection - of course I do. In fact, if you cast your eyes downwards and look at the photo below, you'll see it on the left of the mantel next to my Observer books....

.....do you see the feathers? Or were you too mesmerised by my gorgeous tulips!?! It's a good time of year for shop-bought tulips, they are plentiful and affordable and I really love having them on my table.

Talking of tulips, I came across something last month which I've squirrelled away in my brain for next year - a possible visit to an actual tulip field here in England, wouldn't that be something? The field in question is down in Norfolk and opens to the public for a few weeks each year to raise money for charity...oh my heart....I pretty much hyperventilated with excitement when I saw the photos. The open season is ticketed and in high demand I think, so it's a trip that needs careful planning with some good fortune thrown in. 

Ahh, it's been really good to catch up with you here in the Attic, I love sharing snippets of this and that, the little joys that make up my days. The spring season is extremely short here in the north of England because we have such lengthy winters, but in a way it makes them even more special. I hope you're enjoying this season too, and finding lots of little joys in your own days xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx