Attic24

Easter 2018

Hello!! I can't explain how happy I feel to be back here in the Attic, sharing photos of this and that and sitting down to chat with you all. Life has been slightly strange for me of late in that quite a bit of what I'm up to can't be shared just yet, and the knock-on effect is that it's made it harder for me to blog. But I've really missed being here, my weeks just don't feel right without this precious outlet to share and chat about what's going on in my life, so I really want to make time to be here more. 

Behind the scenes I'm working on Yarndale things and some exciting design commissions as well as two new blankets, so I'm busy busy but in a Secret Squirrel kind of a way which doesn't really suit me all that well to be honest. I'm so looking forward to the sharing bit of all this creativity, in fact I absolutely cannot wait to unzip myself and blurt it all out. Hmm...is blurt even a word? I think it absolutely should be, don't you? 

This week the Little People returned back to school and J took himself back to his desk after a whopping 18 days of Easter holidays. It's felt like such a long break from routine but in a deliciously good way. As we did last year, we decided to stay home for this holiday, enjoying some much needed relaxation and family time on the home front. Little Man (who is really not very little any more) will sit his GCSE exams next month so we needed to give him time, space and encouragement to focus on some revision.

For the rest of us, the focus of the past two weeks has been mostly about lazy enjoyment of home comforts, with a little bit of out-and-about thrown into the mix when the weather was right. We also made a start sorting out Little B's bedroom, which included all sorts of juggling of furniture, a mass clear out of old toys, books and clothes and the building of a new High Sleeper bed. It's a work in progress still, but it feels wonderful to have finally made a start on sorting out this rather tired, cluttered, chaotic old house of ours.

As the Little People grow into themselves, it's becoming very much easier to find guilt-free time for myself during our stay-home holidays. The two Teens are both very independent young people with very active social lives, so much of their Easter holiday revolved around going out with friends. Or sitting in their bedrooms talking to their friends. And at eight years old, Little B is more easily able to please himself for longer periods which has opened up some rather delightful little windows of opportunity for Yours Truly. I've mostly filled the resulting me-time with obsessive stitching and hooking, and honestly I have love love loved it.

Continuing my adventures in cross stitch, I sat myself peacefully and stitched little crosses endlessly into black fabric to complete my second Zodiac hoop (Pisces design by Jody Rice of Satsuma Street on Etsy). I need to photograph it properly so that I can overshare the beauty of the design and colours with you all, I'm so so pleased with it and it was an absolute joy to stitch.

On a roll with the stitchin', as soon as I'd finished the Pisces hoop I couldn't help myself and immediately prepped a piece of Fiddler's Aida (yes, it really is called that) in a 7 inch hoop ready to create this super-sweet cross stitch by Zindagi Designs on Etsy. I fell in love with this design during one of my marathon searches to fuel my new found cross stitching obsession. I really like the sentiment as I'm quite the coffee addict, but truthfully it was the flowers that I was really itching to stitch. I made good progress during the two week Easter break - I'll show you very soon how it's turning out. 

After a whole week of being pretty idle at home, we woke up one morning to blue skies and sunshine and decided it would be a good idea to head out and take in something of a watery view. I really wanted to go to the coast but I was outvoted in favour of a closer trip to inland waters. So I went with the flow and we set forth to wander around the perimeter of Grimwith Reservoir. I was relieved to see it looking pretty full of water after our visit there in August when the levels were worryingly low.

It was an interesting walk this one, mainly as it was just the three of us for a change. Oh I did miss my Little Lady very much (she was staying with friends at the time), and I think Little B did too. He was in a slightly whiny mood, deliberately dragging his feet and complaining that he was bored. Yeah - not a huge amount of fun to be honest, but we made the best of it and did what we could to cheer him along.

I love the above photo! It's hard to make out what's going on with the scale/perspective, but the gorgeous greenery in the foreground is actually the top of a wide mossy wall. I tell you, I find moss completely irresistible. 

It's four and a half miles around this reservoir, and all I can say is I'm so glad I insisted on packing refreshments to bring with us. Thank goodness for flasks of hot beverages! Stopping at the half way point to rest a while and have a hot drink put an instant halt to Little B's whinging - I mean, cups of milky hot chocolate, what's not to like?

I've come to really like this walk - I think this might have been our fourth or fifth walk here in the past year or so and it grows on me a little more each time. 

There is a peacefulness to the open landscape/waterscape and a reassuring sense of calm that comes from walking along a very clearly defined circular route where you can see exactly where you are headed at all times. 

I really love this time of year for the absolutely gorgeous floral joy it delivers. My table hasn't been without flowers upon it since the New Year when cheap and cheerful daffodils and narcissus began appearing in supermarket buckets. Just recently I've opted to pay out a few more pennies so that I can snag the "fancy" varieties of daffies on offer, oh they are so worth it! Sometimes these will be beautiful pale, creamy white flowers, and sometimes (like the above ones) there are bright orange petals tucked up inside each flower. 

I always buy the bunches with the buds tightly closed up so there is an element of surprise when they finally unfurl and show their petals. The sight of a jug of daffodils sitting on the table makes me feel so happy, especially when I first come downstairs in the early morning. 

I've got some pots of bulbs flowering away on my mantel too, and I love to watch their daily progress as they grow, bloom and then gently fade. 

The hyacinths have grown a lot since I took the above photo and right now are in full floral swing, oh they are spectacular! Four flower stems grew and produced the most beautiful bright pink flowers. Our days are really long and light now since the clocks changed at the end of March and put us forward into British Summer Time, but I do still enjoy my fairy lights and candles in the evenings. I've got a green candle burning right now which is "bergamot & green tea" - the scent is gorgeously fresh and uplifting for this time of year.

I did a little bit of baking during the Easter holidays, partly for the pleasure of pottering in a warm kitchen and getting to inhale the aroma of cookie dough and mixed spice, and partly for the pleasure of having a sneaky homemade biscuit with my afternoon cup of tea. I love these biscuit cutters and every time I use them I think to myself that I really should make many, many more biscuits just so that I get to use them more often.

I made Easter biscuits for the first time, and they came out OK although they were a little bit on the dry/soft side. I thought they would come out a little crisper somehow, and with a bit more flavour too. Although it could well be that my jar of mixed spice was a little on the ancient side and perhaps needs to be replaced. I should maybe check the sell by date.......

We had a lot of chocolate in the house over Easter which was to be expected - the Little People certainly weren't complaining but it did make me feel like I needed to put my Mummy hat on and provide some healthy stuff to balance out all the sugar. We always have a big bowl full of fruit in the house which I'm happy for the Little People to dip into whenever they like, but there is something really extra yummy about a plate of  fresh fruit prepared and chopped up into bite sized pieces. I really need to do this more often. I mean, it's not that hard to peel and slice kiwi/mango/pineapple or chop up some strawberries but it's surprising how often I tend to feel like I just can't be bothered. Bad Mummy. 

I also made some batches of baked kale crisps last week, oh my word this stuff is blinking good! J and I devoured it fresh out of the oven - I found myself absolutely shoveling great handfuls of it into my mouth as if I'd been starved for a week, quite ridiculous behaviour really. I can highly recommend making some if you are partial to salty, savoury snacking material, it'such a good way to eat green veg, it really is.

In other green related news, the woodland is looking mighty fine right now with its carpet of wild garlic looking and smelling divine.

We took a short walk through our local woods one Sunday morning, it was quite early and we pretty much had the place to ourselves with only one or two dog walkers out and about. I do really love this time of year - the early greenery is such a welcome sight after what has felt like a very long drawn out winter.

It'll still be a while before the treetops burst into leaf - that'll happen in May and I absolutely cannot wait of for that. 

I've really, really enjoyed my hooky time during the holidays, it's been the perfect cosy thing to occupy my lazy self during the cold days we had at the start of the month. We had the fire lit for a while when it still felt very much like winter and it was all so very hygge with the flames flickering and my toes all warm inside my hand knit socks and the kitty draped across my lap as I hooked up some beautiful ripple rows. I know I haven't told you much about the blanket I'm currently making, but I was trying to wait a bit as there will be a new Summer yarn pack coming but not until late July/early August. I'm wary of peaking too soon with my blanket induced giddiness so was trying to wait until Summer felt a bit closer, but what the heck, a sneak peek just needed to happen at some point so why not now?! The colours I'm using are extremely light and full of summer freshness, I'm so enjoying the playfulness of it all.

I think one of the very, very, very bestest things that happened to me during the Easter holidays is being demonstrated in the above photo. Little B, begging me to teach him to crochet until I made space in my self indulgent day to give him my full attention. He is a very tenacious, determined and focused little boy and not one to give up easily once he sets his mind to doing something. The flip side to all this strength of mind is that he can often get very frustrated and upset if he can't manage to achieve what he has set his sights on. So with the whole crochet thing, I had a feeling it could either go brilliantly or end in an absolute melt down. In the end it was a bit of both. The meltdown happened quite swiftly when he quickly realised that crocheting was actually a lot harder than he had originally thought. However his determination won through and once he'd gathered himself together he came back to the table to try again. The second attempt went much better and it didn't take him long to master chain making. He was so happy!!

I let him choose what colours he wanted to use and he decided to make a rainbow.....

....it just made me so happy to see him sitting and crocheting, I can't tell you the depth of emotion that passed through me that day. 

He was so proud of his rainbow chains - I ended up tying them all together at the top to make a tassel that he could hang on his school bag.

We had a little go at learning double crochet rows, but I think the excitement of actually being able to crochet had worn off a bit by then! Still, I think he did remarkably well for an 8 year old.

The sequel to this story  is even sweeter - the very next morning, Little B woke me up, full of excitement, telling me that he'd taught his Dad to crochet. My poor sleepy brain didn't comprehend what he was telling me at first, but once it clicked into place and I figured out that Dad=J (J???? J is crocheting?????!!!!!) I couldn't get out of bed fast enough. I came downstairs to find that J was indeed sat in the Big Chair casually crocheting a chain, taught by Little B. Well I never. This would be the equivalent of me attempting to write some computer code, so yes, I was very impressed. I do love my sweet, crazy family.

The second bestest thing about the Easter holidays happened at the weekend, when in a fit of a spontaneity I booked us a very short holiday which required passports and sea travel. We set sail on Friday evening, returning on Sunday morning so less than 48 hours away but still, it was absolutely brilliant. BRILL-i-ant.

Holiday Tales coming soon................!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

 

Making the Seasons :: March

Now that the season is finally showing signs of shifting from Winter to Spring, this past week we've ventured back to our allotment. Our main tasks right now involve clearing up the winter mess (sadly, a storm damaged tree which fell right across our plot), admiring the wildlife (huuuuuuuge frogs and a mass of frogspawn in the pond), and sitting quietly on the bench at the top of the sloping site to take in the view (it's a south-facing sun trap). Behind the bench, our plot becomes a wild kind of shaded bank beneath a very large tree. It's covered in ivy and honeysuckle with bluebells that will flower in early May, but right now it looks extremely pretty with primroses, primulas and narcissus planted by the previous plot holders. There is blossom in abundance too, as the tree I told you about in last month's Making the Seasons post is flowering it's heart out. I popped up there yesterday to pick a few blooms to bring home, and it delighted me so much to do this simple thing. They are slim pickings as I wanted to leave plenty flowering at the plot - I gathered just enough to bring into the house so that I could create a little spring/Easter visual celebration.

A few years ago, I saw a photo in a magazine showing a small spring flower arrangement where the stylist had used painted eggshells as miniature vases. It was so simple, beautiful and inspiring that the image made a lasting impression in my mind, and I knew that at some point I would love to try doing this for myself. It's taken me a while to bring the idea to reality, but I can tell you that it was worth waiting for! 

I usually buy my ordinary brown free range eggs from the local butcher, but this week I happened to have some gorgeous "Bluebell Auraucana" eggs in. I deliberated about painting them (the magazine eggs were painted in soft chalky pastel shades, perfect for an Easter display), but in the end I decided that I really loved the natural blue shade of the egg shells, and actually I was feeling far too impatient to carry out the whole painting/drying waiting game. So I simply chopped off the tops of my egg shells with a small sharp knife and emptied out the eggy innards to save them for some baking.

I went down to the cellar to dig around for a suitable vessel and found a vintage cake stand that I bought a few years ago from the local collectors centre. I wish I'd photographed it to show you before I covered it in moss as it has such a pretty floral design in the middle. Speaking of moss....................

................isn't it an absolute delight??! Also from the allotment, I seriously love this particular green colour - it's so vibrant and fresh looking and it's pleasing me on a very deep level to actually have some real live moss in the house. I L♥ve moss so much! I used some blobs of blutack to secure the eggshells on their ends, but the mossy hillocks also work to keep them nestled in place. Also, note the kitty feet in the background, she is always so curious about the things I do here in the Attic.

I really, really, really, really enjoyed arranging my little spring flowers in their eggy vases, only the process just didn't last long enough! So I took them all out and did it all over again, just for the sheer pleasure of doing it. I think possibly I overdid it in my typical more-is-more way and maybe I should have used less flowers as it all looks a bit jumbled. But honestly? I simply don't care - I love the sweet exuberance of it all.

I plucked a few beautiful deep purple violas from the hanging basket at the front of the house to add to the yellow and white.....

...... and added some little feathers from my extensive feather collection too. 

I thought it would be a nice touch to add some foil-wrapped easter chocolates which I'd bought for the Little People.  I always enjoy Easter for the opportunity it gives us to enjoy sneaky bits of chocolate whenever we feel the need - I don't think this is something I've ever grown out of actually.

Whilst I was photographing and faffing with my flower arrangement, it occurred to me that something felt like it was missing. A little crochet bird perhaps, to nestle amongst the feathers and moss?

You might remember my mini chicklets from three years ago.................

well, I found some duck egg blue yarn and started to crochet a mini chicklet to perch on my table decoration.........

except that instead of adding wings.......................

I added...................................................................

EARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yup, my chicklet decided it wanted to be a Bunny instead, so who was I to argue??!!!!

I scribbled down the pattern as I made the ears, just in case you might feel a pressing need to hook up your own mini-bunny.

I used DK weight yarn (Stylecraft Special DK) and a 4mm hook.

I'm writing in UK crochet terms.

You make the body in exactly the same way as described in the Mini Chicklet pattern. 

MINI BUNNY EARS (make 2)

Using pink yarn, chain 7; work 1 dc in 2nd chain from hook; 1 dc in next stitch; 1 htr in each of the next 4 stitches. Fasten off.

Change to same colour yarn as used for body of bunny. Insert hook in beginning dc and pull through a loop; chain 1 in same stitch; 1 dc in each of the next 4 stitches; 3 dc in next stitch.

Continue working down the opposite side of the ear, putting your hook under the single loops of the foundation chain, as follows: 1 dc in each of the next 6 stitches; slip stitch into beginning chain-1 to close round. fasten off, leaving a tail end for stitching.

Stitch the bunny ears to the top of the head, then use scraps of yarn to embroider eyes and nose, plus a little flower if you fancy it.

I made a little bunny tail by creating a miniature pom pom - I wound a length of white yarn around two of my fingers, then pulled the yarn-wrap carefully off my fingers and secured it around the centre with a tight knot. I trimmed the loops with sharp scissors to form a pom pom shape, then stitched it securely to my bunny's bottom.

I think my bunny secretly wants to be a mouse actually, as her face looks suspiciously mouse-like.....

.....but with bunny ears and a fluffy white tail, I think she passes the bunny-test.

I really love my table flowers and mini bunny. And of course I adore the moss too. I'm wondering how long I could keep a plate of moss going indoors if I watered it, do you think that could be a thing? I could decorate it with daisies and butterflies in summer....little toadstools in Autumn.....

Well anyways......enough gushing over the moss. Would you like to see the rest of my Easter decorations?

I always decorate the dining room fireplace for Christmas and Easter, it's one of those little rituals that makes me insanely happy and properly in the mood for the holidays. I treated myself a few days ago to a couple of lovely little papier maché birds from a local shop, I just couldn't resist them. I'm pretty sure that I won't be packing them away in the Easter Shoebox as I'd like to be able to look at them all year round.

I bought this greetings card earlier in the month as part of my quest to have cards for every season. It's a triple fold-out card called "Nest" by Mark Hearld. I'm a big fan of Mark Hearld's prints (I'm sorry I couldn't seem to find a website to link to, but if you google his name, you'll see lots of his amazing work. )

The rest of my easter decorations are all things that I've collected over the years, things that get stored away in the Attic eaves and which I very much look forward to seeing each year. There are painted eggs, a little decorative nest, some hand stitched felt egg cosies. My jug of twigs stays on the mantel all  year, but the twigs really work especially well at Easter time.

I kept my twigs simple this year, hanging my small collection of little hand painted wooden eggs (you can find similar ones on Amazon), and my crochet blossom from 6 years ago (SIX YEARS????!!!!!!!)

I made these little cotton flowers in 2012 and if you click on the link, you'll find the pattern for them at the end of the Easter Blossom blog post.

Little Lady came in from school yesterday and squealed with delight when she saw the mantel (a happy Mum moment!), but the boys haven't batted an eyelid or made one single comment. That's OK - I feel certain that I would decorate to celebrate the seasons purely for my own delight if I lived alone, so I know deep down that I do this sort of thing for myself rather than expecting the Little Peeps to be grateful for it. But I do hope that in some small way they will absorb their creative home environment and remember it fondly, even if those memories are just hazy, nostalgic snippets of their childhood in years to come. Crazy ol' Mum and her Seasonal Mantels.....remember that?

I'd love to know if you decorate your home for Easter - do you make an Easter tree? Decorate eggs? Make an Easter display on your table?

Whilst I was searching for Eggshell vase ideas, I found a few lovely random images that I thought you might like....

Putting a weeny bit of earth into egg shells and actually growing little plants in them - I seriously love this idea (and there is moss!)

These egg heads with their cress hair made me smile, and I think would be fun to do with Little B. I also love the simple painted faces on these eggs too.

And how about using egg shells to sow seeds in? What a fabulous environmental alternative to plastic pots.

♥

I find so much happiness in seasonal creativity, even just thinking about all the possibilities makes me completely giddy with excitement. I'm all set to do some seasonal baking tomorrow - I've got speckled candy eggs to go on top of some chocolate crispy nests, and I'm going to have a go at making Easter Biscuits  too. We always had Easter biscuits when we visited my Mum at this time of year, they are a true taste of the season for me.

Hoping you have a fabulous weekend doing things that you love - please do pop over to Gillian's blog and catch up with her Making the Seasons post, it's choc full (literally!) of creative inspiration. Enjoy! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

ps all my Seasonal posts are tagged in the Making the Seasons category so you can find them. Gill and I also created a #makingtheseasons hashtag on Instagram for you to tag in your creative makes for us to find - it's a visual feast!

 

 

 

 

 

Mandala Therapy

As much as I love and adore crocheting blankets and am passionate about designing and making them,  there are definitely times when a quick, creative fix is needed. Oddly enough, I mostly get hit by the urge to drop everything and make something small when I am part way through making something large - it's as if my Creative Mind craves a little bit of a detour when I'm on a long journey.

Over the past few years, mandalas have become my go-to solution when this kind of creative itch needs to be scratched - circles are quick and easy to make and a lot of fun. Plus, mandalas deliver plenty of opportunity for colour play which I find therapeutic, joyful and completely irresistible. 

Around the middle of January, on an ordinary sort of a Wednesday afternoon, I suddenly felt compelled to make a fresh mandala for my dining table. At the start of the year I began buying small bunches of daffodils and narcissus from the supermarket, and I fancied that my jugs of bright blooms needed something super-pretty and a little bit Spring-like to perch upon. I dived into to my bag of Stylecraft Classique Cotton and pulled out the following six colours ::

✤ Sunflower ✤ Shrimp ✤ Shell Pink ✤ Wisteria ✤ Sky Blue ✤ Soft Lime ✤

Ooooooo...........so pretty!

As I was doing this on a complete whim and I needed my fix to be instant, I didn't waste time searching for a pattern. All I had to do was go to my own list of tutorials and find the pattern I wrote back in 2014 and get hooking. Instant gratification!

I designed the Attic24 Mandala Wheel  to be a quick and simple make, something decorative that could be pinned to the wall or laid on the table to bring a flash of colour to the room. There are 12 rounds in total, so there are twelve colour decisions that need to be made when making this mandala. You could plan it all out in advance, or you could make each choice as you go along (which is what I do) - either way, the colour play is an important part of mandala making and I absolutely love it for that.

Mandalas can look quite complicated as they often use a whole combination of different stitches to create the rings of pattern. But I promise you that it's possible to take a very simple pattern (which mine is) and make something very beautiful and inspiring. Complete satisfaction right there in those stitches!

I have a whole collection of small jugs which I use purely for flowers, collected over many years. The one I'm using here was bought more than twenty five years ago from a craft fair, at a time in my life when I had very little money and £12.50 seemed like a huge amount to spend on a hand made jug.  But I have used it and loved it dearly for over a quarter of a century and it brings me such a lot of pleasure, so I'm very glad I gave into my heart and made this jug mine all those years ago. 

Do you like the idea of having a little bit of crochet on your table, or do you think it's a bit pointless? I'd love to know what you think of mandalas - they are such therapeutic, mindful, satisfying things to create even if you don't necessarily know what to do with them afterwards. 

If you've been following my blog for a while you'll know about my involvement with Yarndale, and you may well know about the large Mandala Hoops I've made which get displayed outside under the trees at the festival. You can read all about the making of these big mandalas (including pattern links) in the following posts :

✤ Starflower Mandalas

✤ Mandala Hoops

✤ More Mandala Hoops

This year I want to make a collection of smaller hoops to join the big ones at Yarndale, and after I  stumbled upon a beautiful pattern a few days ago I just had to give it a go.

I'm using Stylecraft Classique Cotton DK (my go-to yarn for mandalas), in the following colours  (from the outside of the mandala inwards ::

✤ Soft Lime ✤ Peppermint ✤ Sky Blue ✤ Wisteria ✤ Plum ✤Busy Lizzie ✤ Mauve ✤ Shrimp ✤ Fondant ✤

These thin metal rings are perfect for making mandala hoops - you can find them easily on Amazon and they come in all different sizes. The ones I'm using at the moment are 30 cm diameter which is the size of a large dinner plate. 

This pattern is called the "Spirit Mandala" designed by Tatsiana who writes a crochet blog called Lilla Björn Crochet. It was was gorgeous to make and I enjoyed the challenge of working some different stitches (hello popcorns!)

I used Tatiana's video tutorial to learn how she crochets her mandala to the hoop (which is a very neat method I have to say) and I am thrilled with the result.

 

One thing to remember when making mandala hoops - the finished crochet will need to be quite a bit smaller than the hoop you are using as you will need to stretch the mandala to open out the stitches and make it nice and taut. I find that the easiest way to do this is to use locking stitch markers (like these little plastic ones) to attach the mandala to your ring before you try and crochet that final round. 

The end result is so pleasing to look at, I just love the way the stitches open out and breathe once the crochet is stretched out into it's hoop. I can highly recommend a spot of Mandala Therapy, it's a perfect, colourful quick-fix project for a dreary Winter's afternoon. Tempted????? Go on........you know you want to!!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

 

Autumn Moments {three}

🍁 Loving our morning walks to school, even on days like today when the temperature dropped to a chilly one degree above freezing. We chat to the ducks and swans, and take in the ever-changing boats that come and go along this stretch of canal, it's a peaceful way to start the day.

🍁 The scent of wood smoke in the air is such a marker of the Autumn season here in my town and I really love it. As we walk along the canal, the sight of the little boat chimneys releasing their plumes of blue-grey smoke into the cold air makes me feel very cosy and content somehow. 

🍁 We've been lucky in the weather of late and it's been pretty dry for the most part. It makes for a satisfying scrunchy walk through the pavement drifts of crispy dry leaves. You are never too old to take pleasure from kicking through dry leaves. Never.

🍁 Our first frost was early this year, falling at the very end of October. I was on yet another leaf-gathering mission for yet more Autumnal photographs (obsessed with this autumn thing? Me???) which led me up into the park on my way home from school. The grass was damp and icy, with frozen dew drops clinging to every blade, and I was glad to return to the warmth of home for a mug of hot coffee and a gentle sift through my leaves.

🍁 There are still a few flowers to pick in November, some from my own front garden and back yard and some...errm....pilfered from my neighbours front gardens. I'd like to point out that I do know the aforementioned neighbours and feel confident that they wouldn't mind me snagging a small bloom every now and again. I do so love having a pretty hand picked posy on the table, most especially when Summer is no longer with us.

🍁 I absolutely adore the taste of mushrooms, and they seem very Autumnal somehow. Right now (well not right this minute, obvs) I am indulging in regular mushroom lunches, they are so yummy. I go for firm, earthy chestnut mushrooms quickly sautéd in a little butter, heavily seasoned with sea salt and black pepper and a sprinkling of fresh thyme, then deposited onto some toast. Quick, simple, and very, very good. 

🍁 Low slanting golden light is a lovely sight at this time of year as the sun makes its way down towards the horizon in the late afternoon. So far I'm coping pretty well with the shortening of the days (just over five weeks until Solstice), and enjoying my time spent cosied up indoors with the fire lit and the fairy lights twinkling.

🍁 I'm a bit late with this, but belated Happy Halloween!!  I carved a slightly wonky owl this year, using a pattern I stumbled across here. It was a fiddlesome challenge, to say the least. I should have splashed out and got one of those giant "Rambo" pumpkins which were on sale in the supermarket so that I could have up-scaled my design and cut out bigger bits. 

🍁 It was the usual happy Halloween mayhem here this year and although I do get caught up in the excitement of the Little People, I'm always mighty glad when it's all over. Little B dressed as a ghost and came home with a bucket full of sweets after a mere thirty minutes of door-to-door visiting in our neighbouring streets. On the home front, we had that many callers that our bowl containing 50 packets of sweets was gone within an hour and we had to hunker down and blow out all the candles early.

🍁 We enjoyed a fantastic Bonfire Night celebration at the start of November, de-camping to J's brothers house as he is the only person we know who actually has a garden as opposed to a small back yard. It was the kind of old fashioned affair that I remember from my own childhood - sparklers and rockets and a Family Selection Box of fireworks which were bizarrely awful and fabulous all at the same time. Very nostalgic, the smell of it all in the dark and the general feeling of happiness in the air. 

🍁 Autumn to me right now is so much about the seasonal colours and the creativity - I feel intoxicated by it all and brimming over with inspiration. My crochet mojo has been on overdrive as I've spent hours and hours designing, sampling and photographing for my new Woodland blanket which I'll be able to show you on Wednesday.  The colours in this yarn palette are just so beautiful, I am ridiculously in love with it all. I absolutely cannot WAIT to introduce you to the Woodland CAL which will start in early January - Wednesday is the day for a little leafy show and tell!! Eeeeeeeeppp!!!!!!

Hoping you'll join me to see what is totally floating my crochet boat right now, I'm really looking forward to showing you.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

Summer Moments {six}

☀ I'm not sure that I can really get away with describing this photo as a Summer Moment, but I'm going for it anyways. This was a rather wet walk along the canal on our first morning back to school last week. Please don't look at the leaves on that tree, please just don't acknowledge the shades of Autumnal red and gold.

☀ A quiet moment after the aforementioned wet walk to school. I came home completely soaked to the skin, stripped off, put on a fresh set of dry clothes then made myself a coffee. Ahhhhhhhhh.......so good. Note to self - get kitted out with a proper raincoat and some lovely footwear that does not let in water.

☀ 7.30pm, popping out to sling an empty wine bottle into the recycling bin and noticing how drop-dead gorgeous the early evening sky was looking. Dashed in to grab my camera to capture those cutesome little puffs of cloud sailing over head in a hurry. It was windy, the build up to a bit of a storm, and the word "scudding" most definitely applied to those clouds.

☀ A large tray of garlicky, herby, oiled-up veggies waiting to go into the oven to roast. It makes me smile, this tray - it is my marriage right there in vegetable form. Bright summery peppers and courgettes for me, more earthy celery, potato and carrots for him. Broccoli and red onion for us both. It's like Summer meets autumn in that tray. They were delicious by the way.

☀ A Friday afternoon, 2.30pm. We were sat at this wooden table outside the cafe drinking a coffee and sharing a slab of seriously good chocolate brownie. The sun streaked down and warmed my face, briefly reminding me that it still feels like summer. We had been out for a delicious pub lunch with my lovely in-laws, stopping by here on the way home for a little bit of additional post-lunch finishing off. I usually find chocolate brownies a bit much, but every so often that sticky, clarty chololateyness just hits the sweet spot like nothing else.

☀ A jug of summery stocks on my table, lighting up the room with a burst of colour and a waft of distinctive sweet/spicy fragrance. I think it must soon be dahlia time? I don't walk past the market stalls at the top end of town as often as I used to, but I must not be so lazy and go see what the Plant Man has in his pavement buckets this week. I'm sending out positive dahlia vibes!

☀ Ahhh, my beloved blankets, doing a sterling job of looking messy and delicious all at once. How I love them! They are so well used and adored here, especially with how cold the early mornings and evenings feel right now as we haven't yet put our heating on. Just looking at them makes me feel warm and cosy - so much feel-good right there on my sofa.

☀ Another rather un-summery image, but this wet, soggy scene has been mine twice a day this past week as I've walked to school and back in the rain. So much wet has fallen from the sky lately. I'm still wearing flip flops when I can get away with it, but they aren't the easiest thing to walk in when they get wet. The ice cream boat is still opening at weekends throughout September, so we will try and make time to pop down and enjoy one last delicious cone before they close up for the year.

☀ Little B dug out an old colouring book this week, and his enthusiasm and joy prompted me to treat him to some new colouring pens that he could call his very own. Both the book and the pens are superb and I can highly recommend them if you have Little People to treat to such things {this book, and these pens}. 

☀ More stewed fruit was concocted in my kitchen this week, using up a some apples gifted to me by my neighbour and half a bag of fairly ancient frozen Summer Fruits which I dug out of the freezer. Oh the colour of it is quite delicious, so impossibly bright pink. I'm optimistically calling it Summer Fruit Compote and dolloping it into little bowls of creamy Greek Yoghurt to feed to the Little People after dinner. I'm sure they would prefer chocolate, but we are attempting to encourage the return of healthy food habits following a very slack summer of eating a considerable amount of rubbish.

☀ The beautiful view from the end of my street before we descend the steep hill down to the canal side. I never, ever tire of gazing out over the hillside, it pleases me as much now as it did ten years ago when we first decided to buy this house and make this town our home. Ten years. I can hardly believe it.

☀ Just six more days until the Autumn Equinox on the 22nd of September, and I don't think there will be chance for me to squeeze out much more of the Summer now. I've loved putting together these posts - such a sweet record of ordinary family life unfolding during the past couple months. I hope you're enjoying whichever season you are in, whether you are slip sliding into Autumn, or skipping towards Spring. Take note of the small moments, they mean so much.

Here are links to all my 2017 Summer Moments posts....

☀ {one} ☀ {two} ☀ {three} ☀ {four} ☀ {five} ☀

 

 

Summer Moments {two}

☀ My current late breakfast / early lunch summer food crush. A scoop of homemade museli (oats mixed with sultanas and roasted nuts and seeds) mixed with fat free vanilla yoghurt, topped with fresh fruit (banana, strawberries, blueberries, pomegranate). It's not especially photogenic, but trust me it is soooooooo good to eat. 

☀ Enjoying the fact that we live less than ten minutes walk from the centre of town. A few times during this past week I've needed to pop to the shops, and Little Lady has jumped at the chance to come with me. In amongst the errands and shopping, we've managed to sneak a quick cappuccino/frappuccino at her favourite town centre coffee shop which has felt like a real treat.

☀ Lots of snuggling up and watching tv/films this week as the weather has been absolutely dreadful with a huge amount of rain. Happy to report that Little B's thumb has healed very well after his surgery and we are hopeful that so long as he keeps exercising, it'll keep bending as it should.

☀ With so much wet weather, we have grabbed any opportunity to get out when we've been able. This was a late evening walk up a huuuuuuge hill, taking the giddy Little People to the Rec high up above the town to burn off some energy just before bedtime. It's a lovely time of day to be out and about in summer (9.30pm in the above photo), such beautiful golden light.

☀  During the summer holidays, we manage to keep our Creative group going at Coopers Cafe on a Friday morning. I absolutely LOVE this part of my weekly routine, and it's always pure pleasure to sit down with something happily growing on my hook/needles whilst drinking a very good latte and chatting with all the lovely friendly ladies who come to join me. 

☀  My usual juggling act is well underway as I balance out the needs of the family with my own need to crack on with working commitments. I'm pretty used to blocking out the mayhem and working at the dining table, which is just as well really as I've got  a huge workload right now. I'm busy organising the big Creative Community project for Yarndale which I hope to be able to tell you about this week. I'm so excited by it!

☀  We had a few Movie Nights here last week, complete with requested bowls of the stickiest, sweetest toffee popcorn for the Little People. It's been fun - we watched {this} a few nights ago and I thoroughly enjoyed it, the humour really tickled me, and the sound track was fabulous.

☀  The morning after movie night, and the sight of the blanket-strewn sofa never fails to make me sigh with happiness. My blankets are sooooo well used here at number 24, and that makes me unbelievably happy I have to say.

☀  So. Much. Rain. Every day this week it's rained, sometimes a persistent light drizzle, sometimes short, sharp torrential downpours. I've watched the storms roll overhead and have longed for clear blue skies. I've lost count of how many mad dashes I've made out to the back yard to frantically pull in a load of almost-dry laundry at the start of yet another a rain shower. But when the blue skies appear, oh, it feels so good!

☀  A short morning walk up into the woods yesterday morning, a gentle stroll after a couple days of not being well. I felt rather drained of energy as a result of fighting off a stomach bug, but the fresh woodland air (soooo fresh after all the rain!) was a delight.

☀  The waterfalls are usually gently trickling at this time of year, but at the moment they are gushing at full force. Yes, that'll be the rain again....I'm sure there is a positive spin to put on all this wetness, but really I would love love love for it to be dry and sunny for a while.

☀ I can't deny the visual appeal of so much fresh, zesty greenery though, the woodland and surrounding countryside is absolutely thriving.

☀  I continue my love affair with nectarines, they make me so happy! Sometimes I just launch myself at a whole one (often outside as it's a juicy, messy business), and sometimes I take the time to cut the fruit up into neat slices and actually use a plate. Deeeelicious either way.

☀  A solitary little flower picked from my sparse back yard pots, so cheery and such a vivid shade of yellow....

☀  ....perfect to bring a dash of summer colour to the bathroom windowsill. 

I hope you're enjoying your days, whether you are swinging through Summer or cosying up through Winter. And I hope you manage to find some lovely moments which make you stop and take note, feel gratitude and happiness. 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

Early July

These sweet days of mid summer are just beautiful, and I feel like I need to soak up every tiny little summery thing and absorb it right into my soul. I feel a strong desire to stock pile these visual details, preserve the sights, sounds and memories of summertime in preparation for Autumn when it all fades away. My view is so green and lush right now, and every day I stand at the end of my street and breathe in the sight of it, even in the grey mist/rain that we've had of late it looks lovely. 

On Saturday morning I walked through the park with the Little People to visit our rather fabulous farm shop. It was a lovely day and we were on a mission to choose and buy some things to put a picnic tea together, it was such fun seeing what they chose and how they thought our picnic should be. We came home with a full bag - pork and apple sausage rolls, garlic stuffed olives, Italian salami, cherry tomatoes on the vine, fresh crusty bread, eggs to hard boil, a punnet of strawberries, chocolate chip cookies. J wasn't particularly keen on the picnic-in-the-park idea, but I showed him the chilled bottle of Sauvignon Blanc and reminded him that all he had to do was sit on a blanket, eat yummy food from a plastic plate and drink wine from a plastic glass. What's not to like? Besides, the Little People were sooooooooo happy about the idea of picnicking, he didn't stand a chance really. 

It was lovely, with that particular quality of summery light when the day starts to gently fade and early evening creeps in. It was round 8pm in the above photo, Little Lady and I lazing on the picnic blanket at the top of the hill chatting about this and that, whilst J and Little B ran round after a football. 

We found a new place to walk at the start of the month, a little bit of an accidental discovery. We were driving around familiar lanes in the Yorkshire Dales (J and I, one Monday lunch time) looking for somewhere quiet and scenic to enjoy a bit of a picnic lunch. We had food and drink, I had my crochet, he had his Kindle, and we had in mind that we might spend a few hours partaking in some pleasurable idling with a view. We saw a sign for Grimwith Reservoir and on whim J swung the car off the road and up a teeny lane to take a look. Turns out that it's rather picturesque and has 4 mile footpath running around the whole perimeter. So just like that we abandoned the idea of hooking/reading and took off to walk instead. I happened to be wearing flip flops at the time, and as I always feel like I could happily walk miles in them I decided to give it a go - turns out that I did just fine.

The following Saturday we went back to the same place, this time with the Little People. They moaned a little and said it was boring (four miles translates to just under 2 hours with Little Feet) but you can't win them all can you? On the plus side, I found some gorgeous pheasant feathers and indulged in my summer grass fixation. Very lovely grasses grow plentifully around Grimwith, in case you are ever in the area and fancy checking it out!

Talking of grasses, I discovered the beautiful work of artist Hannah Nunn just recently - do go and feast you eyes on her blog and have a look at her stunning photographs of summer grasses {here}.

The clouds were pretty spectacular on that day.....

.....ganging up on the horizon and looking rather spooky and unreal (these are Lenticular clouds which we see quite often up on the hilltops here in Yorkshire)

I added the pheasant feathers to my mug on the mantel, which doubles up as a nifty kitty amusement device. I'm sure you can picture the scene - she is very adept at extracting individual feathers which she carries proudly around the room as if she hunted them down in the wild. 

We are devouring punnets of strawberries at the moment (well not right at this very moment as I've run out), we eat these ripe sweet fruits on homemade museli for breakfast, with lunch, after dinner and many times in between. Interestingly, if I were to offer up a lowly apple as an after dinner Pudding Option, the Little People would look at me as if I'd grown two heads. But if I present a plate of chopped strawberries, they descend like locusts and forget to be disgusted that I've given them fruit for pudding instead of something "proper".  Works a treat, every time. Some of the fruits we are getting are massive, and can easily please three children.

Not a lot happening in the vicinity of the back yard just now as I keep forgetting to water the pots. I've got some slightly wilting herbs and some rather leggy lavender plants which are hanging on in there, but my best success at the moment is the clematis which is flowering really well this year.

I love the colour of the petals against the blue of the sky....

....and I'm enjoy a few blooms on my table too.

Isn't lavender just so very summery? I do love it for that.

This past week has seen quite a bit of rain fall here in my patch - I'm NOT complaining (my peas are happy! And the countryside is lush!), but it has made flip-flop wearing a real no-no. There have been pretty rain droplets caught in the Alchemilla leaves though, which never fails to delight me every year.

Awwwwww Tilly, you sweet and naughty little kitty cat! She is soooooo exasperating at times, so deliberately attention seeking and Diva-ish, but I love her ways all the same. My Summer Harmony blanket is growing so beautifully and I fall a little deeper for it's colourful charms every day. More on that journey soon.

My Daffodil socks are coming on nicely too and I'm loving the very stripyness of them. The yarn is inspired by the daffodil emblem used by the Marie Curie charity - more details here.

This picture is to remind me that amongst the Summer sunshine and picnics, the colourful yarn and flowers, the ambling walks and jaunts, there has also been quite a bit of quiet stay-home recovery time for us just lately. On Thursday last week, Little B went back into hospital to have another operation on his hand. He had his first op back in November 2015 which was partially successful in that his left thumb was fine and dandy but his right thumb refused to be fixed first time. It's been tricky for him at school during this past year as he's right handed, but we are hopeful that the operation has worked OK this time, fingers (and thumbs) crossed. It's not always easy doing this parenting thing, and I admit I've felt the strain of it this past week.

Thank goodness for yarn and crochet - total feel-good therapy and stress relief right there in that bag.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

 

 

Drifting

Since coming home from Dorset just over a week ago I'm finding it unexpectedly hard to ease myself back into any kind of normal daily routine. I just can't seem to find the energy or the will to address any of the gazillion things that are screaming for my attention, and so I resolutely keep myself feeling slightly adrift and untethered, and the gazillion things remain in a teetering, taunting pile. It's not a particularly bad feeling though, and I can look objectively and see that it's all probably a part of a process and maybe I'm OK to do this drifting thing for just a little while longer. Can't be for too much longer mind you, as I'm well aware that deadlines are looming and commitments are pressing, and there is only so long I can put off the inevitable result of being absent for three weeks. It's almost time to pull my life back into focus, but for now, I kind of like that my days feel like they are a bit blurred around the edges.

Dorset was a bitter sweet time. My camera broke on the first day, and after taking just one picture it refused to work any more, so I took it as a sign that I simply wasn't meant to record those days. No pictures or words, just a series of vivid emotions and memories to hold onto, and really that seems just fine. I have to say, it was most odd to be pootling around Dorset without my blogger's goggles on, most odd indeed! 

When I got home last weekend, I discovered that my camera (which I adore) wasn't broken at all and was just low on battery charge, so that was something of a pheewww moment. Usually I take photographs every day, but recently not so much. I have missed it though, I love uploading images to my laptop and taking in the odd assortment of visuals which represent my life. Yarn and flowers (always those), food and views, animals and kids, home life and scenery. Colour, creativity, joy, life, love. All of those things.

I finished another pair of Man Socks yesterday, a second pair to fit J's size 10 feet. I love this Opal Classics yarn for Man socks, they don't come out too stripy looking (a manly no-no apparently) but are still rather lovely to make. I'll write a sock update post very soon as I like to keep a record of all these kinds of things.

This past week I've loved having a jug of flowers on my table that smell just as good as they look - these stocks have such a beautiful scent and I can't get enough of them. I stick my face into them many, many times a day, and the smell of them makes me feel soooooo good. Kind of nostalgic and childish and dizzy with all sorts of sweet summer memories.

It was our town's annual charity Gala on Saturday, and sadly the weather was down right horrid. The whole day was awash with a persistent grey drizzle which left you feeling a little soggy and down hearted, but in typical British fashion the Gala didn't falter one bit. Our two Teens (oh, I have TWO teens now don't you know since Little Lady turned 13 in the Spring) did their own thing with their respective crowds of buddies, which left J and I trailing in the wet grass with an excited Little B. It's hard not to get caught up in the fairground atmosphere - the sights and sounds are very energising and Little B adored it. Freshly cooked donuts, a fun stint on a child-sized roller coaster, a jaunt in and out of the "House of Fun" and a new giant sized bouncy ball attached to a length of springy plastic and all was crazy-happy in his little world.

In the many long, quiet moments during the past few weeks I've been pratting about with my nails. I blame Little Lady entirely for this recent obsession as she has the most beautiful nails and she inspired me to try and treat my own a little better. When she was smaller, she used to bite her nails badly, but a few years ago during the summer between primary and secondary school, she spent six weeks growing her nails out with amazing results. She's so proud of them, and it impressed the heck out of me that she transformed them through sheer determination and a £1 bottle of Nail Hardener from Poundland. I've never had great nails, ever ever in my life. Sometimes I confess I do nibble at them but mostly they are just quite weak and always split off and look rubbish but I can never be bothered to attend to them. I am trying hard to see if I can do this and am using the same £1 nail hardener technique as recommended by Little Lady. I even have my own nail file and everything. It's a small challenge in the scheme of things, but it is somehow helping me feel like I'm doing OK. I can do this!

A sweet, sleepy kitty picture for you, although there is nothing soft focus or drift-like about this crazy creature. She chased a bee yesterday and got stung on her chin, giving me the nerve wracking task of extracting the bee sting with a pair of tweezers whilst trying to avoid being clawed to ribbons. I felt like biting my nails a teensy bit then I can tell you, I was really nervous! She is one feisty little moggie, but we love her so so much. I've relished having her close by me this past week, her soft, undemanding presence has felt very calming and comforting.

On the morning that I took off to go down to Dorset to see my Mum, I had a yarn delivery. I couldn't take it with me on the train but just knowing that it would be sat here waiting for me to return to it was a really lovely thing. The colours may well look very familiar to you - for me, this colour palette feels like coming home. It represents all that is happy and joyful and full of Summer spirit, which is exactly what I need right now. So I'm just about to start a new Summer blanket using this original colour pack, and am really looking forward to soaking up the happy memories that seem to spin right out of those colours.

Bring on the happy!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

Today's Colour Therapy

I've had such a happy time in my studio today, pottering about, arranging some new yarn on my shelves, chatting with lovely visitors and hooking up a few rounds of a new large mandala I'm working on. Oh, and admiring my flowers too, they've been very "visually chatty" today and have demanded a huge amount of my attention!

I've been amazed how long these flowers have lasted as I don't tend to have much luck with gerberas. Usually the stems go all floppy after a few days, but with these ones I cut the stems short so they wouldn't flop about in my jug and they are still looking pretty good twelve days later. The colours are just incredible, so intense and vibrant, they make me swoon a little bit.

I'm using these equally vibrant and swoon worthy cottons this week and I really enjoy having them sitting so prettily in this basket in my studio. So much of what makes me happy is to do with colours and the beautiful visual inspiration they provide. It really is the best kind of feel-good therapy.

Well............what did you expect?? A jug of vibrant floral blooms and a basket of vibrant cotton yarn - how could you possibly think that I wouldn't want to play?!

The yarn I'm using is my favourite for mandala-making, it's Stylecraft Classique Cotton DK. Sadly, that gorgeous zesty Seville (orange) shade was discontinued (even though I did beg them to keep it), so I use it sparingly in my projects.

So I'm making some more mandala hoops to add to the ones I made for Yarndale last year. I loved the installation I created for Yarndale 2016, it was amazing seeing them hanging from the trees and swinging in the breeze. But I need more for this year, because more is more! 

I love making mandalas when I am feeling a little adrift between blankets, they give me a much needed colour boost as well as being insanely satisfying things to create. But as lovely as mandalas are, they just aren't blankets and cripes, I do really, really need a blanket fix. Nothing lifts my spirits more than having a crochet blanket in progress. I'm hatching a plan for an early summer blanket (as is my usual thing at this time of year :: note the date of last year's blanket-planning post!!).

So I've already decided what I'm going to do and am now just waiting for yarn to arrive.........I am really rather excited and can't wait to show you. Yipppppeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee for hatching new blankets!!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

...more little snippets from the Attic...

Notes from the Studio

Gorgeous Sweet William

Things I Know

Dorset Summer 2015

Blue Bluebells

The bluebells came early this year, starting to gently bloom at the end of April instead of waiting until May like we've come to expect here in my patch.

J and I walked in the woods about ten days ago, a sunny Thursday afternoon at the start of the month and it was magical.

As per usual I took a shed load of photographs, and as per usual I wondered out loud why I can't for the life of me just appreciate the bluebells without feeling compelled to capture the visuals, share them and talk about them with the world at large. It's the same thing every year - I absolutely have to show you how bloomin' gorgeous it all is, you just have to see what I see!

I feel an almost obsessive need to try and convey the beauty of this beautiful and fleeting time in May, when the woodland glows with shades of sunlit blue and green.

It's a living sea of colour, the woodsy equivalent of looking out to sea perhaps?

Sigh.....I love this time of year so much.

Last week I enjoyed the most delightful little posy of bluebells on my table at home, well, when I say bluebells I also need to say pinky-purple and creamy-white bells too. Aren't they pretty? I wouldn't usually pick wild flowers, but these ones are growing in abundance all around the edge of our allotment plot and I couldn't resit picking just a few to bring home.

I love having little flower posies on my table and am really looking forward to planting up my back yard pots for this year.....once my little veggie seedlings are planted out safe and sound I'll be all over the flowers.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

...more little snippets from the attic...

Bluebell Time

On My Mind

The Colours of May