Attic24

Winter is Near

I really don't think we have very much Autumn left here now as nearly all the leaves have gone from the trees and the temperature has suddenly plummeted. Today I've been cold right down to my bones and it definitely feels like winter is near.  

Our days continue to shorten and often we are walking home from school as the sun dips down below the horizon. It's just over four weeks until the Winter Solstice - I can't help but count down the days until this turning point in our seasonal calendar which I love to celebrate.....bring on all the greenery, candles and extra minutes of daylight!

It's not often that I'm out and about after dark, but every so often there is a need to make an evening dash to the supermarket for something or another (we'd run out of bread on this occasion, and the Little People had put in a plea for some ice cream while I was at it). I love seeing the old mill building all lit up, casting golden, glowing reflections into the canal as I dash across the bridge.

Winter must be near because the potted hyacinth bulbs have arrived in the supermarket, making me very happy indeed. I decided last year that Festive Bulbs would be a feature of my Christmas mantel, and I'm so looking forward to the flowers arriving during the next month or so. These small, seasonal pleasures are so important to me, they guide me gently through the year bringing about a soothing sort of daily rhythm and oodles of comfort and joy.

I've had hyacinths indoors every November since moving to this house (my first bloggy hyacinths in 2008) and they always bring a whiff of winter with them when they first arrive. Incidentally, I'm sorry about the weird angle of the above photo, it looks as if everything is about to tip forward and crash onto the hearth, but I promise you all is safe and stable here in the Attic. I think I just had a lean on myself yesterday afternoon, gosh yesterday was a super tiring day for some reason. 

We continue to worship our fireplace - another seasonal pleasure which delivers untold hours of comfort. I'm in charge of the fire here, always. I relish the job, even the messy cleaning out of the ash and burnt out debri makes me happy because I know a new fire will be happening again very soon. J is rubbish at making the fire (seriously, he is just far too stingy with the kindling - lighting a good fire needs a precise and generous arrangement of fuel I tell you). I love having an open fire so so much.

Last week I had the absolute toe curling pleasure of playing with the above pile of felty gorgeousness. This is my beloved stack of wool-blend felt (40% wool content, it's really rather lovely and can be found here and here), and I'll be showing you what I was up to very soon. If you are veeeeeeeeeeeeery curious as to what I was up to and cannot possibly wait for me to spill the creative beans, you might like to go and peek here for a clue).............oh yeah, I know you are going to go peek and gasp and understand instantly how I was powerless to resist. More soon.

Behind the scenes, I'm working hard (I use the word working very loosely here) on my Sweet Pea blanket which I will be running as a CAL (crochet-a-long) at the start of 2019. I've been thinking back over my previous CAL's as this will be the fifth year for me doing my annual winter blanket. Do you remember them all?

Shown above there is Woodland (2018), and Moorland (2017). Before that there was the Sunny Log Cabin (2015) and the Cosy Stripe (2014). I can truly say that I love each and every blanket of mine - they all hold so many precious memories of time and place, and each colour palette is special to me for so many different reasons. I design my blankets with a great deal of emotion, and there is always a story/memory that is real and heart felt behind each one. I hope you feel it too.

Yesterday I shared the above sneaky peek on social media......oh there is so much excitement brewing for these pretty Sweet Pea colours! I'm just waiting to finalise things with my friends at Wool Warehouse but we are almost there....I'm giddy with it all, honestly, I am pretty much bouncing off the walls at the prospect of setting off on a new colour-filled crochet journey. This time of year is made for crochet blankets in gorgeous colours, such a huge amount of welcome winter feel-good. I can't wait!

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A Week of Highs and Lows

Hello, how you doing? How's your week been? I wasn't going to post this weekend as I've had a rather traumatic few days (the lows in the above title) and am feeling rather worn down. But then I remembered how much better I always feel when I make time to sit quietly in the Attic and send my words out into cyber space for you to catch and read, and so here I am. Sitting, thinking, holding on to the memory of the highs in the above title.

At the start of the week J and I took advantage of our non-working Monday arrangement (which has been one of the best things to happen for us in recent times) and set out to walk some miles in the Dales. 

It's a beautiful time of year for walking with perfect temperatures and amazing light, and the freshness of Autumn air is invigorating. It's a lovely time for J and I to chat too, and we end up talking about all sorts of random things as we cover the miles.

Oh, I do love love love walking for pleasure, it makes me so happy to be out there amongst all that natural colour, climbing hills, rambling along quiet country lanes and woodland trails....

....strolling along peaceful riverbanks, climbing over stiles and striding across lush fields. I love it all.

As you can see, it's looking gloriously Autumnal around these parts, and if you could zoom in on the above photo you would notice that the ground is absolutely covered with fallen conkers - loads and loads and loads of them! I have honestly never seen so many in all my life - great big juicy, shiny conkers for days.

Linton Falls was spectacular in it's fullness, both the visuals and the noise levels, gosh this is one noisy bit of river! No matter how many times we visit this spot along the river Wharfe, it never fails to wow me, it's just so BiG and rushing and spectacular. As you well know, my heart is always happiest when it's be the sea shore, but this lovely stretch of river feels like home to me since we've been walking here for over twenty years.

I snapped  a photo of a pair of chattering magpies sat on the house at the top of my street on Tuesday. It's not often we see these birds around here, but I automatically thought - ahhhh, two for joy!! Yay!!!! (If you' don't know this rhyme, you can read about it here). The thought of something joyful happening really put a spring in my step, which is a bit ridiculous really, but some superstitions stick with you from childhood and they are hard to shake. I seriously hate seeing just one lonesome magpie.

I've been finishing up the tutorial for my felted basket this week, taking lots of photographs and measurements before the basket goes on it's thrilling journey into the washing machine. I was meant to do that today, but chickened out haha!! I am both excited and nervous about putting all that work into a load of spinning hot soapy water, but I think tomorrow I should do it, don't you? I really want to show it to you and share the pattern - I've got a pure wool yarn pack all ready to go too, so I really do need to stop being a wuss.

I wanted to share this with you as it's had a big impact on me this week. This is called "Five Ways to Wellbeing" and I came across it as I was researching online with Little B for his homework. I completely love that he's been talking about this in school - we talked a lot about it together too,  about how we can look after our mental wellbeing and he made a fantastic presentation in his homework book all about it. I would consider myself to be very mentally healthy, but it's always good to be reminded not to take it for granted.

The weather this week has been sublime, a beautiful slice of autumnal perfection. 

We've woken to very cold mornings with frost and low lying mist, but accompanied by the most delicious golden sunshine. 

The combination has been atmospheric and breathtaking, especially the way the mist swirls over the surface of the canal as we walk along the tow path to school.

We played Eye Spy on this misty morning, Little B and I, crikey that child is ridiculously good at it. He picked something beginning with the letter T, and all the way to school I was trying so hard to get my brain to figure out what he might be seeing. All. The. Way. To. School. I had to give in when we ran out of walking time, much to his utter delight. Turns out is was T for Tag (as in the name tag on his guitar which I was carrying in my hand the whole way), I wanted to tell him off, but really I need to up my game.

I've started eating Brunch on the days that I'm at home, and it suits me very well. I sit down with just a frothy coffee at 8am when the Little People are tucking into their bowls of cereal, then make myself something more substantial around 10.30. My current favourite thing is toasted multi-seeded bread, topped with mashed up avocado, a little olive oil, heavy-handed seasoning, and a poached egg. All those flavours and textures make my toes curl with pleasure. I then eat a light bit of mid afternoon snackage instead of a full blown lunch, and I so look forward to it! Sometimes it might be cheese and crackers with some fruit, or maybe some bread sticks with hummus and salad, or sometimes a toasted crumpet eaten with the Little People when they come home from school. We still all sit down for our main meal at around 5.30 and it's the highlight of my day, truly. I love love love family meals, they are precious times indeed.

The past few days we've had a bit of an Indian Summer and I painted my toenails coral pink to celebrate. I even got to wear my sandals out today which pleased me enormously. As much as I love hand knit socks and colourful boots at the end of my feet in Autumn, nothing beats being able to wiggle your bare toes in the unexpected October sunshine.

I took the above photos on Thursday evening as we walked down through the park on our way to the swimming pool, gosh the sun was something else at that time of day. It was low and golden, slanting through the trees as it made its end of day descent. We were running late so I wasn't able to linger as long as I would have liked - I am such a sun worshiper, I wanted to stand still and drink it in for long, long beautiful golden minutes. But I had to be content with some quick snaps, and then a bit of a run to catch up with J and Little B who refused to wait for me while I faffed.

Little did we know at that time that within an hour, things would take such a dramatic turn. Gosh, life sure does throw a major wobbly sometimes! I won't go into detail, suffice to say that we spent six hours in the hospital that evening with J. He is OK and was able to come home, but it was flippin' scary at the time and we are still somewhat recovering from the trauma of it all. 

Despite very little sleep Thursday night, I felt the pressing need to be out of the house and surrounded by friends on Friday morning, with a much needed dose of caffeine and some gentle yarn therapy. I felt wrung out, but so so glad for the gentle rhythm of my hook and the happy conversations that flowed around me. I never cease to give thanks for the joy that crochet brings to my life, and how it soothes the soul when it is most needed.

Before I go, I want to say a heart felt thank you for all your Birthday wishes on my last post, I'm so grateful for your kindness! I love the friendship that surrounds my little Attic window, thank you so very much for all that you send my way. 

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ps without too much fanfare, could I possibly just show you this exciting news????

 

 

 

Summer Reflection

Hello my lovelies, thank you so much for popping in to visit with me as I sit quietly here in the Attic having a little bit of a catch-up with myself. This past week my three Little People returned to school, J returned to work, and although I had every intention of being all super organised and energetically productive, I found myself drifting along in a weird kind of a slow limbo not knowing what on earth to do. I've labelled it as a PTW (Personal Transition Week) and am refusing to feel bad about my utter slackness in the work department. My PTW has mainly been about reflection and gathering together my many, many thoughts and ideas for future projects and doings. Unfortunately it's also been about fighting off a beast of a lurgy and restoring my energy levels after said beast has left me feeling completely flattened. I am on the mend now which is a relief,  so I'm hopeful for a more fulsome week ahead.

We had a good summer holiday here, pretty quiet and low key for the most part with the exception of our one adventurous week away (more about that in another post, coming soon. We went in an aeroplane!). I often struggle with a little bit of guilt regarding our school holidays, as they are mostly spent doing very little of note. I always have this nagging feeling that we should make more effort to leave the house, leave our town, head out to explorer and visit new places, experience new things. To be honest though, I'm pretty sure it's only me who goes through this parenting angst - the Little People (and J) seem perfectly content to be at home doing their own thing and show no signs whatsoever that they are unhappy with the way their days unfold. Leisure and pleasure for each of us means different things I guess, and although I do mourn the loss of Quality Family Time, I know that these days the Teenagers are happiest when they are with their friends and not hanging out with Mum and Dad. Little B - well he's another story. At 8 years old, I feel we should perhaps make more of an effort to get out and about with him, but honestly he seems happy being at home. I would love to hear your thoughts on this, are you an active, out and about type of family, or do you relish the ease of just chilling out at home? Do you plan holiday adventures, or do you go with the flow?

The above photo is Little B pedaling like fury through the park as we walked/cycled home after his swimming lesson one evening in late July. The weekly routine of a cycle/swim has been so enjoyable throughout the summer months, it's been a pleasure to see Little B enjoy himself so much in the water and on two wheels. 

I uploaded these photos a few days ago, and actually laughed out loud at the very randomness of some of them. Such an odd mixture of images really, but they do capture the essence of our summer days rather well. The above photo was our very first tomato picked from the allotment - huge excitement over this one small, perfectly sweet and beautiful little red fruit, it was joyous! We've had many more tomatoes since this weeny first harvest, including some huuuuuuuge Italian plum tomatoes which were amazing. 

The weather during the past month has been mixed, with some very warm and humid days mixed in with much cooler and wet ones. The drop in temperature (especially in the evenings) has meant that my crochet blankets have been very well used which has made me really happy actually. As you know, I love the hot sunny weather and never want it to end, but there is something undeniably blissful about being snuggled up in a handmade yarny blanket. I'm especially loving the Cottonsoft Summer Ripple, oh it's such a delight to use! I've shamelessly hogged it, and like a big kid I drag it up and down the stairs depending on where I'm doing my snuggling. I love it's gentle weightiness on my bed at night, and bring it downstairs with me in the very early mornings when I enjoy being wrapped up as the day slowly unfolds.

We've allowed Little B to indulge in a lot of screen time this holiday, which I have mixed feelings about. He's been ridiculously happy watching films and cartoons on TV or gaming with his friends on the Xbox, and in turn this has granted me valuable time to concentrate on work when I've needed it. I'm beyond grateful that I can work from home during the holidays and flex my time to fit with family life, but the constant juggling of all the household/Mum things has been quite hard. Every so often I would make a concerted effort to encourage Little B to switch off the screens and engage in something else instead. Sometimes we would head to the allotment to forage for blackberries and pick tomatoes, sometimes to the farm shop for fresh produce and a sneaky sweet treat, sometimes into town for a cafe drink and a potter around the shops. But often we stayed home and I managed to kick start some enthusiasm for non screen stuff - baking, colouring and reading mostly. He never finished the above picture, but over the course of a few weeks he would regularly work on it, colouring in the intricate patterns in a very considered and methodical way. It delighted me on so many levels to see and hear his colour-thoughts, as he views colour in a way that is remarkably close to my own creative approach.

The Lego also came back out to play after a lengthy stint in hibernation, and I've been encouraging it wholeheartedly. Lego is such an excellent, all round marvelous invention, especially the more complex stuff that exists nowadays. It keeps hands and minds engaged for lengthy periods of time, and gawd I do love it for that!

My allotment sweet peas never really grew like crazy this summer, but they did well enough to satisfy my simple floral desires. I've had a small posy on my table most weeks, and am so in love with the beautiful palette of colours and the stunning scent they provide. So much of summer is in those petals, they make me dizzy with happiness.

Ah the kitty has the right idea! I always get such a lot of pleasure from seeing my latest creations join the family gathering, and both of my Summer Ripples have been used a huge amount since they came off my hook. I just adore the play of the colours in this blanket, they are wonderfully upbeat, joyful and easy to live with, like the best days of summer right there in those stripes. 

Back in the middle of last month I joined in with an Instagram celebration called #grannysquareday (you can read more about it here). This is where thousands of yarnies all over the world post a close-cropped image of a granny square to their Instagram feed on the designated day (usually the 15th of August), which is more visual fun than you can imagine. It means that when you make a search using hashtag #grannysquareday2018 you can feast your eyes on a virtual granny square blanket filling your entire phone screen. It's awesome!! Last year I used one of my Harmony squares, but this year I wanted to do something new so I designed and made a brand new square which you can see above - the Popcorn Flower Granny. Popcorn stitches are fun to make and have a tactile, three dimensional quality to them which is very appealing.

Although my preferred style of blanket is a striped design, I do have a real soft spot for granny squares and this particular square got me very excited indeed. I will definitely be making a square blanket next year sometime, something happy and glorious which combines flowers and diamonds (the squares tipped onto their points). I'm very excited about the whole prospect!

More allotment gatherings, the results of leaving our plot for a week while we went on holiday then coming home to see what had grown whilst we were away. Sweet peas, cucumber, courgette and beans, such a treat to be able to enjoy a little bit of  summer home-grown. 

Now what's this that I'm giving cuddles to, it looks rather glorious and woolly wouldn't you say? This is a little gathering of  yarn that I've been working with over the summer - it's absolutely beautiful to crochet with and I'm enjoying the project very much. I'll be able to show you more very soon. 

More woolly stuff keeping me happy and quietly engrossed, this time it's yarn on my needles. It's been a while since I had a sock adventure and I have missed the satisfaction of making them, so I decided to break into a beautiful new ball of sock yarn and give myself a bit of a stripy yarn fix. You can see I was snuggled under my hydrangea stripe blanket in the big chair, I remember it was a particularly grey, chilly afternoon towards the end of August and I thoroughly enjoyed my cosy yarn time. It occurred to me how well the sock stripes looked against the blanket stripes, kind of harmonious wouldn't you say? There is a story behind this sock yarn that I'm looking forward to sharing when the time is right......it's rather exciting!

Oh, be still my beating heart!! Isn't that one gloriously beautiful pile of hooky blankety delight???!!!

Nine lovely blankets, all crocheted by me. I love my blankets more than I am able to put into words, they mean everything to me. My passion, my therapy, my relaxation and a constant source of creative happiness and pure joy.

This wasn't an elaborate stacking game set up by Little B, or a deliberately styled photo opportunity either. It was in fact a pile destined to be put into a huge laundry bag and taken off on a little jaunt to a rather fabulous yarn shop. A few weeks ago I was asked to go along and be a guest speaker at a lovely bricks and mortar yarn shop called Baa Ram Ewe in Leeds. The shop was hosting a "new season event" to launch new yarns for the upcoming autumn season, and as they have just become newbie Stylecraft stockists I was asked to take along my blankets as inspiration for their customers. I was a bit nervous (talking in front of a packed audience of fifty people!) but everyone was super friendly and I found that once I got over my initial nervousness I had quite a bit to say about the joys of blanket making. I hope I might have inspired one or two ladies to embark upon their own blanket journeys, I'm all about spreading the hooky love.

One of the highlights of my summer holiday was an impromtu visit to Dorset. I wasn't planning on going down there this summer, and yet I found myself craving some time by the sea and a re-connection with my home turf to the point where I began to feel quite desperate to take myself there. So rather than just dream about it and pine for it, I decided to take action. It was liberating! I booked a train ticket and three days later, off I went. I was lucky in that J had already booked some annual leave and so was free to look after things on the home front for a little while. I am so grateful for his understanding - he doesn't really get my emotional need to be in this childhood place of mine, and yet he encourages me to go ahead and do what makes me happy.

I enjoyed three nights away from home, staying with my Dad and Lady B which is always pretty easy going and enjoyable. When I first arrive in Dorset, my Dad always asks me (without fail) if I've made any plans for my time there and I always reply (always) that my only plan is simply to see the sea. That's as much planning as I care to do when I'm on holiday. 

On this morning we had walked from the town to the sea across the fields (it's around 2 miles), which is something I often did as a child when I lived there. The sense of nostalgia is always incredibly strong for me when I go "home" - so many layers of memories from the past five decades of my life. It's overwhelming at times, but in a way that makes me feel like I am finally breathing out after holding my breath for an age (if that makes sense?! It feels like relief and a lightness in my soul). 

When I arrived in Dorset I found out that it was Carnival weekend in town, and my absolute favourite part of that event is always the annual Torchlight Procession on the Sunday night. I've no idea what the origins of this are, but it's great fun to be a part of. 

When I was a child, torches used to be made of wax and were highly dangerous, but nowadays they just look like long grey sticks, a bit like gigantic sparklers. Traditionally the town Mayor lights the first torch at the front of the procession, then all the other torches are lit from that one, passing back down the street until the whole place is lit up and glowing. 

The atmosphere is loud, jolly and carvinal-ish, and there is an almost palpable energy in the air as we all wait to begin the two mile walk from the town to the sea. I heard on the grapevine that there were 1,500 torches this year - so many people all joining in with this end of summer ritual, it was a little bit wonderful to be a part of it. The front of the procession sets off at 9pm, and eventually around an hour later we arrive at the beach......

....our torches are about a third of the length by this time, and get tossed onto a big beach bonfire. There is a stage set up and a local band playing live music, but the main thing that everybody waits for.......

......is the firework display. We climbed part way up the steep cliffside to sit and wait patiently for the fireworks to begin - they are lit at the end of the pier, so the sight of them bursting over the sea is really amazing. I loved it all so much. The atmosphere, the smell of the air, the warmth of the summer night, the buzzing excitement, the lights blazing in the dark. Magical. 

I spent a lovely morning pottering around the town with Lady B, doing the kind of things that my Dad just won't go along with, ie drinking coffee in al fresco cafes and indulging in a bit of yummy retail therapy. He is more of a traditional pub person, so I was happy to go along with B, enjoying the delights of a warm morning spent in this lovely little market town where I lived my childhood years. The above photo is the hidden courtyard of the poshest hotel in town, which is a very pleasant place to enjoy a morning coffee. 

I asked Lady B to choose the cake to go with our coffee and she picked something that had no name, but it was utterly delicious. At a guess I would say it was a lemon and almond cake? It was low-rise cake, beautifully moist and kind of light but dense at the same time, with a gorgeous zesty zing to it. It honestly was the perfect accompaniment to my coffee, and made me sigh out loud with pleasure. 

Our retail therapy took place in the above shop which was a visual and textural delight.

Run by a really chatty and friendly lady, the shop sells mainly Italian linen clothes, with some beautifully curated jewellery and accessories alongside.

The clothes were all assorted linen things (dresses, tunics, jackets, pinafores etc), some long and some short, some simple and some elaborate, but the thing that struck me the most (quite obvious from the above photo) was the colour order of the clothes. Oh my goodness, it was overwhelmingly beautiful to be surrounded by so much saturated linen colour singing out a rainbow song! I loved this shop so much and could honestly have filled a small truck with clothes to take home. I settled on a beautiful blue linen tunic dress with little mother of pearl buttons and big pockets (I love clothes with pockets) which I'm saving to wear for the first time at Yarndale. I can't wait!

One afternoon I went to the place where my mum rests, a very small rural village where she lived as a child. It was a six mile round walk along quiet leafy country lanes, and I was glad of the gentle exercise and the solitude for a while. I talked inside my head a lot and tried to put some things to rest while I was walking. I still struggle with so much of what happened with my Mum, it's an emotional tangle and I guess it may be some time before I can free myself from the mess of it all. 

Back at Lady B's and a lot of time was spent sitting in her garden, enjoying fabulous home cooked food, chatting and drinking large G&T's as the sun went down. It was a relaxing and restorative trip for me, and I was so glad I was able to make it down there. It's such a long journey (7 hours by train which includes a jaunt on the London underground), but I enjoyed the travel, reading and crocheting and idling my mind as I looked out the window and took in the changing scenery.

It's always good to come home again though, no matter how wonderful the trip away. Yorkshire is looking lush after all the rain we've had in recent weeks, and you would never know how parched everything was earlier in the summer. 

We've done a few walks just lately with the Little People at Bolton Abbey and also further up the dale along the river Wharfe. Although my heart misses the sea, I do really love this little patch of England that I now call home. I love it very, very much and appreciate how lucky I am to live here. 

Sigh.....I am feeling quite emotional at the moment, so many memories flooding my brain and so many random thoughts of times past flitting in and out.

At this time of year the light is sublime at certain times of the day, making me catch my breath as the sun streaks in low through the windows. Its' golden and beautiful, lighting up my table for fleeting minutes before it's gone. Often times the dining table is a mess of objects - yarn and crochet and mugs and magazines and papers, the stuff of daily life strewn across the surface. But every so often it stays clear with the exception of a small jug of flowers in the centre. I love the illusion of tranquility this image creates, even if the rest of the room around the table is in utter chaos.  

I've got a lot to do in these next few weeks as we are in the frantic run up to Yarndale. My work schedule is a bit frightening to be honest, but I will do my best to do all the things that are expected of me. I feel the pressure of it all at this time of year, it's quite the juggling act I have to perform. This week (amongst many other things) I'll be working to finish off the above project, they are the stripes I'm crocheting from the arm full of yarn shown in the photo earlier. It's a Felting Project and I'm equal parts insanely excited and crushingly nervous about putting this creation into the washing machine....... eeeeeeeep!!!!!!!!! I don't know how I can stand the suspense of it all!!!!!

So I think we are more or less caught up on my Summer comings and goings now, with the exception of our one week away (we went to an Island!! We flew there!!!). I would like to tell you a bit about that trip, if you don't mind looking at a few holiday snaps. Personally I LOVE reading other people's holiday blog posts cos I'm a nosey parker and enjoy knowing how other families spend their leisure and pleasure time. 

I hope you're feeling happy and in good spirits, thank you as ever for your company here in the Attic. I love having you visit....come back soon, won't you?

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Summer Snippets {one}

☀ It's the start of the long six week summer break here, and just as I did last year I thought it'd be nice to share some little snippets of life as we pootle gently through our days. I woke up late this morning completely disorientated, not knowing what day of the week it was or what on earth I was supposed to be doing. It was a blissful feeling when my brain finally woke up and I realised I could take my time and nothing much was needed of me for a while. I adore this feeling so much! It's relief mixed with an overwhelming sense of calm. All is well, it's the summer holidays and we will be operating on a completely different schedule for the foreseeable. Yippeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!

☀ Summer holidays for me generally means a lot of juggling. As with most mums of school age children, I'm used to multi-tasking and mixing my parenting with work commitments, and this summer holds a fair amount of both for me. I'm cracking on with lots of Yarndale stuff, working on the content for the printed brochure as well as the big Creative Community project that I organise each year. I designed and made these little "treasure bowls" last week as a project for the Yarndale brochure - they are made from pure wool which means I can put them into the washing machine and felt them.......so much fun! I'll show you more in a separate post as I've got another felting project on the go right now too. 

☀ Luckily for us our allotment is only a couple of minutes walk from our back door so we are easily able to nip up most days and check on our small but precious crops. These are my minuscule, super-dwarf beans which I am so in love with - they are ever so cute! Despite their diminutive size they are starting to deliver us some delicious beans and I couldn't be happier. it's like having a row of really well behaved little children all performing over and above what is expected of them. Gold star award for the teensy bean plants, top of the class.

☀ The sweet peas aren't producing a whole lot of flowers to be honest, and look a bit on the spindly side. I have a feeling I forgot to pinch out the growing tips at the seedling stage, so the plants never bushed out like I expected them to. Ah well, I'm happy to be picking small posies each week which are scented to perfection, even if there isn't the abundance I was hoping for.

☀ Our small tenty green house is working out really well and keeping our plants nicely protected from the winds that whip across our sloping hillside plot. We've got cucumbers, tomatoes and chilies growing in here and I love seeing how well they are doing.

☀ This was yesterday's harvest, gathered with a great deal of happy enthusiasm by myself and Little B. We had to carry out a fair bit of adventurous hacking to get to the teensy raspberries through the riot of brambles in the overgrown soft fruit bed. It was rather painful and our haul was a little on the small side, but still, the excitement was unrelentingly high. I let Little B eat the raspberries with some greek yoghurt and honey and he said they were super-yummy. And check out my cucumbers, how good do they look?! So proud of my veggie babies.

☀ I'm working on the printed patterns for my new Summer Ripple blankets this week, which is quite hard going. Taking step-by-step photographs as I create the borders and writing up the patterns isn't nearly as enjoyable as the hooky itself which has been hugely pleasurable. But I'm making good progress and hope that everything will be ready to go by the end of this week. Maybe even Thursday.

And in other news, I know I am late to this particular party but I've just discovered frozen smoothie packs at the supermarket. Wow, they are brilliant! They nestle in the freezer between the massive selection of lollies and ice creams and the bags of ice cubes, so you have to kind of know to go and look there for them. There isn't a huge choice in Morrisons, but the above concoction was made from a Red Smoothie pack (strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and mango), blended with a dollop of greek yoghurt and some milk. Yum yum yum, sooooooooo good. The Little People are ecstatic that I'm willingly offering to make these for them without thee need for begging or nagging on their part. 

We've had this multi purpose blender for almost a year now (it's a NutriPro 1200) and it's fantastic for general blitzing jobs in the kitchen (making breadcrumbs, chopping nuts, blitzing soup, making curry paste, hummus, dips etc) but I've never been bothered to make smoothies with it. However, it really is the bees knees when it comes to blending chunks of frozen stuff, I've been very impressed. 

☀ The curious mixture above came out of the Green Smoothie pack and consists of frozen kale, banana and mango. And in case you're wondering what that bitty sawdusty stuff is, well, that's lemongrass. Took me a while to actually read the packet and work out why everything was covered in sawdust. I divided the pack up into individual bags so that I can easily make up one smoothie at a time (that isn't all kale and no fruit)  - it gets mixed with apple juice and water to produce this.........

.....mmmmmmmmmm. It looks a bit overly health conscious, but actually tastes delicious. Little B couldn't be persuaded though, he took one slurp and said it made his tummy hurt and could he please stick to the pink one. Guess I'll be the one drinking the kale smoothies then.

☀ A photo of our Big Chair, just because I love it so. It's an oversized chair-and-a-half that we inherited from J's parents who were throwing it out and it fits an adult and willing small child quite nicely for film watching and snuggling. I change the blankets over regularly as they get a lot of wear and tear on this chair, and I'm really enjoying the bright pop of colour that the Sunny Granny Stripe is delivering right now. In case you were wondering about the cushion, that's the Water Lily cushion I made last year using Stylecraft Batik yarn (see here for yarn and pattern details). It's grown on me considerably since I first made it, and I do appreciate the more subtle colouring set against the exuberance of all my blankets.

☀ The Big Chair is where I sit when I can't sleep and come downstairs in the very early hours of the morning. I'm generally a good sound sleeper, but due (I suspect) to my hormones, I'm having some very disrupted nights just lately. I wake at 3am feeling as if someone lit a fire under me, and then find it almost impossible to get back to sleep again. I feel anxious and a little panicky, with a racing heartbeat and a mind that refuses to switch down a gear. I've learnt not to struggle with this any more, and instead of tossing and turning I get up quietly, come downstairs, make a cup of tea, sit quietly with the cat and read or crochet a little until the rest of the household wakes up. I was surprised when I got up yesterday morning to see that it was still dark at 4am. So I switched on my my fairy lights and lit some candles, and waited for the sun to wake up. It was so peaceful as I yawned my way through those darkened early hours of the day.

☀ Little B - so very, very happy to be on his summer break home from school. His happiness radiated out of him today as he loafed about listening to music, playing with his lego and watching insane cartoons on Netflix. He played outside too, kicking a ball around with his friends on the street and riding his bike up and down and up and down. The start of the summer holidays always feels so light and joyful, with endless days stretching ahead to be enjoyed and filled with good things. Oh, I'm hopeful for many Good Things. Always hopeful, that's me.

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Summer Plodding

✿ a walk to the farm shop on my own one morning last week, just because I didn't feel like going home. I bought a bar of my favourite chocolate and a take away milky coffee, then walked back through the park to my favourite bench to sit in the sun and consume the aforementioned refreshments.  It was a small window of relaxation in my busy week that I would probably have forgotten about if I hadn't just come across the above photo of my bench view. These are the same cherry trees that I photographed in this post back in May - in fact if you look at the 2nd to last photo in that post you'll see my favourite bench right there under the trees.

✿ pegging out the laundry and having a little tussle with the clematis. It's flowering beautifully this year whilst attempting to grow it's way along my washing line. I've decided to leave it be and peg around it as best as I can.

✿ A Sunday morning walk along the river - this is Linton Falls looking incredibly dry and depleted (you can see this same spot in my November post when the river was in full flow). 

✿ the heatwave continues here in he UK, with temperatures reaching 29°C (this is around 84°F which I know isn't at all hot for many of you in other parts of the world, but it is for us Brits!). I love the hot weather (love love love it) but it sure looks like hard work for those wearing a woolly fleece.

✿ plodding along the riverside, listening to the banter going back and forth between J and Little B. It was just the three of us on this Sunday morning as the two Teens were both off doing other things.

✿ a little bit wowed by this enormous tree fungus, it was as big as a stack of dinner plates. Somehow I always associate fungus with the Autumn season, but this summer-loving one was seriously impressive.

✿ love love loving a continuous succession of summer posies in various jugs and bottles on my table. Sweet peas, cosmos, lavender and lady's mantle looking unbelievably pretty. I've got sweet peas growing at the allotment and in a large pot in the back yard too - I can't say they are really producing an abundance of flowers just yet, but there are enough for me to pick small posies every week. I've got a little bottle of flowers beside my bed at the moment too, which makes me so happy.

✿ a family jaunt out on Saturday to the RHS gardens near Harrogate where it was all very beautiful, sunshiny and refined. In complete contrast to the calm, serene surroundings our youngest child decided to behave like a wild thing.  

✿ luckily there are parts of the gardens that are very suitable for wild-child behaviour, thank goodness for the open grassy slopes (roly-polys galore) and the woodland play areas (cue much wild running). I think all that restrained behaviour on the terrace at Betty's tearoom (not to mention the sugary drink and cookie that was consumed on said terrace) simply needed an outlet. It was simultaneously worrying and inspiring watching that child deal with his excess energy.

✿ the last time we came to HC was many years ago when I was carrying Little B inside my tummy and it was Autumn time then. The gardens are an absolute delight in the height of summer, I was on visual overload for a while.

✿ I adored this wild flower meadow planted next to the kitchen garden, it was humming with bees and was such a feast for the eyes and the soul.

✿ there was so much about the gardens that I enjoyed - the alpine house, the kitchen garden, the ginomrous terracota pots overflowing with summer flowers, the willow sculptures....it was all very, very lovely. I wish I'd taken more photos, especially of the kitchen garden which was totally inspirational and made me wish for more time and energy to give to our allotment plot.

✿ J and I have been walking in the countryside every chance we get and I have so enjoyed being out and about making the most of the weather and the summer season. On Sunday all three of our offspring happened to be busy with friends so we took ourselves off to Bolton Abbey and walked the whole length and breadth of the estate. From Barden Bridge at one end down to the Abbey at the other end, crossing back and forth over the three river bridges in a big loop. I think it was around 7 or 8 miles in total and was such a lovely walk.

✿ at the start of this week we had our first proper downpour of rain in almost two months. A muggy grey day of low cloud and light drizzle, followed by heavy rainfall in the evening. The air smelt amazing and was the very definition of the word petrichor. It was just the most calming and relaxing thing to be sat quietly in bed with the window wide open, listening to the sound of the rain falling.

✿ keeping up the watering regime at the allotment has been a struggle in this dry hot weather but we are plodding on with it. Our small number of crops are hanging on in there, some doing better than others. The spinach gave up early on and bolted, but we have high hopes for cucumbers and tomatoes which are looking very promising growing in the shelter of a small plastic tenty-type greenhouse thingy. I planted a row of dwarf beans and they are the smallest bean plants I have ever seen, barely reaching above my ankles. However, they are producing flowers and beans..........and yesterday I harvested the grand total of nine beans which was very exciting in a rather small, modest way. We ate them for dinner, sharing them out two each which was a bit of a joke but the Little People made the appropriate enthusiastic noises to keep me happy. Bless 'em. In case you were wondering, I added shop-bought sugar snap peas to the 2-bean offering so it wasn't quite as desperate as it sounds. 

✿ been playing with sweet peas this week, arranging them, faffing with them, photographing them and just plain enjoying their colourful beauty, like you do. 

✿ I really want to have a go at designing a crochet sweet pea flower so that I can make some to twine around a Summer wreath.  They are very three-dimensional flowers so I've found it hard in the past to look at photos of them and work out how the petal construction might work. But having the real thing to look at makes it very much easier, and the colours are really inspiring me and my summer loving heart. 

✿ not homegrown potatoes, but the mint is growing exuberantly in one of my many back yard pots. Yesterday's dinner offering was the nine allotment green beans (with added sugar snap peas), salmon filet marinated in olive oil/lemon/honey/garlic then pan fried, and baby new potatoes tossed in butter and fresh mint. It was light, tasty and utterly summery. I hope the Little People look back on their childhood family meals and remember how blinkin' good they were. I cook from scratch with fresh ingredients most nights, and having the five of us all sit down at the table to eat our evening meal together is one of the true highlights of my day. I may be totally rubbish at housework in general, but I do always try my bestest to do a good job with the food thing.

✿ a little bit of after dinner hooky in the back yard, crocheting the last run of ripples on this gorgeous summer cotton blanket. I think I've only got around 6 stripes left to make, then it's onto the border. I'm so looking forward to telling you more about the yarn (which I've totally fallen in love with) and the two summer blankets that I've been steadily plodding away with since February. Not long to wait now.....I'm really pretty flipping excited to share, it drives me a bit bonkers to keep things under wraps for any length of time. I'll be feeling a whole load better once this is all out there, I can't wait!!!

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Feels like Summer

The past few weeks have felt like a dream, a tantalising taste of exactly what Summer should look and feel like as our days continue to roll out all warm, bright and full of sunshine. I have been like a flower, constantly turning my face up to the sun, drinking in the clear blue skies and feeling a deep down gratitude for this season of light and warmth.

The effort I put into sorting out my back yard at the end of May is making me so happy now as we jig along through June. Truthfully it wasn't a huge effort, although it somehow felt like it was in the weeks I spent procrastinating over tackling it. All it took was a couple of afternoons emptying out all my pots of old soil and dead plants, re-filling with fresh compost and planting some cheap and cheerful supermarket annuals to bring an instant hit of colour. J also helped me clear some broken garden furniture and a heap of miscellaneous outdoor debris (plenty of rotten and broken things) so that our outdoor space suddenly feels very much tidier and bigger somehow, even though it's still teeny tiny. We need some new seating, and I am hankering after a small painted wooden storage shed, but for now we are making do.

My flowers aren't really established enough just yet to provide me with much in the way of pickings for indoors, but that didn't stop me.  

I snipped a few small stems....

....and thoroughly enjoyed having my first little back yard posy sitting in a small jug on the dining table. This to me is a sure sign of summer and I absolutely love it.

I've used my backyard a lot during the past few weeks, it provides me with a weeny bit of peaceful solitude at times when the house just feels rather noisy and chaotic with children, television, constant comings and goings. I enjoy it most in the early mornings when I can quietly sneak out through the kitchen door without anyone knowing where I am for a short while. 

I've been crocheting outdoors a fair bit of late, turning my outdoor table into a little bit of a working space. I've been experimenting with crochet using non-machine wash pure wools that felt beautifully when the crochet is popped into the washing machine. I'll show you more of my experiments very soon - it's very exciting I can tell you! 

We walked up to the farm shop at the weekend, a slow stroll for J and I with Little B zooming around us on his bike. I couldn't resist this pretty summery chocolate from Yorkshire based company  Choc Affair, oh you just have to know that the taste was something else - so, so good!

Cherries came home in our bag too, one of our favourite summer fruits and always a delight when they are in season. 

I've been working in my studio, even though the weather has constantly called me to be outside instead. I've got a lot on at the moment with various deadlines fast approaching, so I very much appreciate having my studio to go to as it puts my mind firmly in get-on-with-it mode. Ooooo, I had a super-exciting meeting on Monday with a very lovely lady who traveled especially to see me. I can't tell you anything about it just yet, but lets just say I was squeeeeeing inwardly (and maybe a little bit outwardly too, it was unavoidable) at the ideas and possibilities she put forward. I am keeping digits crossed.

I've got a jug of sweet williams on my studio table this week, they make me sneeze a bit but I can't resist their charming colours and old-fashioned nostalgic looks. 

June brings forth the elderflowers, and my goodness this is a bumper year for these frothy white flowers. They are growing in abundance in my neighbourhood, the trees laden down with so many flowers in full bloom.

We went out at the beginning of last week to gather in some floral booty, Little B and I snipping and gathering and getting dusted with fragrant pollen. 

I shared my elderflower cordial recipe a few years ago (here it is, if you wish to see how to make it), and this year we picked enough flowers to make 3 batches. I've frozen quite a bit of it in small plastic bottles, but we all love to drink it so it doesn't tend to last long. J and I have discovered the delights of an ice cold gin and tonic with an added dash of elderflower cordial, oh, you need to try it, trust me, it is absolutely sublime on a sunny late afternoon.

Bubble blowing - I'm not sure what to say about this except for how lovely it is. All of it. The excitement never fades for me where big, blowy bubbles are concerned, they just make me insanely happy.

My hill view is wearing it's beautiful green summer outfit, and the cold, brown days seem far behind us. We've had rain this week for the first time since the start of the month, so the countryside is looking (and smelling) especially fresh.

Quite often I will find a reason to walk down to the supermarket in the evenings, to purchase something completely random that absolutely cannot wait until the morning. I like the feeling of being out and about in the evenings whilst it's still light, it gives me a brief feeling of freedom to escape the house at unexpected times. I like when the days feel longer than normal. I like it a lot.

Work at the allotment continues, I wish I had some better pictures to share with you. My sweet peas are doing well, and so far the beans and spinach seem to be surviving the mollusks. We've seen some enormous frogs hopping about on our plot, so I hope their bellies are full of slugs! I was late putting the sweet peas into the ground (nothing new there) and now feel desperate for them to grow big and tall and flower at warp speed. I absolutely cannot WAIT for the flowers! 

J and I did a shortish walk at Bolton Abbey on Monday, stopping a while on the beach opposite the abbey ruins to eat a picnic lunch. It was peaceful and quiet, and unusually I missed the Little People on that day. Mondays are usually all about relishing our child-free hours together, but there was something about being on that beach that tugged at my heart strings and made me wish for the kidlets to be there. Not that the Teens would want to do that sort of thing nowadays, but I remember them so vividly enjoying this place in years gone by. 

Another evening stroll on a still, warm day - I think it was Sunday evening. I had an urge to walk in the woods as it had rained earlier in the day and I fancied a bit of "Shinrin-yoku" would be a good thing before bed.

I had the pleasure of both Little B and Little Lady with me on this walk.....

...chattering loudly as we walked in the cool damp woodland. It did indeed smell gorgeous, just as I hoped it would.

By the time we returned home it was 9pm and the sun was well on it's way down, shining low and golden through the trees and reminding me for the zillionth time how much I adore the feel of summer. I hope you are loving these mid-year days and finding lots of little things to make you feel happy.

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May End

Last week it was half term and I tell you we were all so ready for a change of pace and a break from routine. I'm sure it's the same in every household with school age children, that deep-down need for some respite from the clock watching and the nagging that comes with trying to get the offspring ready for the day and out the door on time.

On top of the usual school stuff we're in the midst of GCSE exams with The Teen, so the slight ease up last week was especially welcome for him, and for me too. I'm trying really hard to trust in his very laid back approach, trying my level best not to keep questioning his commitment or the amount of time he's spent revising. 

All will be well, I'm sure. 

So last week was all about laid back relaxation, which I'm happy to say that we all rather excel at here. However for me personally, I would have dearly loved a trip to the coast in amongst all the laid-backness, I'm feeling a strong emotional pull to be beside the sea at the moment. But when I put the idea forward to the family I was met with a complete lack of interest or understanding. I even offered to down-grade my expectations to a day trip to the West coast instead of an overnight stay on my favourite East coast, but nobody wanted to go and I have to be honest, it broke my heart a little. My Little People are growing up so fast, and most of the time I absolutely love to see their independent and strong spirits thriving. But every so often, oh I do so long to have them little again, when trips to the seaside would be met with such joy and enthusiasm.

Once I got over my disappointment and realised that we wouldn't be going anywhere at all, I settled down into our home space and made the most of the warm sunny days. We did some more to Little B's bedroom which is still an ongoing thing, and we had a bit of a clear out of rubbish in the cellar and the back yard which was very therapeutic. We bought bags of compost and I refilled all my back yard pots before planting them up with some colourful annuals. We worked at the allotment, cutting back overgrown pathways, weeding the main growing beds and preparing to plant out various little pots of veggies and herbs that we've collected from kinds friends and the garden centre. I saw an idea on Pinterest for creating a trellis for sweet peas out of bamboo canes and twine, and that's going to be my next project. I've already got the seedlings waiting patiently to put down their roots into deeper soil - gosh my to-do list really is humongous. 

As well as all the Doing, there was plenty of idling for us all and I guess that's the whole point of these short one week holidays at home. To rest, recharge, and to seek out the little things that make us deep-down happy. I spent lots of time in my back yard, either crocheting or reading, or sometimes (especially first thing in the morning) just sipping coffee and listening to the birds.  My reading was all about drinking in the May and June magazine issues which I had been saving especially for this week of down-time. These are my most favourite issues of the whole year (well this it my favourite time of year in general) and they did not disappoint. Such a lot of visual happiness in those pages, all light, fresh, summery colours to inspire and bring on the happy vibes. Just lovely in a dreamy, slightly unreal kind of a way.

Although I had hoped for some days out last week, in the end we didn't venture further than where we could walk. We walked in the woods, walked to the farm shop and we spent quite a lot of time at the park. 

One evening I took Little B with me on one of my regular buttercup appreciation walks, and on the way there he'd asked me how many buttercups there were in the meadow. I told him to guess how many he thought, to which he answered "maybe around two hundred?" His face was a picture when he saw the true scale of the meadow, it really is breathtaking and his wide astonished eyes reflected it perfectly.

I love the light at this time of year, most especially at the end of the day. I love that a walk in the park at 8pm feels so special when the sun is low and golden and night time still feels a long way off.

Last week I picked my crochet banner back up, and after a few weeks break from it I know straight away what I needed to do for the border. During the school holidays we try and keep our Creative Coopers group going on a Friday morning at the cafe, and I think I appreciate those happy hours even more during the holidays than I do during term time. It's just a fabulous way to round up the week and I dearly love spending time with my creative friends and any visitors who happen to drop in to join us. 

Once I'd finished the 6 border rounds it was time to stitch on the letters. This didn't go smoothly, in fact, it was probably the hardest part of the whole project and took for EVER to complete. My fingers protested at all that stitching (I used back stitch around the outer edge of each letter, so it was very labour intensive), but I stuck with it and am so so happy with the outcome. I'm crocheting an additional piece all along the top now so that I can insert a piece of wooden dowel for hanging purposes, but I promise to show you very soon when it's all done.

So that was the end of May, and although I'm a little sorry that my most favourite month is over for another year, it's been absolutely spectacular. I've never known a month to have so much continuous sunshine and so little rain and I've loved every minute of it. I've loved the abundant greenery and the flowers (how can you not love a month that contains blossom, bluebells, wild garlic, cow parsley and buttercups?!) and most of all I've loved the length of these warm golden days.

Here's hoping that June is just as lovely all round!

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May Delight

I think possibly the word "delight" doesn't wholly apply to the above photo, given that underneath that pile of colourful hooky is a stubborn eight year old boy, completely in the buff, refusing to get dressed and ready for school. This was Friday morning with ten minutes to go before we needed to leave the house. I seriously felt like yelling, could feel the annoyance and frustration bubbling up ready to explode forth, but instead I talked myself down, got out my camera and captured the moment, reminding myself how fleeting these childhood days really are. And in case you were wondering, we did eventually make it out the door - we were late but not disastrously so.

Friday afternoon, and I realise that J and I have adopted something of a little weekly woodland routine, which I rather like the idea of. This is the third Friday afternoon in a row that we've decided to walk through the woods during the gap of time we have after lunch and before the school run. It's such a beautiful way to spend an hour, kind of a gentle decompression after the ups and downs of the working/school week. The scent of the woodland makes me giddy with delight at this time of year, the garlic is powerful and intoxicating and I love it.

I really do appreciate the floralness of May - the bluebells, the blossom and then the wild garlic, and very soon we will enter buttercup and elderflower season. I am so thankful to live in a town where I can find all these flowers within a short walking distance.

Friday 5pm and I'm relaxing with a glass of wine and a spot of mandala finishing. The back of our house faces west and for a short time each day we are treated to a golden stream of sunshine pouring in through the dining room window. It doesn't last long as the sun quickly dips behind the rooftops, but it's beautiful while it lasts.

Another mandala hoop finished, and Tilly gives it the once over. I was playing with the hoop, trying to capture the shadow on the table, but naturally she assumed I was doing it all for her benefit. Diva kitty.

I love these dream catcher mandalas, they work up quickly and the colour play is gorgeous fun. You can find the free mandala pattern here.

I don't have any photos from Saturday except for a solitary bowl of salad. It was a day of laundry and errands and sweat and toil at the allotment plot. Later on there was chilled white wine and hoards of children coming and going, a barbecue dinner in the back yard and this rather yummy Greek salad thrown together to accompany the outdoor cooked meat. 

Sunday morning I decided to set myself up at the front of the house which faces East and gets a full blast of sunshine from early on. We have a teeny tiny front garden with very little level space, but it's a real sun trap when the sun is actually out and doing it's thing. We have a minuscule patch of grass and an equally minuscule patch of old stone paving outside our lower/cellar front door, so there I sat with a coffee and some hooky, listening to the bees buzzing and the birds chirping. The kitty came to join me, the Little People and J were also in and out, reading, playing, chatting, sitting for a while then moving on. I chatted to neighbours passing by, and all the while my hands and hook were busy making colourful stitches in the May sunshine. It was lovely, it really was.

I took this photo just when we came home from school this afternoon, as miraculously the sofa didn't look like a small tornado had swept through the house. People often ask me What Do You Do With All Your Crochet Blankets? Well, they are all here at number 24 keeping us warm and cosy when the weather is cold, and bringing lots of colourful homemade cheer to the furniture all year round. They are draped over sofas and chairs and beds and I can't imagine living in a home without them. It makes me profoundly happy to have them around the place and to see them being used and loved.

This weather we are continuing to have, my oh my, it is a sheer delight. Sunny and hot with glorious clear blue skies day after day after day. It's a rare gift for us to have this number of sunny days one after the other, and it's making this month feel very special indeed. Little B has changed his swimming group and his after school slot has been replaced with an early evening one. This means that we have a little bit more breathing space and can choose to walk to the pool instead of leaping in the car and racing against the clock. It's made a huge difference, and the walk up the hill and through the park this evening was just gorgeous.

Don't you just love this time of year? The long hours of daylight suit me so well, my soul is happy when there is golden light streaming across the grass at 7pm.

And now it's 9.24pm and I am suddenly very sleepy after a busy day dashing here, there and everywhere. The moon is out but the sky is still light and blue, gosh I love this time of year, these long, precious sunny days, did I day that already? I love it all, right down to the depths of my bones.

Wishing you moments of delight and tranquility wherever you are and whatever you're up to. Enjoy the little moments won't you?

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Outdoor Loveliness

❤ Stepping out into a glorious, sunny Spring morning on Friday and noticing  how beautiful the treetops looked with their fresh new leaves against the bluest of skies. 

❤ Loving that I am lucky enough to have this woodland only a ten minute walk from my front door, enabling me to seek out some tree-induced freshness when the mood takes me (see my previous post) 

❤ Walking home from school on Friday afternoon, the canal beginning to busy up as lots of boats arrive into town for our annual Waterways festival. 

❤ Every day we walk past the ice cream tug boat on our way too and from school, and Little B knows that if he's done well at school then Friday afternoons will often bring about an ice cream treat.

❤ Mr Ice-cream makes Little B "his usual" on Friday afternoon which is a single scoop of Yorkshire farm vanilla ice cream topped with chopped nuts and chocolate sauce. We stop a while on a bench beside the canal to enjoy the afternoon sunshine and wait while Little B devours his cone. Pleasure all round.

❤ I am used to seeing canal boats come and go along our school run route at all times of the year, but during the first weekend in May when boats are arriving for the festival there is so much visual pleasure. I love to take in the small decorative personalities of each boat.

❤ Often it's the domestic homeliness of the boats which really capture my attention - neat piles of logs, laundry dying in the sun, a dog sprawled out on the warm deck, pots of herbs and flowers blooming on every available flat surface.

❤ This beautiful boat window cover immediately caught my eye - a combination of lacy crochet and delicate cross stitch, I might have swooned a little right there.

❤ Walking down the hill to the canal past this long beech hedge on Friday evening, a quick trip to the supermarket with Little Lady. I brush my fingers gently through the soft green leaves and chatter to myself, marveling at their softness and that particular lush shade of new-leaf green. Little Lady tries to pull my hand away, telling me not to turn into "the neighbourhood crazy lady who talks to the leaves". She actually tells me (with some mild horror in her voice) to "step away from the leaves!!" Never...I love the look and feel of their newness and they beg to be touched and cooed over.

❤ Saturday morning, more blue sky and bright sunshine. For the first time this year it's warm enough for me to sit in my little back yard and eat breakfast while still in my pyjamas....such a simple pleasure, but a hugely enjoyable one.

❤ Onward from my al fresco breakfast and it's mid morning now. I'm still in my pyjamas, slurping fresh coffee and listening to the gentle sounds of the neighbourhood going about it's business. I'm absorbed in my own wonderful hooky world making  little blue squares to add to my banner. It's absorbing and delicious and I feel like I could honestly sit there for the whole day working those rounds of blue.

❤ 6.30pm now, and I'm walking down to the train station to meet my Dad and Lady B who are arriving from Dorset for a week's stay. The early evening light is sublime, so clear and bright and uplifting. I love how the trees are showing their bare branches one minute, then in full leaf the next, and I can never, ever seem to catch the transition in action. It happens so fast! When did the leaves happen? When??

❤ Sunday evening, after a hot lazy day of hanging out with my Dad and socialising with the neighbours on our friendly street, followed by a seriously yummy barbecue dinner, I took Little B and Little Lady down to the canalside to join in with the boating festivities. There is live music playing on the temporary stage and a jolly party atmosphere as more and more people arrive. 

❤ I adore the long days we are have at this time of year - these photos were taken at 9.30pm as the crowds gathered beside the canal to wait for the "Illuminated Cruise" to start.....

❤....the first of the boats cruises into the canal basin just before 10 pm - it's been a long day for Little B so we only stay a short while before walking slowly back home to the comforts of bed.

❤ The first Monday in May is a national holiday in the UK and gives us a much anticipated Long Weekend. The weather can really make or break any weekend plans, but this year it was utterly glorious for the whole three days. For the third day running I'm sat eating breakfast in my back yard and enjoying the gentle warmth of the early morning sun. I love seeing those little wispy clouds (we call them "mares' tails" ) that arrive when the air is warm and clear.

❤ I am so so so happy with how my banner is coming together!! I absolutely cannot wait until I get to stitch on the white letters and see how they look against that beautiful patchwork of blue. These colours keep reminding me of "The Starry Night" painting by Vincent Van Gogh, kind of a patchwork of summer night blues dancing together and making me feel joyful.

❤ Monday lunch time, and I'm walking with Lady B. My Dad is feeling a bit flattened by the heat from the day before (we spent all day outside eating, drinking, chatting in the sun on Sunday), but Lady B and I are off on a stroll through the park.

❤ I am stopped in my tracks by these trees in full bloom, gosh the sight of them honestly took my breath away.

❤ I so enjoyed standing underneath them, gazing up through the layers of delicate white and pink flowers to the blue sky beyond. Absolutely stunning.

❤ My favourite bench was calling to me, but we couldn't stop as we were walking to the farm shop to buy fresh produce for our evening meal. We bought bright red cherry tomatoes still on the vine, a tub of herby olives, seeded flatbreads, butchers lamb and mint burgers (yay, another barbecue dinner!), and best of all........................

❤ ..........locally grown asparagus. Oh my goodness, how I LOVE these green stalks!! I toss them in a little olive oil, season with fresh ground black pepper and Maldon sea salt, then cook on a hot griddle pan until they go all toasty and lightly charred. Fresh parmesan grated over the top and eaten with fingers whilst still hot. Yum yum yum.

I love this time of the year so so much. I love the first real warmth of the year, the frothy blossom, the greenest of leaves, carpets of wild garlic, bluebells and local asparagus. It really is a season of all round outdoor loveliness.

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Spring Tuesday

So my black embroidery thread arrived in the post yesterday and my very first thought was how very, very black it looked. My instinct was to quietly pop it back in it's bag and pretend that I hadn't ordered it. No black here. But then I thought about the flowers that I'd meticulously embroidered, and how cutesome a little buzzy bee would look hovering above the petals and told myself  to stop being such a wuss and deal with the black. And I'm glad that I did because I love the bee, I really do.

This morning I was all set to start making a tutorial for you (the pattern for my latest mandala hoop, which I'm naming the Positivity Mandala), but I'm afraid to say that I got completely sidetracked with essential spring time pootling activities. I set about finishing up my Hello Spring hoop as yesterday I'd sponged off the blue marker ink and dried out the fabric so it was ready for the final finishing stage. After a good press on the reverse side I trimmed the fabric into a circle leaving an extra inch all around the finished hoop size.

I took a length of embroidery thread and stitched a running stitch right around the edge, then pulled it tight to gather in the fabric.

This isn't an especially neat finish, but I like the honesty of it. I think the original embroidery instructions suggested gluing a circle of felt to the back of the ring to cover up the back completely, but I happen to really love seeing the reverse side of stitching work. It's a reminder that this is something hand made, that there were snags and knots along the way but the finished piece is all the better for it.

Today is the first day of May and here in North Yorkshire it is finally starting to feel like we can let go of our long Winter and welcome in Spring. Thank goodness, because I've been ready for many weeks! 

I haven't really faffed with my mantel all that much for the Spring season just yet, so it's still a work in progress. But I'm so happy to have my hoop on display. I think I might tie some ribbon around the hanging loop to finish it off.

It's been chilly cold still today but the sun was shining this morning and I had my flip flops on, yippeeeee!!! Mind you, as I've been sat here at my desk writing I realised that my toes are flippin' freezing so I've kicked off my flip flops pulled on a pair of my hand knit woolly socks. Oh the blissfulness of that is not to be underestimated, it feels sooooooo good! 

This morning when it was bright and sunny and feeling a weeny bit Springlike out there,  I popped outside to pick a few of these gorgeous little pansies to bring indoors. 

I only picked 5 small stems to pop in one of my favourite old glass ink bottles (I love that I found this bottle dusty and forgotten, hiding in a box under a table in the collectors centre. I paid 50p for it). Having a small posy of flowers in the house is one of my deepest joys - there is something so endearing about the simplicity and the small scale of it all. I would much rather have this than a big fancy bouquet in a posh vase, any day of the week.

Whilst we're here chatting, I'd like to gently introduce you to the amazing work of Emma Verner. She creates the sweetest little decorations out of old pencils and rulers which tweaked my heart strings the second I first came across them. They are just delightful - do go and peek in her shop on Etsy to see more of her designs. I have such a major soft spot for little houses and I've absolutely no idea why?!

The four legged residents in the Attic have been enjoying the sunshine today - the kitty took full advantage of a sunny spot in the Big Chair....

....and out little piggy Lola appeared to be rather ecstatic when I deposited her into our very overgrown, unruly patch of  grass. A lush al fresco banquet, for sure.

This afternoon was all about the blues for me, as I sat in the cafe with my yarny ladies and hooked up some more solid granny squares for an ongoing project. I'm a long way from being finished, but I'll show you a bit more of what I'm doing very soon. I keep forgetting that it's OK to show projects that are still in progress, more than OK in fact. I've always enjoyed documenting and sharing my creative journey and feel like you might like to see this particular project in it's early stages, even though it's all a bit abstract at the moment. I tell the ladies at the cafe what I'm making, and see them trying hard to understand my vision, but only I can know what I can see so clearly inside my Creative Mind. And I can see this project soooo clearly, it's as if I have a photograph of it already. I'll show you soon, I promise.

Actually, I was thinking earlier that I really, really want to be here in the Attic more, I want to make time to chat and share more of the little things that make up my days. At the weekend I was reading through some old blog entries from way back in the depths of my archives. Back then, my blog entries were often quite short and fairly insignificant in the big scheme of things - just little snippets of ordinariness, things that caught my attention, made me happy, sparked off ideas, filled up my mothering hours. But they provide an absolutely priceless view back in time, and I've found that the blogs of mine that I enjoy re-reading the most are the ones that are about nothing in particular. Just ordinary day to day life bobbing along. 

And on that note, I need to go see to the laundry and chivvy Little B away from cartoon insanity and upwards towards his bed. Ordinary life calls....xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx