Attic24

Last Days of Winter

It's the Spring Equinox this Sunday 20th so we're in the very last week of winter, and what a lovely thought that is. 

I've often remarked how much I enjoy celebrating these quarterly points in the year, they are more meaningful to me in many ways than following the months on a traditional calendar. The older I get, the more I recognise an intuitive need to be in tune with nature and the changing seasons, it grounds me and keeps me focused on the here and now which I seem to need.

It's interesting being on the cusp of a seasonal change, and during the past week or so I've noticed a perfect mix of winter and spring. It's still very wintry cold here in the north of England with early morning temperatures sitting only just above zero degrees. And yet the light.....

.....oh, the light is so very, gloriously spring-like and very, very much appreciated by me I can tell you!

I get to see the sun rising above the hill around 7am at the moment, and often times I stop walking and just stand still to soak in the gentle warmth of it. Sunlight makes me really happy, it's as simple as that.

Yesterday I had to pop to the shops at the top of town and on the way back I took a small detour through the churchyard. I used to come here regularly when Little B was very small because we went to a lovely singing group in the church hall every Monday morning. The garden in front of the church is in an elevated position, so it gives a lovely view right down the main high street of the town. Here, let me zoom in a bit for you.....

....there you go. It's a lovely main street I think, it's wide with cobbled setts in between the pavement and the road which is where the street market takes place three times a week. Yesterday wasn't a market day so there are cars parked on the cobbles but even with the cars I think it's still very picturesque. 

I walked home along this stretch of the canal which you can access from one of the shopping streets at the top of town. The bakery is just over to the right in the above photo, so I often cross the stream via that wooden bridge to get onto the canal tow path. I love being out and about on a bright winter-spring morning, there is nothing nicer than breathing in the cold air and feeling energised by the light.

My daffodils are in full tilt now and I was delighted to find one single pale rogue flower in the bunch. I love it, and wish we could buy bunches of these more delicate varieties. So pretty.

In Winter Garland news, things have not been going to plan. This morning I was all set to start crocheting it together, so thought I'd lay everything out to take a few photographs first. As you can see in the above photo, there are some noticeable gaps - 2 blossom flowers and 3 leaves missing. Eh? I searched high and low and I cannot find them anywhere, so I'll just have to crochet up some replacements. I also realised that although I'd crocheted all the berries, I've still got the faff of stitching them to the fern leaves before I can get busy with crocheting the garland.

So by the time I got my head around the work that still needs to be done, the weather had changed and the good morning light was gone for the day, so I'll try again tomorrow. I can't wait to have it finished - I really, really want to see it hanging on my mantel because I think it's going to look wonderful.

There have been other yarny happenings this week which is very exciting indeed - I have some new yarn to play with, oh, the thrill!!

This is Stylecraft Highland Heathers which is a DK weight acrylic yarn and it really is very lovely. Each shade is created by heavily blending several colours together which gives it a richly tweeded effect - it's hard to capture on camera but trust me it's an absolute delight in real life. This is a relatively new yarn which launched in summer 2020 and this is the first time I've had the chance to try it out.

I've been working on some design ideas for a new blanket and am so excited about it, I always love the thrill of starting out on a new blanket journey. I've got a pretty clear idea of the overall design, but am still in the sampling stage where I'm working out how exactly to bring my idea to life. I enjoy these early stages of blanket making so, so much, it's gives me such a massive creative buzz! 

You can see from the above photo how dreary the weather has been today - mid afternoon and I'm lighting a candle to take the edge off the gloom. There was nothing gloomy about my yarn play though...........

.....EEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeppppp!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Those colours!! When I'm in a mad sampling phase I always like to gather in all the tail ends at the end of each session because seeing them all together like this gives me a really good idea of how the colours are working. If I look at them and feel butterflies in my tummy (and I really do with these) then I know I'm on the right track.

Anyhow, it's very early days but I thought I would try and share some of the design process with you as I go along this time. All being well, there will be a Highland Heathers yarn pack and new blanket pattern coming in September. And I'm very, very, very excited about it. Butterflies are taking flight in swarms for this one!

It's been a funny sort of a day today, the weather has been drizzly and grey and the light has been gloomy, and nothing has gone quite right somehow. I've felt a bit discombobulated, and that hasn't happened to me for quite a while. I'm hoping that tomorrow will be brighter in more ways than one, and that I can finally see my lovely Winter Garland over the finishing line. A Thursday Ta-Dah would be a very good thing so I shall try hard to make it happen.

Incidentally, can you see Tilly in the above photo? She's the dark blob sleeping soundly in a sea of colourful crochet. Lucky kitty.

I'm hoping you've had a good day without even a smidge of discombobulation, and that these last days of winter are treating you well. And if you're on t'other side of the world, then I hope that the coming of Autumn will bring you joy too.

Hopefully I'll see you tomorrow with a ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-dah!

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February by the Sea

I've been really looking forward to writing this post and sharing the very short little seaside jolly we took two weeks ago at the start of the February half term break. Blogging my holiday trips (however short they might be) is such a pleasure, it's like I get to relive it all over again so it's a win-win for us all.

After the success of our trip to Saltburn at New Year (which you can read about here) I decided that I would really like to start prioritising short breaks away. After almost two years of restricted living through the pandemic I now want to make good use of our free time, and travelling a little further afield on a regular basis is high on my list of things to do. Over the years we've often taken short breaks away with the Little People and have found that even just a weekend with one night spent away from home is so good for family life. We don't need to go far, and staying fairly local means less time spent in the car and also that J is more likely to agree to it. I've worked out that two hours is a hard limit on his patience when it comes to driving for a short break, so we have a few places we like to visit which take about an hour and a half and I'm more than happy to return to familiar spots if that's what keeps everyone happy.

We were originally booked to have two nights away at the start of half term, staying in the same lovely house in Saltburn which I'd found for our New Year trip. But you will probably remember that we had quite a severe storm pass through the north of England (storm Frankie? Franklin?) and due to local flooding we ended up needing to delay our departure which meant just one night away in the end.

It was quite miraculous really because the weather was pretty dire here when we left (we'd packed all the wet weather gear), but the further east we travelled the brighter it became. Arriving into Whitby to clear blue skies and glorious sunshine was so unexpected, and completely brilliant I have to say. I felt so, so lucky!

Also, can we just take a moment to appreciate how fun it is to park the car in a car park which also has parking spaces for fishing boats? My kind of place.

We know Whitby pretty well as we've been visiting, walking and holidaying here for over two decades, since the days when it was just J and I. It's a popular holiday place, but there is still a thriving fishing industry in Whitby and the busy harbour is always jam packed with boats.

Of course I couldn't help myself thinking of my recent Harbour blanket, and taking in the colours with my crochet head still on - I do think I did a  pretty good job with the colour palette.

We arrived in Whitby ready to walk some miles, so after a short stroll around the harbour we followed a very familiar route  up through the steep streets on the east side of the river. It's a heart-hammering short, sharp climb up at the start, but it feels wonderful once you make it to the top and know that the rest of the walk is going to be on the level.

We walked through fields and along quiet narrow lanes until the path eventually took us to the cliffs.

I adore coastal walking so, so much, it really is my happy place when I'm striding along with a continuous view of the sea. The ever changing light and colours provide such a lot of visual pleasure and I never, ever tire of it.

The walk wasn't all that long (about 5 miles) and before too long we could see the piers and knew that we didn't have much further to go. The footpath takes you past the famous abbey at the top of the cliff, and on to the top of the steep flight of steps that winds back down to sea level.

There are 199 steps in total, and I can tell you from experience that it's very much easier to walk down than up.

It's beautifully picturesque and charming - Whitby is a very old town (the abbey is 700 years old) and you can feel the layers  of history and folklore around every single corner.

It's a really lovely place to have a pootle, and there are plenty of interesting independent shops and small art galleries to draw you in. These days I much prefer to stay outside of the shops and take in the atmosphere of the streets....

...with all their quirky little details to make me stop and smile.

I really love to explore places that have a lot of character, and Whitby has it in spades.

I absolutely fell in love with this galvanised wire sculpture beside the harbour, simply titled "Fishwife". And now that I've spent a weeny bit of time looking up information about her, I've discovered that she is part of a sculpture trail.....awwww, I really, really wish I had known that at the time! Apparently there are eight more sculptures around the town, well, I absolutely need to find each and every one of them next time I'm in Whitby. Remind me, won't you, I especially need to find the Gansey Knitter I think.

After all the fresh sea air, coastal walking and street pootling, it was time to settle in for a little bit of refreshment and take the weight off our feet for a bit. We called into one of our favourite pubs which is conveniently nestled just at the bottom of the 199 steps, and luck was definitely on our side because we managed to find a table right by the window. We enjoyed a bite to eat and I might have had a cheeky little glass of sauv blanc to take the edge off my weariness. I can tell you that I really enjoyed my drink-with-a-sea-view.

The pub we were in is called The Duke of York, just in case you ever find yourself in Whitby in need of a cosy spot to rest a while. It's very atmospheric inside, and like much of Whitby it is steeped in history - a thousand years of it! Imagine that! 

By the time we came out of the pub it was early evening, just before 5pm. We decided to go for one final stroll, along the very picturesque, cobbled Henrietta Street which leads round to the east pier. In normal non-stormy weather you can stroll all the way to the end of the stone piers, but on this extremely windy day it was very wisely closed to the public.

We had such a lovely day in Whitby, so much so that for a little moment I totally forgot that we still had a journey to make to our holiday home in Saltburn! It's about a 20 minute drive up the coast between the two places, so nothing too strenuous, but I was really glad to finally arrive at the house and find it waiting for us all warm and welcoming. We have a history of finding places to stay and returning to them over and over - it's kind of like having a holiday home I guess, but without the hassle of looking after it.

It seemed a shame to only be spending one night in Saltburn, but there wasn't a lot we could have done about the storm. We all collectively decided that we could go to bed early (music to my ears) and get up early the next morning so that we could pack up and head out for a beachy stroll before breakfast. The Little People were on board with the plan, and miraculously we did actually manage it without any real strain at all - 8am and we were all showered, dressed, packed up and ready to head out for some sea air to blow away the cobwebs, oh happy, happy, happy me.

Little Lady and I walked on the beach for a short while....

....chatting and breathing in the fresh, salty sea air. What a way to start the day.

Ahh...............so.....much......breathing.....space.....! Love love love.

We eventually caught up with J and Little B (the beach avoiders) and decided to take a walk out along the pier as we still had half an hour to wait before breakfast.

It was very windy and the sea was pretty wild.....

....huge rolling waves coming in at speed right underneath the boardwalk of the pier, and therefore right underneath our feet. There was so much sea spray being caught up in the wind that it was catching the sun and making mini rainbows - can you see in the above photo? It was magical.

The waves really were astonishing, so powerful and huuuuuuuge. I loved it, it was the best kind of winter sea, really  atmospheric and invigorating to watch. 

It was soon time to stroll back as we'd picked out a café to visit for breakfast and it was due to open at 9am. So back along the pier we went, then up the gazillion steps to the top of the cliff. Collapse on a bench for a spell of recovery, then off to find me a coffeeeeee.

I thought you might like to see a little bit of the grand Victorian architecture that makes Saltburn rather special. Part of this beautiful building was a hotel at one time (it opened in 1867) before eventually being converted into apartments. 

Isn't it fabulous? You can just imagine what the sea views would be like from those upper windows, how dreamy.

Such a short but sweet little holiday this one - we needed to be back home by midday because Little Lady had made plans with friends, so it really was just over 24 hours away from home in the end. It was still wonderful to be away and I can honestly say I enjoyed every single minute of it. 

J did mention that he would like to stay somewhere else for a change next time though, so I've agreed that he can decide where we go. Me, I'm happy to go anywhere for a weekend jolly - I wonder where he'll choose?

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Winter-Spring Crochet

Just lately I've been thinking a lot about the space that I occupy online and the way that I share and communicate with you all. Just to reassure you, it's a good kind of thinking as I'm feeling very positive and also very inspired right now and I want to make sure that I'm using all this creative energy in the best way possible. 

I'm trying to get the balance right so that I can allow myself the chance to be creatively spontaneous and go with the flow, while at the same time being mindful of the fact that I have deadlines to work to at times. I also want to try much harder to make the timing of things work better as it's something I seem to be especially terrible at! I feel like sometimes I disappoint you all when I share my ideas for something and set out with great excitement on the design/making journey, and then run out of time to actually finish (I'm thinking of my Yuletide Garland for example, which I wasn't able to finish in time for Christmas).

Anyhow....I need to gather my thoughts together a bit better before I talk any more about all this, but it's all good stuff. Today I want to share with you what's occupying me right now so that you can see what's been on my mind, and on my hook. I LOVE to share my creative process here on my blog and I hope it's something that interests you too, well it would be a bit rubbish if I started to bore the pants off you, wouldn't it?!

I've got a vase of the most beautifully scented narcissus on my mantel at the moment, a surprise gift from a friend when we had coffee together last week. They really are the sweetest things, the flowers are ever so pretty and I love how dinky they are compared to daffodils. It probably won't surprise you to know that these flowers sent a message directly to my Creative Mind and in no uncertain terms told me that I HAD to try and crochet them. I mentioned it in my last blog post - I was supposed to be crocheting bits and bobs for a winter garland (frosty leaves and the such like) but all of a sudden there was cream yarn in my hand and a little narcissus flower flying off my hook.......

.......well I never. How did that happen?!

I went diving into my stash to pull out some additional colours and three more narcissus flowers bloomed before my eyes.

Then came this little viola, the sweetest little flower that I didn't even know I wanted to make until it was forming in my hands. I guess I was thinking about garden flowers that bloom now in February - narcissus, violas, cyclamen and polyanthus. I see them in pots at the supermarket looking so cheery and colourful, a little promise that Spring is on it's way.

When I shared these violas on social media a few days ago they caught a huge amount of interest and I had so, so many requests for the pattern. I did have the good sense to write up the first draft of the pattern as soon as I'd finished making these two flowers so that I wouldn't forget what I had done, but I would still consider these as samples. Before I publish a pattern I like to be 110% sure of it and know that I've done my very best to make it easy to understand and reproduce. It takes time, and patience.

The other thing to mention is that I do have a particular future project in mind for these flowers, and I'm still in the early stages of planning it. So I hope you understand when I say that I'm not quite ready to share the patterns just yet, but I still really enjoy sharing my creativity in real time as and when it's happening. It just feels better that way for me, I am one of life's natural sharers that's for sure.

I'm trying to properly re-focus now on the season we're in, and get my head back into thinking winter thoughts because I reeeeeeeally want to make my winter garland before Spring arrives.  The above photo shows my deconstructed Winter Wreath, and gives you a general idea of the colours I'm thinking about for my garland. 

I'm thinking about the frosty winter meadow....

....with it's icy, muted colours and the soft glow of a low winter sun.

I'm thinking about ice-edged leaves.....

....snowberries....

....winter cherry blossom....

.....and snowdrops.

I had a frustrating time at the weekend trying to come up with an easy snowdrop design, and the above blob is attempt number six that went in the bin then got pulled back out again. I'm pretty sure I can make a really great little flower if I keep on trying, especially as I don't think a Winter Garland would be complete without snowdrops.

I've picked out ten shades of Stylecraft Special DK for my Winter Garland :

Pale Rose : Powder Pink : Pistachio : Meadow : Lincoln 

Duck Egg : Parma Violet : Hint of Silver : Cream : White

I think it's going to end up being a winter-spring creation, but I'm absolutely OK with that. Spring doesn't properly arrive here in my patch until well into April so we do end up with quite a long winter-spring season. I've made 18 little blossom flowers so far, although I'm mindful that I'm still working on my Harbour blankets as the CAL is still ongoing. It's a seasonal juggling act, one that I'm very, very happy to be doing.

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Crochet Heart Inspiration

It's Valentine's Day today, and although it isn't a day I actively celebrate I do really appreciate the whole decorative hearts thing. Pretty hearts aren't just for one day of the year though, what a crying shame that would be!

I snapped the above photo earlier on today, goodness knows how many times you must have seen photos of my dining room fireplace with this crochet heart garland because it's been hanging here for many, many years. Every so often I contemplate making something new, but honestly I just can't bring myself to replace it because I don't think this room would feel like "home" without it.

This heart garland is rather old now - yep, it's so old that it actually pre-dates the Attic. I know, I know, it's a fourteen year old relic from life Before Blog (14 years BB!!) I had to delve waaaaaaaay back into my photo archives to find the creative evidence from 2008, and thought you might like to see what the colours originally looked like before they became a bit worn and sun faded.

I used Rowan Handknit Cotton  following a free pattern I found online ((here)), and the little button flowers were my own addition. 

Thinking about crochet hearts this morning got me pondering on the various heart-shaped projects I've designed and made over the years, and that perhaps it would be fun to see them all together in one place.

♥ Teeny Tiny Hearts : 2011 ♥

I used to make a lot of small decorative things at one time, and these little crochet hearts whizzed off my hook one day when I had a strong urge to be creative and play with colour. I wrote up the pattern for them ((teeny tiny hearts pattern here)) and then had a lot of fun making them into....

....a decorative twiggy display, like you do. You can read more about my creative process ((here)).

I've actually got no idea what happened to the teeny tiny hearts, where they ended up shall remain one of life's mysteries. I still have the very same twigs from 11 years ago sitting in a jug on my mantel as you can see in the first photo. Maybe I should make some more little hearts?

♥ Rose Heart Hanger : 2013 ♥

I've made quite a few of these over the years, all of them gifted to friends. The one pictured here was made in quite muted colours because I made it for someone who preferred this sort of colour palette, but I think brighter colours would look fabulous. 

You can read more about it ((here)) including pattern details.

♥ Valentine Sweet Heart : 2015 ♥

I shared this decorative heart on my blog in 2015, but I designed it the year before as a project for Simply Crochet magazine. I shared the pattern and how-to on my blog ((here)), and I've seen many versions of it being made and shared online over the years. The flowers are glued onto a heart shape made from pipe cleaners, but I've since found out that you can buy metal craft heart hangers that would work really well for this kind of project (like these ones on Amazon, or these ones). I'm squirrelling those links away for future reference....yes I do think I might need more floral crochet hearts in my life.

♥ Creative Heart Project : 2017 ♥

Crochet hearts filled the summer of 2017 when I worked on a large scale project for Yarndale. I designed some decorative hearts and shared the free pattern to encourage the worldwide hooky community to contribute to a big display at Yarndale, raising money for a mental health charity. 

I LOVED designing and making these pretty things, they were such a lot of fun and the resulting display (many hundreds of colourful crochet hearts) was a huge success.

You can find the pattern here on my blog ((heart decoration)).

And that brings us to the present. I decided yesterday that it was high time I created a new heart in celebration of Valentine's Day, and it just so happened that I've been crocheting some very sweet little spring flowers this weekend. I don't know how it happened to be honest - one minute I was thinking of frosty winter things for a new Winter Garland, and the next minute there were teeny little blossom flowers whizzing off my hook. One thing lead to another, and the blossom was joined by some cute little narcissus flowers, and then before I could stop myself there were violas too.....oh my......it was a bit of a Spring Flower Frenzy! Often times that's the way my Creative Mind likes to work, it really doesn't follow orders particularly well and much prefers to lead me on a merry dance of discovery.

Anyhow. Yeah....flowery things happened at the weekend, some new patterns which I am s-u-p-e-r pleased with and I'll be sharing with you here at some point, if you'd like them? In the meantime, let me show you the Valentine faffery that took place here in the Attic this morning......

.....do you like? The little blossom flowers (two sizes) were patterns I've used before, but the narcissus and viola flowers are the new designs. 

Incidentally, this floral Valentine's heart was arranged purely for photographic reasons as I really enjoy creating visual content for Instagram and Facebook. I haven't actually decided what to do with the flowers yet - maybe I'll buy one of those metal wire hearts I mentioned and make them into a permanent hanging decoration? Shall I???

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Winter Comforts

Hello my lovelies, how are you all doing? I didn't manage to create a blog post last week in between my Friday CAL posts and I found that I missed it. So yesterday when I was doing a little bit of planning for the week ahead, I decided that more effort is needed to make the time to do what makes me feel good. Writing and sharing photos from my ordinary days happens to be a most excellent activity for my soul, and luckily I never seem to run out of things to air out in public. It constantly baffles me that I continue to do this blogging thing year after year, and more importantly that I continue to get so much out of it. Who would have thought it??

I had a bit of a to-do list running yesterday, an actual real list written down in my planner which I ticked off with much satisfaction. One of my tasks was to pot up the next generation of hyacinth bulbs for my mantel to replace the worn out ones that finished flowering in the new year. At the moment I can pick up a plastic pot of hyacinths from the supermarket for just £2 which is a such a bargain and brings me so much pleasure. They can easily be removed from the brown plastic pot and popped into an old bowl, then finished off with some home-grown moss and a bit of a twiggy support system. Tick! Such a good feeling to work my way down a list that contained such worthwhile, cosy jobs.

I got a new candle at the weekend, a gift from J who waited patiently while I sniffed out a million different candles in the shop. I am very fussy with my taste in candle scents as I don't like anything too sweet, too floral, or too woodsy/musky - my preference is for fresh fragrances, often with a citrus undertone. Or anything containing eucalyptus. J picked this one out for me and I was a bit dubious when I read that it was lavender and cedarwood (which is usually a woodsy no-no for me), but I absolutely love love love it. It's named "time to be CALM" and my goodness it really does deliver on that score, the fragrance is incredibly soothing as it fills the room. Hyacinths in a stripy bowl and a new candle to enjoy - winter pleasures that go a long way.

Another thing on my to-do list this weekend was to hang my new picture from Janet Bell, I chatted about it in a post last month.

I really love the picture which is called "Morning Light", it's got a beautifully cool, wintry feel to it which perfect for the season and now completes my set of four. I have the others hung on walls around the house, with the idea that every 3 months I'll give one pride of place above my fireplace. How lovely to think that the next one to follow on will be this one, gosh I can hardly wait, although I am trying very hard not to wish the time away this year.

You may have noticed that my mantel is currently garlandless which is making me feel like something is majorly missing from my life. Four years ago I made a very simple Little Balls garland in wintry shades (pictured above, you can read more about it in this post) but every winter since then I always think to myself that I'd really like something more nature inspired. I've made an Autumn garland, and a Spring garland too, and now I would love to make a winter-inspired one. I'm just not sure what to include - perhaps snowdrops might be cute? Or the palest of pink winter blossom mixed with some frosty leaves and maybe a flurry of weeny snowflakes? I'm feeling very inspired to just dive in and gather together a winter yarn palette and see what flies out of my brain and onto my hook. Watch this space.

I received a really happy parcel in the post this week, a little purchase I made which has absolutely delighted me to no end. Isn't it just the cutest thing you ever did see?

I stumbled upon the happy world of Thimbleville on Instagram and fell instantly in love. Helen makes the sweetest little collectibles out of painted wood, buttons, polymer clay and vintage items - the bobbins are vintage wooden Dewhurst sylko cottons that still have the original label on the underside, just precious. I love my little bobbin house so so much! Helen's handmade items sell out very quickly in her online Folksy shop, so if you are interested my advice would be to follow Thimbleville on Instagram and keep an eye out for future shop update announcements. Then sit tight and get ready to shop like a ninja, you'll need to be stealthy and swift. Just saying. 

I've made a conscious decision this year to truly embrace the winter season and to appreciate all the good that comes from spending lots of hours indoors. I have to say I'm really enjoying winter this year, it's a revelation for me to feel this way and I am genuinely loving the feeling of cosy hibernation. At the weekend the weather was just terrible, the market was cancelled and yet I felt unusually delighted by it all!

Maybe it helps that I am now in a new phase of parenting where I have less demands and more child-free time for myself during the weekends which I've not had in almost two decades. It means I can happily settle down on a wild and wet February afternoon to enjoy some quiet crochet or gentle pottering around the house while the rest of the family is each doing their own thing. It's just marvellous, and is making a big difference to my wellbeing. 

I continue to nurture myself with healthy food and am really enjoying my meals, especially the ones that I prepare and eat by myself (breakfast and lunch). In wintertime there is often a craving for comforting carb-heavy foods (buttered toast is a particular weakness of mine), but for my lunches I'm trying to lean away from the carbs and focus on good proteins and healthy fats instead.

The above bowl is a typical kind of lunch for me at the moment, and is so tasty and nutritious, a real pleasure to savour. In essence it's a good protein (a sweet chilli salmon fillet in the case), some kind of healthy wholegrains (a brown rice and quinoa mix in this case), then plenty of veg/salad (baby leaves, cherry tomatoes, cucumber and edamame beans here). I added a bit of crumbled feta cheese which needed eating up and a drizzle of homemade honey/mustard dressing. Yummmmmmmmmm!

With all the cosy hibernation happening at the moment, I'm not tending to be out and about all that much. I do have a pretty solid routine of meeting up with friends regularly each week, and J and I often sneak out for a quick coffee in the mornings, but other than that I'm surprisingly content to simply stay at home. I don't tend to go to the shops unless I really need to (for food mostly) and I'm not feeling the need to leave the familiarity of this little town either. My life feels quite small and safe and repetitive right now, and I am absolutely embracing the comfort of that fact.

We usually try and get out and about with the Little People for a weekend walk, even if the weather isn't especially inspiring. I know I always feel really good afterwards, even if at the time there is a reluctance to leave the warmth of home and venture out into the cold. The landscape is very drab right now, the fields and woodlands seeming bleached of all colour with the exception of the moss which is having a fiesta all of it's own. I LOVE seeing so much beautiful, bright green moss in winter, it really makes me absurdly happy. The colour of it is so uplifting, a vivid brightness that I am very drawn to.

A rather majestic stag appeared amongst the trees at the end of last year, another stunning work by artist Anna and the Willow. We've had quite a bit of rain recently, so the poor thing looks like he's stuck in a sea of mud, but hopefully things will improve as the weeks move on and better weather comes. Another few months and the wild garlic will be growing, I'm excited to see some fresh green shoots again.

I took this photo of my hill view at the start of last week (yes there is a hill out there) - you can see that when I say we've had very heavy grey skies I really do mean it. I don't think I can ever remember such a dull, grey winter as this one.

The light is slowly changing though, and our days are noticeably lengthening so there is much to look forward to.

J and I are still taking our early morning walk together, I can't recall when we started this habit but it has really become an essential part of my morning routine. We set out at 6.45am, and for a good many months we've been doing the whole 45 minute walk in the dark. 

This morning though - wow - it was a crisp, freezing cold frosty morning with clear skies and for the first time we got to see actual daylight and the birds were singing!! Such a beautiful change to our walk, and very, very much appreciated. Its magical to observe the seasons each and every day, such a wonderful aspect of daily life.

Well I think that's about all for now, After chatting to you I feel inspired to go and pull out some yarn oddments in delicate winter shades and start hooking up some pretties for a new garland. I'm excited!

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August Moorland

If you've been visiting me in the Attic for any length of time then you will probably be familiar with our regular walks on the moorland. It's a quick jaunt for us as it's only about 7 miles away and takes no time at all for us to drive out of town and up, up, up the windy road to "the tops". It's one of those places where we often go to take a quick stroll along the stony track to breathe in some fresh air and long reaching scenic views. It's a blow-the-cobwebs-away kind of a place and I love it in all seasons - even in winter when it is wild and windy and freeeeeezing cold and the predominant shade is brown. There is something beautifully energising about being so high up with the landscape stretched out for miles in all directions.

When the weather allows and we feel like a more energetic outing, there is a 6 mile circular walk which takes in both the lower and upper reservoirs. You park the car at the side of the road and follow the broad stony track as it wiggles it's way across the huge expanse of Barden Moor. It's quite tough going from time to time and I usually find myself huffing and puffing as the track winds it's way quite steeply upwards, but the uninterrupted views are most definitely worth it. If you are ever in the area and want to visit the moors, there is a map ((here)) which shows you the exact location - parking is marked with a blue P symbol close to the cattle grid on the wiggly road that crosses the moor.

August is by far my favourite month to walk here, especially when the weather is good. The colour of the water looks so beautiful when the sky is bright blue, but it's undoubtedly the vast swathes of purple heather that steal the show. It really is breath taking and continues to inspire me year after year after year. 

I expect a good many of you will remember the Moorland blanket which was my Crochet-A-Long project in the winter of 2016/17. I took the above photo four years ago after the CAL had finished and I really do love it - the colours worked out so beautifully, both in the blanket itself and in the photo. It makes me laugh to myself because I know that Little Lady is behind that blanket, standing on a rock with her arms stretched high above her head to keep the stripes at the right height! Happy memories of time and place which is one of the many, many reasons I love my blog and my blankets too. Both are excellent keepers of precious memories.

And finally, the above photo was taken by J on his phone using the panorama setting - you can click on the image and it will pop up in a larger window for you to view it a little better. It gives a good impression of that delicious feeling of openness that you get up on the moorland which I love very much. It's wonderful to live in an area with access to high places, there is something very special about being closer to the sky which always makes me feel energised.

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Saturday Thoughts

I was sat in the café this morning waiting for my eggs on toast to arrive, and as I quietly sipped my Outrageously Good coffee I found myself thinking of you. And for the first time in a while I photographed my coffee to share with you as I realised I've missed you and wanted to say hello. HELLOOOOOO!!! I hope you're doing OK and enjoying  your days, whatever shape they are taking right now.

Here in Atticland life is bobbing along and our long six week summer holiday is rapidly coming to an end - only nine days left for Little B before he has to truss himself up in a shirt, tie and blazer for the first time and head off to a brand new school. I think it's safe to say that we've all enjoyed the relaxed pace of the summer, but I know I'll be more than ready for some new routines and structure once the school year begins again next month. 

After a bit of a cold snap this week, the weather finally got its act together today and it's been beeeeeeautiful. So so good to feel the warm sun on my face and drink in all that blue sky goodness up above. We decided to drive up to the moors and walk, well you've got to make the most of these sunshiny days when they roll around because they are precious indeed.

It's heather season right now and oh my word it was stunning up there on the tops today. I took a ridiculous number of photographs because the colours and the light and the utter summeryness of the views made me completely giddy. I'll show you some more images in another post, I think you'd enjoy them. Of course I cannot in any way walk up on the moors in late August without thinking of my Moorland blanket (photos of that can be found ((here)), the heather and the yarny stripes are so closely interlinked in my mind.

Talking of yarny stripes, The Yuletide blanket is almost finished and I've absolutely loved every moment of making it. I'm working on the final rounds of the border at the moment and I really can't wait to show you what it looks like when it's all laid out. 

It's funny because this time last year I was obsessing with the flowers and dried grasses in the meadow, drinking in that summery colour palette and planning out my Meadow Blanket stripes. This year, my colours are all about cosying up by the fireside and celebrating the winter season and the contrast between the two is quite something. Ahhh, isn't colour wonderful? I spend a good portion of every single day thinking about it, my Creative Mind never really sleeps I don't think.

Despite my creativity being winter-focused this week, I'm still very much enjoying the floral colours at my disposal. The sweet peas continue to give me blooms, even though the plants themselves are looking very straggly. I picked these stems two days ago....

....and am enjoying them enormously. The scent is pure summer perfection and I couldn't love it more.

Last week we were away from home, yes yes, we finally made it down to Dorset! We picked up our new car in the morning and in the afternoon we drove the three hundred miles south. We had mixed weather but it didn't stop us getting out and about every day enjoying much loved familiar places.

It was so so good to be there, I honestly can't tell you how much I've missed the sea and longed to be "home" again for a while where my soul is truly at peace. We stayed for five nights so quite a short trip really, but this year for the first time we left Little Lady behind so we didn't want to be gone all that long. As you might expect, I've got plenty of photos to share with you and I do really enjoy writing up my holiday posts so that future me can look back and read them. I'll make time to do that soon while the memories are still in full focus.

I've really noticed this week that the seasons are slowly beginning to change and our days are becoming shorter again. I've been lighting my wax burner beside my bed in the evenings - both the cosy candle light and the wafting scent makes me feel beautifully relaxed. I'm currently inhaling the gorgeous scent of "Sweet Orange and Geranium" and it's just so lovely, calming and uplifting.

Well on that sweet note I'll love you and leave you for now, I've just remembered I've got to go outside and water my pots before it gets dark so I best toddle off and see to that. I hope you've had the loveliest of days - back soon!

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The Flora Granny Square

There is nothing like a stash of yarn arranged in a pleasing colour order to lift my spirits, it's honestly such a beautifully simple visual thing that delivers a huge dose of feel-good. As you might expect, I was always that child who obsessively arranged her pens and pencils in rainbow order, in fact I've been pretty obsessed with colour all of my life.

I've been sitting on this yarn since the spring, well not literally sitting on it, more like stroking it, playing with it, arranging it and rearranging it, as you do. You might remember the little spring blossom twiggy project I made in March using this yarn? It's Stylecraft Naturals Organic Cotton which I'd describe as a fine DK weight. It really is lovely to work with, it's a soft, matt yarn, smooth without being slippery is that makes sense and it hooks like a dream. I really love it and the fact that it's a natural and organic product makes it something extra special.

Something else to share with you is my new set of organic cotton yarn pegs which are almost as divine as the yarn balls. This is not my handy work (I'm way more haphazard with my winding skills), they were made by the lovely Jane who runs a great little yarn peg business on Etsy. Her shop is called Bauhinia Crafts and I can highly recommend her yarn pegs which are gorgeous. They come in their own storage box and are so neatly wound and labelled - she has quite a few different Stylecraft yarn ranges as well as some other popular brands.

I continue to find yarn pegs amazingly useful little tools-of-the-trade, in fact I would say they are one thing that I couldn't be without when it comes to designing and planning crochet projects.

The Flora Granny Square is a new design which has a flower as it's central motif. You might recognise the flower as it's an adaptation of a pattern I created years ago called Flora's Flower. It took a fair bit of messing about creative design work to figure out how to go from a flower shape to a square shape, but after a whole afternoon spent hunched over the table with my hook and yarn, I managed to create something I was very happy with.....

....ta-dah!!! I love how it turned out, I think it's a really sweet little variation of a granny square and I could quite easily see it multiplied and turned into a beautiful blanket or throw. 

The Flora Granny Square uses six colours, and I had loooooooads of fun coming up with pretty mini colour palettes for each square.

I think if I was making a larger project I would be inclined to make all the flowers first, just for the giddy pleasure of having them to play with. A whole pile of colourful hooky flowers, just imagine how insanely satisfying that would be?! 

I designed and made these squares to tie in with Granny Square Day which is an annual celebration hosted by Simply Crochet magazine. As such, the main aim of these squares is to provide beautiful photographs for Instagram - it might seem a bit odd to those of you not familiar with Instagram, but trust me, there is a very vibrant and engaging crochet community within the little squares of that app and I really enjoy contributing to it. 

My granny squares will become part of a giant granny square collage created on Instagram under the hashtag #grannysquareday2021, it's such a unique and clever idea and every year it never fails to blow my mind just a little. 

The majority of the visual beauty will happen today over on Instagram. Simply Crochet have also put together lots of inspiration and free patterns on their website if you want to have a look ((here)). It's all good, square fun!

Of course, I can never just make something new and keep it all to myself, that would never do. I love to share my ideas and inspire you to get creative, so yes, yes, I've made a photo heavy step-by-step tutorial for you.

You can find the tutorial for the Flora Granny Square over in my left hand sidebar, or click on the following link >>

❤️ FLORA GRANNY SQUARE TUTORIAL ❤️

There is also a PDF version of the pattern for you to download/print free of charge, click on the following link >>

❤️ DOWNLOAD FLORA GRANNY SQUARE PATTERN ❤️

I wanted to show you the above photo for reference - the square on the left is made using the organic cotton and measures 10cm. The one on the right is made using Special DK acrylic yarn and measures a slightly larger 11cm. Both are lovely, although they do feel very different. I used a 4mm hook for both.

I'm debating now what to do with my little pile of squares and how many more to make - I have a few ideas, of course I do. I thought about making a cushion cover, or perhaps something like a mini table runner or table mat? What would you make with these 4 inch squares? Maybe I'll just keep making flowers until I have a whole bouquet, then square them up and see what comes of it. It's been ages since I've had an open ended therapy-project on the go - pure hooky pleasure.

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Yuletide Blanket :: Inspiration

Even though I've designed and crocheted dozens of blankets over the years, the excitement of starting out on a new blanket journey has in no way diminished. I still get sooooooooooooooooooooo excited, like I can hardly contain the feelings as they fizz and bubble and make me feel like I've got ants in my pants. 

I've been pondering on the idea of making a Christmas blanket for the longest time (many years, on and off) but have always managed to talk myself out of it. I think I was simply too indecisive to commit to a colour palette, being that my own personal Christmas colours are "jewel brights" and this probably wouldn't work out for various reasons. As you may well know, I also have a real problem with incorporating white into my blankets and that became a massive stumbling block for me. I got all caught up in the idea that a Christmas style blanket would absolutely have to include white, and yet every time I tried to work something out it all went horribly wrong.

Eventually after much faffing (and finally deciding that white simply had to stay on the shelf), I settled on the idea of using nature as my inspiration. I made my brain forget about colourful baubles and tinsel, and began to think about the natural world instead. It seems so obvious now, but it was a real lightbulb moment at the time!

Photo Credit : Arcade Flowers

I thought about Christmas wreaths and all the beautiful natural elements that we associate with this time of year - holly, ivy, eucalyptus (my fave scent of the season), pine, orange slices, berries and cones.

Photo Credit : Schwartz

I also began to think about the flavours of the festive season - mulled wine, gingerbread, nuts, cinnamon, clementines, cloves. Mmmmmmmmmmmmm, this set me off on a wave of craving and fondness for this cosy time of year which surprised me because I am truly a summer-loving girl. 

Although I was super happy with my ideas and inspiration, the colour palette came together in very slow stops and starts. I spent quite a few weeks tweaking and messing with it, adding colours in, taking colours out and fine-tuning the balance until it suddenly felt exactly right. I always know when I've got it right because I feel it right in the pit of my stomach, a very deep, visceral reaction which is full of emotion.

Once the colours were in place, the design for my Yuletide blanket came together surprisingly quickly.  I had it in my head that I wanted to make a square blanket - one big giant square so that those rounds would grow out from the centre. I've never made a giant square blanket before so this is a first for me, and I can tell you that it is ThRiLlInG!! As the rounds get bigger and bigger, there is less stopping and starting (and darning in ends) and more rhythmic, soothing, wonderful repetitive crochet. I'm currently up to round twenty five I think, and so far it is giving me the hugest amount of satisfaction and pleasure. 

I've designed a simple three-row pattern repeat inspired by the spike stitch border I created for the Dahlia blanket. Oh-my-gosh, it is such a neat design to crochet with just enough thought needed to prevent boredom setting in, but simple enough to provide that relaxation factor. I can't tell you how much I'm loving it.

The Yuletide blanket will be available as a yarn kit with a printed pattern in early September. The timing means that you can crochet it through the Autumn so that it'll be ready to adorn your sofa for the festive season.

I'm not sure yet how big the finished blanket will be, but I'm thinking something between 4 and 5 ft square. I want it to be big enough for a snuggle, but compact enough to easily throw over the back of an armchair.

Incidentally, are you familiar with the word "Yuletide"?? It's quite old fashioned and refers to the time around the Christmas season, usually from around 21 December until 1 January. The celebration of Yuletide dates back centuries, and was originally a way to commemorate the winter solstice — the shortest day and longest night of the year. 

I hope it's OK to talk to you about this right now - I know it's a long way in advance and it does feel a bit weird to be talking about Christmas as we are just at the start of Spring! But I wanted to give you a glimpse into my creative life and to share the journey with you in real time. I always feel much happier when I'm sharing. 

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ps while we're talking about blankets and timings, I also wanted to mention that the Yuletide blanket won't be run as a crochet-a-long. My annual crochet-a-long will be happening at the same time as in previous years (yarn packs in November, with the CAL weeks running through January/February).

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Colour Palettes

Spring sweetness right there on my table this morning, isn't this little twig of pink blossom sooooo pretty? Every day when I sit down at the table to work or eat, those dinky little flowers make my heart feel so light. It won't be long until the big blowsy blossom trees put on their annual show and I'm really looking forward to enjoying it again this year.

We've had a day of horrid weather, it's been wet and very windy. I could hear the wind howling down the chimney for most of the day with no let up, so we all collectively decided to hunker down and have a very lazy stay-home day. 

I made myself some oat pancakes for a late breakfast, adding some chia seeds to the batter for extra protein.

I did my usual thing and heaped on the yogurt and fruit, and oh-my-goodness they were scrumptious. I don't ever tire of this breakfast, it's just so satisfying to make and eat, and keeps me feeling full for hours.

Pretty much as soon as I woke up this morning I was thinking about the Weekend To-do list that I jokingly made for myself on Friday night. There were four things on it :

1. Finish Granny Josephine bag
2. Stitch together Meadow blanket sampler
3. Cross stitch greenfinch hoop
4. Read March and April magazines so I can pass them on

As you know, yesterday was all about the stitching and number 3 on my list was successfully ticked off. I was really happy about that actually, that mental tick felt stupidly good. So after breakfast was done and dusted I decided to attend to number 2 and stitch my blanket sampler together.

If you've been here for a while, you'll probably know that every time I design a new blanket, one of the first things I do is create a square for each of the fifteen colours. There are two reasons for this - firstly, when I make these squares I am usually in the very first stages of creating a new blanket, and crocheting simple squares gives me a chance to really get to know the colours and how they like to play with each other. This process will often highlight any mistakes I might have made when choosing the colours, and gives me an opportunity to make changes before everything gets nailed down and set in stone. Secondly, I like to stitch the squares together to create a sampler which acts as a visual reference for my colour palettes. At the moment I have sixteen different blanket kits in my shop at Wool Warehouse which I've made over the past seven years, and I like to keep a record of the colours I've used in each one.

When I crochet my squares I leave a long tail end when I fasten off which is used to stitch them together. You can find the pattern for these solid granny squares here on my blog, the tutorial includes my method of joining them using this stitching method which creates a very neat and invisible seam.

I think it took me about an hour or so to join them together, it was a lovely, quiet, soothing activity for a rainy wet Sunday morning. I was happy to get it done and tick another job off my list. Actually, I was surprised when I found the squares sat in the messy piles on my desk on Friday, I'd forgotten that I hadn't finished making up the sampler when I was designing my Meadow blanket back last summer.

↑↑ This is the Meadow colour palette, ahhh, I am still so in love with it! You can read all about the inspiration behind the colours in this post ((here))

As I'm beginning to slowly tidy and sort out my temporary home studio situation, I'm starting to find things that have been forgotten and muddled in with the general chaotic mayhem of things here. As well as the Meadow squares, I also found some of my other blanket samplers shoved in a bag, so I thought it might be nice to show you while I had them out on the table. 

↑↑ This is the Aria sampler, a lovely uplifting palette of juicy bright hues. You can read more about the Aria design process in this post ((here))

↑↑ This is the sampler for the Dune blanket which I made in the Spring of 2019. The palette is soft, light and airy and you can read all about the coastal inspiration in this post ((here))

↑↑ And this is the Dahlia colour palette from my 2020 CAL just over a year ago. Wow, there's no mistaking that exuberant collection of bold floral inspired colours, is there? You can read more about the inspiration behind it in this post ((here))

I find it fascinating to look at these samplers and remember the inspiration that sparked each individual colour palette. They all have a very personal story to tell, memories of times and places that mean a lot to me.

These are the latest four in my series of blankets, the older samplers are displayed in my studio.....

....hanging on my wall and looking very lovely indeed. 

Once I've made my square samplers, the next thing I do is create a striped sampler using all fifteen shades ordered in a colourwash. This gives me a chance to use the stitch pattern that I've designed for the blanket and see how it works in terms of tension/gauge. It's also a neat way for me to photograph a sneaky peek of the blanket design without giving too much away before I'm ready to share fully.

I love these so much! Again, these are the latest four samplers, I have them for all my other blankets too, the rest are in the studio. I think at some point I'll have to reunite them and do a big photo shoot?!

I've also got a fair number of skinny stripe samplers, this is the final part of the design process for my striped blankets, and I often end up needing to make three or four versions before I get it right. I'm never quite sure why I keep them as I don't need them once the blanket is made. But at the same time, I can't seem to bring myself to cast them out into the bin either. You can see why things get into such a mess here.

Such a gorgeous pile of colourful creativity right there, and so many hours/days/weeks/months spent on the design process. I wouldn't have it any other way - at least if you buy one of my yarn packs to make a blanket, you know that a massive amount of heart-felt time and energy has gone into creating it.

Now, for the final bit of Sunday good news - Number 1 on my to-do list GOT THE TICK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, the Granny Josephine Bag is FINISHED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh my. Such an emotional moment, with lots of dancing around the house once the final yarn end was fastened securely and snipped off. Words can't describe the joy, so so so so happy. I adore my bag, it's just so damn lovely! I'm looking forward to showing you how she looks as soon as I've managed to take some proper photographs. I hear on the grapevine that the weather is going to be warm and sunny on Tuesday, so that could very well be the day for prancing around with bag in hand. I'll see what I can do.

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