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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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Slow and Quiet

I've had a slow, quiet sort of a day today, lots going on in my mind it seems. I woke up early (5.30am) and got up not long after so my day has felt quite long - not in a bad way though. I really like having extra time in the early morning to come into the day at a slow pace, and it meant I had almost two hours to sit quietly and drink coffee before needing to be up and out.

I intended to sit and do a bit of a therapeutic brain dump this morning but I accidentally got caught up in the online world. I'm not sure how it happened, but I found myself reading all about Intentional Living, wow, there are some passionate folks out there advocating this way of life, and reading about it was fascinating. There is a lot of crossover between intentional living, simple living and minimalism and although this sort of lifestyle isn't for me, I can certainly see how adopting elements of it could be hugely beneficial. Lots to think about. I keep a little notebook and pen beside my bed and often like to jot things down when I find myself contemplating new ideas. I think I'll do some more reading/viewing online and try and organise my thoughts a bit better, then I'll write about it here - could be interesting?!

I was out the door at 7.30 this morning as per my new spring routine, walking swiftly down through the park, along the canal, then back up the steep hill to home. It was grey and cold so I didn't linger to take many photos, and I made it home in exactly ten minutes - a fantastic way to warm up before my twenty minute running interval workout which I really enjoyed this morning. J and I also took a wet walk through the woods, it was a bit grim to be honest as the rain was pretty freezing and blowing in our faces. We stopped in town on the way back to pick up our coffee and I was so glad to finally get back home, wrap a blanket around myself and sit a while in the Big Chair with my latté to warm myself up.

As I was sat drinking my coffee I noticed that my Winter wreath was still in situ, so a bit later in the day I unpacked my Easter wreath ready for it to take it's place for the Spring season.

I've just looked back through my archives to find the Ta-dah post for this wreath, and am shocked to discover it was eight years ago. Gosh, how the years fly by. I still love this wreath, although if I were to make it again I would make some changes. I would remove the pompoms and space the flowers out a little bit more - it's very crowded on there! It's such a cheerful decoration though and I'm enjoying having it on my wall again.

The flowers on my table are teensy weeny this week, a couple little stems of blossom that are very slowly beginning to open. They are so, so beautiful, the perfect, delicate shade of pink.

Actually my table has been in a right mess this afternoon as I decided to have a bit of a sort out. The dining room has become my work-from-home makeshift studio during the past year or so, and it's gotten into a real chaotic state. I think all that reading about simple living must have seeped into my soul as I suddenly felt desperate to try and clear some space for myself. 

I tackled a huuuuuuuuuge teetering pile of stuff on top of my old desk (which is supposed to be leaving us as soon as we can find how/where to move it out), and boy was it therapeutic. I managed to sling a massive pile of paper/card/packaging/old magazines/boxes into the recycling bin, and sort out the varied assortment of miscellaneous objects which had accumulated over the months. The piles were so tall and so dense that I unearthed a wonderful collection of lost and forgotten things, including some Christmas presents, crochet projects and a box of posh chocolates.

I gathered together a small pile of recent magazines which I want to read before giving away to friends. I found my Meadow blanket colour squares which need stitching together (I make up colour samplers for all of my blanket projects which I keep for reference). And to my utter shame, I found my Granny Josephine bag sat at the bottom of the pile looking very neglected indeed. You may remember I was working on her during Blogtober and she's so very nearly finished, what a silly thing to have left this project for so long.

All that needs to be done is a little bit of hand stitching - leaves, flowers and the handle flap, and then she is done - flying straight to the top of my to-do list. Seriously. This bag needs to be used and loved, and I shall make that happen this weekend.

Also in my monstrous desk pile was the latest Craftpod box which arrived earlier in the week, oh, it's so lovely! I took out the little cross stitch project as I really love the design and the colours and would love to see it on my Spring mantel. I shall need to see to Granny J first, and then I'll make a start on the birdie.

BY the way, if you like the look of this project, you can buy the Spring box as a one-off purchase while stocks last - see ((here)).

Today was the last day of the Spring term and I think we all collectively breathed a sigh of relief at 3.30 when home school finished for Little B and Little Lady came through the door. She was in a good mood because she got an A score in her recent maths test (she's studying A level Maths, as well as Physics and Spanish, she's a clever so-and-so). We've got two weeks free from school stuff now, and even though lockdown life means that we can't do very much, I'm still hoping that there might be some sort of a holiday feeling to our days.

Little B doesn't spend much time with us downstairs any more, but once he'd finished his lessons today he came down to watch TV for a while. After years of guarded suspicion, Tilly has recently decided that she does in fact like Little B when he's not being all noisy and boisterous and she will always curl up on his lap any time he sits on the sofa. It's such a sweet thing - there is something about children and crochet blankets that makes my heart melt into a puddle, especially if you add in the crazy furball as well. So sweet.

I made this granny square blanket while I was pregnant with Little B and as he was born in the middle of an extremely cold snowy winter (it was -11 degrees on the day we brought him home from hospital), this blanket was very much needed in his cot at night. It's made from Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino, so it's really cosy and warm.

It's been very stormy here today, windy and wet with heavy hail showers thrown in for good measure. I'm glad I took the time to do a little bit of tidying today - still a LOT to do, but at least I made a start. It meant that I could sit for a while by the fire this afternoon without feeling guilty, making inroads into my small magazine pile. I've got both March and April issues with all the Spring vibes in those pages.....do you think I could add "read magazines" to my weekend to-do list, along with "Finish Granny Jo" and "Stitch a Greenfinch"?

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December Thoughts

#1 : Pomegranates are just the most fantastical fruits, and despite the fiddlesomeness of them I can't help but love them. Thank you for the advice about the extraction process - I tried the method you recommended, cutting around the equator and banging with a wooden spoon but I just could not get it to work. No matter how hard I banged, no seeds tumbled forth, not one! I wonder whether it's because it wasn't quite as ripe as it could've been? I've got another one sat in my fruit bowl so tomorrow I'll try the cut and bang method again. I shall report back on proceedings.

#2 : I think fresh fruit has to be my all time favourite food group, trumping even chocolate or cake. I've proven to myself this year that I can very easily go days/weeks without eating refined sugar, but I would find it very, very difficult to go a day without fruit. 

#3 : I have a massive, overwhelming hankering to try my hand at colourwork knitting, more specifically I desperately want to make this hat. A month or so ago I spotted a lady at the market wearing the most stunning fairisle beanie hat and I couldn't take my eyes off it. Afterwards I had major regret and wished that I had asked her about it and found out more about the pattern. Then on Saturday when I was queueing at the market to buy cheese I happened to see her again wearing the same gorgeous hat, so I stopped to compliment her and interrogate her about it. Thankfully she was the nicest lady and told me that her Mum had knitted it for her, and she thought it had something to do with the Shetland MRI Scanner appeal. It's so brilliant to have the internet to provide hatty info when you most need it - I came home and immediately found the pattern, woohoo!!!!! It's called "Harriet's Hat" by Harriet Middleton and you can find it here . I need to learn the twisty technique for knitting with two colours in the same row, but I'm determined to give it a go. 

#4 : Beady eyes arrived in the post last week and my festive creature got stuffed and stitched and is now happily living out life on my mantel. Animal faces are extremely tricky things to get right, and I'm not too sure I achieved the elusive Cute Factor with this chappy. He looks ever so slightly vacant and bewildered. I promise to show you more just as soon as I take a few photos of him in situ.

#5 : We had our first snow on Friday, a chilly morning of dancing flakes and white dusted hilltops. It didn't last and it didn't linger, but it was fun watching it from the cosy comfort of home.

#6 : I love my fire, I love it so so so so much. I never used to like the brick fireplace and dark wooden surround but over the years it has really grown on me and I couldn't imagine it being any other way now. It really is the heart of our home.

#7 : I spend a lot of time sitting on the floor at this time of year. The kitty obviously doesn't seem to mind too much - a warm lap is good enough no matter how low to the ground it is.

#8 : It's bauble time, and once again I am swooning all over the place at the sight of these glorious colours. These are definitely my kind of Christmas colours and I doubt very much that I will ever change. Little Lady told me yesterday that in the future when she has her own place and her own tree, she will smother it in white lights and have only white, silver and glittery decorations on it. Oh dear, I was honestly lost for words after that declaration. 

#9 : Coffee, coffee, coffee!! My mornings are simply not complete without it, and I am so happy that Lockdown 2.0 has ended and my favourite cosy cafés are open once more. It's such a pleasurable, treasured part of my daily routine, a luxury that I appreciate very much.

#10 : After a fair amount of wet grey weather last week, I've been so so happy to see blue skies and sunshine during the past few days. What a treat. It has put a welcome spring back in my step as I was seriously dragging my feet last week, weighed down by the heaviness of the gloom. 

#11 : With two weeks to go until the Winter Solstice, I noticed today that the rise and set of the sun is oddly in tune with the school day. I see the first rays of sun peeking over the top of the hill just as we round the corner to come off the canal tow path in the morning. And I see the last of the sun dipping down beyond the hills as I come off the canal in the late afternoon.

#12 : I lit our Advent candle yesterday, six days late. It meant keeping a vigil until we had burned down exactly the right amount to catch up with the days. We are currently two thirds decked out for the season here - two trees are up, the wreaths are up and one of two mantels is wearing it's seasonal finery. I've still got the other mantel to do and my Advent garland to hang, but I'll be able to see to all that tomorrow when J is back to work and I have a little time on my hands to faffle it all into place. 

And that about concludes my thoughts for now. I hope you are all doing OK as we plummet through early December, and that you are thinking happy thoughts and finding some joy in this season of twinkly lights and shiny things. I shall be back here very soon to show you the Bewildered Festive Creature, I bet you really can't wait ?!

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Blogtober 2020 :: Day 22

Well today hasn't quite been the productive go-go-go hive of creative activity that I thought it was going to be, but the slowness has suited me very well to be honest. After the school run I went to have coffee with a friend which was really enjoyable. I appreciate my modest social life very much, and meeting up each week with different friends is just the nicest thing. I missed this part of my life very much during our lockdown months and am making the very most of it right now while it's still possible to go to a café with a few others.

I had a late breakfast when I got back home, then faffed around seeing to the laundry, catching up with emails, and generally just excelling at procrastinating. Even though I am so excited about finishing my bag, I couldn't seem to settle down and get on with it this morning. Oh, I've just remembered that I did go for a woodland walk with J very late on in the morning, but I decided (for once) not to take any photos and just appreciate being in the moment. 

I made carrot and coriander soup for lunch today, and it was absolutely delish. By the way I forgot to thank you for your wonderful soupy suggestions on my Day 10 post - Thank You! I made a little list of the ones you mentioned in the comments and am excited to extend my basic soup repertoire. Here they are, in no particular order.....

Swamp soup - love this! (it's leek, potato and spinach)

Red lentil and bacon

Curried butternut squash

Roasted butternut squash

Chicken leftovers with root veggies and a little milk

Potato and corn chowder

Green soup (watercress, spinach and kale, green pepper, stock and a bit of potato)

Broccoli and stilton

It was especially nice today because Little Lady now comes home from school for lunch and the timing was just right for her to have a hot bowl of fresh soup with some buttered toast. She is more than willing to rustle up her own lunch, but the mother in me still jumps at the chance to provide nourishing food whenever possible. I just can't help myself.

I've got some of the biggest, juiciest oranges in the fruit bowl at the moment, they really are magnificent. The above plate is just half of one (I ate the first half before thinking about taking a photo), and I ate it while browsing through the October issue of Country Homes and Interiors. It's very autumnal and a bit brown inside those pages I can tell you, but dahlias and pumpkins are always good for a hit of seasonal colour.

After lunch I set about catching up with the October #yarnfriendsrock challenge, only a day late. I don't know what it is about Wednesday but I can never seem to hold that day in my head properly. I either think it's Wednesday on a Tuesday or a Thursday! The prompt for this week was " Granny Squares" and although I have lots of archive images involving granny squares I thought it would be fun to take a new photo. I moved furniture, gave the floor a quick whizz over with the vacuum cleaner and set about having a play with my blankets. I do have a good few granny square blankets, shall I list them out for you? Ok, well in the above photo, starting from the back....

1. Patchwork Granny - this was a stash bust project using up lots of odds and ends of yarn.
2. Colourwash Granny - 44 shades arranged in a rainbow-ish wash of colour.
3. Summer Harmony - this uses my Harmony Square pattern worked with my Original 17-colour yarn pack.
4. Aria - my current crush, I love it SO SO MUCH.

And not pictured but still in residence we have....

1. Sweet Flower Granny - a stash bust blanket made for our old carava.n
2. Harmony - a rectangular blanket which uses 14 colours for the squares, all edged in Parma Violet.
3. Baby Granny - cashmerino blanket made when Little B was born.
4. Big Blanket - huge monster double bed blanket.

After all the blanket excitement I did eventually settle down with needle and thread and began making weeny stitches to attach the lining into my granny bag. Very gentle, therapeutic work, slow and steady.

I got about half way round before I felt the need for a refreshment break, then half way through my milky coffee I realised that crikey it's only ten minutes until I need to shoot out for the school run. It's been that kind of day, the hours have wafted by and I feel like I didn't really achieve a huge amount. 

I needed to use up these tomatoes which we bought from the market on Saturday, aren't they strange? The veggie man calls them "Yorkshire Blacks", they are a variety of heirloom tomato which is very juicy and has a great flavour. I'm rather thrilled that my basil plant is not only surviving but thriving on the kitchen windowsill, and I've remembered to water it twice, which is something of a miracle. 

I sliced up the tomatoes, drizzled them with a little olive oil, seasoned them, then ripped up some basil leaves to add that unmistakable summery flavour. They really were delicious. Tonight's meal was a bit thrown together, we had the tomatoes with some other salad things and some falafels (not homemade, but very nice). It wasn't really salad weather to be honest, but I enjoyed all the fresh flavours, plus it was a doddle to pull the meal together - the only thing I actually cooked was some garlic bread which meant I had some time to knit.....

I managed a few rows of my sock in the lull between ripping up the basil and putting the garlic bread into the oven. I pulled the wooden coffee table right up in front of the fire and sat with my feet in the hearth, it was oh so cosy, warm and comforting. My hands have been achey today (cold, wet weather I suspect), did I tell you I've started taking turmeric capsules to see if they help ease the discomfort in my joints? I hope they help, I really do. I've got socks to finish, bag handles to attach and a CAL blanket to work on, I need my hands to be tip top. Fingers crossed.

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Blogtober 2020 :: Day 17

The above photo was taken back in the spring around Easter time (hence the hot cross bun) and I was on the final stretch of stitching this lovely cross stitch. 

I really love cross stitch designs, I think they are such a beautiful combination of simplicity and complexity and I've found that I am especially suckered in if the design includes flowers. I was sat looking at this particular cross stitch yesterday, admiring the satisfying neatness of all those hundreds of little stitches blending together to make the overall design work.

It was a WiP for quite a long time, almost two whole years in fact. I purchased and downloaded the design from an Etsy shop called "Tiny Modernist"* at the height of my cross stitching frenzy in 2018, and this was the fourth hoop that I stitched.

You can read about the first one ((here)) and the second and third ones ((here))

This design fits really neatly into an 8 inch hoop, which not only makes it a joy to stitch, but also gives an easy option for framing and displaying the finished work.

I like to use a "flexi-hoop" as they come with a little hanger attached at the top instead of the traditional screw that you find at the top of a wooden embroidery hoop. You can find them in all different sizes online, there is an 8 inch one on Amazon ((here)) which is similar to the ones I use.

I actually don't mind the wood grain effect but as I already had some pretty blue spray paint in the cellar (purchased for another project) I decided to have a go at changing the hoop from brown to Mediterranean Blue. It was a bit messy, and I discovered that I am veeeeeery impatient when it comes to waiting for things to dry thoroughly (note to self - tacky is not the same thing as completely dry). But on the whole I'm pleased with how it turned out.

Once I wrestled the cross stitch back into the flexi hoop and was happy with the way it looked, I trimmed the fabric with pinking sheers, then stitched around the edge with a strong length of embroidery floss so that I could pull it tight to gather in the edges. I like this simple way of finishing a cross stitch hoop, it's a bit homespun but I like the idea that the back of the stitching remains visible. I'm quite proud of my stitchy backsides as I do try and keep them neat and don't feel the need to hide them away.

Finally, I painted around the cut edge with a little PVA white craft glue to stop any fraying ends of fabric escaping, and left it all to dry thoroughly. Not  a tacky surface in sight, but thorough dryness you understand. 

Want to see how it turned out?

You know, with the blue frame instead of the brown?

OK...

here

you

go.....

......ta-dah!!!!

It looks pretty good I think?! I added a final little ribbony flourish and it was ready to hang.

A few months ago at the start of the summer holidays, I decided that trying to write on my laptop downstairs was just not working out for me. It's nobody's fault, we were all stuck at home and we only have one single room downstairs (aside from our miniscule kitchen) where family life happens. I found it impossible to concentrate with J and the Little People coming in and out of the room, the cat mithering me for food and the background soundtrack of television invading my thoughts. When J decided to re-watch the whole of The Sopranos from start to finish (oh my goodness, the language! The noise!) I made my mind up to relocate myself ASAP.

I had a little narrow desk down at my studio which wasn't being used, so I fetched it back home, shifted an old heirloom nursing chair out of the corner of the bedroom and made space for a new work area. It's not ideal having a work space in the bedroom, but there isn't really any other place in the house where I could go, so the bedroom it is for now. I still do my creative work downstairs at the dining table or sat on the sofa (or the floor in front of the fire too) but I am really appreciating being able to close myself off from the fam when I need some peace and quiet to write. 

We haven't decorated in here since we moved in thirteen years ago, but as the walls are simply white washed they have been fine for us to live with. However, I would very much like to add some decoration to this space above my desk, maybe a little shelf and some pretty things to hang on the wall there.

I decided a few weeks ago that I'm going to slowly begin collecting some art work especially for my new desk area, and I'm really excited by the whole idea of curating a little space especially for my own enjoyment. This week I received two very lovely parcels in the post, and thought I'd share them with you.

The first parcel contained the above print which is by the very talented artist Brie Harrison. I am a huge fan of Brie's work, and have a few of her postcards dotted about the place. When Brie contacted me and asked if she could send me one of her prints by way of a thank you for a spontaneous shout-out I gave her on social media, I was really touched. I spent a while deliberating over which one to choose (all her giclée prints are just beautiful) and in the end I opted for the one shown above, called "Oaxaca Plant"

I can't tell you how beautiful it is in real life, I've never actually seen a "giclée print" before and oh-my-goodness, the quality is incredible. The finished print is very matt with the most vibrant colours, it honestly looks as if it has been freshly painted. I really love it, so much.

My other parcel contained a rainbow, oh yay for brightly coloured fluffy, frivolous things!

I purchased this from a lovely lady I follow on Instagram, her name is Natalie and she sells her work under the name "Love Indy" *. I saw that she was busy making lots of colourful new stock to re-open her online shop a few weeks ago and I was powerless to resist the lure of the pompoms. This is such a beautifully made decoration and I could tell instantly how much love and care has gone into perfecting the design and making the pompoms absolutely perfect. 

When I laid the above three things out to photograph earlier this afternoon I was immediately struck by how well the colours all go together. Don't they look lovely? I'm calling it a win!

So now I need to decide what kind of shelf I'd like before I begin knocking nails into the wall to hang my pretty things, but I'm excited to make this tiny little corner of the room a lovely spot to call my own. 

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@brieharrison on Instagram ( ♥ thank you Brie for the beautiful gifted print ♥ )

@love.indy_ on Instagram (*pompom rainbow not gifted)

@tinymodernist on Instagram (*cross stitch pattern not gifted)

 

 

 

 

Blogtober 2020 :: Day 7

Pretty much every Monday you will find J and I together, taking advantage of six child-free hours where we can hang out and do stuff just the two of us. J has been working part time (three days a week) for almost three years now, but having every Monday free still feels like the biggest treat and I haven't ever gotten over the specialness of it. I appreciate it very much and don't ever take it for granted. I know we are blessed to be so time rich, and also fortunate in that we really do enjoy each others company so much. I count myself exceptionally lucky.

So on Mondays after dropping Little B at school, we usually head into town to run any errands and visit the local shops to pick up anything we've run short of over the weekend. Then it's a stop for coffee and breakfast when our favourite café opens at 9 o'clock (the café with the "outrageously good coffee" of course), where we chat about what we want to do with the rest of our day. If the weather is good we quite often drive out into the countryside to tramp around the footpaths of the Yorkshire Dales, and I do LOVE it when we have our walking days. But sometimes it's really nice just to make the day into a slow potter at home - time to just sit quietly together to read  or catch up on any little jobs which need doing.

On Monday of this week the weather was absolute Autumn perfection, but rather than driving anywhere we decided to take it slow and stay local. I asked J if he fancied a walk through the park to the farm shop instead of our usual woodland walk, and so off we went into the sunny morning.

It's not a long walk as it's only a mile or so to the farm shop, but it's a nice stroll and I had a definite reason for wanting to go there......

.......I wanted to search for something seasonal in the florist section.

Ahhhh, doesn't it look beautiful? You can pick and choose individual stems to make up your own bespoke bunch which I think is such a lovely idea.

But I was only really after one thing, and I was in luck. Look..................

..........do you see them in the glass vase on the counter there? These are called Chinese Lanterns (the official name is "Physalis Alkekengi", thank you Wikipedia).

I absolutely adore Chinese Lanterns and they have a strong nostalgic feel for me as my Mum always grew them in her garden to bring indoors in the Autumn. I was so pleased to be able to buy a few stems to bring home with me, it was definitely worth the two mile round walk :)

 Strolling back through the sunny park, and I had the sudden realisation that we are now in October and I feel exceptionally well. WOW, I really do feel GrEaT!!!! Usually at this time of year I am in post-Yarndale recovery and very far from feeling my best. So for the first time in eight years it feels rather wonderful to be enjoying this month with a spring in my step and a fully charged battery so to speak. I'm so happy about that!

I kept taking little peeks at my pretty paper wrapped parcel of lanterns......awwww, I love them so much!

Back at home and I carefully unwrapped the stems ready to pop into vase and Tilly immediately came over to perform some essential quality control checks. Yes, they passed inspection. The lanterns are still soft at the moment, but in the warmth of home they'll become dry and papery but will retain all that glorious Autumn colour.

As you know, my mantel has still been holding onto Summer but it was time to make the change into the new season. So I packed all the summer decs away into their organza bag and gave the mantel a good dust and polish. Then I had the joy of re-discovering all my Autumn decorations from previous years - it's so much fun, honestly, I can highly recommend seasonal decorating, it's not just for Christmas.

I thought I'd have a bit of fun with my camera and took a photo of Autumn before it landed on the mantel.....

...........ta-dah!!!!!!!!!!

Love love love my crochet and stitched decs!

You can find the Pumpkin pattern info ((HERE), and the Autumn garland pattern info ((HERE)).

I made them both in 2017, so this is the fourth annual outing for them and I couldn't love them more.

My two little mushroom makes came from the seasonal crafting boxes designed by Craftpod. 

You can read about the embroidered mushroom hoop ((HERE))....

....and my little paper mushroom sculptures are ((HERE))

I made the Autumn cross stitch back in February of this year after I did the Winter one in January and absolutely loved stitching it. They were part of the fabulous Cotton and Twine monthly subscription boxes, but you can now buy them as individual projects if you like the look of them - you can find them ((HERE)).

I've made three of these seasonal canvases so far, I still have the Summer one to complete. I can highly recommend them if you like stitching - I'll maybe do a cross stitching update very soon to show you some more of my completed stitchy projects? Ooo....now I'm writing about this, my fingers are itching to stitch something new, haha!! 

Yesterday I had such a lovely, lovely time faffing my mantel and making the seasonal change from Summer to Autumn, it felt really therapeutic to welcome in the new season in such a slow, thoughtful way. 

I have two candelabras which each have half a year on my mantel. This red one will be on display for Autumn and Winter and I absolutely love it - I can't remember how many years ago I bought it, but it came from the Scandinavian company Gudrun Sjödén. I adore their style, especially their home wares which are always colourful with a folksy vibe that I love. I think the candelabra was part of their festive collection a fair few years back - they do usually have the most delightful Christmas decorations, well worth a little lookee a bit later in the year.....just saying......

So Autumn has landed in the Attic, and I am really LOvInG the cosy vibe that it's bringing to our home. Don't the chinese lanterns look fabulous? I'm so happy I managed to find some, they should stay looking beautiful right through till it's time to make way for the greenery of Christmas.

I have one more Autumny thing to show you before I go....

I went on a quick little jaunt after the school run this morning to collect some photo props, like you do.....

....oh, how very perfectly, delightfully seasonal!

I picked up all the fallen leaves from my walk along the canal and home through the park, and the hips and berries came from the allotment. 

I needed them to help me create this................

.......a photo for today's yarny hashtag prompt on Instagram which is appropriately entitled "Autumn". 

Do you like?

I feel like my week has contained an awful  lot of very happy faffing, and I'm absolutely OK with that. Creative Faffing is exceptionally good for the soul don't you know.

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Blogtober 2020 :: Day 6

Following on from yesterdays post, I'm sharing some more colour inspiration today. Two of my favourite prompts from the #YarnFriendsRock challenge were "Nature inspired" and "Inspiration" - they were absolutely made for me and I loved diving into my photo archives to share inspirational images with my Instagram followers. If you are familiar with my signature crochet makes (wreaths, garlands and blankets) you will know that I could probably talk your ears clean off on the subject of finding inspiration in the colours of nature. It's at the heart of so many of my projects and keeps me endlessly passionate about creating colour palettes and beautiful hand made seasonal decorations.

I created the above photo for the Nature Inspired prompt, gathering together my Autumn Wreath, Winter Wreath and Spring Garland, plus a few cute little pumpkins for good measure.

You can read more about my Autumn Wreath ((HERE))....

....and my Winter Wreath is ((HERE)).

I wonder how many of you remember my crochet pumpkins from three years ago? I absolutely LOVED making them, but honestly I think I may have loved playing with them and creating pretty photographs even more. Such fun to do!

You can read more about the pumpkins ((HERE)) - the post contains colour and pattern info if you fancy making some yourself.

As I was pondering on the whole idea of finding colour inspiration in nature, I went to have a rootle around in my photo archives. I found plenty of Autumnal colours and the above photo shows the components of my Autumn Garland which you can read about ((HERE)).

I really enjoyed creating these little two colour leaves for my garland, inspired by the long stretch of Beech hedge which I walk past every day on my way to school.

I created the above collage for the "Inspiration" prompt, showing how flowers and natural finds have gifted me with stunning colour inspiration over the past few years. These are all images which I have shared on my blog before, but seeing them all together in one place makes quite an impression. They're really beautiful! Haha, even I was impressed with my own colour skills, especially seeing as how two of the palettes were created from half deaf dried up things!!

I probably don't need to clarify what these palettes are called, you can most likely guess if you know your flowers. But here are some bigger photos, just so we can have a bit of a colour swoon.....................

Sweet Pea, of course. One of my most popular colour palettes, I created this for the 2019 Crochet-A-Long.

You can read more about it ((HERE))

And this is Dahlia, such a vibrant collection of mouth watering shades. This palette was created for the 2020 Crochet-A-Long and you can read more about it ((HERE)).

Hydrangea is a more subdued palette inspired by the fading colours of dried hydrangea flowers that you see everywhere at this time of year. I much prefer these autumnal colours to the soft pastels associated with the fresh summer blooms. You can read more about the Hydrangea colour palette and blanket ((HERE)).

And finally, the Autumn woodland palette, very much on my mind at the moment as every day I see a little more of these colours appearing in my local neighbourhood. 

I love these undulating ripples, but more than that I love all the memories that flood into my mind when I look at this collection of colours. So many beautiful walks in the sun dappled Autumn woodland. You can see more photos in my post ((HERE)).

I walked in the woods with J this morning, it wasn't really very nice out there but we pulled our raincoats on and went out into the wet anyway. It takes us about an hour to walk a three mile round route, and even in the rain I do so enjoy it. The scent of rain-soaked woodland is extremely lovely (well it is to me), and I feel as if I need to breathe extra deep to take in that precious fresh air right down into my soul.

As you can see, the leaves are only just beginning to change colour and there is still a lot of green up there in the canopy. I'm still loving the green and am not quite ready for it to give over to the colours of Autumn just yet. All in good time.

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Blogtober 2020 :: Day 5

Today I thought it would be fun to share a little of what I was involved with during September over on Instagram. I was asked by an online friend if I'd like to co-host a month-long photo challenge under the hashtag #yarnfriendsrock. It's the first time I've ever taken part in anything like this as I usually dislike the idea of any kind of structure being imposed on me (make of that what you will!), but I was instantly intrigued by this one and was all in right from the start. The idea of the challenge was to celebrate the yarn/crochet community on Instagram and to inspire/be inspired on a daily basis. The insta crochet community is incredible actually and I LOVE being a part of it. It's very active and inspirational, and pretty much all your favourite bloggers, designers, yarn shops, crochet magazines and yarn brands are represented there as well as a massive global community of talented makers and creators. 

To take part in the challenge, all you had to do was post one photo every day in response to the list of prompts. The photos could be new ones, old ones, collages or single images and as I was involved in creating the list and putting forward suggestions I was fairly confident that I would be able to find or create thirty yarny photos without too much difficulty. One thing I'm not short of is yarn photos as I have a humungous archive stretching back more than thirteen years.

↑↑ These were the daily prompts, and typical of me I didn't do a whole lot of planning. I posted a mixture of old archive photos when they were a good fit, and I also created some inspirational collages of photos to illustrate particular themes. I'm assuming that many of you may well already follow me on Instagram, but I wanted to post some of the new photos that I created especially for #yarnfriendsrock here on my blog so that I have a record of them. 

Day 1 :: This is Me

Gah, this was a tough one for me as I am really not accustomed to being in front of the camera, even for a mediocre selfie! But I put on my brave pants and took a photo of myself one afternoon and tried not to fret too much about having to publish my face online. I imagine you all know me by now and know a little of my personal history, but for the record, this is what I wrote...

"Helllooooo! It's not often I turn the camera on myself, but today I wanted to be brave and show up for this challenge which celebrates our fabulous yarn community.
Many of you already know me through my blog Attic24 which I started writing in March 2008 as a way to connect with other like minded souls at a particularly lonely time in my life.
I am a 51 year old quiet, introverted sort, wife to J (we met when we were 24) and mum to three Little People (aged 18, 16 and 10). We live in a rather shambolic but well loved old Victorian terraced house on the edge of the glorious Yorkshire Dales. I'm originally from Dorset and have an enduring love of all things coastal.
I taught myself to crochet in 2007, embarked on a colourful granny square blanket as my very first project and have been obsessed with crocheting blankets ever since. I strive to live a simple, mindful, creative life full of gratitude (and colour)"

I think that pretty much sums me up?!

Day 5 :: Saturday Share 

I decided to share a little snap I took at Coopers Cafe at the end of the summer, an impromptu coffee with a few friends (socially distanced of course) and a little bit of yarny happenings. This is what I wrote...

"There is nothing I enjoy more than sharing my passion for yarn, colour and crochet with others who absolutely get it. Finding my Yarn Tribe has been one of the most positive, life changing experiences of my adult life, and I am so unbelievably thankful for it.

I value the online yarn community enormously, and thanks to blogs, Facebook and Instagram, over the years I feel like I've gained a massive group of friends to share my hooky obsession with. Gosh, arent we all SO LUCKY to have each other?!!!!

I am also extremely fortunate to have a tribe of real life yarn buddies, and in normal times (before the pandemic) we would meet twice a week at my fave @cooperscafeskipton for coffee, chatter and creative yarny things. These friendships mean the world to me and I would be lost without them.

So today's post is a massive big thank you to all my yarny friends both online and in real life. Thank you for sharing this journey with me.
Yarn. Friends. Rock!!!!!!!!"

Day 6 :: Colour makes me Happy

This is what I wrote about my love of colour (I had a lot of love for this photo!)...

"If you follow my blog then you will know how well todays prompt fits with my outlook on life. I am a passionate, life long colour-lover, and am hugely inspired by the way that colours effect our emotions and evoke memories of time and place.

Creating colour palettes for projects is one of my absolute favourite things and I always listen to my heart when it comes to making colour choices.

Today's photo shows a very small selection of my stash - this is yarn left over from my obsessive blanket making, and playing around with it makes me stupidly happy! The postcard is from Paperchase"

Day 7 :: Yarny Home

I knew I wanted to photograph my sofa for this prompt as it's the most yarnylicious part of my home and always adorned with colourful blankets and cushions. Tilly wasn't actually invited but she inserted herself and posed so beautifully that I just had to include her. She is never far from me when I'm at home and always has to nosy in on what I'm doing. This is what I wrote...

"Nobody would be able to come into my home and miss the crochet as it is here in abundance!
Every sofa, chair and bed is cosied up with colourful blankets and cushions, and I have bunting, garlands, mandalas and little decorative crochet pieces in pretty much every room.
It makes me happy to surround myself with my colourful creativity and the family don't seem to mind too much....in fact, Tilly is a huge fan of the yarny comfort I provide 😻 xx"

Day 8 :: Pretty Stacks 

I was originally going to use an old photo of a stack of my blankets for this prompt, but in the end I decided to create something new. I settled on photographing my pile of hand knitted socks as I knew my blankets would be featured in some of the prompts later in the month. I'm really (really, really) proud of my socks! This is what I wrote...

"Although crochet is my true yarny passion I can also knit and these days my knitting is pretty much entirely sock shaped.

I learnt to knit socks five years ago, very much inspired by my lovely friend Christine @winwickmum who is the Queen of Socks. Her basic sock pattern is written as a complete tutorial for beginners, and I can't recommend it highly enough if you want to embark on a sock making journey.

Using a small circular needle instead of multiple pointy sticks was a real game changer for me, and I fell in love with knitting and wearing proper woollen socks in the most gloriously colourful stripes.
They really do make a very pretty pile."

Day 10 :: Favourite Make 

Well, no question, it just had to be blankets, but which ones? How on earth could I choose when every single one is a favourite make? I had a lot of fun creating the photo for this, I had to stand on a step ladder to get myself high enough to fit them all in, and this time I did deliberately invite Tilly to join the party. I may have bribed her with some kitty treats in order to get her to sit where I wanted her....doing it for Instagram! This is what I wrote...

"Well today's prompt was a major challenge and seriously impossible to choose just one thing.

So I've gone with the general theme of blankets, because if you know me you know I am completely obsessed with them. As you can see, I have quite the collection haha!

This photo shows all the blankets I've made using @stylecraftyarns Special DK which has become my absolute go-to blanket making yarn. I LOVE the wide colour range, and the brilliant way the blankets seem to wear so well after years of loving (*robust*) family life.

So yeah, I adore all my crochet blankets. I love dreaming up ideas, designing them, crocheting them and filling my house with warm, cosy, yarny colour. They are without question my favourite thing to make."

Day 15 :: Colour Inspiration 

I could have used so many of my archive photos to fit this prompt as pretty much every single one of my crochet projects has some major colour inspiration behind it. But I decided to do something new and set up a simple photo of my yarn pegs as a way of illustrating that colour is always my inspiration. This is what I wrote...

"Seeking out colour inspiration is at the heart of everything I do and I am never happier than when I am immersed in colour play.

I made these yarn pegs around six years ago as a way of having a visual colour reference for the yarn I like to use for my blanket making (@stylecraftyarns Special DK).

I use the pegs to work through ideas for colour palettes and stripe orders and they are probably one of the things I absolutely could not do without. They give me endless inspiration and are the Attic24 not-so-secret colour planning secret!!"

Day 18 :: Cosy Corner 

I got Little Lady to take this snap of me knitting in my favourite chair. I attempted to persuade Tilly to join me , but nope, she was having none of it. This is what I wrote...

"I have a few favourite cosy places to sit and crochet, knit, stitch or read, but this is probably my favourite. It's an old oversized armchair which we rescued when it was being thrown out, giving it a new home in the curve of our large bay window.

It's a bit saggy with a sun-faded loose cover so I've given it the crochet blanket treatment and it is such a comfy, cosy place to sit.

We call it The Big Chair and truthfully it's not a place that I get to claim very often so I make the most of it when I can! It's Tillys main domain too, she loves to sit on the back and keep watch out the window, or curls herself up to sleep amongst the crochet"

↑↑ This was her being daft and not taking her job as photographic model seriously!

Day 24 :: Yarn Therapy 

This photo was created especially for the yarn therapy prompt - I wanted to illustrate my bed as the place that I often retreat to when I need some time to myself. The yarn in the basket is little 25g balls of Ricorumi DK which I was using to make some flowers. I had no real need to make flowers, it was purely for the creative pleasure. This is what I wrote...

"I would bet that any one of us who creates with yarn is well aware of its therapeutic benefits. Sometimes just the simple act of gathering together a pretty collection of colours can give us a much needed boost as we ponder on the creative possibilities.

Creating with yarn allows our minds to calm as our hands gently work each repetitive, rhythmic stitch. I find it extremely relaxing ~ a truly mindful, meditative time to just enjoy being at peace and in the moment.

During the past six months I have been so grateful for my crochet and it has most definitely been my therapy. I've been crocheting in my bedroom, not because I especially want to be in bed (although it does up the cosy, indulgent factor!) but because this is the only room in the house where I can gently close the door and retreat into myself for a while. Precious time indeed."

Day 30 :: Colour your World 

This was the final day and I created this photo especially to celebrate my love of colour and crochet, both of which are at the heart of my creative world. This was one of my most liked photos of the challenge, I think it is pretty eye catching?! This is what I wrote...

"Well, of course it had to be blankets, didn't it?!!

Crochet blankets bring colour to my life like nothing else, and I can't imagine living without them.

I'd like to say a huge big thank you for all your beautiful comments on all my September posts, I've absolutely loved reading your words and being a part of the #yarnfriendsrock challenge.

There was been loads of fantastic inspiration under the #yarnfriendsrock hashtag with over 12k posts. It's been brilliant!"

x

I really enjoyed being so involved on Instagram last month, even though it was quite time consuming some days. I always felt uplifted and totally inspired by seeing everyone's daily photos and reading all the commentary, the online crochet community really is fabulous, such a lot of kindness and feel-good.

I hope you've enjoyed sharing these with me today, and if you've been around on Instagram during September then I hope you didn't mind a little bit of repetition. Thank you so much for continuing to visit me here in the Attic, I really appreciate your company xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

 

 

Winter to Spring

A couple days ago I spent some time faffing with my mantel and changing over my seasonal decorations - I can't tell you how good it feels to pack away winter! I know it's all inside my head really as the weather here is still pretty cold and winter-like, but nevertheless the Attic is now in Spring mode and I am majorly happy about it.

My Winter mantel was actually quite minimal, but I thought you might like to see what has now gone into hibernation. Some greetings cards, my Annabel Burton canvas, and my winter balls garland (thinking I might make something new for winter 2020, using patterns from my winter wreath - frosty leaves, snowdrops, snowflakes?) I admit I was quite sad to pack away my stitchy decs as I have loved having them on my mantel to cheer up the dark season.

In the above photo, middle left, you can see the Winter cross stitch I completed a few months ago, which I absolutely love. This is from a set of four designs by the very clever ladies at Cotton and Twine - Autumn and Winter have already been released and can be purchased as kits, and Spring and Summer are still to come. I'm going to write a separate blog post to show you more of these cross stitching projects (I've completed the Autumn one too), but in the meantime there are some lovely photos on their website ((here))

The two stitchy hoops came in the Craftpod subscription boxes which I am lucky enough to receive every quarter. They are such a treat, each one containing two projects as well as some beautiful and very thoughtful treats. The hoop on the right was part of the Winter 2017 box (which I completed in February 2018). The hoop on the left was a simple cross stitch designed by me (oooo, super proud of that!) for the Winter 2019 box. It was a wonderful commission to work on and I can honestly say I adored designing and stitching that little scandi inspired cross stitch.

Spring Craftpods plopped through the letterbox a few weeks ago, and I think this little serene embroidery is an absolute delight. I can't wait to get stitching - I find the slow, meditative qualities of embroidery and cross stitch are very well suited to these quiet, introverted stay-home days.

When I unpacked my Spring bag it seemed a bit sparse, but that's OK as I have plans to add more springy-inspired crafty things this year. The canvas is another original by Annabel Burton (I've collected quite a few over the years and absolutely love love love them). The two postcards are of Van Gogh paintings which I bought in the Van Gogh museum last year when we had a short Spring trip to Amsterdam.

Do you remember this Spring embroidery hoop I stitched two years ago? It was designed by the very talented Lolli and Grace as a "stitch-a-long" project for Mollie Makes in 2018. It was so nice to re-discover it again, to unpack it and bring it out into its rightful season once again. I really, really like seasonal crafting....can you tell?!

As part of my Winter-Spring faff-around, it was time to swap over my candelabras. I often get asked about these as I always have one of them on my mantel and light candles most evenings.  The one on the left is my Autumn/Winter one and came from the Swedish company Gudrun Sjödén. The one on the right is my Spring/Summer one and is from the Danish company Rice DK. 

I've had both of them for a good many years - they were quite expensive to buy, but the amount of pleasure they give me every day is huge and I really love them.

So this is how my mantel is looking at the moment - it's still a little bare, but I am definitely going  to be adding some more seasonal stitchy stuff this month.

The thing that is noticeably missing though is a garland of some sorts. I have my Autumn Garland and my Winter Balls, but so far nothing for Spring. So what to do? Well....................................

..............time to gather in some Spring colours and get my crochet hook on the job. Of course! The colours above are leftovers from making my Sweet Pea and Dahlia blankets, and I absolutely love them. I know the orange (Spice) is a bit bright for Spring, but I'll be mostly using this colour to add a little detail to my flower centres.

The greens are from the Sweet Pea palette :: Cypress, Pistachio and Meadow.

Then I've got Mustard, Saffron, Lemon and Cream.

Spice, Pomegranate, Shrimp, Boysenberry and Magenta make up the darker end of the floral palette.

Apricot, Fondant, Blush, Powder Pink and Clematis make up the lighter end.

I had in mind to make some Spring flowers and leaves, something quite simple which would look great against the dark wood background of my fireplace mantel.

The flowers that immediately came to mind were primulas and polyanthus - I wonder how many of you remember the PPP Project??????!!!!!

(that post is HERE, if you need reminding - goodness me, even I needed reminding, it was eleven years ago!!!!!!)

There are polyanthus in abundance around my neighbourhood at the moment, piled high at the supermarket and spilling out of front garden pots and planters everywhere you look. They are beautifully cheery and colourful, and I think the perfect inspiration for a bit of Lockdown hooky activity.

It took me many hours to perfect my design, which included a brisk walk through the woods where I managed to alter the design in my head, rushing home to immediately try out my new fresh-air improved version.

Want to see the end result?

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..........ta-dah!!! I'm so so pleased with it!! It was difficult to get the middle bit to look like a star, but I managed it in the end and love how effective it is. I already know it's going to be great fun trying out different colour combinations.

I'm also making a load of very simple little cream flowers, loosely inspired by Hawthorn blossom which is just starting to bloom up here in North Yorkshire. A little while ago I came across a marvellously ingenious idea where the designer had crocheted small yellow flowers, but instead of trying to crochet a different coloured centre she simply painted them in! How bloomin' clever is that?! Many, many thanks to Kate of "Just Pootling" on Instagram for sharing this idea, I can't believe how effective it is. Kate used water soluble artists pencils to colour/paint her little mini blooms which isn't something I had to hand. So I had to resort to using a less sophisticated option and raided the Little People's felt tip pen pot - oh, it worked a treat!

Hahaha!!!!!!!!!!!!! Just so chuffed with these little beauties! 

As I only finished the design for these flowers late yesterday afternoon, I've not had time to make that many just yet.

Awwwwwwwwww, I already adore them! Oh, I forgot to mention, I also designed some rounded leaves to go with the flowers - in real life, polyanthus leaves are way bigger than the actual flowers, but I only wanted a little bit of simple greenery to poke out underneath.

So this is roughly the layout I'm thinking of for my Spring garland.... I think it's going to look very cute once it all comes together. Only another  30 flowers and 30 leaves to make.........I'll get right on it!

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ps, yes, of course I'll be making a tutorial for the flowers and will be sharing the pattern here on my blog. You're very welcome!!!!!!

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