Attic24

Sweet Pea Blanket CAL :: Q&A

It's a mere twenty days until the Sweet Pea CAL begins on Friday 4th January, and I'm so thrilled to be taking you on this gorgeous blanket journey. I often find the cold grey months of January and February a struggle and know from experience that having a colourful project to work on at this time of year makes a tremendous difference to my overall sense of well being. The therapeutic qualities of crochet are something I whole heartedly believe in, and if your crochet happens to take the shape of a comforting blanket in gloriously uplifting colours, well that feel-good just can't be beat.

You can read all about the inspiration behind the Sweet Pea blanket in my introduction post from a few weeks ago if you haven't already seen it :

❧🌸SWEET PEA INTRODUCTION🌸❧

This collection of colours honestly makes me soooooooooooo happy, they deliver a soft wave of summer spirit which instantly lifts my mood and makes me feel all kinds of emotional (in a good way). I know many of you have told me in recent weeks that you feel the same way about sweet peas, and I've loved sharing so many of your stories and memories evoked by the colour and scent of these beautiful flowers.

It goes without saying that I am beyond grateful to those of you who have chosen to join me in making a sweet pea inspired blanket, thank you, thank you, it means such a lot to me knowing that I'll be in good company as I meander along on my own journey at the start of next year.

There is still time to gather in your yarn if you feel like coming along and joining us. Yarn packs sold out incredibly quickly when they were first launched, but more stock was quickly dispatched and there are still some packs available in my shop at Wool Warehouse with worldwide delivery.

❧🌸SWEET PEA YARN PACK🌸❧

As I explained in my Introduction post, I've chosen 15 shades of Stylecraft Special DK to create my Sweet Pea blanket. I'm very happy with the way these colours are so well matched to the real living flowers that were my inspiration, they are just beautiful.

When you get to squish your own sweet pea yarn, you will need to take a little bit of time making a note of the colours so that you don't get into a muddle with the stripes once the CAL starts. Some of the colours look very similar (cream and soft peach, fuchsia purple and pomegranate, lavender and wisteria) and so even if you are very familiar with this yarn, it's always a good idea to have some visual reference. You can make yourself some yarn pegs like mine, or simply stick some short lengths of each yarn colour to a piece of paper and write down the names for reference. 

As in previous years, I thought it would be helpful to answer the most frequently asked questions that pop up in the weeks before the CAL starts. Please feel free to ask me anything in the comments below, and I'll do my best to answer.

Do I need to sign up to join in the Sweet Pea CAL?

The simple answer here is NO, there is no need to sign up or commit to anything. I like to keep my CAL's very informal and relaxed so that nobody feels pressured in any way. All you need to do is gather together your yarn and hooks and join me on Friday 4th January when I'll be publishing the full FREE pattern and tutorial and giving you colour instructions for the first set of stripes. After that, I'll publish a new CAL post here on my blog every Friday (usually first thing Friday morning). There will be 7 installments altogether, running across 8 weeks.

Is there somewhere I can ask questions or share pictures once the CAL starts?

You can ask me questions here in the comments on my blog and I will always try and answer them personally via email.

You can also ask questions on my Facebook page and I will do my very best to catch them all (Facebook is quite tricky for me to keep up with at busy times, but I do try hard not to miss anything). Every week I'll invite you to show/post photos of your blankets in progress on my Facebook page and I'll choose some of them to feature on my blog, so do please share!

And lastly, there is a fabulous Facebook group (called "Attic24 Moorland and More") which started with the Moorland CAL in 2017 and is still going strong. This is a very supportive and friendly group where you can ask for pattern help/guidance, share pictures and connect with lovely ladies who are crocheting Attic24 blankets all over the world.  Just to mention that this isn't a group set up or moderated by me, although I do pop in most days.

What size blanket will I be able to make from one yarn pack?

One Sweet Pea yarn pack contains 15 x 100g of DK weight yarn. In my experience of blanket making, this is usually enough to make a single bed size blanket measuring 120 cm x 180 cm (approx. 4ft x 6ft).

I'll be giving advice about gauge and tension in my tutorial so that you can decide on the correct hook size to suit the way you crochet. If you follow my advice and make a blanket the same size/tension as mine then you shouldn't run out of yarn!

Will there be enough yarn to make a border, and what sort of border will it be?

If you are using the Sweet Pea yarn pack and following my colour order, the design will allow for enough yarn to make a border. At this time I'm sorry that I can't give you the exact colours I'll be using for the border, but I'll try and give you this info in good time so that you can check your yarn quantities.  

What if I want to make the blanket larger, to fit a double bed?

If you wish to make a double bed size blanket, you will need to buy two yarn packs.

When I publish  the pattern, I'll give guidance about the starting chain and pattern repeat so that you can work out exactly how wide you wish to make your own blanket. I'll give exact numbers for you to work either a 6ft or 7ft wide blanket, but once you know the pattern repeat you can work out your own starting chain if you wish. I'll also give numbers and guidance for those wishing to make smaller baby blankets or lap blankets. There will be an extra set of stripes given at the end of the blanket if you wish to add extra length.

What hook size do I need?

This is a tricky one to answer up front as the hook size you use will very much depend on your own personal hooky tension.

The standard hook size for Stylecraft Special DK yarn is 4 mm. However, you can use bigger or smaller hooks depending on your own personal tension. For example, I'm a tight crocheter so I'm making my Sweet Pea Blanket using a 4.5 mm hook. If you crochet quite loosely, then you will probably find that dropping to a 3.5 mm or even a 3 mm hook will give you the correct gauge. This pattern works better if your stitches aren't too loose and baggy - a slightly tighter tension/smaller hook works best.

I often get asked about the crochet hooks I use - the ones pictured above are Clover Amour and I absolutely adore them. The metal hooking end is made from super smooth aluminium and the handles are soft and easy on the hands. They are quite expensive (beware cheap imitations which are not the same), but I think a worthwhile investment if you are working for many hours on a blanket project. You can buy them individually, or if you're feeling like your halo is shining, then you could always treat yourself to a whole set. (Clover Amour on Amazon UK)

I prefer coastal/pastel/bright colours, do I have to use the Sweet Pea yarn pack for this blanket? 

The main aim of a Crochet-A-Long is for us all to join in and make a blanket together, and it doesn't matter what colours you choose so long as they make you very happy. Of course I'd be thrilled if you decide to join me on my sweet pea journey, but if you'd rather use one of my other blanket colourways or create your own unique palette, then that's absolutely fine too.

You mentioned that you would be sharing two different colour orders for the CAL, can you show us what you mean?

Last year when I designed the Woodland blanket, I decided to give two colour options for making the blanket - one was my trademark "colour story" and the other was a simple random stripe. With the Sweet Pea blanket, I always intended for the stripes to be random (well, what I call "planned random" as there is an element of considered design involved). I want the blanket to give the visual impression of a hand picked posy of sweet peas where all the pastel and bright shades come together in a happy, random medley of gorgeousness! You can see in the photo above the effect that I'm after - it's joyful and vibrant, and has a really happy energy about it.

The more familiar I became with the colours, the more I began to think about the idea of creating an alternative blanket, where the stripes are arranged to create a very harmonious colourwash effect. I know many people find a colourwash placement very easy on the eye as there is s a natural order (based on the colour wheel spectrum) which our brains perceive as calming and relaxing.

So each week when I give out colours for the CAL, I'll be giving you two versions :: Posy and Colourwash. The above computer graphic gives you an idea of how they are going to look.......

....and you can see my two crochet colour samplers up above which show both the Posy and the Colourwash designs.

I wanted to give you a heads up about this so that you can ponder on it during the next few weeks and decide which one you'd like to make. Posy or Colourwash???? I wonder which will be the most popular?!

One thing to consider - you won't easily be able to alter the number of stripes in the Colourwash version, so this will be a blanket measuring 6ft long. If you want to make a longer (or shorter) blanket, you'd be better to go with the Posy version where you can easily adjust the number of stripes.

I hope this isn't going to throw you into a fit of indecision - this isn't my intention at all, and I promise you that both blankets are equally lovely. Let me know your thoughts in the comments, I'd love to know what you make of this idea?!!

Is the Sweet Pea blanket a suitable project for beginners?

Yes, yes, YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This really is the perfect blanket for newbie hookers to have a go with, and I've designed the pattern especially with beginners in mind. So long as you can maintain a fairly even tension and work double crochet and treble crochet (UK terms), you will be able to do this. The Trellis Stripe pattern is deceptively simple but produces a beautiful soft finish, and the crochet itself, oh.....................it is DIVINE!!!! It's rhythmic and soothing, an easy repetitive pattern with next to no counting so you can look forward to hours and hours of relaxing hooky satisfaction. 

As usual, I'll be making one of my full tutorials with loads of photos to help you every step of the way. 

One thing to mention - the Trellis Stripe is highly addictive, and super speedy too. I'm just giving you a little warning, it's particularly hard to step away from this one!!

I'd really like to practice the Trellis Stripe pattern before the CAL starts, what can you recommend?

The hardest thing about crocheting a striped blanket (especially for beginners) is working that first dc row into the foundation chain. For this blanket I'm working the first row of UK double crochet into the single/top loop of the chain (shown above), so this is something that you can practice in advance. Try experimenting with going up a whole mm in hook size to make your chain, then dropping back to a smaller hook to work your first row of stitches and see if this makes it easier for you. 

The other thing you might like to try is creating a foundation-less double crochet row (PLEASE NOTE that's UK double crochet = US single crochet). I know many people who've worked my striped blankets have found this approach helpful, although I've tried it and hated it! It's a very personal thing. Remember that if you are searching for information on this technique, please please make sure you know if you are following a UK or a US tutorial (especially if you are on YouTube as it's not always made clear).

Will the Sweet Pea CAL information stay on your blog if I want to go at my own pace or make the blanket later in the year?

Something I'm very passionate about is sharing, inspiring and spreading my love of crochet, and the patterns that I publish on my blog are always free and available for you to access whenever you want. I have no plans to change this, so you can always find my patterns and tutorials whenever you need them. With my CAL blankets, I am well aware that not everybody has the luxury of time and that the 15 stripes a week might be difficult for some of you - please don't worry! Remember this is all about relaxed enjoyment and even if it takes you a year or more to make this blanket, you will certainly not be alone. You can stop and start, dip in and out as and when it fits, and the pattern and colour info will stay on my blog for you. Having said that, I love the idea of us all hunkering own together at the start of a new year to hook up these colourful stripes together - the CAL will run for 8 weeks in total throughout January and February, with 15 stripes given each week. I'll give you a detailed schedule when the CAL begins. 

I am so excited for the CAL, the whole idea of our wonderful community coming together all over the world to make blankets for pleasure thrills me on so many levels. It's fun and joyful, but also therapeutic and mindful too. I hope you'll enjoy belonging to the Sweet Pea gang....I'll need to think of a collective name as I can't really call us the Sweet Pea-ers??!!!!

Before I go, I've two things to mention. Number one is the British Craft awards >>
https://www.britishcraftawards.com/

I'm delighted to be nominated for Crochet Blog of the Year, and there is also a Crochet Designer category 
where you can add in Attic24 if you've enjoyed using my designs and want to vote for me there too, I'd be so grateful! Voting is open WORLDWIDE, although only UK residents are eligible for the prize draw. The crochet section is blessedly short (only 5 categories, yay!) so it's a quick process to add your vote.

Voting closes at 11.59pm on Sunday 16th December 2018.
https://www.britishcraftawards.com/

photo credit : FloretFlowers

Number two, I came across the most amazing flower company last week, and their photography is just beyond stunning.  So if you fancy a visual floral feast, do go and visit the Floret Flowers, they are also on Instagram. Be prepared to swoon!!! 

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❧🌸SWEET PEA INTRODUCTION🌸❧

❧🌸SWEET PEA YARN PACK🌸❧

 

 

 

Winter Moorland

I confess I do find this time of year a challenge, and I swear I can feel my body and soul actually droop as the days shorten. It's as if someone invisible (and a little bit mean) decides to gently wrap me head to toe in thick cotton wool so that general everyday thinking/doing feels way harder than usual. If all I needed to do each day was flollop around on the sofa then this cotton woolliness wouldn't be a problem at all, it would be very cosy in fact. But that's not my life, so I continue to plod my way through these cold, grey woolly days doing all the things that a mum of three school age children needs to do.

One thing I find helps with the woollies is fresh air and gentle exercise, and if that can be taken somewhere with far reaching scenic views then the positive effects are even better. J and I try to take ourselves out into the nearby countryside whenever we can, sometimes just the two of us and sometimes with the Little People trailing along. The weather is often questionable but we venture out regardless and I always feel happier and (slightly more) energised afterwards.

These photos were taken one afternoon last week, a spontaneous decision to head up onto the moors for a quick blast of scenery and fresh air. We ended up walking further than we'd planned, tramping along undulating pathways around the two reservoirs that nestle among the heather, moss and grasses of the high moorland. It was quite brown (oh, how I longed for the purple hues of the summer heather!), but I did really delight in all the rampant moss which was looking very vibrant and fetching. I do so love to see a mossy hillock glowing in the afternoon light. I love moss, I do.

Six miles later, we made it back to the car as the light began to fade. We had to power walk the last mile and a half (it's not easy to power walk over soggy moorland terrain) and only just made it back into town in time for the school pick up. Phew. It was a bit worrisome for a while, but I was so happy that we had gotten out there, to breathe in lungfuls of cold fresh air and stride about a bit. Definitely good for the soul.

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Twelve Days of Christmas Felt Ornaments

Two weeks ago on a very bright and sunny Thursday afternoon I had a couple of very special visitors arrive at the Studio. It wasn't a surprise as I had been expecting them, and oh it was so good to see them looking all smiley-happy and ready for some serious colour therapy and crafty time. Well, that's to say one of the visitors came carrying a bag of craft supplies - the other one came with muddy paws and a lolling tongue, but seemed happy to nose about my studio emptying out my bin and generally sniffing out every nook and cranny. Would you like to know who it was?

Some of you may very well be familiar with her, especially if you are on Instagram and know of a certain Little Box of Crochet - yes, it was none other than Amanda Bloom and her beautiful canine companion Honey. Amanda and I have been friends for a good few years and it's always a pleasure to get together and chat about all things colour and crochet. But two weeks ago, we had hatched a crafty plan and it didn't involve yarn or crochet - gasp!!!! What on earth???!!!

I'd invited Amanda to come and join me in a little bit of a felt fest, and oh boy, did she deliver on the felt front - just LOOOOOOOK at that delicious stack of gorgeous felty lovliness that came out of her bag!!!! We'd decided to have a little bit of a SAL (stitch-a-long) and Amanda had certainly come prepared. The above stack was all part of a truly scrumptious kit of supplies that she'd bought, especially designed to make and stitch these beautiful Christmas decorations.........

photo credit : Larissa Holland : mmmcrafts

...........these are the Twelve Days of Christmas Ornaments designed by Larissa Holland who writes on her blog mmmcrafts. I can tell you it was absolutely love at first sight when I saw these on Instagram a few months ago, oh I fell hard and fast. Aren't they utterly charming????

Larissa sells the patterns as downloadable PDF files via her Etsy shop - you can buy them individually, or in bundles of three, six or twelve (I think, I'll need to check that). They are quite expensive, but they are amazingly well written patterns. Each decoration comes as a twelve page document with detailed instructions and lots of pictures, including a full scale pattern page which you can print off onto a special sticky interface thingy - I'll explain more about that in a bit.

You have an option to purchase complete felt/thread kits to make all of these ornaments but this wasn't something I really needed. You see, I already have the above stack of beautiful wool blend felt which I bought a few years ago from the fabulous Paper and String.

Sarah's felt is a 40/60% wool-viscose blend and comes in sixty lush colours. It's very reasonably priced and I can highly recommend it if you fancy a bit of making and stitching.

You can also purchase a set of swatch cards from Paper and String, and if you are into colour then these in themselves are a pure hit of happiness. I love them so much, and confess I've spent rather a lot of time gazing at them. If you want to have a go a making the 12 days of Christmas ornaments with your own felt and threads, it's perfectly possible to use the many photos on mmmcrafts listing for the patterns to guide you in your colour choices.

You will probably know that I have also spent this year building up a fair collection of embroidery threads, thanks to my cross stitch obsession.

So with felt and threads to hand and the patterns printed out and prepared, I was all ready to get busy stitching with Amanda.

Now I want to tell you about the sticky printable interface stuff - it's from the US and I was able to order it on Amazon. It's got a ridiculously over complicated name - it's called "PRINTABLE Sulky Sticky Fabri-Solvy Stablizer", don't try and say that in a hurry! Basically, its a sheet of thin sticky interface that will dissolve in water - the sticky stuff is on a backing and comes as an A4 sheet, meaning (and this is the magic) that you can put it in an inkjet printer and print a design right onto the surface. No tracing! And it's sticky, meaning you can simply cut out the shape, peel off the backing paper, stick it straight onto your felt and stitch right through it. How about that? It really speeds up the whole process and you can be ready to stitch very quickly.......

....this was Amanda and me on a Friday at Coopers Cafe bar, joining in with my knitty and crochet friends who were very curious to see me stitching instead of hooking for a change.

The embroidery stitches that Larissa uses in these ornaments are very simple (back stitch, running stitch and french knots) and the charm is in the colours she uses and the beautiful folk-inspired designs. 

I am an absolute sucker for french knots, I pretty much think I could sit and stitch them all day long. Using the sticky stuff with the pattern printed on it makes the embroidery a doddle, as every stitch is marked for you so you know exactly what you are doing. The only downside is that it's quite tough pulling the needle in and out of the sticky - the needle certainly doesn't glide in and out of the felt and you have to "work" the stitches quite hard. But on the upside, the felt is kept taught and the stitches come out even and neat, so I guess the ups outweigh the downs.

Mid afternoon and essential refreshments were delivered to our table to keep us going with the *arduous* task of stitching.

 This is Amanda and me both embroidering our partridge wings, me ooooohing over the french knots (again) on the left, and Amanda stitching neat pink back stitches on the right. We had such a lovely chatty time of it - a whole day of stitching to our hearts content, interspersed with coffee, lunch, afternoon tea and cake. I can totally recommend partnering up with a crafty buddy, it's so much fun! We weren't able to finish our partridge and pear in the time that we had, but we each continued to stitch later on in the evening, sending photos to each other via text message.

It's a lovely moment when you get to soak away the sticky-solvy. It's very easy to do - just immerse the felt pieces into some tepid water for a few minutes and you'll see the solvy stuff almost immediately begin to dissolve and lift away. You can use your fingers to gently rub away any bits that stay stuck around the stitches, but honestly it's all very easy and trouble free. I so enjoyed seeing my colourful embroidery revealed against the colours of the felt - stitching onto the white solvy stuff you don't get to appreciate all the colour combo's until after it's all done.

The only thing you have to note is this :: WOOL FELT MUST BE PRE-WASHED BEFORE YOU STITCH!!! This is very important as it surprised me how much shrinkage there was. It doesn't take much to do - a quick soak in some tepid water in the basin, then roll up in a towel to absorb excess water and leave to air dry. But please do not be tempted to skip this step.

The printed pattern includes very detailed instructions for assembling the pieces and stitching it all up. I thought this bit might be tedious (lots of weeny whip stitching) but actually it was very soothing to work all those small, neat stitches.

I stitched and stuffed my pear first and was hugely pleased with how it turned out. 

The partridge was a little more complex as it required a pipe cleaner inserted into the plume. This meant I had to venture into the Cupboards of Doom to try and locate a suitable pipe cleaner, and that was all rather time consuming and stressy. But eventually all was stuffed and stitched and I could admire my handiwork...............

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

I'm really rather ridiculously pleased with my efforts!!

I still need to find some silver thread to hang them (more exploration into the Doom-filled Cupboards), but essentially that's the First Day of Christmas all wrapped up.

On a roll, I immediately selected colours to make the second ornament in the series which is the Turtle Dove. I chose pinky purples and blues, and a handful of vibrant threads to decorate.

I relished my quiet stitching time, a rare Saturday morning when everyone else was occupied doing their own thing and I was free to sit and indulge in the gentle rhythm of needle and thread.

This is how my turtle dove looks now the sticky solvy has been washed away - I love the colours I chose and am really looking forward to seeing it come together.

During this past week I've been insanely busy with all things Sweet Pea, and so my ornaments are sitting waiting patiently for me to come back to them. After I've stitched up the Turtle Dove I've got the French Hen to make (I bought a bundle of three patterns), and I can't wait to see them all finished and hung on the Christmas tree. I knew when I started that this would be a long term project - it might take me years to complete the set, but isn't that just the nicest thing? I'll have lots of memories stitched into them, and hopefully the Little People will have memories of them too.

You see, the loveliest thing happened at the weekend. While I was sat finishing up my stitching, Little B and Little Lady began to hover around the table watching me, asking questions, taking an interest in my felt, my threads, my stitching. And that lead to them both embarking on some felt stitching themselves, oh it was soooooooooooo good!!! I loved every single nano-second of that together stitching time with the three of us sat around the table. I'll show you very soon what they made (need to encourage Little B to finish!). I will forever remember that time.

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Here are the links/info for you all in one place, should you find your fingers itching to get stitching!

⭐Mmmcrafts (ornament info and resources)

⭐Mmmcrafts ornament patterns on Etsy (lots of lovely images/colour inspiration)

⭐Mmmcrafts on Instagram (you can also search the hashtag #twelvedaysornaments for lots of inspiration)

⭐Paper and String (for wool felt supplies and LOTS of gorgeous stitchy goodies. Ribbon and buttons, just saying)

⭐Printable sticky solvy stuff on Amazon (you can make the ornaments without this, but it is bloomin' great stuff).

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sweet Pea Blanket CAL :: Introduction

If you've been visiting with me over the years then you will be very familiar with my love for home grown summer flowers, and you will know that I love love love having a small posy in a little jug on my table. It's such a joyful, cherished part of my summertime and I never get over the happiness that home grown flowers bring.

I don't always manage to have sweet peas every year as I'm ridiculously disorganized and very rarely manage to plant seeds at the right time. This year I predictably missed the seed sowing, so I splashed out and bought ready grown sweet pea seedlings which were delivered through the post. Honestly, you wouldn't think it possible to send a parcel containing baby plants through the post would you? But it is miraculous and the plants arrive beautifully wrapped in tissue paper so that both the precious roots and the delicate shoots are perfectly protected, super healthy and ready to grow, grow, grow. 

Due to the very, very hot summer weather, my allotment sweet peas didn't really grow in glorious abundance. However, there were enough flowers to give me a small posy every week through the summer months. In fact, I picked the very last bunch on 22nd October, so they lasted really well and oh, I did enjoy them! So so much.  

I decided early on in the year that I'd like to make a blanket inspired by the colours of sweet peas. So In the middle of July, I persuaded the family to accompany me to the Royal Horticultural gardens at Harlow Carr (near Harrogate) in search of some floral inspiration. The gardens are an absolute delight, and I loved seeing the abundance of sweet peas growing in the flower beds. However, there was an extra special reason for me to visit on that hot, sunny Saturday in mid July - I was there to view the National Sweet Pea Show. Yes, these showy floral events do exist, and they are very, very strange!! By strange, I mean they are super-formal and highly competitive and totally not what I expected.........let me show you.......................

See what I mean? Formality, with a capital F. Hugely competitive too, crikey, you could fair feel the tension in the air as so may top sweet pea growers from all over the UK fought to win with their blooms.

I somehow expected the flower colours to be mixed and I found the rigid segregation very uneasy on the eye. It was all rather prim and proper, and I found myself feeling rather sorry for the sweet peas, forced to stand to attention in their competition-grade green vases. I wanted to hug them all together and put them into some roomy jugs so that they could mingle with their different coloured neighbours, breathe out and relax!

Despite the formality, the flowers themselves were really spectacular. I spent a long time admiring them, sticking my nose into the blooms and inhaling (I was the only person there who did this - nobody else seemed to be bothered), and gazing at the huge variety of colour.

I love that even the soft pastel colours of sweet peas seem to look bold somehow, like they are shouting their gladness for the summer season.

I came out of the show feeling very inspired, and although it wasn't quite my style (give me a mixed posy in a jug any day) I certainly felt uplifted by all the glorious floral colour.

The very, very, very best thing about the sweet pea show was the fact that you could buy mixed bunches to take home. They were displayed in big buckets outside, and the ladies who were selling them for £2 a bunch were extremely lovely. They chatted to me about all the names of each different variety, and were obviously so passionate about their flowers, it made my heart swell. 

I bought three big bunches to bring home, and oh my giddy aunt, they were utterly, utterly beautiful. I just couldn't stop looking at them, playing with them, sniffing them and photographing them. It was a sensory summer overload!

I love sweet peas for their scent most of all, but this year I began to pay special attention to the huge variety of colour found in those fragrant petals. I'm not especially a lover of pale pastels, but the vibrancy of these sweet peas totally amazed me. Yes there were creamy white flowers and the palest of soft pinks, but there were also stunningly bright magenta and hot pink shades, and the most beautiful deep bluey-violet colours  too. 

When the pastels are mixed with the brights, something magical happens - the resulting medley of colour is like a pure hit of nostalgic summertime. It's warm sunny days and happy childhood memories, lazy afternoons in the garden and bare toes in cool grass. It's sweet and slow, warm and delightful. Total summer feel-good in those colours!

My ideas for a sweet pea blanket began to spin and twirl once I started playing with the flowers. I am endlessly inspired by the seasons and sweet peas are the epitome of Summer. They also hold many layers of childhood memories for me as my Mum adored sweet peas and grew them every year. 

It was hugely satisfying having real living flowers to guide me in my colour choices - there are thousands of sweet pea photos on the internet and I already had seeds packets and plant catalogues to refer to. But in my experience, nothing beats getting up close and personal with the essence of ones inspiration! 

In the end, the floral colours came together very easily as the range of Stylecraft Special DK contains lots of really beautiful pinks and purples to choose from. My biggest deliberation was over the greens and I faffed with them for ages. I ended up going up to the allotment and cutting some stems and leaves to bring home so that I could see the variation of greens in real life. I also tried very hard to get the overall balance of the colour palette right - by that I mean the balance between the greenery and the petals, and also the balance between the very pale colours and the deeper tones.

I think I've managed to create a very harmonious colour palette which will work really well when translated into a striped blanket design. And it's so impossibly pretty to look at, don't you think?

This palette of colours is certainly very easy on the eye and very uplifting (like a bright, warm summers day) and I'm certain that as these yarn colours begin to transition into crochet stripes, those summer vibes will be flowing. I can't wait!!

As is usual for my blankets, I've chose fifteen shades of Stylecraft Special DK for my Sweet Pea blanket

Top row, left to right...

🌸 violet 🌸 cypress 🌸 candyfloss 🌸 magenta 🌸 plum 🌸 

Middle row, left to right...

🌸 lavender 🌸 meadow 🌸 soft peach 🌸 blush 🌸 fuchsia purple 🌸

Bottom row, left to right...

🌸 wisteria 🌸 pistachio 🌸 cream 🌸 clematis 🌸 pomegranate 🌸 

You can find the Sweet Pea yarn pack in my shop at Wool Warehouse...

❧🌸SWEET PEA YARN PACK🌸❧

 

When it came to designing the pattern for my Sweet Pea blanket, I knew that I wanted stripes. I love love love making stripy blankets, they are so rhythmic and soothing to work on, and the way that you can play with colours in a stripe order is irresistible for the likes of me. I sampled all sorts of different types of shell patterns (I was thinking about the shape of the flower petals) before settling on something remarkably simple......

....this is my new pattern called the Trellis Stripe, and is a very simple combination of small stacked shells (representing the climbing sweet pea flowers) and neat lines of trebles (representing the trellis). The pattern was inspired by my allotment sweet peas (in the photo below), which I grew up a rather rustic, cobbled together trellis made out of bamboo canes and string. 

My home made trellis looked a bit messy and rather flimsy, but it worked a treat and managed to last through the whole of the summer until a storm swept through in October and blew the whole lot to the ground.

This stitch pattern is a doddle to work, and I've designed it especially with beginner crocheters in mind. Once you've worked the first two set-up rows, every row is the same and uses only one stitch (a UK treble crochet / US double crochet), making the pattern easy to memorise and hook. These breezy treble rows are relaxing, fast and highly addictive, and the resulting crochet fabric is soft and lightly textured. It also has the advantage of looking the same on both sides (so there isn't really a right and wrong side) and having straight edges (no lumps or bumps to try and hide). I'm so happy with it!

I'll be sharing the pattern here on my blog at the start of the CAL on Friday 4th January. I'll also be making my usual photo-heavy tutorial to give you step by step guidance for working the Trellis Stripe. I hope you like it as much as I do.

During the past few months I've spent a long time working with the sweet pea colours and playing with different stripe variations. I've made sooooooooo many samples (including a third of a whole blanket which I had to abandon when it just didn't feel right), and after much deliberation I've come up with two different stripe options. I'll be telling you more about this when the CAL begins in January - they are both extremely lovely, and I can't wait to show you more.

Sadly, sweet pea season is over now in the Northern hemisphere, and I admit to being rather jealous when I hear about those of you on the other side of the world just beginning to look forward to your flowers blooming. I've got oodles of photos to refer to though, and of course my bag of yarn which is like sweet pea summer heaven. 

I'm so excited to begin on the Sweet Pea blanket journey - it'll be like having a soft wave of summer to carry us through the cold grey months of winter, oh I can't wait!!!!

❧🌸SWEET PEA YARN PACK🌸❧

Those of you who've joined in with my Crochet-A-Longs in previous years will know that alongside my yarn colours, there is often something sticky to share with you too.......................

............I'm talking about planner stickers!!!!!!!! Yippeeeee for pretty sticky things!!!! My lovely friend Rachel of EllieBethDesignsUK has designed the most beautiful sticker sheet to help you plan and celebrate the Sweet Pea CAL. There are countdown stickers and stickers for the weekly installments as well as lots of crochet and floral pretties.

Even the stripes down the left hand side are a big long sticker too (like beautiful washi tape), and oh the colours are just perfect and totally sweet-pea-ish. If you don't have a planner, you can use these stickers on a calendar or in a diary.

You can find this lovely sheet of Sweet Pea stickers online {here}

Rachel is also a crocheter herself, and is part of a fabulous online community who are known as #plannerswhohook !! To celebrate this, Rachel has created a special edition "Big Book of Stickerating" dedicated to crochet and yarn - trust me when I say it is FABuLouS!!!! The book contains six sheets of colourful stickers - you can see lots more pictures online {here}

If you fancy treating yourself or buying as gifts for hooky sticker-loving friends, you can use the code SWEETPEA at the checkout and receive 15% discount off all planner stickers. All planner stickers can be found at ElliebethDeisgnsUK. 

*discount code is one use per person.

❧🌸SWEET PEA YARN PACK🌸❧

I am absolutely smitten with these yarn colours and the way they look all together, and I'm so so excited for the blanket to begin. Just a reminder that there is no need to sign up for this CAL - it's all very relaxed here in the Attic so all you need to do is gather your yarn together and join in when the pattern is released in the New Year.

I'll be writing more about the CAL a little closer to the time (just over five weeks until the CAL starts), but here is a quick round-up of information for you :

♥ The Attic24 SWEET PEA CAL will will run for 8 weeks in total, beginning on Friday 4th January - that'll be the day when the pattern will be published here on my blog and I'll give you all the information you need to get started. I'll then give weekly updates every Friday throughout January and February 2019 so that we can make the most of weekend hooky time.

♥ There will be a full picture tutorial here on my blog for the new Trellis Stripe pattern. Each week I'll share the colour stripe order for the two different versions of the Sweet Pea blanket I'm making.

♥ The SWEET PEA YARN PACK contains 15 x 100g balls of Stylecraft Special DK and is enough to make one blanket/throw. There is no printed pattern included in this pack, all pattern info will be here on my blog, with updates every Friday throughout January and February 2019. 

♥ The Sweet Pea blanket will measure approx. 120cm x 175cm. You will need two packs if you wish to make a larger/double bed size blanket. I'll give starting chain/pattern guidance for those of you wishing to make larger (or smaller) blankets.

 I really hope these colours inspire you to create a beautiful blanket for your home or to give to someone special. 

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ps a note about my yarn packs - I am thrilled to be working with Wool Warehouse who do an absolutely amazing job of enabling crocheters all over the world to join me in my ongoing colourful blanket making. I earn a commission on all the Attic24 yarn packs sold through Wool Warehouse, and I am truly grateful to everyone who supports me in this way. Thank you so much. xxx

EDIT TO ADD >> Wednesday >> Thank you so so much to everyone who bought a Sweet Pea yarn pack yesterday, I am so happy to have you join me on this colourful blanket journey in January.
Yarn packs all sold out within 6 hours yesterday which was a total surprise and unprecedented. More yarn is on its way and will be in the shop again by Friday. You can sign up on the Wool Warehouse website (on the sweet pea yarn page) for an email notification and as soon as the new packs are available you'll know. Thank you so much xxx

 

Winter is Near

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Autumn Decorating

I'm sat here thinking how long and slow my days seem to feel at the moment and I'm also sat here thinking that I don't mind this slowness one little bit. Slow seems to be exactly the right pace for late Autumn as our daylight hours get smaller and smaller and we instinctively begin to hibernate just a little bit. 

On Saturday I decided that I was in the mood to get gluey again and it was time to make some progress on a second paper mushroom sculpture. Seems a bit odd to publicly acknowledge the weirdness that is my life sometimes, but I'm trusting that you know me well enough by now to accept my quirks. When the Creative Urge strikes, it must not be ignored! I did really enjoy the process of making the first mushroom (shown above - you can read about it {here}), even with the complete fiddlyness of it.

The second one I made from the off cut bits left over from the first one, and it's about half the size. I didn't have another pipe cleaner so I simply rolled up a piece of paper to form a tube shape and glued layers of tissue paper over that to make the stem.

My best favourite bit of doing these mushroom comes right at the end when you brew up a very strong cup of tea and paint it over the mushroom cap. It's bizarrely satisfying and really does make the paper look like it isn't actually paper at all. It's a little bit of hocus pocus magic I think, and the end results are subtle but rather extraordinary. And it's all made from paper! And glue (lots of glue) and tea. Amazing.

I think I mentioned in my last post that I had an idea to hand make a little garden for my 'shrooms to live in. Inspired by the work of paper sculptor Kate Kato, I decided to incorporate some butterflies with a bit of moss to create something of a miniature Autumn diorama for my mantel. 

I went in search on Amazon for "paper butterflies" and settled on these vintage-inspired beauties.........what do you think? Aren't they gorgeous?

I really like how they are already mostly cut out so there is minimal labour involved in freeing up the ones you need.

I chose two smallish ones in Autumn colours and used a hot glue gun to stick them to some very thin copper wire.

I had an idea that the wire would allow the butterflies to flutter around the mushrooms somehow.

I used a plastic jar lid (from an empty jar of Nutella) which I covered in little bits of glued newspaper painted with green watercolour. I was able to hot-glue my mushrooms and copper wired butterflies to the base of the lid, then fill in the spaces with some dried moss, a couple of tiny dried leaves and a very small pheasants feather from my treasured collection of found feathers.

It all sounds a bit ridiculous when I write it down, but all in all the whole thing came together in quite a pleasing way to say how modest the materials are........

 ......ta-dah!!! I am quietly, secretly happy with my efforts, although you are the first to see them. I didn't feel confident in showing my creation to the family (they are used to my strange ways, but this is a slightly elevated level of strangeness I think) so I waited until nobody was looking and placed it quietly on the mantel amongst the rest of the Autumnal goings on. They remain un-noticed as far as I can tell, and I'm quite OK with that. I notice them every day and they do make me absurdly happy. Paper and glue!! And tea. And wire. And moss. Hooray for making things out of simple every day materials.

Last week I unpacked my "Autumn Decoration Bag" and was so pleased to be reunited with last year's makes. The delightful stitched toadstool hoop was part of last year's Autumn Craftpod box, and became the inspiration behind my Making The Seasons year.

As well as some pretty Autumnal postcards and a collection of motley looking pine cones, my Autumn Decoration bag contained the crochet pumpkins and garland that I made last year. Oh, it was so GOOD to see these again, better than unpacking Christmas decorations!! If you missed these last year, or fancy making your own Autumn collection of hooky goodness, you can find free patterns and colour info on my blog >>

{CROCHET PUMPKINS}

{AUTUMN GARLAND}

The Autumn Garland was made using oddments of yarn from my Woodland yarn pack - it was such a lovely way for me to play with the colours and celebrate Autumn in the months before my Woodland Crochet-A-Long began last year.

I'm really loving my Autumn mantel - I know it's only a month before Christmas will take over this surface, but I'm going to thoroughly enjoy every day of it.  

Awww.......paper mushrooms and butterflies, soooooooo  good for the soul!

Before I go and sit by the fireside, here are a few photos from our Long Walk Home from town this morning. Instead of cutting through the cobbled alleyway and heading home by the quickest route possible, we strolled to the top of town and walked around the bottom of the castle instead. I often used to do this when Little B was very little, to give him some extra fresh air and exercise on the way home from nursery.

After a day of damp grey cloud and rain yesterday, it was delightful to take in the low mellow sunlight dancing in the leaves.

I hope that you are enjoying the season you're in, whether it's Autumn or Spring where you are.....I hope your days are mellow and golden and that you are finding plenty of little seasonal pleasures to celebrate.

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Ticking Along

❉ It was our half term week last week and we spent our days being as slow, lazy and uneventful as possible, which was rather blissful following the last few weeks of underlying stress. We pottered and pootled, idled and lounged, and occasionally we got dressed and ventured out into the cool damp Autumn.

❉ We walked a little in our local neighbourhood, visiting the shops for food supplies and stopping in at our favourite cafes for the comfort of a hot milky drink.

❉ The farm shop is especially good at celebrating the seasons throughout the year with it's plants, flowers, produce and decorations, and there is always a lovely display of some sorts in the front entrance. Last week it was all about the pumpkins as we prepared to celebrate Halloween. 

❉ I love the flower section of the farm shop best of all (although the bakery also makes me swoon) - at one time when I was much younger I had dreams of becoming a florist, well, that's to say I loved the idea of faffing with flowers and calling it a job. I occasionally buy single stems from here when something especially appeals (eucalyptus stems are a favourite), but it's quite a pricey way to acquire flowers for the home. Pretty though, isn't it?

❉ On Friday I sat for a few hours in the cafe with my yarny friends and finished attaching my latest mandala to it's hoop. I really really love the serene colours in this mandala, they came together quite by accident and remind me a little of my Harmony blanket colours (blues and purples with a dash of pink and green). I followed the Bougainvillea Doily pattern by Zelna Olivier using around a dozen colours of Stylecraft Cotton Classique DK. I added two additional rounds to make it the right size for attaching to a 45cm hoop and I'm really happy with how it turned out. I've got it hanging against the blue/grey wall in my studio at the moment and it looks especially lovely against that colour.

❉ Sampling for my Sweet Pea blanket continues, and I've been working on the colour order for the stripes during the past few weeks. It takes slow, consistent time and effort to work through this part of the design process, but I absolutely love love love doing it. I spend hours and hours (literally) crocheting up a series of thin stripes to represent the whole blanket, getting a feel for how the colours like to play with each other and how my floral colour story is choosing to tell itself. The above photo is the result of the first sample being all wrong - sometimes I keep the wrong ones as a reference and sometimes I decide to pull it all apart and start again from scratch.

Yesterday I finished sample number four and it made my heart skip a beat, so I think I'm pretty much there with it - so happy about that! I've been doing the nitty gritty sampling too  - weighing out yarn and working tension samples so that I can gauge how many stitches, how many pattern repeats, how many rows etc. It's all good fun and makes me ridiculously excited for the blanket journey to actually begin. Sweet Pea yarn packs will be available in about four weeks I think, the week commencing 3rd December. Bring it on, I can't WAIT!

❉ On Monday the Little People returned to school and J and I went to have a leisurely, unhurried coffee followed by a trip to purchase a modest box of fireworks for the evenings entertainment (for those not in the UK, we light fireworks for Guy Fawkes Night on the 5th November). It was the usual fun - as you know we don't actually have a garden so we make do by using a flower pot filled with earth on the wall of our back yard. Fortunately the fireworks were just the right level of noise and crackle to entertain the Little Peeps without being too scary dangerous - there were only a few which made us run for cover!

❉ The sparklers were a hit, ahhh, so nostalgic! I love the smell of them, they instantly transport me way back in time to my own childhood. We had fun prancing about in the back street with our neighbours, the Little People dancing and twirling and lighting up the night.

❉ It's been very stormy today, wet, grey and howling. The trees are clinging on to their leaves but I feel sure there will be bare branches before long. It's that strange time when the seasons are merging - still Autumn but with the edge of Winter making itself felt. I don't mind it too much, but the low light levels are hard going I have to say.

❉  I bought a new candle on Monday, oh it smells soooooo good! It's Orange & Star Anise and just right for these cold, dark Autumn evenings - warm, fruity and comforting without being too Christmassy. I'm not mad keen on the gold patterned glass jar, but I'm loving the scent so much that I'm willing to overlook the glitz.

In other news, I've started making a smaller companion paper toadstool to go with the one above that I made last week. I've gathered some moss (real moss which I'm air drying), some thin copper wire and some gorgeous paper butterflies to create something of a mini Autumn sculpture thingy. I am stalling with the sticking of all the little toadstool gills though, I need to really be in the mood to get all gummed up with glue.

❉ And so the days are ticking along, a sweet combination of creative energy and slow, nothing-much days, of gentle parenting and the juggling of yarn and time and responsibilities. It's all good, more than good actually, and I am so grateful that I can say that and feel it too.

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Making the Seasons :: October

Helloooooo!!! Welcome to the twelth and final installment of Making The Seasons! I cannot quite believe that a whole year has passed since I first discovered Craftpod, inspiring me to embark on a monthly mission to make something inspired by the seasons. It's been a hugely enjoyable year long project, made even more special by the fact that I've been joined each month by my friend Gillian at Tales from a Happy House. There is something undeniably appealing about sharing the creative urge with a like minded soul who thinks along very similar lines, and I have love love loved creating my monthly makes with Gillian. Our styles are very different, but it's been delightful to see what each month has brought forth for us both and I have truly loved every single project.

For this month {October} I decided to make one of the projects from the Autumn Craftpod box, as these delightful subscription boxes are still making my heart beat as fast as ever, a whole year after I first set eyes on them. The projects are so beautiful, and the whole box is always an absolute treat to receive through the post. This season there is a beautiful Autumn sampler to stitch, a paper mushroom sculpture to make and ooooo some gorgeous toadstoool washi tape which made me squeal!!!

Jo always pops a really lovely seasonal card into the box and the Autumn offering is just wonderful. It's an illustration by Brie Harrison who's work I fell in love with this year on Instagram, I just love the simplicity of her style and the emotions they evoke. 

Sticky tape and stitching aside, I decided I'd have a go at making the Mushroom Sculpture, designed by artist Kate Kato of Kasasagi Design. I've been a huge fan of Kate's work ever since reading all about her in Country Homes and Interiors (April issue) and then stalking her on Instagram......

image credit : Kasasagi Design

....oh her images make my toes curl with happiness!!!! She is so so so talented - you would never believe the things she manages to do with paper. Yes, paper!!! It's such a simple medium, but Kate manages to make it do magical things and her carefully constructed natural still life studies (made from JUST PAPER!!) are things of rare beauty.

image credit : kasasagi design

I love pretty much every single thing she makes (her butterflies and flowers are utterly delightful), but her Autumn studies are particularly stunning. 

So I was curious as to how she would translate her unique art into something that the masses could have a go at - would it actually be possible to make a paper sculpture that resembled a real living thing?

The essence of this project was very simple - there were a whole load of pre-printed shapes that needed to be folded in half and cut out, and then there was glue,  a single pipe cleaner and some tissue paper. Simple materials that promised to deliver great results if you followed the instructions and allowed plenty of time and patience.

There were 72 shapes to cut out to form the mushroom gills, and these shapes then had to all be methodically glued together. It trod a fine line between being meditative and tedious, but I did enjoy the simplicity of applying glue and sticking, knowing that by following some precise instructions, something beautiful would (hopefully) come about.

Once the gills had been assembled, it was time to create a mighty fine mushroom stalk, using nothing but a humble pipe cleaner and some ripped up pieces of tissue paper. 

This was good fun, if a little messy....

.... and honestly? I was a little bit proud of how my 'shroom stalk turned out! 

One of the things i love about Craftpod is the absolute attention to detail. For example, Jo had included the most teensy tiny cute wooden pegs in her box, simply for you to be able to hold the paper gills together whilst they dried. It was such a thoughtful touch, and one that I very much appreciated when I was flapping around with very gluey fingers, trying to hold everything together and make it stick.

The part where you have to glue the gills to the stalk was much harder than it sounded, and it's one of those things where you wish you had six hands. I somehow managed to make it all stick together, although I confess I got impatient and a bit antsy at this point and went in search of the hairdryer in order to speed up the drying process. A good blast with some hot air and I was satisfied that enough drying had happened, meaning I could safely proceed to the next part of the making process.....creating the mushroom top.

This was more fiddly, messy fun (note my fingers absolutely covered in glue), and involved ripping and sticking layers of tissue paper over the top of the paper gills. It was very faffy as it involved trying to spread the gills out evenly whilst sticking the tissue paper in place, made extra challenging by the fact that my fingers were sticking to absolutely everything, including the table.

I kept going, aided by Little B encouraging me along and telling me that I was doing great. I think he was really very impressed that I was attempting to make a lifelike mushroom - gawd I seriously love that my children do not ever, ever question my weirdness. I mean, doesn't every mother spend hours creating fungi out of glue and paper, purely for pleasure??!!

The very last step involved brewing up a very strong concoction of tea, and painting it around the bottom edges of the mushroom. I was doubtful about this (I thought my mushroom already looked fab), but the difference it made was astonishing. It somehow transformed my paper 'shroom cap into something that looked very un-paper like, and honestly I just couldn't quite believe what I was holding in my hand.

Ta-dah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I wish, wish, wish that I hadn't been in a major rush to get out the door and deliver Little B to his friends house for a Halloween sleep over, cos I would have loved to style this project to death. The mushroom was just begging to be beautifully photographed with all manor of natural Autumn finds, but I simply didn't have time to faff. So a few feathers from my feather stash (yes, of course I have a handy feather stash) and a few leaves fallen from the tree at number 28, and that had to do.

I am so so pleased with this make - it is so humble (paper and glue!)....

....but so oddly fascinating and beautiful at the same time.

I have a new found respect for all paper/glue artists, it's not the light breeze that you would think and requires a huge amount of attention to detail and painstaking patience.

I was thinking that I would quite like a proper home for my paper mushroom - maybe a small pot full of moss, with a critter or two crawling about....wouldn't that be lovely?

But for now it's resting quietly on the mantel, looking all natural and eye catching. I rather like it.

Please do go and see what Gillian has been making this month, her seasonal posts are always beautifully photographed and a real inspiration. You can find all of my previous MTS posts {here}

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ps my September project is finished and I'll be taking some photographs of it to share with you very soon xx

pps..................couldn't resist taking one more photo................

ppps.....I've just found a wonderful video showing Kate Kato at work - please do take a look, it's just wonderful xx

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Woodland Reflections

I know, I know, I'm having a bit of a Woodland obsession right now, but honestly, can you blame me when it all looks so very utterly gorgeous out there????? It was absolutely freezing this morning, literally freezing, but the sort of glorious day that forbids you to remain inside no matter how low the temperature might be. It was crisp and bright with a definite bite in the air when we set out to walk up the steep, steep hill, along the farm track and into the top of the woods this morning.

We found the second willow sculpture which looked glorious in the sunshine - it's called "The Stalking Horse", a reference to the olden days when the Lord of the Castle would hide behind grazing horses in order to stalk and shoot deer in the woods. I found Anna and the Willow on Instagram (which is how I know all about the horse), and have enjoyed seeing these willow works in progress. 

The little beck that meanders slowly through the woods captured my eyes this morning, I just couldn't stop gazing at the reflections held on it's surface. Even though the beck is flowing, the water moves very slowly so there is an illusion of stillness which makes the reflections very striking. In some places there were overflow pipes draining water into the beck, causing the most incredible rhythmic, pulsing ripples - it was mesmerising to watch, almost like an optical illusion of some sorts.

We stopped for a while beside the small waterfall, perched on a log in the morning sunshine, eating juicy satsumas and a little bit of chocolate too. It was the best kind of morning snack and even Little B was happy with the arrangement. We did lots of leaf kicking and larking about, eventually tiring ourselves out before beginning the short walk back to the warmth of home. Not a bad way to spend a Monday morning, that's for sure.

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A Week of Taking it Slow

So this has been the sloooooooow week following on from the rollercoaster week, and to be completely honest I am very glad it's over. There has been underlying stress to our days as J took the week off work to recover, which in itself has felt rather strange. He is very rarely unwell and the concept of time off work with enforced rest and recovery didn't especially come naturally to him. Luckily I was able to gently help him ease through the days as he took some necessary time out, and I think we managed pretty well all things considered.  

One of the things we did last week was make sure that we took a walk every day - nothing too strenuous, just some gentle strolling around our neighbourhood. We would drop Little B at school, then off we would go to stretch our legs and breathe in the Autumn air.

I know I talk often about the woods in our town as it's one of our favourite go-to places when we don't want to take the car out. It's absolutely wonderful to have this place so close by as you can literally access it just a minute or two from the high street, gosh I do so appreciate it!

The Woodland Trust do a great job maintaining it and creating some wonderful additions too (I love this beautiful carved poem bench which is fairly new). Just recently a couple of amazing willow sculptures have arrived, created by a North Yorkshire willow artist. This one is right by the main entrance and is called "Willow Hunter". It's a crazy-beautiful thing, so much energy, movement and feeling created by a collection of twigs. 

It's been cold and dry this week, and so we've had the pleasure of kicking through the fallen leaves as we've walked. No, you are never too old for this activity, not ever!

The colours in the woodland are really reminding me of my Woodland blanket, and I think that this week I might take it out on location for a little bit of a photo shoot. I get a bit nervous about doing this sort of thing, but I need to not care what anyone else thinks because, well......it'll be worth it, right? I think I'd very much like to see my Woodland stripes in situ, so I'll muster up some braveness and make it happen.

I went up to the allotment this week to have a poke around, it's all looking a bit forlorn and in need of an end of season tidy up. I keep thinking that the sweet peas are over as the plants themselves are looking rather bedraggled and my bamboo and string trellis collapsed in the last storm that whipped through here a few weeks ago. But when I was there this week, miraculously there were indeed more flowers to be picked, which made me insanely happy.

The colours are so beautiful - I don't edit my photos at all (too lazy for that), so the brightness and contrast in the above image is naturally how these flowers are in real life. Ah, I LOVE them!!! So much!!!

I've had the pleasure of this teensy little posy on my table all week, making my happiness levels rise with every sniff of those petals. The scent isn't quite as strong as it was with flowers picked in the height of summer, but nevertheless it is still blooming lovely.

As you can see in the above photo, I've been inspired by these sweet floral colours, and I've been sampling up some colours ready for my next CAL (Crochet-A-Long) blanket. YES!!! Consider this a sneak-peek!!!!!

Yarn packs will be available at the beginning of December and the CAL will begin on Friday 4th January 2019, and run for 8 weeks in total.
I've designed a new stitch/stripe which is perfect for beginners, or for people like me who need some therapeutic, soothing rows of colour to start the New Year off beautifully. Just to reassure you, the sneak peek in the above photo is part of my colour sequence sampling and NOT the actual blanket pattern. The pattern for the Sweet Pea blanket is new, and will be worked with two rows per stripe, as is usual for my blanket designs. I'll be able to show you a little more of the pattern closer to the time. I am very (very very very) excited about this blanket, it makes me want to squeal just a little.

On the days when we didn't walk in the woods, we walked along the canal, through the park and up to the farm shop instead. The bonus of walking that way is that it involves not just a nice walk but the possibility of some refreshment too, which does hold a certain appeal I have to admit.

We walked up one afternoon after J had been at the hospital to see a consultant and we both instinctively needed to be out in the sunshine to take the edge off.

Rather than sit in the farm shop cafe, we picked up a couple of take out lattés and some chocolate, then came back into the park to sit a while on a wooden bench. It was so nice to feel the sun on my face, I really love it when you close your eyes to the sun, and it's all pinky-orange inside your eyelids. That glowing warmth is so comforting somehow.

I picked up the above leaf for no reason other than the colours called to me, aren't they beautiful? Autumn right there in my fingertips.

The drop in temperature this week has drawn us to light the fire in the late afternoon, as much for the comfort factor as the warmth. This will be our eleventh autumn/winter with an open fire (there was a horrid electric fire shoved into the brick fireplace when we first moved in), and I wouldn't trade it for anything. We have central heating radiators so our house is generally very warm and cosy in winter, but the open fire adds such a lot of feel good - it's warmth for the heart and soul. 

Whilst I faff with my sweet pea colours and ponder on the stripes for my next blanket, I have needed a crochet project to keep my creative self occupied. As is often the case for me when I'm in between blankets, I find that mandala therapy delivers just the right amount of creative satisfaction. I found a lovely free pattern called the "Bougainvillea Doily" by Zelna Olivier, it's a beauty! I was working on the first version at the cafe and went a bit wrong in the light blue rounds (I didn't read the pattern properly and mis-counted the clusters), so I ended up having to wing it a bit after that. I'm hoping that my second attempt will work out better as it's such a beautiful design - please note that the pattern is written in US crochet terms, so UK hooksters will need to translate. I'm planning on crocheting these to metal hoops to add to my collection - I might crochet some additional rounds and make them bigger, I haven't decided just yet.

This weekend I've deliberately tried to take some care to relax and fully recharge my batteries after a rather draining week. I took myself back to bed yesterday morning following an early start, and ended up sleeping until 10am - I guess I must have needed those extra hours more than I realised.

Yesterday I unearthed a small pile of magazines that had remained unopened since Yarndale took over my life - this is the September issue of Country Living UK which has some beautiful floral inspiration in it's pages. Ahh, beautiful hydrangeas, still not my most favourite flowers, but I do so love the blanket that they inspired.

I've spent a fair few hours nesting on the sofa this weekend, sometimes on my own, sometimes with Little B snuggled up....

....and sometimes with the kitty. She likes to flollop down on my legs in a big long, heavy heap, which I'm not complaining about as she is super cosy and warm when she sleeps like that. She's like a living hot water bottle. 

 

I lit my jar candles earlier on today, and thought to myself that I'd like to crochet some more jar covers in Autumn colours, perhaps decorated with an acorn and oak leaf or two.

Tomorrow.......tomorrow yes I think I will conduct some seasonal mantel faffery. I'll dig out my pumpkins and hang my garland from last year. And yes, maybe I'll pick up my hook and crochet some lacy lime, orange and gold and bring a little bit more Autumn colour into my home.

The Little People are off school now as it's our half term break - it's a week later than it usually is, so I've had three rather tired and grumpy offspring to deal with this past week. We've absolutely no plans whatsoever  - we shall drift through the days as the mood takes us, perhaps going out locally, perhaps just staying close to home. I predict that we shall spend rather a lot of time enjoying fireside treats and really that is absolutely fine by me. 

Have a good week, whether you are venturing out or staying close to home. I hope your days are full of slow, cosy, happy.

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