Attic24

A Quiet Week

Hello, hello, how are you all doing this week? Things here in the Attic are the usual mixture of ordinary family life and familiar routines interspersed with bursts of creativity, which is how things generally tick along for me these days. Despite the ordinariness of it all it's still a pleasure for me to string together some photos to share snippets of my days with you, so thank you as always for calling in to visit. 

Last week we had snow! I know, it was very strange to see snow falling at the start of spring but sadly not unheard of here in the north of England. I learnt many years ago when I first moved here not to expect any spring warmth until the very end of April at least.

J and I were out on our usual early morning walk and the park looked so, so wintry, it was one degree so most definitely more winter than spring. The trees which line the pathway in the above photo are cherry trees which flower quite late in the season and I absolutely can't wait for the blossom to arrive. You can see photos of them from two years ago at the end of April (here) so hopefully not too much longer to wait.

I had to share the above photo with you as it made me laugh at the time - it was the same freezing snowy morning and a certain Little Somebody did not want to go out in the cold and walk to school in the snow. This was his "I'm not leaving the house" protest, and quite honestly I know exactly how he felt. I think we all have those mornings from time to time where we wish we could simply wrap up in a yarny blanket and stay home.

The kitty had the right idea - make the most of a sunny patch where a crochet blanket provides the perfect level of snuggly comfort. I absolutely love love love her little kitty feet, she has a mixture of colours on her paw pads, mostly black and brown but it's her back right foot that I love the most. This foot has the cutest pink pads (Little Lady calls them toe beans, which always makes me laugh). Such a sweet, comforting thing to see them all stretched out in the sunshine.

After the snowy weather, spring started to peep back in to our days again although it remained ever so chilly. I don't often walk out on a Saturday morning because I usually enjoy having a slow start before we head into town to the market. But on this last Saturday when I was sitting in bed drinking my coffee, I noticed a golden glow outside the window and realised that the sun was just coming up. The light looked irresistibly golden and beautiful so I made a snap decision to go and chase the rising sun - oh, it was SO worth it!

If you remember back when I introduced my Meadow Blanket to you in 2020, the meadow field is about five minutes walk from my house and has become a place where I'm often drawn to walk when I need to clear my head or feel some sense of calm.

Right now in very early spring the meadow is still pretty muddy and uninspiring and it seems impossible to believe that in only a few months from now it will be absolutely filled with flowers. The blackthorn trees are in flower in the hedges but other than that, there is no sign of the floral goodness that I know will come. Mother Nature really is astonishing, don't you think?

In the bottom corner of the meadow field there is a little gap in the hedge where you can access the canal. This is the opposite side to the paved towpath where most people walk and it's a just a narrow, muddy footpath but it's always nice and quiet and makes a nice return walk home for me.

I always smile to myself when I catch sight of the above sign nailed to the tree there - "PLEASE SLOW DOWN" - heehee, well of course it's for the boats (there are two swing bridges up ahead to slow down for) but I can't help but take heed of the message. Okaaaaaay then, time to slow the pace and take it gently, after all, it's the weekend and there's no real rush.

Saturday mornings are one of my favourites of the whole week, and I've often talked about it here on my blog. The morning is for walking into town with J to buy food at the street market and independent shops, followed by a stop at one of our favourite little cafés for breakfast on the way home. It's a simple thing really, but it ticks so many of my feel-good boxes and always makes me feel very grateful for this life that belongs to me. It's not glamorous or exciting, but there is a lot to be said for spending happy time with your other half enjoying simple pleasures.

I'm not sure if I've ever mentioned it, but I grew up in a family where only my Mum worked and we existed on a very low income which meant continuous money worries. My Mum planned the weekly food shop to the penny with simple meals all made from scratch on a very tight budget. Eating and drinking out was never a thing I experienced growing up, except on very rare occasions. If you have grown up like this, I can tell you the memory of the hardship never leaves you. Now as an adult I can afford this luxury and I have a genuine gratitude and appreciation for the fact that I can eat out regularly and enjoy a daily coffee at a lovely café. I feel so, so lucky!! Every single Saturday I feel lucky beyond even being able to put it into words, it's a deep feeling I get right into the very bottom of my stomach.

My Saturday afternoons are usually slow, leisurely things. It's a time when as a family we all seem to be busy doing our own thing - we are usually all at home but mostly occupying different parts of the house (the Little Peeps in their bedrooms and J usually in his computer den in the cellar). As it's a rarity for me to have the downstairs room to myself (well, shared with the kitty) I love, love, love settling down in the Big Chair to read, crochet or stitch. I really value peace and quiet and never listen to music or have the television on during the daytime. It's a lovely thing I think to simply enjoy the gentle sounds of the house going on around me - the ticking clock (I have a really satisfying ticky one on the wall in the sitting room), laughter or chatter from the kids online with friends, the low rumble of the washing machine. It's a peaceful domestic soundtrack which I've come to appreciate very much.

I decided on a whim that I fancied some slow stitching, my mood just felt like something slow and mindful. I settled on some embroidery - this really cute little wild violet design is one of the projects in the current Spring Craftpod. Oh, it was wonderful to stitch, very dainty using mostly just one strand of embroidery floss, and yes I definitely needed my glasses! 

Sunday mornings are made to be taken slowly and I really, really take full advantage. I'm usually awake quite early because during the past six months I've worked hard to establish a good sleep routine and this means I generally go to bed and wake up at roughly the same time each day, even on weekends. The difference on a Sunday is that I can extend the time I spend loafing around in bed, and goodness me, I absolutely adore being in bed! The sheer comfort of a cosy, slept-in, still-warm bed is hard to beat. I'm burning my favourite "Late Summer" soy wax melts from the Botanical Candle Company, although I've just ordered myself some Orange Blossom ones for spring so that I can save Late Summer for actual summertime.

On Sunday mornings it's not unusual for me to have two or three coffees in bed before I'm ready to get up and get ready for the day (only the first one is caffeine, I then switch over to decaff)....ahhhh, isn't it sometimes the ordinary little moments in life which deliver the most pleasure?

Above photo.... 9:09 am....

.....and two hours later we were sitting on the river beach at Bolton Abbey - ta-dah!!!

It was unplanned, but after a quick family chat about maybe heading out to walk somewhere seeing as the sun was shining after a very wintry week, we quite quickly managed to all get it together to go out. It's becoming more and more rare for us to have both Little B and Little Lady out walking with us at weekends so I really relish the times when it happens.

J and the kiddos spent most of our beach time skimming stones across the still surface of the river, while I occupied myself building a pebble tower, like you do. So satisfying to balance them just right.

I am always in "mummy-mode" when we go walking and never leave the house without a snack in my bag. Honestly, Little Lady turns 18 in a few weeks time and yet I still think I need to pack a snack for her. I need to get a grip. Mind you, she didn't complain when the chocolate egg came her way, so I'm letting myself off the hook with the over the top mothering. 

It was a lovely, fresh, sunny walk and I really enjoyed the family time. Got to make the most of it these days, because by the end of the month I'll have two adult teenagers, and only one child left.

I finished my embroidery on Sunday afternoon. Although the original project was for a sunglasses case, I decided to add in some herbs (these were given as an alternative design) and keep my embroidery in it's hoop as a little spring picture. I really love how it turned out......

.....ta-dah!! So, So sweet. As it happens, I have wild violets growing in one of my big back yard pots right now so I picked a couple for my photo just to be a bit extra. They're now popped into a teeny polka dot egg cup of water and sitting pretty on my mantel, and my sweet violet and herb hoop is hanging on the wall there too. I've not yet gone all out to decorate my mantel for Spring, mainly because it still feels so much like winter here, and also because I'm really, really enjoying my Winter Garland. Gosh that thing is so flippin' pretty, I adore it. I'll try and remember to take an updated mantel photo for you soon, and note to self, that dried out finished-up hyacinth bowl needs replacing (adding to my to-do list).

I mentioned at the start of this blog (waaaaaay back two thousands words ago) that I've had bursts of creativity recently, and I wish I had something better to show for it. I worked obsessively on my new blanket during the past few weeks, making and joining  around 24 complete squares before coming to a rather crushing halt. I realised that it just wasn't working quite as well as I'd hoped (my heart didn't soar when I looked at it) and so I decided to step away for a bit and try and decide whether to start over, or if maybe it might be OK once I've taken a breather. I'm really not sure right now which way it'll go, and I feel like I can't really show you at the moment until I'm sure of it myself. 

So that's about where I'm up to - life in the slow lane and I'm absolutely OK with that. I'm going away tomorrow, a solo journey on the train tracks down to Dorset for a short break to check in on my Dad. I'm hoping that when I come home that I can look at my blanket with fresh eyes and make a decision on how to go forward with it. In the meantime, I'm about to start work on a smaller crochet project which has spent far too long on the back burner, so that should keep me happy while I'm away from home. Fingers crossed for weather which is more spring-like down south, here's hoping.

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ps this second verse from John Masefiled's poem always sings in my head just before I go to the coast :

I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide

Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;

And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,

 

And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.

 

x

 

 

 

 

Fields of Gold Hoop

In the middle of last week I came across a beautiful crochet sunflower photo on Instagram, posted by my lovely crochet friend Jane Crowfoot. She had taken a large flower motif from one of her blankets and turned it into a beautiful decoration for her front door - you can see it ((here)). Along with her gorgeous photo, she announced that during this month of March all profits from pattern sales would be donated to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) to assist refugees in Ukraine. I didn't hesitate for a moment and went  straight along to her website to buy myself a digital copy of her "Fields of Gold" pattern.

It's been a long while since I sat down and tried to follow somebody else's crochet pattern, and it was an interesting experience for someone like me whose brain really, really dislikes written patterns. I have very low concentration for pattern reading, I mean, I have a lot of brain fog going on during a normal, non-concentrating type of a day, so anything that requires this level of brain work is usually a no-no.

However......I really wanted to be able to support Jane's generous fundraising venture and so I made a determined effort to stick with it and see it through.

WOW, this pattern is so blinkin' clever!! There are multiple layers where the different rounds go over and under each other and at first you just can't see how it's going to work.....

....but slowly it all just clicks into place and petals and leaves interlink in a brilliantly thought out way. Honestly, my mind was a little bit blown. Jane's pattern is extremely well written, with photos to show you what some of the more complex rounds should look like. I had to really get my head around some of the taller stitches ("double treble
crochet 5 together" was a particularly testing one) but on the whole it was a wonderful, creative and satisfying experience.

I used oddments of Stylecraft Special DK as that's what I had to hand in the colours that seemed to fit. I roughly followed Jane's photo to pick my sunflower colours and chose the following shades:

Gingerbread, Gold, Dandelion, Buttermilk, Spice, Tomato, Cypress, Meadow and Lapis.

Jane said she attached her sunflower to a 28cm embroidery hoop, then added pompoms around the edge, but I chose to attach mine to a 30cm metal hoop instead. I have a bunch of these hoops left over from doing a crochet retreat a few years ago, so it seemed sensible to use what I had. You can buy them easily on Amazon :

✤ 30cm white coated metal craft ring on Amazon  ✤

I adapted Jane's blanket pattern to create the final round which attaches the motif to the hoop and love how it turned out. 

Attaching to a hoop by looping the crochet chains over is such a neat way to go about it, I used a similar method when I made my Positivity Mandala and I explain exactly how I did that in ((this tutorial)). 

I love the design very much - it's so cheerful and jolly in those sunny colours against the blue.

I've hung my hoop up in my big bay window so that you can see it from the street as you walk past.

I did mean to share this with you earlier in the week, but with one thing and another the days have slipped by. If you happen to catch this post before midnight and want to grab a copy of this pattern, the monies will be donated to charity by Jane. I think she's done very well with it and raised a lot of money already - she'll be posting an update on her social media about it soon I think.

Here is the link to Jane's page where you can purchase and download the pattern either via Etsy or Ravelry >>

https://www.janiecrow.com/fields-of-gold.html

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EDIT >> 1st April...A message from Janie via her Instagram page :

"Thank you all so much for the wonderful support of my Fields of Gold pattern throughout March. I am delighted to tell you that you raised almost £5000....so we topped it up to that lovely round number 😀 All of us at Janie Crow are over the moon at your generosity and we are just delighted that we can give a nice donation to the UNHCR on behalf of our wonderful crochet community! It's been lovely to see all the sunflowers popping up. You are wonderful - thank you again. Janie x🌻⁠"

 

 

 

Springtime!

Before I get carried away with springtime chat I wanted to thank you all so, so much for the really lovely, positive comments you wrote in response to my Winter Garland. Thank you, thank you!! It's been so enjoyable to read through them all, and to know that you've been uplifted by my creative endeavours has really made me happy.

A few of you have asked about the snowdrop pattern - in the end I just couldn't make it work with this garland, sadly they just didn't seem to quite fit with everything else. I was a bit disappointed about it at the time, but have an idea for using the snowdrop in another project and often times this is how the design process works. It doesn't always come together as you think it will. I do still intend to make a tutorial and share the pattern but I've got a couple of time-sensitive projects that I need to prioritise first. 

I've got some fandabbydozy daffies on my table this week - remember me telling you last week that I wished we could buy bunches of these paler varieties? Well the Universe delivered, how about that for good fortune?! 

These were in bud when I bought them from the supermarket, but I had a feeling that they looked paler than the usual bright yellow ones and I was seriously beside myself with happiness when they began to open at the weekend. Gosh, I do love them, especially the ones with bright orange centres that remind me of fried eggs. Gorgeous things.

The past few days have been particularly slow and gentle which has suited me perfectly. I've felt the need to be still and quiet of late, for no real reason other than to attempt to relax a little. I seem to be in a very heightened creative phase at the moment, with a huge surge of ideas and inspirations crowding my mind day and night. It's really exciting but also quite draining at the same time because my brain never feels like it rests properly when I'm operating in this way. It's switched into creative overdrive 24/7 and it's hard to dial it down.

The kitty has magical powers when it comes to relaxation and having her sound asleep on my lap like this has a very calming effect. The above photo was late on Saturday afternoon, a quiet lull in the day when everyone else was busy doing their own thing and I took the opportunity to rest a while. I thought that I might have a little snooze but in the end it was enough to just sit quietly - I don't know about you, but I find that taking time to just sit and be still is often reeeeeeally hard. It doesn't come naturally, especially in a family household when we are so used to multi-tasking and keeping busy, but I think the benefits of a good old fashioned afternoon rest are massive. 

On Sunday it was the Spring Equinox and here in Atticland the weather was absolutely beautiful. I remember in years gone by that we've had some truly dismal first days of spring (this one comes to mind, my first ever Blogland spring) but this year it was better than I could have hoped.

J and I went out for a walk, just a local stroll from our front door along quiet rural lanes (well if you ignore the tractors coming and going) and back along the canal.

We took a flask of fresh coffee with us and sat a while on the bench in the above photo enjoying the sunshine.

We also had a buttered mini hot cross bun, a perfect mid morning snack with our coffee. I think the swan thought he/she might like to share my snack with me, but honestly I wasn't much in the mood for sharing. Mine, mine, mine.

Gorgeous sunshine and shadows, a chilly wind blowing, but oh, that bright sun and blue sky was very, very lovely indeed.

I did some baking on Sunday afternoon for the first time in ages. I don't know what prompted me to do it but it felt good to be pottering in the kitchen making some simple iced buns for the Little People. I must remember to do it more often, especially because the LP really loved me for it, haha, gold star for Mum.

On Friday afternoon it was warm enough to sit outside for the first time in a very long while. The wind had dropped and for a short spell just after lunch we had the sun in our back yard. I took full advantage, digging out my outdoor crochet blankets and reacquainting myself with the delights of the sunlounger I  bought last year. It was utter bliss. Ah, I was so happy sat there with my feet up, coffee in hand and the sun warming my face, happy, happy me.

If you've been visiting with me here over the years, you will know that I have several crochet blankets that are kept for outdoor use - stash busting projects that I've made with picnics and holidays in mind. Last year I bought a storage box for our little back yard, somewhere to store blankets and cushions where we can get to them easily during the summer months when they are in constant use. The blankets had been left out there all winter (unintentionally I might add) and were in dire need of a wash and an air out, and so that's exactly what I did on Sunday afternoon. 

I absolutely love these blankets, they are just simple, old fashioned granny squares made from scraps of left over yarn, but they are completely full of happiness. Do you remember me making them?

On the left is the first one I crocheted in 2013, which I simply call "granny patchwork" - you can see more of it ((here)).

On the right is the second one I made in 2016 called the "colourwash granny" - more of it ((here)).

It won't surprise you to hear that I have a humungous urge to make a third one - my goodness, my fingers are itching to just get flying with it, never mind the other projects and deadlines that currently need my attention.

I came across the above image recently on Instagram just by chance, it popped up on my screen and stopped me in my tracks. How beautiful!! Totally inspired, I fell head first in love with the idea of making something similar in crochet - random, scrappy two-colour crochet squares in a glorious mix of colours. Oh, the JOY!!

This isn't by any means an original idea and there are already some really amazing crochet blankets out there constructed from two-colour granny squares. You can see some good ones in this blog post to get the idea, and there is also this gorgeous blanket made by crochet designer Helen Boreham for Stylecraft.

Sigh, I want to do it sooo badly. I wonder if I can perhaps just quietly start it without any expectation or timeline, maybe one or two squares, just to get a feel for it and scratch the itch? A springtime project that eases gently into the summer months...... well who am I trying to kid, I never do these kind of things gently or quietly, it's always full throttle and full volume. You'll certainly get to know all about it, that's for sure.

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Winter Garland :: Ta-dah!

I've been wanting to make a winter garland for a few years now, something pretty to hang on my mantel in January once the colour and sparkle of Christmas has been packed away. In past years I've really enjoyed making seasonal wreaths and garlands, and you might remember me making my first garland for Autumn, and then one for Spring too....here are the links to those projects if you fancy taking a look....

((AUTUMN GARLAND)) and ((SPRING GARLAND))

I had a good idea of the colour palette I wanted to use, inspired by the soft, muted, frosty shades of this cold season. You can see my inspiration photos in the collage above - winter skies, frosty leaves, snowberries, pretty hellebore flowers and winter flowering cherry blossom. 

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

Pale Rose : Powder Pink : Pistachio : Meadow : Lincoln 

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

These colours look exceptionally pretty together and make me want to sigh with pleasure because they're so calm and easy on the eye. There is definitely a hint of Spring in those colours, but with a cool, wintry undertone that makes it a great colour palette for January-March. I think it's definitely more spring-like than I'd first envisaged, but honestly, I'm absolutely fine with that!

A little note about all the pattern details :

Most of the patterns I used for this garland already exist as part of previous projects, but I did make some tweaks and alterations along the way. Rather than trying to explain it all in this post, I created a separate pattern page which is listed over in my left hand sidebar so that all the pattern info is held in one easy to find location. I just thought it would be easier that way, in case any of you have an urge to make your own garland now or in the future.

Here is the link to the pattern page >>

WINTER GARLAND PATTERNS

I had a clear idea of the kind of things I wanted to make for my garland and the first thing to fly off my hook was a flurry of winter blossom. These little flowers are very quick and easy to make and I used two shades of pink as well as cream. Here where I live, we have quite a few trees in the neighbourhood that flower right in the middle of winter, so I'm used to seeing these delicate flowers as early as January.

As soon as I started thinking about a winter garland, I knew that hellebores had to be included. I took the above photo a few weeks ago in the supermarket of all places, they had some wonderful hellebore plants on sale this year.

I used Cream and one of Stylecraft's lovely new neutral shades "Hint of Silver" to make my hellebores, inspired by the ones I'd seen in the shops. I combined Cream and Pistachio yarn to make the stamens in the centre.

I had lots of creative fun trying out my new watercolour pencils, using them to add a little extra colour and detail to the petals. 

As I've made hellebores before, I already have a full tutorial for the pattern ((HERE)), which includes guidance on how I make the stamens. 

I think they turned out beautifully!

Next up were some wintry leaves - I couldn't think of any specific leaves I wanted to make so I decided to use an existing pattern. I did end up changing the edging so that they look ever so slightly spiky/frosty. I've detailed the changes I made on the pattern page.

I used six different colours to make the leaves, and I think to be honest if I was to make them again, I would probably leave out the light green Pistachio to keep the palette more soft and muted.

More leaves, this time some delicate ferns in Lincoln green which I decided to combine with white and pink winter berries. A bit of artistic license at play here as I have no clue exactly what I was thinking when I came up with this idea - I just thought it would look pretty! Haha! 

The ferns already existed as a pattern from a previous project, but I made them much shorter than the original design. Again, you can find the pattern alterations on the garland page ((HERE))

They're a bit fiddly, because the whole thing is crocheted with chains and slip stitches, but I really love the look of them and think they are worth the faff.

The winter berries were also rather fiddly to make, but because they're so small they take no time at all really. I made 24 of them in total (each fern leaf has 3 berries attached)...

....and think they look quite cute. Perhaps I should have made the leaves in Hint of Silver to make them look more wintry? Ah, but the soft Lincoln green really looks like the colour of frosty grass to me, so that was my thinking at the time.

I made all these pieces slowly here and there over the course of about a month - I think the first blossoms were made in the middle of February, and I finished the last pieces yesterday. It's been such a lovely thing to work on, either sat quietly at home, or at the café with friends, slowly creating my little pile of flowers and leaves. It's just the kind of gentle creativity which I find incredibly satisfying.

I also loved having a playing with it all too - this kind of faffery and photography is soooooooo much fun!

I'll show you all the pieces laid out in order now, so you can get a measure of how many individual bits I made...

....what do you think? Isn't that just so beautifully satisfying to look at?!

Starting at the top ::

4 Hellebore flowers

16 blossom flowers

8 fern leaves, with 24 berries

16 winter leaves

That's 68 individual pieces of crochet !!!! SixTy EiGhT!! 

In the last week or so as I was finishing up the crochet, I started to have a play to see how these individual bits would work as a garland. My fireplace is quite a wide one, and I hang my garlands in four "swags" - this makes it a bit easier to visualise the garland as I can focus on designing one swag, then repeat it four times. You can see me working it out in the above photo, using the hellebore as a centre focal point.

There you go - all laid out in order and ready to join, how exciting!!

On the winter garland pattern page, I explain in more detail how I crochet the chain to join all the little bits together. The hardest thing is working out the spacing, it took me three goes to get it right so that the garland fit my fireplace (I made 6 chains in between each piece to achieve the right length).

The finished garland measures 180cm.

The joining process is very easy and surprisingly speedy. After spending near on a month creating all those delicate little pieces, the joining took me less than an hour. Making my chain spacers, then slip stitching through each little piece, one after the other......

.....until the first quarter was suddenly joined.

I thought you might appreciate seeing my very professional photographic studio (!), it's all very homespun here, well of course it is. Nothing fancy, just an old desk top propped on the arms of a chair, and me with my camera jigging about trying to get it all done while the morning light was good.

Half way through now......

....and then suddenly just like that the last piece is joined.

Sixty-eight itty little bits of crochet all chained together and the garland is finally finished.

Well actually, there was one last thing to do....

I remembered at the last minute that I'd meant to add a little bit of colour to the blossom flowers and had completely forgotten. No worries though, it was easy enough to do it at the end and I'm so pleased with how it all came together......

........I mean, just look how beautiful it is............

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

Love love love love love it. I LOVE it SO MUCH!!

I could not wait to hang it, and you better believe that within a hot minute of darning in the last end, my winter garland was right there on the mantel.

You can see what I was meaning when I described the four swags to you - I use tiny clear plastic Command hooks to hang my garlands, the sort that stick on without harming the surface underneath.

I have to say, it's so nice to have a garland hanging here again. My mantel has been empty since Christmas and I've missed not having some decorative hooky to cheer up the dark wood.

I'm so in love with it, and it was most definitely worth the time and effort to make something that I know will give me pleasure every winter for many years to come.

Well, you know what's coming next, don't you??????

↑↑ Here is my Spring garland (I'll hang this one up in April I think)

↑↑ And this is my Autumn garland which goes up in September when we reach the Autumn Equinox.

And winter is now covered.

What's missing??? Only my favourite season of all - SUMMER!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, of course I'm already pondering on what to include in a summer garland. The trouble is, I could probably cover six mantels with all of my favourite summer flowers, there are just so many to choose from. Should be fun?!

Well, I hope you've enjoyed today's little ta-dah moment, I'm so grateful for the top notch encouragement you always give me with these creative projects of mine. It's lovely to have you to cheer me on, thank you!

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ps here is the link again to the pattern page for this project, it's in my alphabetical list of patterns over on the left if you need to find it in future.

((WINTER GARLAND PATTERN PAGE))

 

 

 

 

 

Last Days of Winter

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Visual Pleasures

It's Sunday evening and earlier on this afternoon I was looking through the photos on my camera and thinking to myself how lovely my days look from a purely visual point of view. All the photos in today's post have been taken this weekend, and nothing out of the ordinary has happened at all. Really it's been a very run of the mill sort of slow mid-March weekend spent mostly at home, and yet I look at these images and I confess I'm a little bit in love with the visuals of my life. And how wonderful that simple thought is! Lucky, lucky me. 

Yesterday my new house arrived, another absolutely adorable little bobbin cottage made by Helen of Thimbleville. I am really delighted with these houses, they make me sooooo happy and I have no idea why, so I'm just rolling with the joy they bring me and leaving it at that. They look unbelievably cute sitting on my mantel with a backdrop of old Observer books.

I had to pop into the supermarket on Friday and they were selling pots of hyacinths for £1.50 so of course I popped one in my basket to bring home. Yesterday I spent a little time re-homing the bulbs into an old stripy bowl, adding some homegrown moss and a little toadstool for good measure. What a difference it made, massively increasing the visual pleasure which I'll enjoy for many days to come.

Every time I bring bulbs into the house I get a thrill  of anticipation, and I hope that I never stop finding pleasure in keeping up these small seasonal rituals for myself.

I took some photographs of my lunch yesterday, like you do. I honestly have no idea what compels me to want to capture images like this, but there is something about observing the visual details of everyday life that really appeals to me. In the case of the above bowl of courgetti noodles, it was the beautiful colour of them - so vibrant and fresh looking, and somehow perfectly suited to mid March.

I don't know if you remember, but it was around this time last year when I bought this very clever little spiralizing gadget and got way too obsessed about eating courgette and butternut noodles for lunch. I haven't had them for a while (this kind of lunch is better suited to Spring and Summer I think) but yesterday I had a craving for them.

I added a little drizzle of olive oil and a squeeze of lemon juice to the noodles, with a liberal sprinkling of sea salt and a heavy grind of black pepper. I then plonked on my toppings - half an avocado which needed eating up, cucumber and tomatoes, with crumbled feta cheese....

....and ohmygollygosh it was exceptionally good. Such a simple meal that looked as good as it tasted.

After my lunch, I took advantage of the fact that I had the Big Chair to myself and settled down with a blanket, a cup of coffee and the latest issue of Country Living magazine. I drank in the Spring vibes on those pages and enjoyed soaking up all the little floral details and light, airy springtime colours. I adore this kind of seasonal inspiration and always feel uplifted by the stylish photographs and beautifully laid out pages.

Little Lady spent some time with me downstairs yesterday afternoon, and it was lovely to have her company. I noticed that she was carefully watching me as I danced around photographing my lunch and my flowers and my yarny pursuits and I have to say it was a bit odd being observed. I'm used to inhabiting my own world when I'm photographing and talking to myself inside my head, wrapped up in my own colourful bubble. Eventually I think I wore her out with my carryings on because she quietly snuggled herself down on the sofa with the Harbour blanket and had a nap with the kitty. It was as if she was four years old all over again.....ah, happy memories.

This weekend I've been crocheting, of course I have - I've been working on some designs that I'm doing for Stylecraft, a little secret project that I'm really, really enjoying but can't show you just yet. I can show you the yarn I'm using, it's the Organic Cotton which I love, in a pretty palette of sherbet shades. I can't wait to show you what I'm up to.

Part of my dancing around yesterday involved these beeeeeeautiful flowers, oh, they really are so, so lovely. I bought them yesterday,  and although they look rather posh and florist-esque, they were in fact from good ol' Morrisons. Not only that, but they were reduced in price - I found some buckets which had small bunches of single flower varieties which were only £1.25 for five stems, so I bought snap dragons and some very unusual carnations....

...just look at them!!! I've never seen carnations this colour before, kind of a dirty, vintage pink, aren't they stunning? And the tulips are also very beautiful and were only £3 a bunch. I need the flowers for some photographs I want to take for the aforementioned Organic Cotton Secret Squirrel project, so I felt justified in buying them. If you scroll back up, you can see how well they match the colours of the cotton yarn - I'm super pleased with it all, and have thoroughly enjoyed my creative time this weekend. 

I had some of the tulips in a jug in the kitchen and yesterday for a very short while the sun was streaming in through the window and lighting up the petals. Oh, I just swooned my woolly socks off right there by the fruit bowl, the sight of those sunlit flowers honestly took my breath away.

Today was a day with no plans, so I enjoyed a beautifully slow start to my Sunday. I was awake quite early when it was still dark but spent some time sat quietly in bed with a scented candle lit and a mug of milky coffee in hand.

You may think from these photos that all I do is idle around swooning over flowers, crocheting things and eating bowls of pretty food, but the weekends always include a number of chores too. There is the market food shop of course, and the cooking of the family meal each evening, plus laundry, always laundry. I typically do four loads of laundry over the weekend (whites, blacks, bright colours and pale colours) which entails a lot of running up and down stairs (the washing machine is in the cellar), plus sorting, shifting, carrying, folding and piling. I did get a little moment of visual pleasure when I folded up my freshly washed and dried woolly socks though, so there was that.

J and I went out for a walk this morning. The weather was grey and damp, but it's always good to get out into the trees to soak up a bit of nature. Look how green the wild garlic is looking, such a welcome sight.

I noticed that the early blossom is now blooming, and that really did make me happy.

These blossom trees at the edge of the woodland are always stunning, and the view over to the castle makes for a very photogenic Springtime scene.

We walked past the blossom hedge on the way home and my goodness it's looking so, so pretty. You might remember me showing it to you last year, it's just too lovely to walk past without wanting to capture it on camera. 

It made me think of the pile of crochet blossom waiting patiently for me to add it to my Winter-Spring Garland.

I had every intention of getting that finished this weekend, but then I remembered the Stylecraft project which has an actual deadline looming, so I needed to be sensible and prioritise my crochet time. Soon though - the garland will be coming to fruition in the next few days I hope.

Well that's all my photos from this weekend, I hope you've enjoyed seeing the little snippets that have brought me some very welcome visual pleasure, and that in turn they have delivered you some feel-good too. Ordinary day-to-day life can be really beautiful don't you think?

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Working From Home

I've made some good progress on my Winter Garland today, finishing off the hellebores and finalising the snowdrop design which I have to say I'm s-u-p-e-r happy with. When I'm working on this sort of project with lots of little bits I always work at the dining table, just because it's easier to be able to lay things out and see where I'm at. It's different when I'm crocheting blankets because that usually requires a relaxing sofa/fireside/bed location. There is something very productive and satisfying about sitting at a table to make things, it makes me feel a teeny tiny bit more like I'm "working" somehow, although trust me when I say that this kind of gentle creativity never really feels like work to me. Sometimes when I'm photographing my step-by-step pictures for tutorials or sitting with a word document and hard core pattern writing then it can feel quite workish. But stitching stamens into a crochet hellebore, or crocheting little yarny snowdrops? It's pure pleasure, and my heart has felt full of gratitude today.

As well as sitting at the dining table, I also have a white piece of wood (the top of an old Ikea childs desk) which I balance on the arms of the big chair to take photographs. We get good light here in the mornings at the front of the house where the large bay window is, so that's where I tend to do all my laid-out type of photography, either for flat lays or if I'm making a tutorial.

This morning I photographed a little bit of the making process for my hellebores - I've already got a how-to tutorial ((here)) but when I write up my Ta-dah post for the Winter Garland I want to have a series of photos all with a white background. I took the above photo to share on Instagram but thought you might like to see it here too.

I've got fresh daffodils on my table this week, popped into a bright and cheery rainbow jug which is making me smile every time I clap eyes on it (which is often, because I've been sat right next to them all day). You can see a little bit more of our downstairs living space in the photo too, it's all one room with our sitting area and open fire at the front, and the dining table where I work at the back. The open plan layout is great in many ways, it's a lovely light, bright room with two fireplaces and two windows, but there are times when it can be a bit of a tricky thing. For example, the television. I find that when I'm working it can be very distracting to have to listen to it when I'm sharing this one room with the whole family. J also works in this room in the winter months so I'm often listening in to his conference calls and we have to juggle where we both sit - one room living with a family of five is a challenge at times, especially with two of us working from home.

I've found myself just lately feeling frustrated with the situation, missing my studio space massively and wishing I had a room of my own to retreat to where I can spread out and have breathing space to work and think. It's a bit of a negative spiral that I don't really want to get sucked into, because at this point in time there is nothing I can do about it. I'm here at home, sharing the space with J and the Little People and just have to make the best of it.

So today I gave myself a talking to, and made a concerted effort to practice gratitude for my working situation. I love my home, and it's a happy, relaxed place to spend time, so really there is much to be grateful for. Plus, I get to have the kitty for company too :)

I mean, it's not a bad working environment.....

....and I do get to take breaks whenever I like because the boss is very lenient when it comes to time keeping and scheduling my working hours. I can pop out to the shops in the mornings if I need to, a quick jaunt to get some fresh air....

.....and admire the flowers growing in the front garden while I'm at it.

All in all, I know I can't really complain, in fact I am very, very lucky. I think maybe I just needed to reset my mind and remind myself how bloomin' lovely it is here at number 24.

Right now as I sit and chat to you, I am still sat here at the dining table, tap tap tapping away on my laptop. It's just coming up to 9pm and it suddenly feels like it's been a long day. I finished crocheting at 4.30pm, packing everything away so that the table could be used for dinner time. I usually sit down to start blogging in the evenings after dinner, around 7pm, and it takes roughly two hours to put a blog post like this together. I really love it though, it's such a nice thing to be chatting to you and sharing my thoughts and photos from my ordinary days.

Thank you for visiting with me in the Attic, and an especially big thank you to all of you who take the time to leave a comment. I appreciate it very much, it's a little bit of magic and kindness in this crazy ol' world.

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Winter Morning Routine

I'm growing an Amaryllis bulb and as you might expect I'm very, very excited about the forthcoming floral prospects. Annoyingly, I can't remember exactly when I started it off but I think it was around the middle of January - this is the first time I'm growing an Amaryllis using water only (no soil) and I really love the pleasing aesthetic of it, but the stem is very much shorter than I would normally expect and I think the flowers are going to be smaller too. I don't know if it's just this particular bulb, or whether the lack of nutrients has stunted its growth somewhat, but either way it isn't making it any less exciting. Yes, I'm SuPeR excited about it!

I took the photo this morning and cannot WAIT for the flower to be in full bloom, actually there will be three flower heads coming from this bud, plus there is a second bud to look forward to. Gah, I can hardly stand the suspense.

Anyhow, this has nothing whatsoever to do with my morning routine, but I couldn't keep the thrill of this bud all to myself. It's too good not to share and I figured you might like to see it and imagine me beside myself with impatience as I wait-wait-wait for those pretty petals to unfurl. 

I wanted to follow up on a few things I've talked about recently with regards to my current morning routines and the things that I've been trying out to improve my Winter season and general wellbeing. You may know if you've been with me in previous winters that I find them a major struggle and since my mid forties I've become aware that I suffer with Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). Thankfully it's not severe enough for me to really worry about it in terms of seeking medical advice, but it does really impact my daily life for at least 4 months of the year. In mid December last year after weeks of feeling my mood dip lower and lower each day, I decided to invest in a SAD lamp to see if I could help myself cope a little better. To be honest I didn't hold out too much hope, but I chose a lamp that had really great reviews and was less than £40 and I figured it was worth a try. You can see it on my bedside table in the above photo - it's called the Albina lamp and at it's brightest setting it shines out 10,000 lumens which is enough to combat the effects of SAD. As soon as it arrived I plugged it in beside my bed and I committed to building a solid routine around using it every morning.

I began to set my alarm clock for 5.30am - I know that sounds shockingly early but I am naturally an early to bed, early to rise type of person and am usually nodding off by 9.30pm. I've trained myself to get up within five minutes of my alarm going off and in the beginning that was honestly quite a struggle. Since I've had this routine established for the past three months, that 5.30 get-up has become very much easier, mainly because I am sleeping soooooo much better at night. As well as helping my SAD mood (and it really, really, really has helped enormously), I've found the lamp has had a very positive effect on my circadian rhythm. My body is now pretty happy to shut down around 9.30 and wake at 5.30 and I'm getting good quality sleep in those eight hours.

I think the trick with anything like this is to be as positive as possible and to enjoy the extra time that an early wake up gifts you in the quiet of the morning. I always make myself a coffee which I bring back to bed, then my lamp goes on and I sit quietly to sip my hot milky drink, read for a while and really enjoy the slow start to my day. I also use this lamp time to apply my HRT gel** and let it soak in and do all the good work, so I like to think of this half hour as much needed self-care time.

**I'll update you briefly about my HRT journey at the end of this post so you can just skip reading it if it's not of any interest.

After my slow start, I get up for a second time at 6.15 and by this time I'm energised and  ready to get going. I put on my workout clothes, brush my teeth, then head downstairs to fill my water bottle and take my vitamin D3 (I have these high strength ones). This is the third winter I've taken vitamin D supplements and I can highly recommend them if you live in this part of the world where sunlight is in such short supply. Just like the light lamp, the trick is to be consistent - I take them every single morning without fail from the beginning of October until the end of March.

They are cute, look! Teensy little capsules that I can actually swallow without water if I need to (and I am a huge wuss when it comes to swallowing tablets of any kind).

By 6.30 my trainers are on and I'm ready for a quick workout - I never thought I'd be the kind of person to look forward to working out but this has been one of the very best health changes I've made for myself in recent times. I wrote about it in my Wellness Journey blog post in 2020 (you can find that post here) and I've been pretty consistent with my Monday-Friday exercising ever since. I'm still using the same YouTube channel and can highly recommend it if you fancy getting some home exercise into your day. Lucy Wyndham Read workouts are short (usually 7 or 10 minutes) and very effective, plus almost all of her routines use standing exercises so you don't need a mat and there's no getting down onto the floor. It's all very doable whatever your fitness level, and trust me you will feel aMaZiNg afterwards - it's just fantastic what a 7 minute workout can do for your mental health as well as your fitness. Try it - and drop me a line and tell me how bloomin' good it feels!!

Depending on my energy, sometimes I only do one 7 or 10 minute workout, sometimes I do two back to back, but it's never more than 15 minutes of my time. It's so very achievable.

Once my workout is done and dusted, I re-fill my water bottle and swap my trainers for walking shoes so that I can head out and get some fresh air. I'm usually quite hot after my workout so it feels especially good to stride out into the cold morning.

J and I started walking together back last year sometime (in the summer I think?), but I'd been doing it by myself for a while before he decided he wanted to join me. When I walked by myself it used to be very much shorter, but getting out earlier means that we can walk for longer - about 45 minutes.

I have this 600ml water bottle that goes everywhere with me and I love it - I drink one bottle with my workout, and a second bottle when I walk, so that I'm properly rehydrated first thing in the morning. I then drink at least one more refill during the day (1.8l in total) and I find that keeps me feeling good.

Walking in the still of the early morning gives me so much pleasure, and has become a vital part of my weekday life. Even throughout the dark months of mid winter it still made me feel good, and I can really recommend it if you can find a way to fit it into your morning routine and make it a priority. I find that by getting up earlier it has made this an easy thing for me to fit into my morning, and I value it very much.

I took these photos yesterday morning and it was sooooooooo gorgeous out there! Crisp, frosty and fresh - very, very energising I have to say.

So we walk between 6.45 and 7.30 and sometimes this includes a quick stop at the bakery on the way home (the Little People get fresh almond croissants every Friday morning, my goodness, how lucky are they?!) Coming back into a warm, cosy house after a brisk frosty cold walk feels great and I love the happy vibes that it gives me (hello, endorphins!)

The next hour is spent doing all the Mum things needed to get the Little Peeps out the door and on their way to school as well as getting myself showered and ready for the day. I also do some basic household jobs like emptying the dishwasher, putting a load of laundry into the washing machine, seeing to the kitty, and having a little tidy up of our downstairs living space (folding crochet blankets mainly, haha). I also always make sure to make my bed as it's such a pleasure to see it all neat and tidy whenever I come in and out of the bedroom throughout the day. I adore my bed, and love getting into it when it's all smoothed out and ready for me at night. 

We're still using the brushed cotton winter bedding which I think I might change very soon. I love the cosiness of it but by the end of March I think I'll be ready for crisp smooth cotton again and some lighter colours too.

The Little People both leave the house to walk to school at 8.40am, and it's strange in many ways to think that by this time I've already been up for three hours. Three hours! But I've really come to enjoy this slower, longer start to my week day mornings and getting up early and prioritising my self care really does suit me.

The final part of my morning routine begins once the Little Peeps have vacated the building - I make myself a second coffee (decaff this time) and sit down with my laptop and planner. I check my calendar, make a little plan for the day, tick off my weekly to-do list, then read my emails and blog comments and catch up on Facebook and Instagram.

This year I'm using a BusyB diary which I found on Amazon and I absolutely love love love it - it's an A5 size and is called a "to-do" diary (you can find it here, it's reduced in price now).

The layout really suits me - a weekly diary page on the left and a lined page for my to-do list and scribbled notes on the right. There is also a month-per-page year planner at the start which I find ever so useful to note down school holidays and appointments etc. It's such a good quality diary too - thick paper pages and a sturdy cover, plus it has an elastic pen-loop (it's these little details which really make all the difference). BusyB is a female founded, UK company which I'm happy to support so if you're looking for a great quality, practical diary then I can highly recommend them - you can see more photos of the pages and layout etc on the Amazon listing.

Well I think that's about covered everything I wanted to talk about, I hope it might have been of some interest to any of you who are looking to make small changes to help improve your own wellbeing and health. Having a solid morning routine which gives you the time to take care of yourself properly is so important (especially if you struggle with low mood in the winter months), and I know for me personally it's made a huge difference to the way I feel. Combining an earlier, slower start with light therapy, HRT, a short workout and outdoor exercise has had a really positive impact on my mental and physical health, it's been life changing really to be honest.

I am sending you all so much love and light at this time, the world is a scary place right now, so I do hope you're feeling OK. Take good care of yourself, won't you?

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A little bit of HRT stuff now, if you're interested to know how I've gotten on.....

Just to say that I am finally now on a really even keel after some rather hefty ups and downs finding my way with HRT. I started in August so it's been 6 months, and I'm still very much in the peri-menopause phase and having regular cycles (I'm age 53). The first three months I was using the patches (oestrogen for the first half of the month and then combined oestrogen and progesterone for the second half of the month). The oestrogen part of the month was bloomin' marvellous and my mood lifted massively and very quickly, I was so happy! However the progesterone did not suit me at all and I had some side effects which were v uncomfortable and I really couldn't live with them long term. I stuck it out for three months, and then after a consultation I switched over to using a gel for the oestrogen, and a progesterone tablet which I take for 24 days out of a 28 day cycle and this is now working really well for me. In the beginning there was a mix up with the dosage and I was given wrong advice (only getting half of what I should have been having) and my goodness I really suffered through a bad two month spell of plummeting moods. But now I'm on the right dosage and things have settled, I'm really happy to report that I feel absolutely fantastic. One thing that's important to note - the HRT I'm taking is what's known as being "body identical" and comes from a natural source (from the yam plant) - this is really important info because it means that there is less risk/side effects with this kind of HRT. For more info about this, the Menopause Doctor explains it (here). HRT is a very personal choice, and for me I can absolutely say it has been life changing. As I now feel more like my normal self than I have done for many years (well as normal as it gets for a weirdo like me), I look back and recognise just how much I struggled, and for so many years too. I really wish I knew that I could have made this change for myself sooner. So if this resonates with you and you're at the same stage in life - please do speak to your GP or womens health clinic, there is a LOT of emerging publicity and media coverage around the menopause and as a result it's getting very much easier to talk about it and to seek the right medical advice and therapy. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 

 

 

 

 

February by the Sea

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Saturday Stuff

For a little while when I woke up this morning I thought that it was a school day and I experienced that wonderful surprised relief when my brain processed that it was in fact Saturday. It was quite early (just after 6am) and although I didn't manage to get properly back to sleep, I really luxuriated in that sort of light, drifty type of sleepy-awake state for a while. It was a lovely, slow, peaceful start to the day, and I don't ever take this for granted after having three children who've all been very early risers for most of their childhood years. I had more than a decade of abrupt, shouty, child-filled 5am wake ups, so believe me when I tell you that a slow start to the day with my own body clock setting the pace still feels like an absolute luxury. 

I love Saturdays, love the gentle routine of the day and the way that it usually unfolds so effortlessly. J and I walk into town together, usually between 8.30 and 9am or thereabouts, and do our market and local high street food shop. It's such a simple pleasure and makes me really appreciate living in a rural market town where the phrase "shop local" means supporting small independent traders. 

After we'd been round the market, we took a detour around to our favourite bakery to pick up a baguette loaf, then crossed over the stream to walk along the spring branch of the canal...

...down as far as the canal basin. Every Saturday we visit a small café down near the canal to enjoy a simple breakfast of eggs on toast and yes, you guessed it......

.....an outrageously good cup of coffee. You would think that with all the coffees I drink day in day out, week after month after year, that it would start to become a little bit routine and samey, wouldn't you? But for some reason it just never, ever comes to that. The pure pleasure and feeling of gratitude hits me right in the feels with each and every cup. Who knew that drinking coffee could be such an emotional experience?!

It's not really just about the coffee though, it's the whole experience of time and place too. Spending time chatting to J, appreciating my surroundings, taking time to sit, talk, drink, rest, recharge, plan, think, and be in the moment. 

Coming home from town on a Saturday morning is a time when I usually do a few jobs around the house. There is always a small mountain of fresh produce to try and get into our small fridge after our shop - it's a major challenge to make everything fit, I am an expert in food stacking you know. I also get a real kick out of filling up my very large oversized fruit bowl, and I love observing the visual abundance of it all.

Once the food is put away I kick start the first laundry load of the day, disinfect/clean the cat litter box, water my plants then tidy round in our downstairs living room which is usually in a state of disarray from the night before. I re-fold blankets, plump up cushions, tidy up the table surfaces and generally give our living space a re-set ready for the weekend. This morning I noticed my little pot of tete-a-tete narcissus has suddenly burst into bloom - I'm sure that the last time I looked they were just small shoots of green? Gorgeous little things, such a happy sight on my mantel.

I spent around 3 hours working on a new crochet design this afternoon, it's a commission project so I can't tell you about it just yet, but I'm excited about it. I can see what I want to create very, very clearly inside my Creative Mind, but my first sample didn't go too well so I had to step away and leave it for a while.

I really felt like I needed to clear my head and stretch my legs after spending so much time sat at the table crocheting (design-crochet is a very different beast to relaxing blanket making, it's pretty intense). I asked J if he wanted to come for a walk but he wasn't in the mood so I decided to just stride out by myself.

It's been a while since I went for a solo walk, and it was absolutely gorgeous out. It was bloomin' freezing cold mind you (don't be fooled by the blue of that sky!) and a wicked wind was blowing across the fields. I loved it though. I loved being able to just clear my mind and absorb the light and colours as I walked.

I heard a couple of curlews calling for the first time this year which made me really happy - it means they are beginning to return now after over-wintering by the coast so Spring must definitely be on the way.

As I was walking down this quiet little lane I had a text from J to let me know that he was walking to meet me, what a lovely surprise! I climbed over a stile just a  bit further down, crossed over a field, through a gate and there he was casually sitting on a bench waiting. 

There is a small holiday park just here, it's a few miles outside of Skipton and you can see it here if you fancy a nosy (there's a cute video to show what it looks like). There is a long, quiet road we walk along which is actually the private access road to the holiday park although the public are permitted to walk along it. It means that the grass verges are always kept neatly trimmed and there is very little traffic passing by - and today I was thrilled to see huge swathes of snowdrops, oh the joy!! I do remember seeing them in past years, but I don't ever remember there being this many. I couldn't get over how beautiful they looked.

I was really happy that J had come to meet me and we enjoyed our half hour stroll home together chatting about crochet of all things. I'm contemplating a new creative idea for something I want to work on this year, and it always helps to talk it through out loud. There is only so much noodling inside my messy brain that does any good, and J is very adept at helping me un-noodle my ideas. Exciting times!!

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