Attic24

November Days

We went out today, myself, J and Little B, into the grey drizzle of a cold Sunday morning. First stop was coffee in town, a fairly new routine for us on a Sunday and one that I am heavily endorsing. It's just such a pleasure - family time to enjoy a hot frothy drink, and to chat about all sorts of random things. Sometimes I find myself totally surprised by my Little People growing into Big People. They are opinionated and articulate, ready to argue, debate and discuss, and often times I just can't get over the Bigness of their personalities. When exactly did their Littleness disappear?

After coffee we walked along the canal, not just our usual stretch but on beyond the centre of town to the outskirts. We walked for about a mile and a half before stepping off the tow path to go and buy some groceries. We are very lucky in our town to have two main supermarkets very close to the centre so they are very accessible on foot. We also have an Aldi which is further out, and this is where we went to shop today. I only buy certain products in Aldi, so I tend to go around the aisles and cherry-pick the specific things that I know I like and are good value. Extra virgin olive oil is one such product - this has become so, so expensive in the mainstream supermarkets now, so it's worth shopping elsewhere for it. Plus it was good exercise and an easy, un-muddy walk for us to take while the ground remains very, very wet.

On the way home we stopped briefly to watch this lady feeding the pigeons, she was completely surrounded by them and it seemed to me such a lovely scene unfolding in front of me. Often times when I'm out and about I can somehow view my life as though it's not real, like seeing it as a painting or a scene from a film. It's hard to explain the feeling, it's like a sort of visual detachment, and it's really rather beautiful at times. 

Yesterday was also wet and grey and J and I were in town quite early to shop at the market. One of my lovely US blog readers asked me a little while ago if I could show you what the market looks like, so I took a few rainy snaps to give you an idea. It's a street market which means it's linear, with stalls set up on both sides of our very wide main high street.

I found a really cool video on YouTube taken with a drone, showing you the town centre where I live, with the church and castle sitting proudly at the top. You can view the video ((here)), it's only 2 minutes long. You'll be able to see the road, but also notice that as well as the pavements there are wide cobbled "setts" along both sides of the road which are used for car parking and give space for the stalls to set up on market days.

We've stopped to buy free range eggs and locally produced dry cured bacon, and now we've crossed over the road and are on the other side. It's time for our fruit and veg....

....it's always a pleasure to shop in this way, buying from local small businesses and supporting our street market which has been here for hundreds of years.

After our Saturday shop we go for breakfast on our way home, always to the same little café which is strung with fairy lights and plays the sort of music you imagine would be playing in a Parisian café. It's charming and down to earth in here, and the coffee is extremely good.

I always eat a lot of fruit every day and enjoy seeing what's seasonal at the market. At the moment I'm loving these Russet apples, they have a very distinctive sweet flavour which is unlike any other apple. They are quite old fashioned I suppose and you don't generally see them for sale in mainstream supermarkets, so it's lovely to have them while they're in season. They go really well with thin slices of mature cheddar - a regular afternoon snack for me at the moment.

Also in season right now - pomegranates, oh, happy days!!! I AdOrE these exotic fruits and honestly get such a kick out of spending slow, quiet time taking them apart at the kitchen sink and popping out the jewel-like seeds.

Absolutely beautiful, in every way.

I can eat pomegranate seeds by the handful at any time of day, but this week I've really been enjoying them on my breakfast. A generous helping of Greek style yoghurt, drizzled with honey and topped with a little nutty granola, sliced banana, blueberries and pomegranate jewels. Delicious.

J and I continue our morning walk routine and have managed to go every day this past week. Five days out of seven it's been grey, dull and drizzly, but On Friday I was so happy to wake to clear skies - what a welcome change.

The clear skies made a huge difference to the light levels and at 7.15 it was no longer dark. I so wish we had more November days like this instead of the near constant grey wet weather we've been enduring.

I am making a great effort not to let the weather get me down, and I take myself out of the house by myself to walk every single day, even in the rain. There is always beauty to be found out there, and not a day goes by when I don't feel inspired to stop for a moment and capture something on my camera.

The dull wet weather has made the house feel even more cosy than usual, and the twinkly lights stay on all day long. I can really recommend these warm white lights on delicate copper wire, they take standard AA batteries (we use rechargable ones) and best of all they are on a timer so that they switch off by themselves after eight hours, which is so clever I think. They bring such a comforting twinkle into the house on these dull days and I wouldn't be without them.

Flowers in the house this week are these chrysanths and they are sooooo pretty. So cheap to buy at this time of year (this bunch was £3) and they stay looking great for ages. I think the last bunch I had (the dark pinky-red ones with yellow centres) lasted over two weeks

They bring such a lot of cheer into the room, I really do love having a jug of simple flowers in the house and it's not often my table is without them.

Tilly loves the cosy season when we are snuggled in blankets and she gets to drape herself all over us, she loves our company and honestly I love hers too. The weight and warmth of a soundly sleeping kitty on your legs is just the nicest thing.

Bringing colour into these grey November days is vital to my wellbeing, and my current Sungold yarn palette is doing a fantastic job. On Friday I sat at Coopers café and crocheted some simple flowers, what a joyful few hours that was. They are a bit misshapen and curly looking at the moment but once I've given them a little steam treatment they'll be ready for their photo shoot. I'm going to use them to showcase the full Sungold colour palette on Tuesday - only two more sleeps!!! Eeeeeep, I'm pretty excited to talk to you about this blanket and show you more of my inspiration photos. I hope you're ready for lots and lot of flowers, garden views, flowers and more flowers. Alllllllll the flowers. That'll cheer up an average November Tuesday, I'm really looking forward to it.

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Designer of Blankets

Hello, my name is Lucy and I am a Designer of Blankets. They are my passion and my obsession, my creative spark and my relaxation therapy. And how absurdly wonderful it is that I get to live this colourful life of mine, and that designing blankets has become the thing that I do to thrive. 

Attic24 blog started over fifteen years ago and I was crocheting blankets right from the very start. Then six years later I met the owners of Wool Warehouse and that was when we began to create yarn packs together to sell online. It was (and still is) amazing to me that I could design blankets that other people would want to make for themselves. How amazing to share my ideas and inspire people all over the world to crochet blankets!

The above photo is an old one from my archives, I really should create an updated image with all my blankets included, that would be something to see. To date I have created twenty blanket designs using Stylecraft Yarns, each one having its own beautiful colour palette inspired by things I love. I have used colour to describe my enjoyment of the countryside and the English seasons - walks over hills, along woodland paths, through meadows and along the beach. There is also my love of flowers in those blankets too - sweet peas, hydrangeas, wild flowers, summer annuals, cottage gardens and dahlias. There is sooo much gorgeous colour inspiration to be found out there in every day life!

Over the past few weeks I've been thinking a lot about my crochet and the way things have evolved and grown over the years, evaluating where I'm at with it all, and what I might want to do next. I'm very proud of what I've achieved so far because I am passionate about spreading the joy of colourful crochet and inspiring people to find happiness in being creative.

A few days ago I was reading something online which reminded me of the British Knitting and Crochet Awards. Sadly they no longer happen but they ran every year from 2014-2022. I won my first award in 2016, and do you know, I won the title of "favourite crochet designer" for seven years running. As well as the crochet designer category, I also won the "favourite crochet blogger" category many times, and last year scooped the "best ready-to-make kits" award too. 

It's a funny thing winning awards because there is a part of me which pops champagne and dances with delight, but a bigger part of me which just wants to keep my head down and not be a show off.  Trumpet blowing is not my style. But all in all, I think it's safe to say that crocheting blankets has been a good thing for me. A very good thing.

Today I want to share some crochet which literally fell out of the Cupboard of Doom yesterday and landed at my feet. I was in that precarious cupboard trying to get to my yarn winder, and suddenly there was a colourful crochet avalanche happening.

These colourful bits of crochet represent the preparation I do in the weeks and months before I embark on a new blanket journey. A blanket doesn't just happen for me, no no, there is a lot that goes into the design process before I sit down to crochet the actual blanket itself.

For every blanket I've designed, I've crocheted up one of these colour palette samplers. I spend a really long time choosing the colours for a blanket and often this process happens over the course of many weeks. Once I think I'm pretty much there with my palette, I set about crocheting a little square for each colour. This gives me a chance to get a true "working" feel of how the colours want to play together and make sure everything is balancing properly. Sometimes at this stage I will make a last minute change, but that's quite rare - usually by the time I'm crocheting these squares, I'm living and breathing the colour palette day and night and it's giving me all the shivery excitement.  By the way, I did write up the pattern for these little solid squares if they appeal to you - here it is >> ((Solid Granny Square pattern))

The second stage in my preparation is shown above - these are long, skinny stripe samplers made using rows of double crochet, one row to represent each stripe. I've found this a great way to work out the final colour order for the stripes and although it's all extra work I really think it's worth me taking the time to do it. It means that by the time I come to crochet the actual blanket, I'm one hundred percent confident that the colours are going to look magnificent.

On the right are my two festive colourways - Yuletide and Starbright. It's the first time I've seen them together and I have to say I absolutely love love love them. 

Look!! ^^ don't they both glow with joyful Christmas spirit?! Both very different, and yet they both have my trademark colour signature. It's a hard thing to define, but I do think my colour palettes are very recognisable, aren't they? They simply glow with Attic24-ness!

And finally...this is the third stage of my preparation. These are the samples which showcase the colour palette combined with the stitch pattern. Before I get to this stage, make no mistake, I've already done a tonne of work to design the stitch pattern itself. I don't tend to look in books for stitch ideas, I prefer to work them straight out of my head, a bit like doodling or making notes, but using yarn and hook instead of paper and pen. I've got a massive messy box containing dozens and dozens of trial and error stitch samples made over the years. Loads of them. It takes a while to work through ideas and there is a lot of failure in this process. 

So by the time I'm making the above samples, well, I'm already beyond thrilled with the pattern and raring to get going on the blanket.

I love these samplers, I really do. I pour so much emotion into all my blanket designs that they are like an extension of my heart.

I don't have all my samples here because my earlier ones are packed away in storage from when I cleared out my studio during covid. But these are the ones pictured above, from left to right...

♥Dahlia ♥ Dune ♥ Aria ♥ Meadow ♥ Harbour ♥ Springfrost ♥ Starbright ♥ Sungold ♥

You probably recognise them all from seeing them here on my blog over the years.....except for that last one.

Sungold...........ooooooo, that's something new!

Please say hello to the Sungold blanket, well the beginning of the Sungold journey at least. This blanket is going to be my TENTH annual crochet-along which begins in January 2024. I've designed a very pretty stripe for these colours, a soft and curvy little shell pattern which has a light and slightly open look to it.

Do you like the colours, aren't they joyful?

The colour palette was inspired by my many visits to see the famous flower borders at RHS Harlow Carr. I wanted this colour palette to be a little dose of summer perfection - colours that remind me of a sunny afternoon strolling amongst brightly coloured flowers buzzing with bees. The Sungold colour palette is rich and uplifting - beautiful floral shades glowing with golden warmth.

Just look at it compared to this year's CAL blanket (the Springfrost), what a difference in temperature! From frosty chill to golden warmth, I love that these colours literally make you feel the seasons.

My Sungold blanket hasn't started yet because truthfully I'm still caught up in the Starbright. I'm working on the border design for the v-stitch this week because I know there are those of you waiting for it. But if you look at the above photo, you can spot the Sungold stripe sampler....

......here it is look ^^, just to give you a taste of how amazing the colours look together. I'm going to be making a mixed stripe blanket, but there will also be the option to work the Sungold stripes as a colourwash if you wish. Both versions will be given as part of the CAL in the New Year.

Yarn packs are coming very soon, next week in fact. Mark your calendars - Tuesday 21st November at 8am, my shop at Wool Warehouse will be buzzing with sunny Sungold vibes. Maybe you'd like to join me making this blanket along with our wonderful worldwide hooky community? I'd really like it if you did.

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Little Zippy Bags :: Ta-dah!

Aren't zippers amazing little things when you actually stop and think about it? While I've been making these bags I've been zipping the cute little coloured zips back and forth and really appreciating their cleverness and usefulness. I haven't made many things with zips really, because sewing them into fabric (or crochet) always seems to be an overly complicated affair and just a step too far. That is why, when I hit on the idea of using a ready-made zippered bag, it seemed like such a GrEaT idea! Crocheting around the bag so that the zip is already inserted AND you have a ready made canvas liner.....well my goodness, that just sounds like loads of crochet fun waiting to happen without any of the sewing stress.

I think I mentioned before, I bought a pack of these small canvas pouches a few months ago. So when I had the idea to crochet around them, I already had everything I needed to jump in and try it out while the inspiration was hot and my Creative Mind wanted to explode with excitement.

The bags measure 21 x 12 cm (pencil case or make-up bag size) and I adore the different coloured zippers. I got them on Amazon - there are loads of different listings for them, but these ones are similar ((HERE)).

I decided to use Ricorumi DK and I love this cotton yarn for decorative projects. It comes in dinky little 25g balls, so you can really have a good load of colour play going on for an affordable amount of money.

My method of attaching the crochet to the bag starts with this ↑↑ a line of  chain stitches worked directly into the zipper with a sharp Chenille needle. It's a neat idea because the chains are spaced to simulate a crochet foundation chain all around the zipper, and can be crocheted into very easily....

......do you see? That's a round of double crochet worked into the stitched chain to form the beginnings of a stripe-fest.

I worked rounds of double crochet in back loops only to give a lovely surface texture.

The rounds are worked upwards, but also inside out.....eventually you will flip the crochet back down.....

....so that the right side is showing and the stripes completely cover up the canvas from the top down.

Wheeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

It's LOADS of fun playing with colours, and I love the slightly crazy clash of it all.

There are 26 little rounds in total, and because this is only a small thing and not a giant blanket, they whizz off your hook in no time. In my tutorial I teach you how to create an invisible join at the end of each round so that the whole thing is seamless, it really is neat.

Me being me, I couldn't resist a little added floral decoration....

....so I made a Polyanthus flower, a baby flower with a little French knot centre and a couple of leaves.

Oh, and as a little bougie extra, I also added a slender tassel to the zip.

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

Oh, my heart fell hard for this little stripy bag!

The one pictured behind with the turquoise zipper followed immediately after the first one, I was deep into obsessional territory by this point. I started the second one in exactly the same way, but the stripes are made with half trebles worked into the spaces between stitches which give a wider stripe but keep the dense kind of look.

On Monday I decided to try out this pattern with my extensive stash of Stylecraft Special DK, just to see how it compared to the cotton. These small balls are all leftovers from making my blankets and they make a wonderful working colour palette for stash-busting projects.

I used some fresh floral shades of SSDK and really love how it turned out.

I added a layered flower for a bit of extra something-something (I used my Triple Layer flower pattern, but only made two layers instead of three). Actually I think the stripes on their own are enough, but I just can't seem to stop myself with the flower thing.

The inside of these canvas pouches are little bit primitive because the edges of the zips aren't concealed inside, and the overlocked seams of the canvas are also visible. But I don't really think it matters too much, and they are certainly practical little  bags for storing your crochet hooks and bits and bobs, or for holding small things. I'm currently using one to keep tissues, paracetamol and a lip balm in my everyday rucksack which I use in place of a handbag (It's THIS one, in case you wanted to picture it)

Comparing these two finished bags (SSDK acrylic yarn on the top, and Ricorumi cotton yarn on the bottom), I have to say I prefer the look and feel of the cotton. I think the texture is very pleasing and I think it would be more hard wearing too. But as so many of you have probably got leftovers of Stylecraft Special tucked away, then honestly there is no need to purchase cotton - use the stash you have! Each stripe of SSDK only uses ONE GRAM of yarn, so less than 30g for the whole bag.

Do you feel inspired? Would you like to give this a try? Be warned....they are very addictive little things, and real time stealers too. You won't be able to step away once you get whizzing along on those stripes!

As promised, I've made a  full photo tutorial to show you step by step how to go about this project. It includes links to the canvas bags and other bits you'll need, I hope I've managed to explain myself OK.

The tutorial is free to use, and you can find it in the left hand sidebar list as usual. The following link will take you there >>

♥ ZIPPY BAG TUTORAL ♥

Well that's all from me for now - I'd love to hear what you think of this project and I hope if you give it a go that you enjoy the creative process. Happy hooking!

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♥ ZIPPY BAG TUTORAL ♥

 

 

A Happy Heart

I've been so obsessed with my Springfrost blanket during the past few months that I haven't had very much wiggle room inside my Creative Mind of late. It's nothing unusual for me to be honest - I do tend to have a very focussed, one-track mind when I'm fully immersed in a crochet project and I like to give it my whole undivided attention.

I finished crocheting the border on my blanket over the weekend (and I'm so, so excited to share it with you, it's beeeautiful), so of course that immediately left me twiddling my digits and looking for something new to scratch the creative itch. Out came my bag of cotton yarn and I selected a lovely colour palette to work with - a cute mix of brights and pastels which immediately put me in a happy mood.

I fancied making something super pretty and super speedy that would fly off my hook, land on my table and make me smile. And given that today is Valentine's Day, then something heart shaped seemed like it would hit the spot nicely.

Can you guess where I went to find a suitable pattern? Yup, that's right, I tootled off to the left sidebar of this very blog and clicked on the "Heart Decoration" tutorial.....such fun!! Reading my own blurb and following the detailed photo tutorial that I very thoughtfully provided for my future self was a delight, and my my hook flew through those stitches in no time.

Oh, before I get carried away, let me give you some yarn details, just in case you are feeling inspired by these pretty colours. The yarn is Ricorumi DK which I really love using for these sorts of small, decorative projects. The yarn balls are mini 25g sized, so you can build a good palette of colours without spending too much money.

The colours I used are as follows :

Heart : Rose, Orchid, Red and Fuchsia

Polyanthus flower : Tangerine, Pastel Yellow, Fuchsia

Polyanthus leaves : Pastel Green and Mint, with some stitching in Light Green

Baby flowers : Pastel Yellow, with a Tangerine french knot in the centre, and Light Green leaves

I'm really proud of my polyanthus design (which you can find HERE), it's perfect for the fresh Spring look that I wanted for my heart.

The baby flowers are teeeeeny-weeeeeny as you can see in the above photo. Oh, they are ever so cute! You might remember the little blossom flowers I made last year for my Winter garland? Well these baby flowers are just a smaller version.

BABY FLOWER PATTERN

Chain 4; slip stitch into 1st chain to form a ring;

All petal stitches are worked into the ring, as follows :

*(chain 1; 1 htr ; chain 1; slip stitch;)

Repeat from * four more times, to make five petals in total; slip stitch into beginning chain-1 to close the round and fasten off.

The centre french knot is stitched and is optional, but I think it adds a lovely detail.

BABY LEAVES

*(chain 3; slip stitch in 2nd chain from hook, and again in the next chain;)

Repeat from * once more, so that you have two little mini leaves which sit in a V shape, then fasten off and stitch to the back of your baby flower.

I didn't plan the flowers in advance, they just kind of bloomed in front of my eyes. I'd forgotten the thrill of designing and making in Full Flow, just allowing myself to play and crochet whatever my heart wanted. I think it took me about an hour and a half from the point where I pulled my bag of yarn out of the cupboard to darning in the last ends.

I had a lovely surprise when I came downstairs this morning as I'd completely forgotten that I'd had this unexpected flurry of creativity last night, haha, true story! It was like my very own surprise Valentine's Day gift, from me to myself!!

I enjoyed taking a few photos earlier on today that I could share with you here, just a little something to hopefully brighten your day.....♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

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Summer 2022 :: A Yarny Trip

During July I was lucky enough to enjoy three trips away from home - one of them was a family holiday just a fortnight ago (can't wait to share that with you!), but for the other two jaunts it was just me, myself and I. With J working from home and the Little People being of an age where they are pretty low maintenance, it's possible for me to take off for a few days here and there without too much to organise. I count myself very lucky to have a really supportive hubby who always encourages me to enjoy time away when I need/want it and I appreciate it a lot. Like, a LOT-a-lot.

As you will have seen by the title of this post, this particular trip involved yarn and I needed to hop on and off two trains, then in and out of a taxi to get to my destination. Train travel is a bit of a hit and miss affair right now in the UK and very rarely runs smoothly. Trains seem to be breaking down on the regular, staff shortages cause all sorts of last minute delays and cancellations and the unusually hot weather has played havoc too. So it took me rather a long time to get to where I needed to be....

...which was this amazing, historic boutique hotel down in the very middle of the country close to Birmingham.

I arrived hot, weary and late, the last one to join the table in fact.....

...but I was sooooooo happy to see some familiar smiley faces waiting for me. Hellooooooo Blogstars and lovely Stylecraft peeps, how I have missed you all!!!! You can see me in the above photo (bottom left) smiling widely with an ice cold drink in my hand, soaking up the chatter and laughter and enjoying the late afternoon sunshine. We were a smaller group than usual as many of the  blogstars were unable to make it this time. But let me introduce you around the table - there's me bottom left, then moving clockwise around we have Sophie (Stylecraft), Helen Shrimpton (Crystals and Crochet), Bronagh (Stylecraft), Janie (Jane Crowfoot), Catherine (Catherine's Crochet Corner), Phil (who is hiding a bit - she's The Twisted Yarn) and Lucia (Lucia's Fig Tree). And taking the photo is Juliet who's part of the Stylecraft team and was the ninth seat in our party.

It's been a good long while since I was able to meet up with these yarny friends of mine, back in those long ago days before Covid put some huge spanners into all of our social works. Looking through my bloggy archives tells me it was in fact three years ago in 2019, can this be true? Well however long it's been, it really did feel good to be back in such creative company. We enjoyed a delicious evening meal and I personally also enjoyed the tremendous luxury of having a double bed all to myself, yes, it's often the little pleasures which unexpectedly feel like such a treat.

The following morning before breakfast I took a quiet stroll around the hotel grounds which were really lovely. This is a very ancient old building with over four hundred years of history, and in the peace of an early summers morning it was very atmospheric. But old stone walls and tall chimneys aside, there's yarny business to attend to so I better head inside and see what's on the agenda.

In case you were wondering, the Stylecraft Blogstars are a group of crochet and knitting designers who share their love of the craft across various social media platforms (not just blogs, but also Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Ravelry etc). We all really enjoy using Stylecraft yarns and it's been great to see this well loved UK yarn brand grow and expand over the years. There are currently seventeen designers in the Blogstars group and you can find us all listed on the Stylecraft website ((here)). 

The first part of the meeting is always a catch up session where we find out what we're all working on and what plans are in place for the year ahead. Often times when you see a new project released by a crochet/knit designer, it will have been many months (and sometimes years) in the making. It's exciting for us to be able to talk through our plans when they are still in the early baby stages and kept secret from the world at large.

The second part of the morning is all about Stylecraft and we are given a presentation where we gain insight into the year ahead in terms of design trends. This is where we learn about colour palette predictions, fashion shapes and details, and general "moods" for garments and interiors. The Stylecraft team also showcase their new yarns and patterns for the upcoming season  as well as any new colour additions to existing ranges. In the above photo you can see one of the brand new yarns that has just launched (I did double check that I'm safe to show you, because it would be just like me to get the dates totally wrong!)

To be honest with you, most of the new yarns are really lovely but not necessarily yarns that I would personally use, being more suited to knitting or to making garments. It's still fascinating to find out about them though, and we do get to fondle actual balls and have a really good squish. We are also given yarn wraps (shown above) so that we have reference to all the colours in new ranges to help with design decisions and to spark inspiration. In the above photo you can also see another of the brand new yarns which has just launched - this is called Colour Twist and is such a clever yarn made up from different coloured strands twisted together.

One thing I am always interested in, without question, is colour. Colour palettes form the beating heart of all my crochet designs and it's the very first thing I think about when I'm starting something new. In the above photo I was attaching the final squares to my blanket (yes, it's perfectly OK to crochet and have a meeting simultaneously), but in the background you can see a lot of yarn out on the table. We had been discussing the possibility of adding some new colours to an existing range of Stylecraft yarn and I am always, always up for this kind of chat. Colour, colour, colour, yes, let me at it!

I have to say, the team at Stylecraft who make the colour decisions are extremely talented and have art-based backgrounds, so every single range of yarn is always very well balanced and carefully thought out in terms of colour. However, it's still an exciting thing when we get asked for input from a design point of view and can help add some lovely new shades which we'll all be able to create with in future.

After lunch it's time for some gentle creativity and new skill learning, and at this meeting we were treated to a workshop by our very own Jane Crowfoot. We were taught how to add beads to our crochet which is one of Janes trademark design elements and something I've always wanted to learn.

My goodness, it's clever!!! Right from the start when Jane taught us how to actually get those teeny glass beads onto our DK weight cotton yarn, my mind was blown - did I mention how clever it is??! 

Jane actually has a video tutorial for this technique over on the Tube if you're interested in learning - you can find it by clicking the following link : {Janes beaded crochet tutorial}

We followed one of Janes patterns for a beaded flower motif and they turned out soooooo pretty!

If you are interested in using beads in your work, Jane recommends using these very pretty glass beads by knitting designer Debbie Abrahams, they come in around 30 different colours I think and you can find them online ((here)). 

The day passed by so quickly and soon it was time for us to pack up, say our goodbyes and head homewards. I generally enjoy train travel very much and find a lot of value in being gifted time to just sit quietly as you pass through changing landscapes, towns and cities. On this journey I was travelling up the backbone of England, through parts of the West Midlands, Derbyshire and into South Yorkshire, then finally tipping into my home county of North Yorkshire. It's always a sweet moment when I spy my hill view and know that I'm getting close to home.

My trains were delayed and running very slooooow, so it was almost eight o'clock in the evening by the time I was walking from the station towards home. The canalside always feels especially peaceful and still after the constant movement of a travel day...

....and I'm always glad to stop and catch my breath at the top of the steep hill climb and admire my familiar view.

Home.

I took a few photos of my finished beaded flower to show you, isn't it pretty? The whole technique of adding beads to crochet has lots of potential and I love the extra decorative element it adds.

Well I think that's a wrap and hopefully you've enjoyed a little insight into the "working" part of my life as a crochet and colour addict. A big thank you to Stylecraft for gifting us the opportunity to meet and enjoy such a happy, yarn-infused time, I'm already looking forward to the next get together.

⇧⇧ I've got some salty seaside tales to share with you next......yes, July was a very, very good month

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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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Yuletide Blanket :: Ta-dah!

The inspiration for the Yuletide blanket came to me in a flash one day when I was noodling over the idea of trying to make something Christmassy. I am probably in the minority here but I'm not a real lover of Christmas time - for me personally I much prefer to celebrate the turning of the seasons, with the Winter Solstice being more meaningful to me than anything religious. And so the idea of designing a Yuletide blanket began to take shape - a blanket that celebrates all that is cosy and seasonal about this time of year. In my mind I began thinking of clementines, gingerbread, spices and mulled wine. Candlelight, fairy lights and a crackling open fire. Pine, holly, ivy, eucalyptus and berries. These are the colours, scents and tastes of the Yuletide season for me and provided a rich source of creative inspiration. Oh, I really fell down a deep and delicious Pinterest hole when I was conducting my Very Important Yuletide Research. I gathered some of my favourite images into the collage above, and immediately my heart was invested.

 

 

As all this inspiration gathering was happening earlier in the year in spring, I had to work hard to get into the spirit of winter. I went out on a woodland walk and gathered in some ivy and small pine branches. I have eucalyptus growing in my back yard, and a quick shopping spree on eBay delivered me some dried orange slices and star anise (which smells heavenly). I was slowly beginning to build a Yuletide colour palette inside my Creative Mind, and after a LOT of faffery I ended up with 12 deliciously seasonal colours.....

This is of course my favourite go-to yarn for blanket making, Stylecraft Special DK. I chose a mixture of reds and greens for seasonal foliage, with some golden warmth added in to represent the orange slices, spices and firelight.

Top row :

♥ Burgundy ♥ Tomato ♥ Gingerbread ♥ Bottle ♥ 

Middle row :

♥ Claret x 2 ♥ Gold ♥ Cypress ♥ Teal ♥ 

Bottom row :

♥ Lipstick  x 2 ♥ Camel ♥ Sage ♥ Kelly Green x 2 ♥ 

The Yuletide yarn pack contains 15 x 100g balls of Stylecraft Special DK (12 colours, with 3 of them doubled up). You can click on the following link to find the yarn pack in my shop at Wool Warehouse...

YULETIDE YARN PACK

My friends at Wool Warehouse do a wonderful job of sending my yarn packs out all over the world, and I am so thankful to them for making this happen with such efficiency. They are a genuinely lovely family owned business and they work incredibly hard making sure that our yarny community is provided for. You probably already know that I earn a small commission on each pack sold through my shop, so I want to take this opportunity to thank you so much for supporting me in this way. I am unbelievably grateful.

Also, you know I always publish my patterns here on my blog for free, but in addition to my online tutorial there is an 8 page full colour A4 printed pattern included in the Yuletide yarn pack. 

Back to the colours....ahhh, there they are look, all stacked up and looking very lush and Yuletide-ish. I always like to make squares with my blanket colours before I embark on the actual blanket making as it gives me a great overview of the palette and helps me to become familiar with how they are playing together. Also, can we just take a moment to appreciate Little Lady's beautifully painted co-ordinating claret nails? She made a very good hand model I have to say.

I adore the Yuletide colours ordered in a pleasing colourwash like this, and I had an idea that some of you might perhaps want to make a colourwash striped blanket in future? Just in case that idea appeals, here is the colour list for the order shown above >>

1. Burgundy
2. Claret
3. Lipstick
4. Tomato
5. Gingerbread
6. Gold
7. Camel
8. Cypress
9. Sage
10. Kelly Green
11. Teal
12. Bottle

It occurred to me a little while ago that not everyone likes to make squares, so I'm also planning to work on a random stripe order for the Yuletide yarn pack. That way you could use one of my existing striped blanket designs with the Yuletide colour pack and hook away to your hearts content. I'm sorry I haven't had chance to do this before now, I just ran out of time. I'll post the stripe order here on my blog later in the week.

I began working on the Yuletide blanket back in April after a LOT of pattern sampling. I'm so happy with the design that I created especially for this blanket, it makes great use of the colour contrasts in this palette and is an absolute pleasure to crochet.

The pattern uses all UK treble stitches so it is beautifully rhythmic and speedy to work up. There is just enough thought needed to prevent boredom setting in, but the pattern repeats are simple enough to provide that essential relaxation factor. It's important to me that my designs are kept simple enough for beginners to feel confident to give them a go, so I always aim to keep the stitch pattern very straightforward. The real skill comes in the colour play, and that's something I am particularly good at - I can make even the simplest of patterns look pretty darn lovely because of the way I bring the colours together.

Of course even I make mistakes - this pattern relies heavily on using colour contrasts so that the spike stitches create little heart shapes in the rows. I didn't always get this right and had to frog back rows which weren't working, but it was always worth the extra time and effort to make those hearts pop out. They're cute, eh?

I worked steadily on my blanket through early summer - it had many outings to the café where I could hook up those long soothing rounds whilst chatting to friends and drinking coffee.

I took it with me to celebrate "Worldwide Knit in Public Day" (believe it or not I'm sat with around 30 other knitters and crocheters in the above photo, but we were socially distanced so I look like I'm all on my lonesome. I promise you I was in great company).

But mostly, summertime crochet took place in my back yard, and I discovered the joy of hooking with my feet up (literally) when my new sun lounger arrived. Oh.....the pleasure was off the scale!

Having never crocheted a giant square blanket before, I have to tell you that I was very quickly in love with the process. Once the first dozen or so rounds were out the way, the crochet rhythm was a delight. And the bigger the square became, the more I was able to lose myself in those lengthening rounds. Bigger rounds means less stopping and starting (and less darning in of ends) and as a result I think this was one of the most relaxing blankets I've ever made. 

Awww.......I see hearts !!! Do you like the way this stripe pattern works?

I hooked up 78 rounds in total for the Yuletide blanket, then set about creating a border to add a  calming effect to the outer edge.

I kept it very simple, using a combination of plain red and green rows to balance out the slight busy-ness of the stripes.

I couldn't quite believe it when I'd finished the blanket and laid it out for the very first time. It measured a very satisfying 150cm square and when I was able to get a good look at it as a whole (instead of glimpsing it all folded up in my lap while I crocheted it) I fell head over heels in love with it. Head. Over. Heels.

It had been hard for me to visualise the effect of this stitch pattern over a large area as I was working on the rounds - like I say, I've never made a huge square before. It really is absolutely stunning I have to say and the scale of it makes it something really special. 

I had been a little worried about the "twisting" tendencies of giant crochet squares, but in the end after 78 rounds there was only a very, very slight twist to the centre of my blanket. I think the spike stitches help to keep everything aligned and I'm happy with how it turned out.

The overall square shape was a little out of whack after I'd finished crocheting, but I knew that blocking would easily take care of it. I washed my blanket on a 30 degree wash, then while it was still damp from the washing machine I spread it out on the Attic carpet and stretched it out gently until it was beautifully square and straight. I left it to completely dry for a good 24 hours and then the following day, this happened....................

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

Isn't it rather fabulous?!

Like I say, head over heels in love.

Love love love love love it, with hearts in my eyes.

A few weeks ago when I started working on the printed pattern which is included in the Yuletide yarn pack, I realised I would need a suitable photo for the front cover. I decided it would be fun to pull together some props and conduct a little amateur product styling. I purchased a couple of red pillar candles and some juicy clementines, then went gathering in the greenery. I used the lovely little copper wire lights that usually hang along the mantel, and then finally I lit the fire. It felt a bit odd to light the fire so early in the season but it was a cool afternoon and it certainly did help deliver some cosy Yuletide spirit.

After a lot of creative faffing I ended up with a few photos that I was happy with - if you buy the yarn pack, you'll be able to see the front cover of the pattern and let me know what you think.

As you know, I always like to make a full tutorial to support my patterns with the hope that any newbie crocheters out there will feel confident to give it a go. I think this is a good pattern for beginners to try - the spike stitches take a little bit of getting used to (mainly due to needing a good control of yarn tension) but it really is just UK trebles so the pattern is easy to learn.

I suggest in the tutorial that you work up the first 6 rounds (2 pattern repeats) to get the hang of the way the design works and to check out your sizing and tension - if you're happy with your square after six rounds then you can carry on and make it as big as you like. You can find the tutorial in the usual place over in my left hand side bar, or click on the following link to go straight there >>

YULETIDE TUTORIAL

At the end of the photo tutorial I typed out a traditional pattern - this can be copied and pasted into a word document so that you can save it/print it if you wish.

My little furry assistant was on hand to help with the photography, of course she was. I think she couldn't believe her luck when the blanket was draped and arranged just so, providing her with the perfect fireside spot. I always make a big song and dance about not lighting the fire until Proper Autumn arrives and it's truly chilly enough to need it, but secretly I adored having the cosy warmth of those flames on a dull afternoon in early September. Just don't tell J. Speaking of the husbundo, I have to thank him for working with me on the printed pattern and the worksheet as well - as part of the tutorial you can download a worksheet which lists the colours to help you stay on track with your rounds. He also made me this.......

Yuletide graphic very cleverly made by J ♥

......which I think is rather spectacular. He's a clever so and so.

Well I think that's about all I need to say for now, I hope you've enjoyed this little slice of early festive celebration. Thank you as ever for your enthusiasm and support around my creative projects, I really do appreciate it very. very much.

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Here are the links again for the pattern and yarn kit, and the colour worksheet too....

♥ YULETIDE YARN PACK (contains a full colour printed pattern)

♥ YULETIDE TUTORIAL

♥ YULETIDE COLOUR WORKSHEET

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Thank You, Thank You

Thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart for all your wonderfully supportive and empathetic words in response to my last post. Thank you so, so much for sharing your thoughts and personal experiences, I can't actually put into words what it has meant to hear your collective voices echoing back to me with so much kindness. I wish I could give each and every one of you a jam jar posie of yarden flowers to cheer up your table, but hoping a virtual one will surfice.

I don't have a huge amount to share with you right now, but as I ease myself back into the business of blogging again I thought you might like to see some visuals from my week. Nothing of note really, it's been a week of slow ordinariness here in the Attic with the exception of a broken car, a postponed holiday, and the purchase of a new car which has been quite exhilarating in a rather stressy way. We are a one-car family who tends to own rather inexpensive used vehicles which we run and run and run until they die, so we are used to dealing with car extinction from time to time. Our latest purchase is only five years old which makes it the newest car we've ever bought, ever. Hopefully it means we can be mobile again next week and our trip down to Dorset will actually happen this time, our third attempt this summer. All digits and extremities crossed.

The above photo is in no way car related, just a random picture of my breakfast. I think I uploaded it to  remind me to tell you that I'm still trying my best to eat wholesome and clean, failing quite a bit on the refined sugar front I admit, but hopeful that it was just a passing slump. It's amazing to me how much our dipping hormones can induce a very severe sugar craving which honestly feels like an addiction at times. Last week I ate an unholy amount of chocolate, but this week I've managed to dig deep and show more restraint.

I wanted to briefly say re the menopause and HRT etc etc, that I don't want to keep going on about it, but I think I would like to keep you posted on how I get on in the future, in case it might be helpful for others going through similar? I recently found Dr. Louise Newson's website (the Menopause Doctor) a massive help, and in particular ((this video on YouTube)) which is a fantastic, informative and easy to digest explanation of menopause, hormones and HRT. OK, that's all I want to say for now, but yes I'll let you know when/if Future Me (the joyful, energetic version) finally makes an appearance. Here's hoping.

Walking and spending time amonsgt the greenery continues to help me cope, and I've been enjoying the summer woodland very much. We've had a lot of very heavy rain during the past few weeks, real torrential downpours and thunderstorms as well as days with endless wet wet wet from dawn to dusk. The smell of the damp in the woodland has been incredible, and the usually gentle streams and waterfalls have been raging. The pathway in the above photo we've nicknamed "the cardio steps", it's a pretty steep climb and we always aim to do the whole assent in one go, collapsing on the very well placed wooden bench at the top. I do enjoy a bit of an al fresco workout, it gets the blood pumping and reminds me I'm alive and well.

We've been doing the usual kind of summer holiday things here this week, such as school uniform shopping and café breakfast pancake eating. Little B will start at secondary school in September, so we had to go and purchase the whole kit and caboodle for him. It was super sweet though, because Little Lady is working a summer job in the school uniform shop so I was able to have her run around and fetch me all the things from the very long list of requirements. It was relatively painless, although having said that we've still got the torture of finding school shoes, trainers and rugby boots to fit Little B's incredibly wide feet. Sigh. I might need to bribe him with another pancake stack for that tricky expedition. 

In crochet related news, I have a confession to make. During the past few months when life has been at the rockiest of rock bottoms, I wasn't able to crochet very much, if at all. Weeks went by where I couldn't seem to find the will to pick up my hook, and that's how I knew that I was in trouble. This week has felt a little easier, and I've managed a round or two most days - these rounds are now huuuuuuuuuuuuuge because I am nearing the end and it takes quite a long time to go all the way round now. I'm so happy with this blanket, it's a joy to crochet and the festive spirit which I really wanted to capture with the colours and pattern is just lovely.  I don't have an exact launch date for the Yuletide yarn pack and blanket pattern yet, but it will be early September I hope, all being well.

I crocheted three bees last weekend, as a favour for a friend. She's knitting a cushion for family who have a connection to Manchester, and wanted to include a couple of buzzing bees as they are the emblems for the city. I happened to see a pattern for a wall hanging in Simply Crochet issue 111 and thought the bees would be perfect so I offered to do the hooky for her. They turned out really cute, if a little on the large side. I used Stylecraft Special DK and a 3,5mm hook.

And finally, yesterday I managed to find my creative mojo which has been missing for quite a while, so a huge sigh of relief all round. I set up a makeshift photography desk on my coffee table and settled on the floor to work. It's been quite a long time since I've felt inspired to do anything like this, and do you know, it felt fanTAStIc to be back doing my thing. It wasn't a spontaneous event though, there was a plan and timeline as I've been working on a new granny square design to tie in with Granny Square Day which is this coming Sunday 15th. I was asked to be an official ambassador this year, so I figured it was a good opportunity to come up with something new to share.

I actually designed this square back at the end of June I think, a day when all of a sudden an idea for a flowery square had popped into my mind. I used scraps of Stylecraft Special DK to work out the initial design, but when it came to making up some squares for an actual project, I switched over to cotton. I absolutely love this cotton yarn, it's the new Organic Cotton DK from Stylecraft which is absolutely wonderful to work with, especially for small decorative projects. 

I'm making a full photo tutorial for my new square which I've named the Flora Granny Square, and I'll be publishing  the free pattern here on my blog at 9am on Sunday 15th for Granny Square day. Most of the visual celebrations will be taking place on Instagram, so if you have that fabulous little app on your phone, then do check out the hashtag #grannysquareday2021 on Sunday, it'll be a true feast for the eyes. 

Well, I think that's all for now, I'll be back on Sunday with more granny square photos and the pattern if you fancy a little bit of  flowery, squarified hooky playtime. See you then xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

 

 

Mini Spring Flowers

Ahhhhhh, this yarn is giving me so many happy feels this week, it's sat there looking very inspirational in it's circular tin tray. I keep moving it around the place, I just love having it close by and in full view so it mostly sits on our dining table until we need to eat.

I spoke briefly about this new yarn in yesterdays post - it's a brand new organic cotton by Stylecraft which launched to retail at the start of last week. It really is a beautiful yarn - at first glance it looks quite thin for a DK weight but it hooks up really well on a 4mm hook. The thing I like most about it is that it's a smooth matt yarn (I'm not a fan of slippery mercerised cotton) and it's also really soft. So far I've only used it for small decorative things but I'm looking forward to making something bigger with it so that I can see what the drape is like.

There are 38 shades in total (the 36 shown above, plus black and white), and I think  the clever folks at Stylecraft have done a fantastic job with the colour range. It's the perfect combination of soft pastels and strong brights which makes it very versatile for all sorts of projects.

I picked out a palette of soft Spring pastel shades to crochet some mini flowers and leaves...

Top row :

Mauve : Fondant : Blush : Coral

Bottom row:

Cardoon : Artichoke : Peppermint : Buttermilk

↑↑ See the twiggy branch up there on the right of my mantel? I picked it up when we were out on a walk last month, it was laid on the grass verge at the side of the road and I just happened to like the look of it. The family were completely gobsmacked which surprised me as you'd think they'd be used to my strange ways by now. They just couldn't understand the appeal of a dead twig but as soon as I saw it I knew that it would be perfect for a Spring decoration. It was worth the effort of carrying it the two miles home.

I used the same little pattern that I designed for my Spring Garland - do you remember the white Hawthorne blossom I made to go in between the polyanthus flowers? This is exactly the same flower, and I just added some little leaves.

**I'll write the pattern out at the end of this blog post for you for reference**

I'd forgotten how satisfying it is to embark on a small decorative project which takes just hours to complete. I ended up making 20 flowers and leaves and loved every minute of it. The leaves were a little fiddly as they are only small, but it was such a fun thing to sit and occupy myself with yesterday afternoon.

You can see in the above photo that the leaves still have their tail ends hanging....

....these tail ends are used to stitch the leaf to the back of the flower.

I decided on a whim to add some tiny buttons to the flower centres, and when I say tiny, I really mean it! These are "micro buttons" which are only 6mm across, I have a whole tin of them left over from the long ago days when I used to make handmade greetings cards. They are made by a company called "Dress it Up", you can find little packs of them on Amazon in all sorts of colours ((see here)). For a very brief second I did consider stitching the buttons on, but quickly came to my senses and reached for the craft glue.

This morning when I woke up, the very first thing I thought was "yipppeeeee, I get to stick my flowers to the twig today!"

The thought of having this project to work on gave me such a buzz! Of course Tilly was on hand to help me throughout the whole process, whatever would I do without her sticking herself into all my business??

Attaching crochet flowers to a twiggy branch is definitely a job for a hot glue gun. I bought this one a few years ago when I wanted to stick some felt owls to twigs (you can see I have history with twiggy projects) and it is so easy to use and very, very good for super fast, strong sticking of any type of material.

It took no time at all to attach flowers to twig-ends.........

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

I love that the colours of the flowers go so well with my little Annabel Burton canvas (a happy accident to be honest, but I'm calling it a win)

I love what I created, it's a simple idea that delivers maximum spring vibes.

I would say this is a very Attic24 style make, and I'm not sure there is much general appeal in crocheting flowers to stick to twigs? But if you feel a burning desire to make yourself a little twiggy spring something, then I'm writing the simple pattern out for you below.....

MINI SPRING FLOWER

Ch 4; sl st into 1^st ch to form a ring.

All stitches in round 1 are worked into the ring.

Round 1 : *ch 2; 1 tr; ch 2; sl st;

Repeat from * 4 more times; sl st into 1^st ch of beginning ch-2 to close the round; fasten off [5 petals]

Note : if you crochet over the tail end as you make each petal, you can give it a firm pull when you finish and close up the hole in the centre. Alternatively, you could use the magic ring method if you prefer.

MINI SPRING LEAF

Ch 4; beginning in 2nd ch from hook, work 1 dc; 1 htr ; 1 dc;

Ch 2; sl st in 2nd ch from hook to form a picot point;

Now work into the single loops of the foundation chain, as follows :

1 dc; 1 htr; 1 dc;

Sl st into the little loop formed by the turning chain; fasten off, leaving a tail end long enough to stitch the leaf to the back of the flower.

I hope you enjoyed seeing my crazy idea take shape - I've got a couple other things to work on for you in the next week or two, things that have been on my crochet to-do list for aaaaaages. And this new organic cotton is the perfect yarn for what I have in mind.

See you tomorrow :)

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With Hindsight

Hello!! So good to see you all, and I'm happy to be back here in my space after not quite feeling up to it in recent weeks. Today I've been pondering on my "re-entry" into Blogland, more specifically how to explain my absence or even whether there is any need to explain at all? There isn't a whole lot that I can tell you to be honest - I'm not sure exactly what has been happening inside my crazy brain, but something hasn't been quite right.  I hadn't actually made a conscious decision to take a break, I simply didn't feel like I had the mental and emotional energy to sit and create a decent blog post. Suffice to say, with hindsight perhaps I should have left you a little note here to let you know all this, rather than just disappearing. I am sorry that I didn't think to do that.

A dear lady commented on my blog yesterday asking "Is this blog dead?" - crikey, I was hit full force with a massive dose of guilt reading that, feeling like maybe I was unintentionally killing off my precious blog. No, no no! No deaths here in the Attic I promise you, just a necessary deep snooze period. It's needed every once in a while, a step back, a gentle decompression after a low or busy time. 

It's been three and a half weeks since my last post so not a huge amount of time in the overall scheme of things, especially not considering the eleven and a half years that I've been sharing my life here.

We had our half term week right at the every end of October and into early November. It was a wonderful, simple time I have to say, lots of easy days spent cosy at home with kids and pets snuggling up all over the place. I even found time to sit and read my magazines, the November issues which arrived shortly after Yarndale when I was in no way ready to think November-ish thoughts. I save my magazines to open when the appropriate month rolls around these days, and I find I enjoy them so much more.

Halloween and Bonfire night came and went, the usual child-orientated stuff taking place here. Little B and I carved a pumpkin each, and we had hoards of trick or treat children ringing our bell for a solid two hours. We had sparklers and a modest box of supermarket family fireworks for November the 5th - the Teens were both out with friends so it was just me, J and Little B oooohing and aaaahing over the sparkly, smoky pops and bangs. 

I finished a pair of socks which had been on my needles since the spring and I'm so happy with them! The yarn is West Yorkshire Spinners Signature 4 ply and the colour is called "Seascape" which floats some major colour boats for me. Seascape is one of four colourways designed by my friend Christine the Sock Queen and this one is by far my favourite. It was inspired by the colours of seaglass, so of course I simply had to have my feet in those coastal stripes. I adore them and find myself craving a cold, breezy beach walk whilst wearing them. It's on my list.

We've been walking when the weather has allowed, taking Little B and sometimes Little Lady to wander our favourite countryside pathways. The woodland at Bolton Abbey was looking especially beautiful at the end of October, all glowing and golden and uplifting. 

Closer to home and I've been appreciating the colours of the season in the trees and hedgerows as I've walked to and from school and town. 

Our clocks went back an hour at the end of October and our days are rapidly shortening now (it's just under 5 weeks until the Winter Solstice). I've been struggling with the low light levels and long hours of darkness, my mood is definitely affected by it and I've noticed it more and more as I've gotten older. I light candles and use a daylight lamp (when I remember) but I find myself fantasizing about trips abroad where the sun is still shining and there is light and warmth to be found at this time of year. I hope one day.

Getting outdoors and walking is one of the best tonics, and I've loved it so so much when the sun has shone for us.

The combination of fresh, crisp cold walking with warm, cosy café refreshments is hard to beat in November, such pleasure to be found in our local area on days like this.

Last year I recall that November was mild, but not so this year. We've had many frosty mornings with below zero temperatures for the school run.

Mostly I walk at speed during the mornings, delivering Little B to school in time for the bell, whizzing around the supermarket  then power walking home in the chilly air ready to unpack the shopping and get on with chores and work. Every so often I come out of the supermarket not feeling quite ready to go home, and so I walk the long way back along the canal and through the park.

It's an opportunity to take in the very familiar sweep of grass and woodland that sits just a five minute walk from my door. It's a window into the seasons too, the trees telling the story of where we are in the year. Right now in mid November we still have some leaves hanging on in there, although another week and I reackon most branches will be bare. Winter will be creeping in soon enough.

I walked home from school today at 4pm, stopping to catch my breath at the top of the street (it's a heck of a climb up at the end of the day). The setting sun was casting a beautiful ruby glow over the hilltops and it made me glad (just a weeny bit) for our shortened days.

Hyacinth bulbs are in the house this week - yipppeeee for small (but perfectly wonderful) seasonal pleasures! I adore this seasonal ritual, and love that in the eleven years since I've lived in this house that hyacinths have become A November Thing. Gosh, it makes me so happy, right down to the ends of my toes. They are in a metal Christmas pot as that's how the supermarket is selling them this year - I have pondered taking them out and putting them into a stripy Cornishware bowl, but with only 37 days till Christmas it seems I may as well embrace the Festive theme. I'll have bulbs on my mantel right through till April, so plenty of time ahead to have springtime bulbs instead of festive ones.

It's been so cold here the past few weeks that we've had our central heating on during the daytime when J and I have both been home. Our sofa sits in front of the living room radiator and it's become Tilly's favourite place to sleep. Often she is sprawled full length along the sofa back, with legs draping and head lolling. The combination of rising heat and cosy crochet keeps her content and in a sleepy kitty stupor for hours on end. There is something so heart warming about seeing a cat cosied up on top of colourful crochet, don't you think?

Talking of colourful crochet, during the weeks when I've not been sat at my desk, I've been sat on the sofa crocheting. A real lot of crochet has been happening in recent months as I've been obsessing (to the point of weirdness) about this colour palette of gorgeously warm and uplifting colours. This is my new Dahlia colour palette, inspired by one of my favourite flowers and I can tell you that the colour therapy it delivers is second to none. The dull Autumn days have been brightened considerably by these bright summer shades and I honestly can't get enough of them.

There will be a new Dahlia yarn pack coming very very soon, along with a beautiful new blanket pattern which I'll be sharing here on my blog for my annual Crochet-A-long (CAL).

I'm using a new stitch pattern which is loads of fun to crochet - super easy and relaxing to do, with minimal counting and a very easy intuitive construction. It's a great pattern for beginners, or for those of you like me who need some low-brain-matter therapeutic rows to amble along with during the evenings.

I'll be sharing a lot more about the Dahlia blanket here on my blog on Wednesday 20th November (oooo, yes, it's very soon indeed!). I've got so many inspiring photos to show you - when I say I've been obsessing, I really do mean it haha!! 

I've been making two different versions of the Dahlia blanket (hence the huge amount of crochet time needed) - all will be revealed on Wednesday. 

And on that bright and breezy note, I shall love you and leave you as I head back to my hook and yarn. See you in a few days time for some floral feasting!

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