Attic24

This Week

See? See the sunshine??? Late Summer I tell ya, late summer!! It has been a glorious week full of brightness and warmth here, and I have love love loved it.

I have looked up and seen the changing treetops and acknowledged that Mother Nature is tipping us out of Summer and into Autumn.....

....but my toes are still out and I am a happy bunny going about my busy business this week. And boy, have I been busy. We are full into Yarndale* preparations this week as the festival opens to the public at the weekend and I am working hard with the rest of the team to get everything ready.

Today I gathered together this scrumptious pile of colourful crochet and went forth with my step ladder to do crazy yarn things with twenty five lamp posts in the park.

This is the third year we have decorated the park for Yarndale*, it is such a fun thing to do and the response we get from the public (of all ages) is wonderful. These yarn-covered lamp posts do a good job of guiding our walking visitors through the park to the festival during the weekend so they do have a purpose, but the fun/creative element is still a driving force for me taking this on.

We actually stitch the crochet panels in place and they do stay (mostly) intact for five days before I carefully take them down again and store them away to be used the following year.

Oooooooo just look at those gorgeous yarny blooms! This year I've really enjoyed helping my lovely friend Sheila with her charity project called "Flowers for Memories". This is a project dedicated to raising awareness and funds for the Alzheimers Society, in case you missed this, you can read all about it right here.

The response to Sheila's request for knitted and crocheted flowers has been incredible, with more than 5,000 flowers arriving here in Yorkshire from 22 countries worldwide. It has been emotional and humbling, and both Sheila and I have been at times quite overwhelmed by it all.

Last weekend we counted and colour-sorted the flowers ready to start building the display. The idea was to create 5 large fabric panels, pinning each flower in place to create a beautiful field of blooms....

...here you can see Sheila in action, working on the yellow/orange section of the display. We have spent many, many hours on this project, and this afternoon the last flower was pinned. WOW. It is a totally breathtaking sight I can tell you. I promise (hand on heart) that there will be a tonne of photos to share next week, but for now I don't want to spoil the surprise. Thank you to every one of the 400+ ladies who sent flowers, they are priceless little works of art, each and every one of them. Flowers will be for sale during Yarndale* (all proceeds go directly to Alzheimers Society), and we will be writing a full report after the festival.

I'm so sorry that I've not been around so much just lately here in the Attic. I really love being a part of Yarndale* and am very proud of the lively, inspirational festival that we've created, but at the same time I absolutely can't wait for life to return to some sort of normality and for me to have time of my own to spend here again.

Lots of love to you all, will be back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

*Yarndale is a yarn festival held over two days and I am one of the five organisers. You can find more details about Yarndale here.

 

Slow Days

We are having such crazy-weird stuff happening with our weather this week, with rather an unwelcome amount of rain each day but then also some glorious snatches of incredible sunlight as well. It's been strange, sometimes weirdly warm, damp and humid, other times unseasonally cold. This amazing rainbow arced over the rooftops for about ten glorious minutes before it faded, it was so huge that I couldn't capture the whole of it on my camera.

The light that followed the rainbow made the landscape look so strange, like an illustration in an old, faded book. So where has our Summer gone then, what on earth has happened to the weather? Is it the same where you are? 

We have been indoors a lot this past week as a result of the non-summer happening outside. It's been kind of nice but kind of disappointing at the same time. I keep feeling overwhelmed by the feeling that we are wasting away the time, that these precious days are slip-sliding away in a boring blur of nothing-in-particular. It makes me feel restless and lethargic all at the same time. I keep dreaming up ideas for possible interesting outings to entertain the Little People, but my ideas flit away before I can make anything of them and so we stay home and do very little. Oh yes, we did make a trip to our local cinema to watch "Inside Out" on Tuesday afternoon when it rained for most of the day, the Little Peeps did enjoy that.

Thank goodness for my camera habit. My little old Canon Ixus is always to hand and throughout the day I point it around the place and press the button almost without thinking. The images tell a story of gentle activity and play that are making up these slow days.  There has been a steady stream of rather old fashioned play going on, which has delighted and surprised me. Blanket dens and cushion thrones have been designed and constructed, wrecked and rebuilt. The old Brio train track came down and did a sterling job of entertaining for a few hours.

This nostalgic wooden mosaic puzzle was a gift from me to Little B at Christmas, and I confess I brought it as much for my own pleasure as his. I had one exactly the same as this when I was little and absolutely loved it, and despite a few frustrated hissy fits, he has loved playing with it too.

There has been an origami revival, with many mornings spent at the dining table working on a stash of paper weaponry. These are called "Ninja Stars" or "Shurikens" and there are loads of easy to follow tutorials on YouTube if you have offspring fascinated with weapons. And paper. You just have to be prepared to step in when the wild throwing starts, I can tell you that it's actually quite painful when the pointy end stabs into a fleshy part of your body. These ninja stars have been confiscated more than once, even slung into the recycling bag after one particularly hurtful assault. Take heed.

We have baked quite a bit this week too, the Little People seem to be constantly hungry and it's a job and a half trying to keep it all healthy and nutritious. There is only so much fruit and salad you can feed them after all. We've been baking these Oaty Cookies for years now, they are very easy to make with Little Ones and taste really yummy. I did try out a healthy non-sugar version from the Deliciously Ella website, but sorry to say they just weren't all that nice. Too bananary.

I've tried to make sure that every day, no matter what the weather, that the Little People get out for some fresh air. Some days this has simply meant turfing them outside and instructing them to Go Play with neighbouring children on the street (scooters, bubbles, bikes, chalk etc) while I (guiltily) get some work done. Other days we have gone into town to run errands and visit the shops, as much for the getting-out bit as for the necessary re-stocking of dwindling food supplies and purchasing of new school stationary supplies.

Yesterday we had a lovely little jaunt into town, doing a few jobs first then stopping at the bakery to pick up some warm pasties for lunch, then calling at the market for a paper bag of beautifully juicy cherries. We took our fodder to a bench beside the beck and ate a spontaneous picnic, then carried on walking up to the woods and back down the leafy lane to visit the pigs and chickens (sadly, the pigs have gone :( to who-knows-where...). I know these outings aren't much, but it seems to be all I can manage at the moment.

Similar to last year, this week I have responded to requests to "make something out of felt". In a fit of extravagance, I decided to completely ignore my box of cheap acrylic felt and invest in some nice felt with wool in it. Oh the joy!!! Completely worth the splurge, we are now the proud owners of this yummy stack of good quality 40% wool content felt for all of our crafting and stitching needs. I bought it from the lovely Sarah who runs her felty empire entitled "Paper-and-String". Find her online shop here, also via Etsy. Her considerable wares are delicious and very tempting. Don't dare look at the buttons....you've been warned.....

So Little Lady unearthed this super-cute book from the Shelves of Doom last week, hence the plea for felt crafting materials and assistance. And anything that Little Lady is doing, Little B also wants in, so they have each chosen an animal and we are working a little each day on it. I'll share the results with you when we have results to share! {this book can be found on Amazon UK and Amazon US }

I'm sorry there hasn't been much hooky to show you of late, I've been working behind the scenes on a number of projects which aren't yet ready to share. I made a brightly coloured flower garland last week, the pattern is for the Yarndale brochure. I'm also in the middle of another decorative project which is for the Yarndale calendar, so I am busy and working and doing stuff, but nothing much that is ready to show just yet.

My Harmony blanket is almost ready for it's grand Ta-dah moment though, and I am very excited about it! I need to take a few more photos when the light is good enough and finish up writing the pattern, but all should be good to go next week. Thanks to those of you waiting patiently for this, I am so sorry for the delay.

Right - sounds like I am needed to go referee a squabble breaking out, then looking at the time I need to hot-foot it to the kitchen and rustle up a speedy pasta dinner. These slow days aren't always so slow..............

xxx

 

 

 

 

 

Opening the Window

Hellooooo! I'm flinging open the Attic window and breathing in the sharp, damp scent of a beautiful Autumn day here in my patch. Blue sky and sunshine, a light haziness over the hills, it's pretty perfect for the start of November and I am glad.

We are at the end of half term week here, it's been a much needed break for the Little People who've had a busy start to the school year. We were down in Dorset for six days last week, returning home on Thursday night.

Although it wasn't quite the rest and recuperation I had been longing for, it was still lovely to be back on familiar home-turf. The weather was a complete mixed bag, but we were blessed with a short but fantastic warm, sunshiny spell at the beginning of the week, and oh it did feel good! J and I sat with a coffee at the end of the pier whilst the Little Peeps whizzed round on their scooters, and the warmth of the sun on my face felt absolutely amazing. It was the end of October, and I was wearing a T-shirt! I just couldn't get over that, but it really was lovely.

We hadn't planned to be in Dorset at this time, actually we had planned and booked a completely different family holiday which at the last moment we decided to cancel. Heading down to Dorset to spend time helping my Mum was more important, and although it ended up being a very tough week for me emotionally, I feel sure in my heart that it was all for the good.

I am now taking one day at a time, and quietly hoping that maybe, just maybe we are finally turning a corner. Maybe next week will be better than this week. I really, really hope this will be so, and that gradually I can begin to let go of the constant worry. I would like to say a huge, heartfelt thank you to everyone of you who have taken the time to write to me and offer comforting words. Surprisingly for a wordy individual like me, I find I am not able to articulate my own feelings very well here. But the support and friendship I receive through my blog really is amazing and humbling and I hope you all know how very grateful I am for it.

It has also done me a lot of good to be away from my computer and to spend quality time with my family, I really needed to do that. However, despite me saying that I would be taking some much needed time away from my blog for a week, it seems that some of you have had plenty to say whilst I've been gone. Crikey. Coming back to my in-box full of wordy-words has been a bit of a shock! However, as promised, a week has passed and now I am back here in the Attic and it is time for us to talk and clear the air. 

As I have always said, I really do value all the comments that you write in response to my posts and I always, without fail take time to read each and every one, even when there are literally hundreds. It is the comments, the dialogue, the sharing of words that makes blogging so special and I absolutely LOVE being a part of this vibrant, creative, friendly online community.

In recent weeks there have been a number of issues raised within the comments here on my blog to do with the content and direction of Attic24, all of which I have read and digested. When I am ready to do so, I will make an attempt to write about these things as I really want to make sure my blog continues to give me (and you) as much pleasure as it has done over the past six and a half years.

Today, I want to chat about Yarndale and the Mandalas, as after catching up with the comments that have arrived whilst I've been away from my blog, I realise that certain things need to be voiced and made clear.

You can read the story about the beginnings of Yarndale here. Seven of us made up the original Yarndale team, which was formally established as a limited company in July 2012. We set out to organise a small yarn festival in our local market town, and seven of us committed our time, energy, enthusiasm and vision to get Yarndale up and running. It was a big risk, and as there were considerable up-front expenses we all had to make an initial investment with no guarantee of any return. We had no idea at the time if Yarndale was going to be a roaring success or a disastrous failure. But we SO wanted it to be a success, we really did, and each of us put in a considerable amount of effort to make it happen.

We wanted to create something new and exciting for our local community, which would also give us an opportunity to invite lots of fellow yarn lovers from all over the country to share the creative fun with us. But lets be clear here....although Yarndale does benefit the local community enormously and gives an awful lot to the town, Yarndale is not registered or run as a charity.

I've included the above picture for you to see the venue where Yarndale is held, isn't it amazing? It's a very, very busy Auction Mart that is filled with thousands of animals for most weeks of the year. It's a big building, as you can see, rustic and very basic, but with good natural light and hundreds of pens which we are able to transform into miniature shop fronts for our exhibitors. If you have not visited, I would like you to try and picture it.....

....this year we had 180 exhibitors. One Hundred and Eighty. It has come a long way from our original vision, in that we only ever hoped for 70 exhibitors at best when we first set out to create this "festival of yarn and creativity". The sheer size of the festival means that it provides a truly amazing weekend for our visitors. It also gives 180 talented small businesses a venue to display and sell their yarny goods, as well as their incredible passion and knowledge for their craft. It is soooo inspiring!

But maybe you can try and imagine what it takes to actually make this festival happen? It is without doubt, a very big undertaking. At the start of this year (2014), two of the original directors of Yarndale Ltd stepped down, leaving five of us (including me) to organise and run the show this year. In order to run this kind of sizeable event succesfully, safely and legally, Yarndale is operated as a  limited company, with each director taking a dividend once the bills and taxes have been paid and all the accounts have been settled. But really, the honest truth of it is that the five of us do give a lot of our time and energy throughout the whole year to make Yarndale a success, for both the exhibitors and the visitors who attend the festival. We really do earn that dividend and we are so proud of Yarndale's success! I know it gives me a tremendous feeling of achievement and sense of purpose, knowing that I am helping to do this wonderful thing for the yarn-loving community.

One of the things that I have loved about our vision for Yarndale from the very start is the creative element. To me, this is what it is all about - it's a celebration of creativity! I have absolutely loved everything about the Mandala Project this year, it has given me a lot of pleasure to be the "curator" of such an amazing visual display. I wish to make it clear that the Mandala Project was completely my idea right from the start. The whole mandala project was not something that the Yarndale team dreamed up and the others really had no involvement with it, other than to help me hang (and take down) the 1,182 pieces of crochet.

So why did I do it? It was a vision you see, a creative vision fuelled by my obsession with crochet and colour, my love of the blogging community and the way in which we are all connected by a love of yarn, no matter where in the world we live. It was also a response to the frequent requests I received from people who could not attend Yarndale personally but still felt that they wished to be a part of this "festival of creativity". And finally, I admit there was a selfish need to bring a healthy dose of crochet to the type of  yarn festival that is traditionally dominated by knitting. I want to make Yarndale more about crochet! Lets celebrate the hooky! Lets show everyone how totally amazing crochet is and what fantastic things we can do when we all work together!!

All these things led me to dream up a simple idea to celebrate the talent within the crochet community in the form of a magnificent visual display. The fact that so many of you chose to join in with my vision, to help me create something exciting, unique (and big!), has been utterly wonderful. I have wanted to write about this for weeks, but it has been really unexpectedly hard for me to find the words, to explain what this has meant to me, how it has made me feel. It has been very, very emotional. Emotional mandalas, it sounds ridiculous, but that really is the way it is for me. I am so very often ruled by my heart it seems.

I was (and still am) incredibly excited about what we all collectively managed to achieve here, it really is completely awesome, in every sense of the word. The Mandala Project has become it's own entity, and as the curator I now have the responsibility of deciding what happens next. I see the mandalas as an ongoing project, and in recent weeks have been investigating ways in which they can go on to have a wonderful life beyond Yarndale. I was hoping to have something definite to share with you about my ideas for that, but nothing has been decided just yet. I just know that I want to try and share this amazing display with many more people, to find a way to exhibit the mandalas at different venues perhaps. I am open to suggestions, do please let me know if you have any ideas?!

Each of us within the Yarndale team have particular jobs that we take responsibility for. For example, it seemed natural for me to take on the writing as I do like to do the wordy thing! So during the course of the year I write the press releases, the magazine articles, the Yarndale brochure and website, as well as attempting to keep active across all social media. With most of the work happening in the run up to the event, once it's all over there is a real need for all of the Yarndale team to take a well earned breather, me included. However, I do appreciate that many of you have been waiting for me to write about the weekend and to share pictures, especially those of you who so generously made and sent mandalas. In normal circumstances, I would have taken a few weeks break and then done some full and glorious write-ups about Yarndale, just as I did last year (see here, here and here). But this October has not been normal for me I'm afraid, and I can only apologise that I've not been up to the job. I am so sorry if you have felt upset by the lack of feedback from me here on my blog. 

I also understand from a few of the comments left here on my blog this week, that some of you have felt misled by the lack of information regarding the set up of Yarndale, and by the fact that you mistakenly assumed you were making and contributing mandalas for charity. No, Yarndale is not a charity, and with hindsight I should have made this crystal clear when I first got all giddy about the mandala project back in May. I promise you hand on heart that it was never my intention to mislead any of you, and I am truly sorry if my naivety has caused upset. I am who I am, just a mum of three kids juggling a busy life, writing a blog, crocheting in cafés, helping to organise a yarn festival in my local town. Every so often, of course I make mistakes, there is no manual for the sort of thing I do, and it is a steep learning curve for sure. I bumble along in my own over-excited way, wearing rainbow-tinted spectacles, not really thinking of the consequences before jumping in with my red mary janes to have fun with crochet and yarn.

I totally understand if some of you no longer wish to have your mandalas included in this ongoing project, as one or two of you have voiced this in comments this week. If you wish to have your mandala returned, of course I am more than happy to do this. All you need to do is to email me and we can sort it out.

[email protected].

As ever, Ireally do appreciate every ounce of support and enthusiasm you offer me here through my blog, it means the world to me. I am looking forward to writing and sharing more about Yarndale in the coming weeks,  as well as getting back to sharing my usual colourful, day to day stuff here on my blog. I am hopeful that November will be very much easier all round than October was. Ever hopeful, that's me.

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EDIT TO ADD ::

1. Pleeeeeeeeeeease can we keep comments friendly and civil, no bad words or nastiness please or I will have to step in and start moderating.

2. I will be working with the Yarndale team to create an "About" page for our website which will give factual information about the set up. We should have done this in the very beginning and it was an oversight, thanks to those of you who have pointed that out.

3. Thank you for all your words of kindness and support, and thanks for the well written and constructive criticism xxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

 

Juggling Act

On Saturday I welcomed seven lovely ladies to my studio and we enjoyed a wonderful hooky day together making birdies.

I love how each and every bird has it's own personality and character, and how different they all turn out, even with the same yarn and same hook size.

I'll soon be ready to share my pattern with you all here in the Attic, I'm very excited about doing that!

Last week I began on a five week stint of working three afternoons a week with three different local schools. This is a joint project between Yarndale and a local children's charity, with the aim of introducing children of all ages and abilities to the joys of working with yarn. With our help, each school is yarn bombing it's own bicycle which will form a "woolly bike trail" in the park for the Yarndale weekend.

What can I say? This is a major challenge for me on so many levels, and my juggling skills are certainly being put to the test. Like many working parents, I suddenly have Childcare Issues, and it's quite a stressful time actually. This is tough work for a quiet Attic dweller and non-teacher like me, going into a school and engaging/inspiring a classroom of 20 children for 3.5 hour stretches. But the children have all been fabulous and so eager to learn, I've managed to teach them all to finger crochet, the above bike is totally wrapped in lengths of finger crochet! We are creating a bicycle garden here folks (hence the greens and browns) and will begin to make all sorts of woolly mini beasts during the next four weeks to decorate. I am hoping I am up to the job, I am googling like made and trying to devise ways of cunningly making ladybirds and other critters out of pompoms and pipe cleaners. And googly eyes.

This is a sweet little trike that I'm working on in another school. These are weeny Little People (age 5 & 6) so I am keeping things much simpler here. We are wrapping the trike in lengths of stretchy jersey fabric first.....

.....then all sorts of rainbow themed yarn crafts will be added to decorate. I made these tassels this afternoon with 28 children, they loved doing it so much.

In between all this activity that I'm engaged with for Yarndale, I am also attempting to juggle my own Little People at a very busy time of year. Little B begins his transition phase into school next week (I think it's next week, could well be the week after), and there are a worryingly large number of school/nursery trips and activities which require food/the right clothing/money/filled in forms for each child. A residential trip for Little/Big Man. A coach trip for Little B. High School visits and open days for Little Lady. It's all very full on. I race about from A to B to C and every so often I remember to look up and appreciate the colour of the sky and breathe deeply.

Life on the home front is a shambles right now. So. Much. Mess. So much that doens't get done. I am hardly here at the moment, but I am trying to remember to sit still sometimes and appreciate the Little Pleasures. Fresh flowers. Kind friends and neighbours. Long, light days and balmy summer warmth. Juicy strawberries. Great coffee. A good nights sleep.

I am planning my food and shopping very carefully in these busy days, making sure that when I come in the door at 4.45pm, that I know exactly what I am cooking each day, that I can get off to a flying start. Tonight I made a simple risotto flavoured with sundried tomatoes, rocket and goats cheese, it was delicious and comforting after a long, busy day. Tomorrow I'm making fajitas, but using mixed beans and peppers instead of chicken as we are still doing our vegetarian thing. I've got a ripe avocado to make a bit of homemade guacamole and a small tub of sour cream. I think it's going to be good, and should all come together in 20 minutes flat. Great fast food.

The mandalas continue to flood in, with approximately 20-30 each day arriving into the guinea pig hutch in the front garden. As I am working in the schools during the afternoons, my mandala hour has been rescheduled to the evening shift, once dinner is done and dusted. Luckily it is mid summer here, and our days are long and light which means I can photograph them all individually in the back yard even at 7pm.

I am uploading them to the Yarndale Pinterest boards in batches each night, and the current count is 590 mandalas from 42 different countries around the world. Yeah!!! Isn't this something truly very special??!! Do go have a look, such a visual treat... http://www.pinterest.com/yarndale/

I will try to bob in here whenever I am able, but truthfully the next four weeks are going to be tough for me and Attic24 will need to play second fiddle I'm afraid. I hope you understand.

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♥...more little snippets from the Attic...♥

Granny Bunting for Yarndale

Introducing Yarndale

Mandala Wheels for Yarndale

Funky Lamp Yarnbomb :: Ta-dah!

Mandala Love

Mandala Love

Oh my, thank you, thank you so much to those of you have have already taken up my Mandala Challenge and sent me a beautiful crochet circle. It gives me the most amazing feeling to be the Official Opener of these packages and the excitement as I open each one is almost too much to take.

So. This crazy, fabulous, creative project has been launched and I know I am at the beginning of an amazing journey. It is truly wonderful. Thank you so much for making my vision come to life, I am pretty much incapable of putting into words what this means to me, but yes, thank you with all my heart.

The mandala wheels I've received so far are very, very beautiful as you can see above. When they sit nestled all together I can get a brief glimpse of the impact that a whole wall of them will undoubtedly have. Wow. WOW!!! It's going to be quite something.

I am trying very hard to be methodical and organised with this project. I have my "mandala hour" in the early afternoon when I open and photograph the packages that have arrived in the morning. I upload the photos to my laptop, crop them to a square, resize them, number and re-name them, then upload them to Pinterest for you all to see. Many thanks to Heather who suggested the Pinterest thing, it is a great way for me to show you what has been made and to inspire you with some glorious circular colour and pattern.

If you haven't already done so, do go and feast your eyes! I'll be uploading new images as the mandala wheels arrive.

http://www.pinterest.com/yarndale/mandala-wheels/

Since I began sharing my Mandala journey here and on Facebook, I have constantly been asked the same question ::

"very pretty and all that, but what are they actually for?"

It's a fair enough question. I found an interesting website which explains the true meaning of the word mandala in the spiritual sense (see here), and it just confirms that really mandalas have no real purpose other than to make you feel good. They are joyful creations, and the making process itself is enough of a purpose as far as I'm concerned. See it as Hooky Meditation if you like.

Here in the Attic I have come to enjoy having a mandala sitting in the centre of my table with a little jug of flowers resting upon it. I've also pinned a couple up around the house and enjoy the pleasure I get just from seeing a burst of colour and pattern in an unexpected place (so far they have landed underneath the hallway mirror, and on a scrap of empty wall just outside the bathroom).

I thought it might be helpful to bring together a small collection of mandala patterns to inspire you if you've yet to succumb to their charms. If you know of any other lovely patterns, do leave me a comment with a link and I'll add them in, it's always useful to have all the info and links in one place.

Picture above is my own pattern created for this Yarndale project. Find it {here}

Granny Mini Mandala by Zelna Olivier, especially created for Yarndale.

Hakuna Matata Mandala by Zelna Olivier, especially created for Yarndale.

Sunny Flower Mandala by Zelna Olivier, especially created for Yarndale.

Little Spring Mandala by Barbara of Made in K Town. Free pattern.

Picot Mandala by Marinke Slump, also known as Wink. Wink writes a beautiful blog called "A Creative Being" and has created some wonderful mandala patterns. Some are available to buy (such as the one above) and some are available for free. Her work is truly inspiring, do go have a look if you don't already know it.

Spoke Mandala, another pattern by Wink. This one is free, and there is a fab step by step tutorial to help you create those wonderful spokes.

Bobbly Flower mandala by Mad Blanketer is a beautiful free pattern available to download via Ravelry.

Flower Potholder, by Jennifer Martin. This is not strictly a mandala, but it is soooo pretty that I wanted to include it. It's available for free via Ravelry.

These gorgeous things were made by Sue Pinner who writes "the 8th Gem" blog. Sue is an amazing designer and a genius with colour, her mandala designs are hugely inspirational.

Oh, such a lot of wonderful, glorious inspiration out there my friends, I really hope you feel like joining me on my Mandala journey. All details about making mandalas for the Yarndale project (including dimensions and postal address) can be found right HERE. Have fun!

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♥...more little snippets from the Attic...♥

2013 :: Year End Review :: crochet

Mandala Flowers

Mandala Wheels for Yarndale

Mandala Wheels for Yarndale

Today we are going to talk about crochet Mandalas, you know those pretty round things that inspire you to make them, even though you don't really have a clue what you will actually do with them. There has been a lot of Mandala-love around in Blogland of late, with lots of wonderful patterns cropping up and some lovely sociable crochet-a-longs happening too (see here) . I even found some beautiful and inspirational mediative mandala making (see here), which is a lovely idea. We all know how soothing and theraputic crochet is, and these little yarny circles are the perfect way to indulge a bit of colourful, peaceful contemplation I think.

In the picture above, you can see a few of the mandala flowers I experimented with last year when I was working through some yarn bombing ideas for Yarndale. These pretty, circular articles of crochet ended up being pinned to the wall in my studio and I have grown very fond of seeing them there. They take up the role of "woolly wall art", and make a pleasing visual display in much the same way as plates or old fashioned pot holders would.

Isn't this just a beautiful image? See what I mean about the crochet pot holders being displayed like wall art? Love love love this image {from the visual delights of Norwegian blog Stina Ballernia}.

Woah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now that's Woolly-Wall-Art on a fanTABulous scale!!!! I came across this image when searching about for potholder patterns some time ago, and it absolutely blew my creative socks off. It's the work of Finnish artist Anu Tuominen, a truly impressive collection of vintage crochet potholders displayed as art.

Here's another version of it {images found via ArtThreads}. I know these are potholders, but I figured the same idea could easily be applied to Mandala's? Surely if one was bonkers enough to want to do this, one could gather in enough crochet circles to create an absolutely stunning display of creativity? Yeah, I know, completely, utterly Bonkers. But..............insanely appealing, don't you think?!

I'm thinking you might possibly have guessed where this is going. I'm thinking you might possibly remember the Yarndale Granny Bunting from last year? 

Remember how almost 600 of you made triangles to send from all over the world, enabling us to create this jaw-dropping display of hooky goodness at Yarndale? Just in case this glorious bunting is new to you (where have you been?), you can read all about it on the Yarndale blog right here. It was a magnificent project on so many levels, and I loved the idea of bringing so much creativity together from all four corners of the world. So many of you wrote to me telling me how much you enjoyed being a part of this huge community project, and I was humbled by the unexpected scale of the emotion involved, it really was one of the most amazing things I have ever been involved with.

Preparations for Yarndale 2014 are now in full swing, and once again I have been getting myself all giddy over the prospect of so much yarny creativity. This year, we have decided to go with a bit of a theme, inspired by the Summer arrival of the Tour de France in our little town. Yes, amazingly our area of Yorkshire is hosting the "Grand Depart" of this famous cycle race, and honestly the whole of the county has gone bicycle mad. We kind of figured that we might as well jump on two wheels along with everyone else, and much of our yarn bombing plans this year will be bicycle orientated (more of that at a later date)

Which brings me back to the mandala's. This year I wanted to do something creative with wheels, and that's when I hit upon the idea of making and using crochet mandalas. They are suitably wheel-like (well enough to justify running with the idea), and when I put it to the rest of the Yarndale team, they all agreed it was completely bonkers, but right up my street.

So no more bunting-making this year folks. No, no. The 6,212 triangles that graced the festival last year will be back in situ this year, and I am really looking forward to seeing it all again. But in addition to the bunting, I want to try and create a large visual display using mandala wheels, much in the way that Ana Tuominen did with the potholders. So I am asking if you would like to play along? Would you like to become a part of another wonderful, big yarny creative project and make a Mandala Wheel for me?

I have designed a very easy Mandala Wheel pattern that you can use, and have written up a tutorial for it. These ones I made using DK weight yarn on a 4mm hook, and they measure 18cm/7 inches across.

That's the sort of size I'm looking for folks. They need to be no bigger than 8 inches across.

I would also like them to be stiffened, to make it easier for me to hang them. I have found the best way to do this is to use white PVA craft glue and simply paint it on the reverse side of the mandala with a stiff little brush. I used this technique when making my Happy Flower and it works a treat.

When it's dry, the glue turns transparent as you can see above, and the mandala wheel takes on a pleasingly neat, perky attitude making it perfect for display purposes.

So you can find the tutorial for making my Mandala Wheel right HERE.

I am also thrilled to tell you that I've been working with designer Zelna Olivier who created the amazing Starflower Mandala that I shared with you last week. Oh, this has been SUCH FUN!!!! Zelna agreed to design a mandala especially with my Yarndale plans in mind, ie a wheel-inspired, 7 inch creation full of colour, and she absolutely did me proud.

You can find the free pattern for her beautiful Granny Mini Mandala right here. Isn't it beautiful?

Not only that, but Zelna (who like me, is suffering a little from mandala-mania) went on to design us two more! Wowsers, how lucky are we??!!

This is her Hakuna Matata design....

and this is her Sunny Flower design.

All three patterns include fabulous photographs of each round to help you create these beautiful circles, so we are hoping that you will feel inspired to get creative and give them a go.

♥

So before I love you and leave you, I thought it might be a good idea to answer some questions about this year's Global Community Crochet Project for Yarndale.

Q :: How many mandalas would you like me to make?

A :: This is VERY IMPORTANT >>> please can I ask that each person makes just ONE MANDALA to send for the Yarndale display. Only ONE per person please.

Q :: What type of yarn would you like me to use?

A :: Any yarn you like! I've found that cotton yarn gives the best results, but any smooth yarn works well, including Stylecraft Special DK.

Q :: What hook size shall I use?

A :: Use whatever hook suits the yarn you are using. The important thing is the finished size....the finished mandala wheel should measure less than 8 inches / 20cm.

Q :: What size should my finished mandala measure?

A :: Please aim for approximately 7 inches / 18cm.

Q :: Should I be using mainly "Lucy" colours?

A :: No! Please feel free to experiment with colours, that's the main attraction with mandala making. But it would be nice if the mandala wheels were colourful, so I would appreciate no black yarn please.

Q :: Can I personalise them in any way? And can I use alternative patterns?

A :: Yes yes!!! Please be creative! So long as your mandala lies flat and arrives stiffened ready for hanging, I am happy for you to embellish, button, bejewel, stitch and personalise your mandala in whatever way you wish. You can use any pattern you like, just so long as the finished mandala does not measure more than 20cm across.

Q :: Do they need blocking/stiffening?

A :: Yes please. The mandala wheels I've made have all benefitted enormously from a light steam press on the reverse side to make them lovely and flat. I would also like them to be stiffened please, using PVA glue on the reverse side as mentioned in the text above.

Q :: When do you need them?

A :: I'm setting a deadline of the end of June 2014, so roughly two months from now.

Q :: Where shall I send them?

A :: To the following address.......

Attic24

PO Box 97

Skipton

North Yorkshire

BD23 9EN

Q :: What information should I include with my mandala?

A :: Please could you give me your name, along with your town/county/state/province and country. I'd like to compile a list of contributors this year, along with their origin.

Q :: What will happen to them after Yarndale?

A :: Well, we are still thinking about this and a lot depends on the quantity we receive. We'll certainly keep you posted.

I absolutely cannot wait for this project to unfold! I am excited beyond words at the thought of it, at the way I can almost (but not quite) visualise the impact of such a display. I think it's going to be so, so, so beautiful.

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ps another reminder.....mandala's are super-addictive and it really is impossible to make just one. But please, please only send me ONE beauty for the Yarndale project.

♥ THANK YOU!!!! ♥

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♥...more little snippets from the Attic...♥

Introducing Yarndale

Yarndale Preparations

The Starflower Mandala

Yarndale 2013 :: The Yarn Bombing

Busy Days

We've had some very changeable weather here this past week, a real mixed bag. I've really enjoyed the brief spells of clear sky when the sun has put in an appearance, but they have been short lived.

Mostly we've had a lot of rain, and if it hasn't actually been raining then it has been threatening to rain on us at any given minute. But it's not been too bad, and I continue to enjoy my daily walks to and fro delivering and collecting my two youngest Little Peeps.

I am so in love with the town where I live, it is just so right for me. I love the old cobbled streets we walk down every day and the old stone buildings, and I love that I feel a genuine sense of belonging here. It has become my home town, and I love it.

I've been thinking a lot about routines these past few weeks, about how the hours string together and how to make the most of my long, busy days. I am still fine tuning my Time Management Skills, and so far feeling pretty good about it in general. I am attempting to be a tad more organised, a smidge more in control of my ever increasing workload. One of the things that I am really enjoying this year is my newly acquired bread making routine...it is such a great thing that homemade bread found it's way into my life! Every other day at 6pm I make up the dough and sit it to rise over night. Then every other morning at 6am I set about transforming the dough into a warm fragrant loaf. Warm, buttered bread for breakfast is just sooooooo good!

Life at home is pleasantly busy. I am trying to be more diligent with Daily Mess, trying to at least keep our table reasonably clutter free. It never really is free of stuff of course, but I am ok with that, at least we don't have huuuuuuge piles of it at the moment. My hyacinths are growing beautifully and make me so happy, I absolutely love to watch their steady growth day by day.

The flower buds are  there now just waiting to open, and I can't wait for that pretty blue colour and that heady scent.

My afternoons are usually spent completely entangled with Little B. He is very engaging these days, chatty and funny and very insistent that I give him my complete undivided attention. I am more than happy to do so, as it usually involves us cuddling on the sofa, sitting to write and draw, or often baking. This afternoon though, he chose to snuggle quietly by himself and before long had drifted off to sleep....oh such bliss!! Daily naps are a rare occurance these days, and it was such bliss to observe his sweet sleeping face, and to have an hour of unexpected quiet time.

Actually, although I would love to have nestled down and crocheted while he slept, I spent the time in the kitchen. I have re-established my Weekly Menu Plan, after a long while without it and this afternoon I pulled out my slow cooker and made a chicken and lentil curry. The recipe is a tried and tested one from my favourite Easy Slow Cooker book, which has the most wonderful selection of tasty, simple family meals. I just need to remember to use it more often.

My mornings are mostly spent out of the house, doing various yarny, chatty things. Working I suppose....hmm, yes I can say that word, but it hardly, ever, ever feels like work. This morning I was down at the studio working on my first Yarndale project of 2014. Yes yes yes, we are on again for another fantastic woolly weekend festival, 27th and 28th September! I have a tonne of creative ideas for this year which I'll be chatting about in the next couple of months, and I'll be starting work again next week on the social media side of Yarndale too. I'm very much looking forward to it.

Something else I've been doing this past week is creating a blog for the Studio, somewhere for Tracy and I to post news about forthcoming workshops and studio open dates.

I had in mind to create an image that could be used to advertise our workshop dates, something pretty but functional. And being the techno-eejit that I am, I decided to do it the old fashioned way by creating something Real to photograph. So much stuff is produced digitally these days, but I wanted to make something real. It was time consuming to do (harder than it looks to get right) but I'm pleased with the results.....

I just need to add some digital text now, to tell you about my first few workshops taking place in the next few months....when the studio blog is ready (hopefully early next week) I'll let you know. I'm kind of happy-excited and worried-nervous about it :o)

I'm continuing to LOVE the work I'm doing for Simply Crochet magazine, and thank you so much to those of you who wrote to tell me you enjoyed my first column. In next months mag (issue 15), I will also have a sweet project alongside my monthly blurble, I'm excited to see it appear on the page.

In between all my worky-yarny-writey stuff, I am also making time to hook my poncho rows...oh those rows are a bit swoony you know! I'm so very nearly there, I've got one more row (just one!) and then I'll be trying to decide on an edging. Not sure what to do yet, but I do know there won't be any tassels. No, no tassels. Something else, something pretty, something perfectly perfect. I am waiting for inspiration to strike, I hope it comes soonish.

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♥...more snippets from the Attic...♥

Artisan Bread

2013 :: Year End Review :: crochet

Moments

Cheese Scones

Winter Has Arrived

Yarndale 2013 :: My Story

So......I've shared my story of the Yarndale Yarnbombing with you.....

....and of course you all know about the glorious Yarndale Bunting, right?

The yarn bombing and the bunting were my two main, big, huge, ginormous creative projects for Yarndale, the things that I was personally in charge of pulling together. But as I was 1/7th of the official Yarndale Team, I also had a share in planning, preparing and organising much of the festival itself. There are a gazillion decisions and responsibilities that surface when one is involved in organising a festival of this size. If you stop to actually quantify it for more than a second or two, it is actually quite terrifying. It is such a huuuuuge undertaking. But all in all, I think for a first time stab at doing this, the Yarndale Team did amazingly well. There were only a couple of times during the four days when I personally felt a little overwhelmed by the responsibility of it all.

Despite the extremely long hours and hard graft during the two set-up days, it was really great to see everything finally coming to fruition. This was especially true of the things we had designed and printed as it was the first time we had seen it all together. All those itty-bitty little decisions that were endlessly discussed, tweaked, altered, resolved and proofed had finally turned into something we could hold in our hands and be proud of. As we loved our patchwork sheep so much, we shamelessly used her gorgeous good looks to adorn the things we had designed. We had some super large cotton tea towels screen printed, as well as some lovely canvas bags (affectionately known as the Betty Bags), and they proved very popular with our Yarndale visitors. If you missed out on getting your hands on any of these yummy things, or weren't able to make it to Yarndale, there are a limited number of tea towels and bags currently for sale in the Yarndale online shop.

But my favourite thing of all was the brochure we made. Oh, it is such a thing of beauty! Inside its pages, there is a heap load of festival information, including contact details for each of our 160 exhibitors. And as it says on the cover, there are also five (yes, five!) exclusive knit and crochet patterns.

The patterns were designed by members of the talented Yarndale team (this is Carole's super-sweet crochet rose brooch), as well as a lovely pattern from exhibitor Sarah using her Bigwigs Angora yarn (did you see her beautiful bunnies at the show?)

You might remember my own pattern contribution which I made back in July?

I designed this dinky little Tweetie Bird brooch especially for the Yarndale brochure, and am actually rather in love with it! I'm thinking of making many more in jewel-bright colours to hang as Christmas decorations this year, maybe with little dangly legs and tinkly bell feet.

If you would like to buy a copy of the 40-page brochure with the patterns inside, we have a small number left for sale on the Yarndale website. Free P&P to anywhere in the UK, and only a small charge for overseas shipping (oh yeah!)

But anyhoooo....back to the festival. I didn't take many photographs in the end as I was simply too rushed off my feet to do so. I took the above snap early on Saturday morning in that weird space of time before the visitors arrive, when everything is poised and ready to go. The atmosphere inside the building was AmAzInG. The very air felt like it was buzzing with anticipation and excitement. As one of the Yarndale organisers, it felt incredible to take a little walk up and down the empty aisles before the doors opened on Saturday, marvelling at the fact that it was no longer a dream and it Was Really Happening. We did it!! We really, really did it!!!

The exhibitors did us proud. One Hundred and sixty talented, inspiring, passionate, friendly, wonderful businesses came to the first ever Yarndale and each and every one was a delight to behold. They all worked incredibly hard to transform the bare animal pens into a fantastic display of yarny colour and creativity. One of the exhibitors (Wigham Wool Work) created an amazing time-lapse video showing their experience of the festival from start to finish, and it makes for fascinating viewing (watch it on you-tube, it'll make you smile I guarantee!).

It is the one regret I have that I didn't personally have more time to get round and see everything. I actually only saw a fraction of the stands and chatted to a very small number of exhibitors, but, well, I was errrrr Rather Busy holding the fort in my own corner! I can share a few of my own snaps here to give you a weeny taste of what the festival was about.....

Animals :: oh the animals! The alpacas and the angora rabbits were most defintely stars of the show I think, we had so many delighted comments from visitors about them.

Yarn :: oh my, the yarn! There was more yarn at Yarndale than you could ever imagine. The sheer volume and variety of what was on display was breathtaking. Not to mention the colours. It was honestly incredible to see (and smooch) so much of it and I just couldn't get over the way it all looked and felt when it was gathered under one roof. The above yarn was part of a magnificent display by the Natural Dye Studio which made me gasp with pleasure every time I walked past.

Buttons and haberdashery :: oooooo, yes indeedy! As a button-lover myself, I was delighted that we were able to welcome some gorgeous button makers and sellers to Yarndale.

Handmade goodies :: yum, yum, yum! One of the things we most wanted Yarndale to celebrate was Creativity, and we were delighted to welcome a good number of talented textile artists with open arms. It was really, really wonderful to see such colourful and inspiring displays of knitted, felted, woven and crocheted pieces alongside the yarn, fibres and threads.

So....aside from the top-notch retail therapy that Yarndale provided, not to mention the abundant inspiration, the other aspect to the show that we wanted to encourage and celebrate was the whole Social Thing. My own personal experience of creative social groups has had such a positive impact on my life, honestly it's hard to put into words really. The joy, friendship and sense of belonging that it gives me is immeasurable and I felt that if I could bring a little bit of that to Yarndale, then it would be a Very Good Thing indeed. Plus, I really wanted to make myself available to meet and chat with visitors, and hosting a Knit & Natter Lounge seemed like a good way to go about it.

The area where I was to spend the weekend was truthfully a little bit on the grim side. If you can imagine a pretty dingy enclosed area, with lots of brick and wood panels and metal gates, with a distinctive air of Farmyard, then that is pretty much what I had to work with. This is a traditional farmers auction ring, complete with auctioneers rostrum, and a semi circle of tiered seating. My job was to dress it up and prettify it by adding as much yarn and colour as I possibly could. The entrance to the area was made very special indeed by this row of Attic24 Houses, all made from crochet. Aren't they lovely? My fab friend Heather worked her socks off to create these for me, and I absolutely love them, as did all the visitors. You can read all about the making of the houses in Heather's hooky housey blog post.

We had bunting at our disposal of course, so, so, so much bunting. Once the exhibition hall was all decked out, we were able to use the rest to add some much needed charm and colour to the rest of the venue. Lots of bunting was strung up around the knit & natter lounge, then it was down to me to create a little bit of an Attic24 feel in my "home corner". This basically involved going home and scooping up as much of my crochet as I could possibly find, piling it all in the back of my friends car and using it to decorate the drab auction mart furniture.

I think I did pretty good! My blankets, cushions and wreaths were joined by baskets of yarn and jugs of bright dahlias to create a welcoming and colourful Cosy Corner. And lets not forget The Funky Lamp! Lots of people came to see my yarn bombed lamp, it was lovely to share it with so many excited visitors and followers of my blog.

I finished setting the scene here in my corner at 9pm on Friday night, and although I was feeling very tired and a tad nervous, I was also really looking forward to seeing the place fill with people the following day. And oh boy, did it FILL!!!!!! WOW!!!!!!! None of us had any idea how busy it would be, and we were completely taken by surprise. Many thousands of visitors arrived to stream through the doors on Saturday morning and the whole place very quickly became absolutely chocka-block full with people. There was such an amazing atmosphere with an almost palpable air of celebration, excitement,  joy and friendship. It felt like one big giant party!

I was kept very, very, very, very busy. I began just after 10am on Saturday and I did not stop all day. I had queues! I had crowds! I met so many lovely, gorgeous, happy hooky people. I talked (and talked and talked), I laughed, I hugged, I shared, I welcomed. I put every ounce of my energy into meeting the wonderful people who had travelled to to see me and making them feel welcome. I had my photo taken a gazillion times (which totally surprised me), and I signed autographs (which totally surprised me even more than the photos).

And I listened too. I listened to the outpouring of excitement over the whole Yarndale experience, and I heard the appreciation for it all. I listened to travel tales and heard the wonderful way that people had been enjoying my home place (Yorkshire did look and feel glorious that weekend, basking in warm late summer sun). I listened to people exclaiming over the bunting and the yarn bombing and heard people so excited by all they had seen and bought. And I listened to a multitude of crochet related stories, each one unique, but each one with a common thread. I heard about the joy that it brings, the relaxation, the excitement, the friendship. And I soaked up the gratitude too. Wow, I was floating on a sea of gratitude, it was quite something!

It was an overwhelming whirlwind of social, emotional stuff, and throughout the weekend I often felt moved to tears by the scale of it all. I was pretty much running on empty mind you, so everything did feel a little bit more intense due to fatigue I suspect. Lovely hooky friends of the world, you are amazing. You made my world spin during that weekend, honestly, it was the most incredible, wonderful, exhausting experience!

It's been an odd thing to catch sight of my own face popping up on various blogs during the past few weeks. I am really not accustomed to being in front of the camera and am very much happier behind it. In some photos I look shattered beyond belief. In others, I look remarkably relaxed considering how far out of my comfort zone I was. I saw the above photo on Linda's blog and immediately loved it for it's honest and un-posed nature. That was me alright, laughing my way through the weekend in a blur of stunned happiness.

So that was my own personal experience of Yarndale 2013.

There is still a lot of Yarndale that I haven't covered here mind you, but I'll be spending time during the next few weeks working on multiple official write-ups and reviews for the Yarndale website, social media and press. Thanks to our talented photographer Jon, we have a shed load of wonderful photographs of the festival which I'll be helping to bring together for Yarndale's online gallery. I'll be writing more about the tea cosy competition, the knitted displays we organised, our ongoing partnership with Oxfam, the workshops, the best-in-show award....oh there's lots still to chatter about! But I shall be doing that over on the (rather neglected) Yarndale blog and getting back to normal here in the Attic. I have New Yarn in the house folks, and a completely new project just starting on the hook......tis rather absurdly exciting in my hooky world right now!

Thanks a million for sharing all this with me. Phew. I feel a whole lot lighter now I've gotten all the Yarndale stuff out of my system x

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yarndale 2013 :: The Yarndale Bunting

It's actually pretty hard for me to remember what my life was like BB (Before Bunting). During the past four months it has been such a mammoth part of my life, not only due to the massive number of working hours I've spent dealing with it all, but also due to the emotional space it has taken up within my heart and soul. Altogether, it has been a very huuuuuuuge big deal to me (and I mean that in the best, most positive way imaginable).

So. I shall start from the very beginning and tell the story from start to finish, if that's alright with everyone?This does feel like a story for sure, and I'm looking forward to telling it. Ready? Sitting comfy? Here we go.......

Firstly, lets remember the inspiration behind the Yarndale Bunting. It was most definitely the above image, and I can so clearly remember seeing it for the first time and literally gasping out loud at the visual pleasure of it. To me, there is just something incredibly jolly, fun, celebratory and festival-ish about swags of bunting and I find it's charms irresistible. And when said bunting happens to also be brightly coloured and made from oodles of glorious YaRn, well it's a win-win-win situation.

As soon as I saw this knitted bunting (created by Women's Weekly magazine and hung at the 2011 Knitting and Stitching show at Alexandra Palace), I knew straight away that I would like to attempt a crochet version for Yarndale.

You probably remember me writing about it back in May? I just loved working these granny triangles so much, and the more I made, the more I could imagine how great it would look if there were lots and lots and lots of them.

So I hatched a cheeky little plan. I wrote up the pattern for these Granny Bunting Triangles, and put out a call to all the wonderful hookers of the world, asking for help. Please can you help me by making a few triangles for Yarndale? I would love it, I said. I will be ever so grateful, I said. And then I crossed my fingers and made a wish, hoping very much that my bunting dream might come true.

Two months later, in mid July, the packages began arriving. After sweet-talking the lovely Jane who owns the most scrumptious yarn shop in Yarndale Town, she agreed that we could use her shop as a temporary Bunting Delivery Depot. And so began a summer of hard graft for me and my child-sized assistants. Every few days we would call in to see Jane and collect the packages which we then carried through town to my studio. Sometimes we could squeeze it all into a shopping bag....

....but sometimes there were so many parcels that I needed my trusty shopping trolley and made multiple trips back and forth through town.

At the studio, I worked with my eager three year old assistant Little B, processing the bunting as it arrived in heaps. Opening the packages, ooohing and ahhing at the gorgeous crochet goodness, reading the amazing letters and cards, counting the triangles up, putting them into bags, then logging the information (name, location, number of triangles) in my special purple notebook.

But however hard I tried to work, I inevitably began to fall behind. The parcels were coming in so thick and fast from all four corners of the world, that I simply could not keep up. I began to worry, began to dream weird, stressy bunting-filled dreams. How was I ever going to manage to pull this thing together? How would I ever get to the bottom of that huge pile?

The answer lay with friends. I am truly blessed with wonderful, kind and generous friends here in Atticland, and when the piles of parcels got so high that they started to avalanche, I called in some help. I worked afternoon shifts with Little B, then evening shifts with friends.

And then of course, the school holidays descended and summer was in full swing. I could no longer get to my studio during the day, so I transferred the Processing Depot to home base. That way, I had three Little Helpers to call on and it turned into rather a fun thing for them to join in with. Sometimes we worked at the dining table, and sometimes on my double bed, all four of us squashed on and opening the parcels together.

I have to say here a HUGE BIG MASSIVE THANK YOU to all of you who so generously included gifts for my offspring. It was so very, very, very much appreciated. They loved it so much! The wee toys, books, postcards, maps, souvenirs, chocolates and sweeties from all over the world were devoured with glee. ((thank you))

There were some super sweet times too, when bunting parcels were delivered in person. The above piles were brought all the way from Germany when a very lovely lady came especially to see me at the studio. It was unexpectedly emotional, I felt so thrilled but also so overwhelmed by the constant outpouring of generosity that at times it was difficult to keep it all in check. I confess I did shed a few tears.

And so the bunting triangles kept on piling in. Originally, I had really hoped to photograph them all as they arrived so that I could create a big gallery of images.

I wanted to be able to write and thank each person individually, cos each triangle really meant so much to me.

I knew that people would really love to know that their triangles had arrived safe and sound, and I so very much wanted to let people know.

But it was just too much, and I had to admit defeat. I felt so bad about it for so many weeks, but in the end I just had to accept that it wasn't a failure if I couldn't manage to write to every single person, or photograph every single triangle.

In early September, with less than three weeks left before Yarndale, I hit crisis point. The packages were still arriving, and as I'd been writing everything down in my notebook I knew the numbers very well. Incredibly, we had received 582 parcels containing more than 6,000 triangles. And those thousands of triangles had to be somehow joined together..............

HEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLPPPPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I voiced my anxious,  stressed-out concerns to the Yarndale team, and was immediately reassured that I had no need to worry, there would be plenty of help. Pheewwwww!!! So it was decided that for a few weeks, we would turn our usual knit n natter gatherings into bunting-stringing sessions.

I purchased some huge reels of 6mm cotton tape and stringing commenced. Our method was to cut the tape into 5 metre lengths, then thread it through the chain-space holes of the granny triangles. No knots (far too tricky and time consuming), just simple threading, one triangle after another. Each 5 metre length of tape accommodated roughly 20 triangles.

And so the triangles became bunting strings....

....and the piles of bunting strings began to grow reassuringly quickly.

Meanwhile, back at the studio, I decided that I really should be trying to take some photographs. I wanted to capture a little of what it was like to have soooooo much gorgeous crochet work at  my disposal. So how to describe it all? What words?

Immensely happy.....

Beautifully inspiring.....

Gloriously joyful....

Marvellously uplifting.....

Amazingly colourful.....

Heart-swellingly lovely.....

Gorgeously gorgeous.....

Exceptionally cheery....

Fabulously creative.....

And utterly, completely FANTASTIC.

WOW. All those words and a heap load more besides.

By now, we had reached the Final Push. On the Thursday morning, just 48 hours before we opened the Yarndale doors, the final sack of triangles was brought to the café for stringing.

It was rather wonderful to finally catch a glimpse of light at the end of the tunnel.

The atmosphere in the café on this Thursday morning was really amazing. All these lovely, kind, creative ladies being so generous with their time, working like the clappers to finish it all for us.

Lovely, lovely ladies (and gent!), I can't thank you enough for your help. We honestly couldn't have done it without you.

So.

The time had come.

Deep trepidation and high anxiety as we prepared for The Hanging.

It was completely nerve-wracking. Honestly, I can't tell you how worried I was. I kept having this awful sinking feeling that for some reason it just wasn't going to work out. We knew the ceiling was very, very high. We knew that it was going to mean some Very Big Ladders. And we knew it was going to be a long, difficult job.

In fact, it wasn't nearly as difficult as I had feared. We had three ladder-savvy menfolk to go up the ladders, whilst the yarny-savvy ladies directed from below.

Each five metre length of bunting was passed up and knotted to the previous length, so creating one enormous, continuous length swinging from side to side. Back and forth we went, working our way down the left hand side of the room.

It began to look MaGnIfIcEnT.

And the more we hung up, the more MaGnIfIcEnT it became.

It was the most incredible feeling for me, I can't tell you. After months of hard work and a huge amount of associated worry, my Creative Vision had miraculously come to life. It happened! It actually happened!

THE YARNDALE BUNTING :: Ta-dah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hahahaaaa...my biggest ever Ta-dah moment by a long chalk :o)

Absolutely, jaw-droppingly stunning. If you don't mind me saying so.

The bunting was an outstanding success and made a fantastic welcome for all our visitors. I know from the huge number of comments we had, both during the weekend and via the internet afterwards, that everyone absolutely loved it.

It's hard for me to put into words what this project meant to me personally. Because it did feel very personal for much of the time. With every parcel I opened, and with every one of the 6,212 triangles I held in my hands, I felt so much love and gratitude. Such a strong sense of community and friendship. Thank you, thank you, thank you, to all five hundred and eighty two of you who took the time to make and send. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for making my dream come true ♥

But before we end, shall we have a few facts about the Yarndale Bunting?

Number of parcels received :: 582

Number of triangles :: 6, 212

Length of bunting :: 1.25 km (ohmygosh, yes it's true!)

Number of countries :: 31. Yes THIRTY-ONE. Want to read my list? Ok>>>>

1. Great Britain
2. Italy
3. Germany
4. Ireland
5. New Zealand
6. USA
7. Israel
8. Australia
9. Netherlands
10. Canada
11. Argentina
12. Spain
13. South Africa
14. France
15. Portugal
16. Greece
17. Sweden
18. Hungary
19. Malaysia
20. Gibraltar
21. Finland
22. Czech Republic
23. Slovenia
24. Iceland
25. Japan
26. Belgium
27. St. Helena Island (South Atlantic)
28. Denmark
29. Switzerland
30. Brunei
31. Norway

The End.

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ps actually, sorry, I know this is a very loooong post, but one last final little thing...

A lovely lady who made some very beautiful triangles to send from her home in Spain wrote a beautiful blog post about the Yarndale Bunting. It was wonderful to read about it from her (very eloquent) point of view, and I'd like to share some of her words here. She wrote ::

"There we are peeps representing and participating in colour our unity for yarn, crafts and the handmade. We herald our love for yarn, our love for colour, our love for beauty and demonstrating that craft breaks the language barrier because that bunting is a message that can be understood by all. I feel so good inside to see it, I feel just a little bit of me is there, I feel I belong, I feel the admiration of thousands of yarn lovers admiring OUR bunting!!!!   I feel it is a tremendous achievement to have brought together so many many people through the creation of this bunting."

Beautifully said Amanda, thank you xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 EDIT :: ahhh yes, that question....what will happen to the bunting now? Well....right now it is packed away in some very large sacks and is sitting in the basement of my studio. We intend to keep it to bring out again if we decide to go forth and create Yarndale 2014.

In the meantime, we are also being asked already if it can be loaned out. For other festivals, for a shop window display....it's pretty exciting, and the story continues.....

 

 

 

 

Yarndale 2013 :: The Yarn Bombing

When we first talked about the possibility of hosting a yarn festival in our sweet town, we all agreed that our number one word should be "creativity". Above anything else, we wanted Yarndale to be a Creative Festival. We wanted it to feel friendly, inspiring, fun, cololurful and possibly a tad quirky. We wanted to make people smile, and remind them how much fun can be had with yarn. Knitting and crocheting our Patchwork Sheep (affectionately named Betty) set us off in the right direction, and it wasn't long before all sorts of wonderful woolly ideas began to germinate.

 

One of our inspiration pinboards

 The idea for creating a Yarn Walk came about during one of our many excited discussions at the knit n natter café. I have long been a fan of "yarn bombing" or "yarn storming" as it is sometimes called, ever since I first came across images on Flickr many years ago. There is an interesting write-up about it on Wikipedia which kind of makes it all sound a bit serious to be honest, but you get the idea. We weren't out to make any grand statements or to do anything subversive, we just wanted to make people smile, and encourage visitors to take a walk in our beautiful local park.

All of Yarndale's decorative crochet was made using Stylecraft Special DK, a 100% acrylic yarn which comes in lots of gorgeous colours. It was absolutely perfect for the job in that it is bright and cheerful, lovely to work with, holds it's shape pretty well when wet and doesn't burst into flames when the local Naughty Kids try to set fire to it (yes, I know. More about that later). Luckily for us, Stylecraft is a local Yorkshire company and when they contacted us and offered us lots of their scrummy yarn to work with, we were thrilled. ((Thank you lovely Stylecraft People!))

Although the whole of the Yarndale team was excited about the yarn bombing idea, it was Little ol' Me who offered to take the project on. Truthfully, I was only too glad to be able to do something fun and yarny so that I could leave much of the scary event management stuff to the others. Finances and logistics and risk assessments and endless paperwork make me shudder, where as crocheting up a rainbow makes me sing!

I began working on some yarn bomb pieces at the beginning of August, but as I also had lots of other things to do (mainly bunting shaped things) I really needed to draft in some assistance. Luckily, I do happen to have a number of Happy Hooker friends who gladly volunteered their help, and it was lovely to be able to share it out this way.

This table of gorgouesness was created by just three happy hookers (myself, Natalie and Liz)....

....and they were made to cover the boring grey lamp posts which line the pathway through the park.

I just loved seeing these mini blankets pile up gently on my table as the summer weeks went by. I couldn't wait to see how they would look when they finally got released into the wild.

Alongside the stripy leg warmers lamp post wraps, flowers began to grow. At the bottom of the park there is a small nursery garden and we thought it would be rather fun to create a woolly flower garden nearby.

When my pointy finger was still very much hurting, I was just about able to work on very small projects such as these flowers. I had to work slowly and have plenty of rest in between, so it was a bit frustrating to say the least. After six slow flowers, I started to ask around for more help. Liz? Angela? can you pleeeeeeeeeeeease help me create a flower garden?

And as great friends do, they rallied around and spent many an hour hooking up a colourful floral storm.

Angela and I then spent a good many hours painstakingly stitching the flowers onto a length of fine green pea netting. It was laborious work, but we chatted while we stitched and eventually it all did come together.

Meanwhile, time was running out and I needed to start work on some yarny things to decorate the canal bridge. Just like the flowers that were to sit next to the nursery garden, I thought it would be fun to create something that directly related to the canal. Ducks were the obvious choice..quack quack!

As time was so short, I didn't even think for a second of trying to make my own duckling pattern. I went straight to Pinterest to see what was out there in Blogland and found the cutest little critter waiting for me.

The free pattern (from Itsy Bitsy Spider Crochet) was wonderful to work :: well written, easy to follow, quick, and the sweetest results.

I made six ducklings altogether, and then one Saturday I jumped in and made a Mummy Duck completely out of my own head. Just like that. I was so chuffed with her!

Sorry this is a bad picture, but it was taken very early one morning when I had just finished stitching on the eyes and beak and was hopping about with excitement in my pyjamas. I can't even begin to tell you about the making of her (it's all a bit of a blur), other than I worked a flat oval shape to start off at the base of her body, then completely winged it from there on in.

At the same time as ducks and flowers and bunting, I was also working on this large piece of crochet to cover a wooden post on the canal towpath. I had a clear vision of Mummy Duck swimming on top of some blue ripply water, with daisy-strewn grass growing underneath.

It took aaaaaaaaaaaaaages. I confess I got seriously bored working those green grassy stripes.

I worked on this piece for weeks on end, it is pretty big. One metre tall and worked round in a tube, so double the width you can see in the above picture. I finished it only four days before Yarndale during a most hectic week when my life was also rammed full of bunting triangles. It was all a weeny bit stressy!

Another yarny decoration that I conjured up during September were crochet balls. I was inspired by Kate's crochet apples which looked absolutely bloomin' marvelous, but I had the idea to work the crochet around these colourful plastic balls. These are "ball pit balls", purchased very cheaply from eBay (they came all the way from China!) and I loved how this idea turned out.....

....just look! They were quick and easy to make (ten minutes per ball!) and insanely addictive, I loved doing them very much. I think I made about twenty five in total, a group of all red ones for the yarn walk, then these multi-coloured ones to decorate a tree outside the Yarndale venue.

This was another crazy idea of mine, to use the same plastic balls to create knitty tree decorations. I bought some inexpensive plastic childrens knitting needles that were easy to stick straight through the plastic balls, then I simply wound yarn around the whole thing until the ball was covered.

Simple but effective, with just the right amount of quirky humour that pleases me so much ;o)

Most of our yarn bomb decorations were put up in one day, the Wednesday before Yarndale. I had a wonderful assistant who laughed and chatted the whole way through the process (thank you SO MUCH Jenny), with Heather taking some pics of us as we worked (thank you Heather and TTB)

First to go up were the flowers.

They looked a little bit droopy....

....but the overall effect was bright, colourful and welcoming as you entered the park.

After the flowers, we worked our way through the park putting our stripy leg warmers on the lamp posts. They were stitched in place, and at a metre or so long, it was quite a bit of work.

I took photos of most of them as they went up so you can see them before they got all saggy and wrinkled......

One....

Two....

Three....

Four....

Five....

Six....

Seven....

Eight....

There were three more I think, plus some thrifted blankets that we stitched around some tree trunks and on fences, but I didn't get chance to photograph those.

My red balls looked a-MAZ-ing when they were hung from the tree branches. They looked really great. Bright. Seductive. Tempting. Maybe just a bit too tempting......

.....cos they didn't last for long. Less than three hours after they went up, every single one went missing. Gone. Stolen fruit. There are a lot of Big kids who walk through the park as it's the main pedestrian route through to the local secondary school, so hardly surprising really. No good getting all upset though, that will never do. I ranted internally, then breathed out and let it go.

The woolly fruit balls that I hung from the tree outside Yarndale fared much better, and I think were really appreciated by all our visitors.

The above (glorious) photo was taken by Jacquie, and gives you a glimpse of the amazing weather we had during Yarndale weekend. We were so blessed, it was a little slice of late summer and made so many people happy.

I didn't manage to get a very good picture of the knitting balls in the tree, but hope you can make them out. They really made me smile, and I hope if you were there and looked up to see them, that they made you smile too.

Yarn bombing in action! This was me, 7 o'clock on Saturday morning (the very morning of Yarndale opening), installing my ducklets. I had stitched the ducklings firmly in place at home the previous night (well, early hours, it was gone midnight), but the blue striped lengths then had to be actually stitched around the railings.

It was all a weeny bit crazy and I felt quite anxious teetering on the very edge of the tow path doing this bonkers thing. I was most definitely not a relaxed yarn bomber! However, once they were in place, I stood back and had a moment of complete happiness, because they really did look great. Worth all the time and effort.

Mummy Duck was much easier to install. I stitched her bottom firmly to the blue water, and the whole thing just slid over the wooden post to cover it completely.

She looked wonderful!

I heard so many happy stories from visitors (and local residents) who had walked this way and come across my little duck family. It made my heart swell with happiness and a little teensy bit of pride. It's a wonderful thing to be able to make people happy with a bit of creative yarning :o)

There is a little bit of sadness attached to the yarn bombing story. Not all the residents of Yarndale Town were respectful. Every single piece of crochet was messed about with in some way. Every last bit of it was seriously pulled about. Most was just left looking very baggy but remained intact. But flowers, blankets and balls were stolen within hours/days of being put up. One of the lamp post covers melted a little, so I suspect that there was a flame involved. And most sadly of all, Mummy Duck was also stolen. Luckily she lasted for the two days of the festival and as already mentioned, I know she caused many smiles whilst she sat there.

So despite the tremendous work and the niggly issues would I do it all again? Well....the up side was definitely greater than the down side, so you know the answer I expect ;o)

Tomorrow, will be all about triangles. Thousands upon thousands of triangles......

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