Crochet
Visiting Attic24 land!
To say this has been an exciting week would be a bit of an understatement. Its been a rollercoaster of thrills really, all based around crochet…
On Thursday I set off for Skipton in North Yorkshire, home of Lucy of Attic24, having hatched a little plan with her and Heather of The Patchwork Heart. As you probably know by now because I’ve talked about nothing else for weeks, I won this gorgeous Spring Flower Blanket, organised by Heather as a community crochet make. Although I won the blanket, I decided to run a charity draw to raise money for Marie Curie Cancer Care UK. You can still enter the draw until midnight on Thursday 23 April 2015. Find out how to enter here.
The response has been phenomenal and we were close to reaching our £5000 target before I had even ever seen the blanket. Heather and I arranged to meet up in Skipton so that she could hand the blanket over in person, rather than posting it. This was a convenient meeting point that is half way between where we both live – and very conveniently where Lucy of Attic24 has her studio. Lucy very kindly agreed to invite us to the Knit and Natter group that she attends on Friday mornings at Cooper’s coffee shop in Skipton – and blanket was invited too!!
An afternoon in Skipton
After a stop off at a big Samuel Taylor craft shop in Embsay, just outside Skipton, I parked up and walked into town over the canal bridge. It was a grey day but very pleasant and plenty of canal boats were out to add a splash of colour…
The High Street in Skipton is topped by Skipton Castle, which I didn’t have time to visit. Instead I wondered off around the smaller side streets, which are quirky and full of interesting shops…
After a bit of lunch and a bit more window shopping I headed over to the budget hotel where I was staying the night. Of course I went wrong and ended up heading out of Skipton again… when I noticed the hills around me looking very familiar. Lucy at Attic24 often posts a picture of ‘her hill’ from the attic window so this was a good wrong turn to take.
Heather and I were staying at the same hotel so after a bit of feet up and crochet time, there was a knock on my door and there she was, carrying the famous blanket, all hidden away in a box. We took a few photos of me opening it up and it was truly a wonderful thing to see at long last.
An evening treat
After chatting for a while with Heather, which was a great, great pleasure as I have admired her blog and her work for a long time, there was another knock on the door. This time it was Lucy of Attic24; we have met before as I attended one of her workshops last year and she has been very supportive of our charity fundraising effort. She had come to pick us up to walk into Skipton to have a meal and share some wine that evening.
I am sure many people will be green with envy and there were comments on Instagram this week mentioning ‘crochet royalty’. But both Heather and Lucy are so nice I didn’t feel in any way excluded and we all three had a good giggle, a nice meal and chatted away as if we had known each other for years.
Cooper’s Knit and Natter
The next day there was more excitement to come. I was going with Heather to spend the morning at the Knit and Natter group at Coopers Coffee shop in Skipton, where Lucy and several other regulars meet up. We also planned to take some photos of the blanket in Lucy’s studio and post them on social media to give the fundraising a big boost in the last week of the draw. What a lot of fun it all was and it seemed to go by in a blur. I managed to do half a row of ripple and was convinced I had probably gone wrong – but checking later it was alright. I’ll always remember working on that blanket on that morning with such special company. What a happy Friday – possibly the best ever!
After several cups of tea and coffee, we went into Lucy’s studio and put the blanket out on her central table – where it fitted perfectly! The other Cooper’s regulars, including Tracy of Patchwork Chickens, who used to share the studio with Lucy until last autumn, were thrilled to see the blanket and to touch the rich texture of all the different flowers.
Fundraising total goes ballistic!
I got home on Friday afternoon very happy but very tired with the emotion of the whole couple of days! On Saturday morning, just before lunchtime I saw that Lucy had shared the post with the picture of the three of us on her Facebook page and the response was phenomenal. We passed our original £5000 target – and then some. As I write this, the current total is £6251 with another £1000 of Gift Aid to add to that.
Completely amazing. I will be writing up another post this week to explain exactly how the winning ticket will be chosen. I have thought long and hard about this and the method will give every ticket the same fair chance and the process of choosing is going to be totally transparent. With so much money involved, it must be so.
Check out the other blogs on Penny’s link up for more happy moments xxx
I am green with envy to all who live in England and get to have such great little shops. I would love to meet all of you gals that I subscribe to on Facebook (and I do all 3 of you gals). I love to see Lucy’s little corner of the world. It reminds me of James Herriott. I love the Patchwork Heart and your site. I wish my home was as clean and picture perfect as all 3 of you girls keep yours. Lots of Love and Hugs from Norton, West Virginia, USA.
Yorkshire isn’t known as God’s own country for nothing Paula 🙂 Its a fab place to live. Don’t be fooled by the pics we post though. The bit of the house in the shot may be tidy but the rest might be chaos! I was talking to Lucy last week about her ‘shelves of doom’ – I have whole rooms of doom!! We’re all just ordinary 🙂 Thanks for your comment and for visiting. My daughter has been in the USA for the last year and is coming home in three weeks – so excited to hear about all her travels and adventures xxx
Il y a des années que je ne suis pas venue dans le Yorkshire. … magnifiques souvenirs… la lande, ses immensités, son vent, ses couleurs. … et les soeurs Brontee. Mon premier plaid s’en inspirera. Merci pour votre blog
What a lovely excursion, and a great reward for organising such a fantastic fund raiser. The blanket is beautiful, I’m keeping my fingers crossed! Thanks for joining in with Happy Friday x
Some Marie Curie nurses came to see it today and they are so pleased that we have done this to raise money for them – they do an amazing job. Lots of admin to do before the draw on Saturday but it is very exciting to see who wins xxx
What a wonderful adventure you have had! I held my breath the whole time I was reading this! It is my dream to not only be able to visit England, but to meet Lucy and take one of her classes! Thank you so very much for sharing your adventure. I am so pleased the blanket has raised so much money for such a wonderful cause! Have a lovely spring day 🙂
Hugs,
Deb
Wow – what an amazing time you’ve had – like many, I’m sure, I’m green with envy about your trip to Skipton! Fantastic post and lovely photos. Have a great week. x
Thanks – it was a great week last week – this week maybe not as I have all the admin to do for the draw! Have a good week too xxxxxx
So pleased that you enjoyed your time in our neck of the woods! It was lovely to meet you and of course I saw that amazing blanket! Even if I don’t win, I will always be happy to have had the privilege of seeing it in person and stroking it too! We’ll meet again soon I’m sure, until then, I’ll keep Lucy and her wine company. Best Wishes, Sarah xx
Hi Sarah it was lovely to meet you and all the ladies of the knit and natter – hope to come again sometime xxxx
What a beautiful quilt, everything about it is beautiful.
I love the pics of the streets of Skipton, the old stone pavements look wonderful 🙂
Hi Jan, yes it was a special few days and a very important project to be involved with xxxxx
Looks like it was an amazing trip. That blanket it stunning. I am green with envy all the way from Canada. I’ve been following all 3 blogs for sometime and love the inspiration I get from all 3.
Thanks – sorry you are green with envy but it was such a lovely couple of days. I’ll remember them always xxxx
Lovely blog post and I am sure you had a couple of fun and lovely days! You deserve that after being so generous giving your pretty blanket away!
Corine
x
Thanks Corine – it was certainly a good consolation prize and I really enjoyed myself. Sorry I have neglected my visits to your blog but will its been hectic – the admin for the entries is a lot of work xxxxxxx All good news though – so much money raised for Marie Curie xxx