Winter-Spring

A couple of months which started with marmalade making and ended with blossom and flowers. We have had all the weather with a lot of wind and rain, and a couple of beautifully sunny days that felt like spring was almost here. No snow, but that didn't stop me wearing my Icelandic hand-knitted jumper, a souvenir from our holiday.

Other items which made their way into our suitcase: this delightful little chap...

...and a lot of chocolate. Liquorice is big in Iceland. Chocolate and liquorice together is a popular and delicious combination.

I am, in fits and starts, working on an embroidery diary of our week away. It has been hard to fit in around work and life, but I have sewn the flag. Staying with the Icelandic theme, I just finished Names for the Sea by Sarah Moss, a book about the author's year living in Iceland while teaching at the university in Reykjavik. It is very well written, and interesting. 

It takes me so long to sew anything that the fading ink on the embroidery pen has gone by the time I next pick up the sewing, so I sew around the edge now.

One finished puffin. We didn't see any sadly but they are so much a part of Iceland, on sale in every gift shop (along with trolls and vikings) that I had to sew one.

I celebrated my birthday just after we came back from our trip. That certainly sweetened going back to work and getting back into our normal routines.

John gave me this beautiful oil painting which I am in love with.

At the end of February, my friend Abigail and I visited Unravel yarn festival in Farnham. It falls close to our birthdays, and is helpfully situated sort-of half way from both our houses, so it may become a tradition.

As with last year, I was disappointed by how set up it was for knitters and how little there is on offer (patterns, kits, examples of made up clothing) for crocheters. But, I still managed to buy some yarn.

We saw a pheasant in the back garden. Nothing else happened, Ziggy didn't notice it (thank goodness) but we live in quite a built-up area and the sight of this one strutting around did cause me to double take as I looked out of the kitchen window.

March was a bit of a blur as I was quite unwell with a chest infection. Lots of weekend plans were cancelled and a lot of time was spent at home. However, one lovely thing that did happen involved the bookcase situation in our living room. We removed the radiator on that wall and had planned to get a carpenter to build a wall of shelving into the space. However, upon measuring, we discovered that the wall was exactly big enough for four IKEA Billy bookcases with the height extensions on top, so that's what we did. I absolutely love it. It makes me happy every time I look at it.

There was inevitably a spring clean and re-shuffle of furniture, until things find their next home.

We added a strip of LED lights along he top of the bookcases, which looks nice and also gives a bit of extra light if I;m crocheting.

Meanwhile, despite the germs and endless rain, spring was resolutely doing its thing outside. 

We had dog walks around castles when it rained so heavily that we had to shelter in the stone walls. Angus loved it. Ziggy was unimpressed.

I did manage to salvage this selection of tulips, daffodils and narcissi from the garden though, before the wind and rain could do their worst. 

The garden is slowly waking up and showing signs of life, but I have noticed that I have lost quite a few plants over the winter. Two hebes, a wallflower and a bottle brush tree have all died, and my camellia isn't looking too good. I don't know if it was the drought last summer, or the many frosts we had over the winter (or perhaps both) but it has taken its toll. Thankfully this snowmound is looking good. 

Reading continues to make me very happy. So far I have read seven books this year, including Names for the Sea, mentioned above: I read The Man Who Died Twice and The Bullet That Missed, both by Richard Osman. Five stars for both, I love these books, and the representation of older characters in novels. I feel they should be prescribed. The always perk me up. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, a young adult title for book group. Not my usual choice but I quite liked it. Crossroads by Jonanthan Franzen - a weighty tome that wants to be The Great American Novel but is also rather good, a family saga. A Short History of Tractors in Ukranian - my second time of reading this book and I love it, so warm and witty and full of life. The audio version is great as the narrator does the accents so well. I enjoyed Wintering my Katherine May, a thoughtful non-fiction book about how to embrace the things we would do during winter when ours bodies or minds need rest. 

This is the current reading pile. I have almost finished Magic Lessons by Alice Hoffman and am really enjoying it. It is a historical novel set during the late 1600s in Salem and New York during the time of the witch trials, and I am gripped. She plots well. 

As well as reading, illness and bad weather also mean crochet. I have dusted off this Trio Blanket which I started three or four years ago, I'm not sure, and I am really liking it. I am trying to remember why I abandoned it when I did. Working with three big balls of yarn is a pain, certainly, as they are liable to get tangled, but the subtle colour changes without the ends to darn in make it worth it. It will be a small, lightweight throw I think, by the time it is finished. 

And I finally finished this jumper, the Granny Go Round pattern. I made it quite cropped, and changed the cuffs to that the are longer with a puff of crochet granny trebles above. I wear it over an oversized shirt. It is very warm. I can't remember the yarn but know it was some kind of washable wool DK.

It was a nice jumper to make. Once you've done the increases around the shoulders, the rest of it is just rows of trebles. Very soothing, just a lot of ends to darn in. It's a good pattern though, well written and easy to adapt if you didn't order enough yarn, like me.

That takes us up to the end of March. April so far is looking good, with sunny days and the Easter holidays, so I am throwing myself into decorating, gardening and spring cleaning with a bit of seasonal baking too if I have time.