Spring

We have had some crazy weather here during March!  First we had glorious sunshine and then we had thick fog and even a freak hailstorm!  At times it has been warm enough to go out without a coat and other days the north wind has made it quite cold!

On the sunnier days my husband and I have been out and about, discovering new areas and we have completed our first Geocaches of 2015.  We are very lucky to only be a short drive away from many historic sites and some beautiful old churches.

Back home and the garden is waking up to spring.

The hedgerows are filled with blossom

and there are violets and primroses underneath them.

At the spring equinox there was a solar eclipse.  Unfortunately the cloud cover was so thick that morning that there was only a slight dimming of the light here.

We did see lots of frogspawn in the pond though.

Back indoors we watched the eclipse on television.  This was how it looked above the clouds over the Faroe Islands.

Craft wise I have been knitting and spinning.

I have finished my Noordzee Shawl.  I'm not too happy with the sewn bind off as it wants to roll.

These close-ups are truer in colour.

I also knitted a ski-style headband for when it isn't cold enough for a hat, but my ears need to be warmer.  The plan was also for it to hold my glasses in place as they keep slipping down my nose when I am gardening, but last week I broke said glasses!!  I'm now waiting for a telephone call from the opticians to let me know that my new pair are ready for collection.  I didn't like my old glasses so I'm not sad that they broke!  I usually wear rimless glasses, but have decided on a change and have chosen some tortoiseshell ones this time. 

I felt a little lost with out anything on my needles, so I have cast on Crescent over Lothlorien, in a Nimu Blea silk yarn.  This is planned to be a 50th birthday gift for my best friend.

 I have finished spinning Jane Seymour from Hilltop Cloud.

 I only had 3 small sample packs, so I decided to ply it with some of the Plotulopi that I bought in Iceland last October.

It is lovely and soft and sparkly!

I ended up with 76 metres of Aran weight yarn.  

I'm not brilliant at spinning, but I love it! So when I spotted the "Rhubarb Crumble" fibre by Pinki Punki on Etsy, I couldn't resist purchasing it.  I also bought "Daisy", which wasn't the colour I was expecting.  Such is the nature of colour when viewed through a screen!  I was expecting royal blue with green, but instead it turned out to be purple with pink! I did wonder why a royal blue colourway would be called Daisy; now I know! :) Having said all that I do like it.

 Apart from a 2 minute demonstration at a fair, I am teaching myself to spin and this month I learnt the reason for different weights of spindles.  My shell spindle is quite heavy and spins a thicker weight of yarn.  In order to spin thinner yarn I realised that I needed a lighter spindle.  Back on Etsy (this is becoming a habit!) I found this beautiful spindle by Wildcraft.  I am so impressed with it!  It spins as beautifully as it looks.  It arrived with some Polwarth top

which I immediately spun.

I then started spinning "Daisy".  I split the fibre in half so that I end up with approximately two equal amounts of singles which I will then ply together.

My spinning is still a little thick and thin, but I hope that it will even out once plied.

My final little treat to myself this month was this sweet brooch and cute stitch markers from A Homespun House, which I discovered through Dani of Little Bobbins Knits.

 And of course during March there was Mother's Day.  My children obviously think alike as they both bought similar cards! :)

Our daughter is now home for the Easter holidays and our son arrives home this weekend.  I have been having a sort out in M's room and Ella snuck into her bed when my back was turned!

 She usually follows me around the house and garden.

 Apologies for another mega post!  Thank you for sticking with me if you have reached the end of this long post.  I need to get back into the routine of posting more regularly, but just in case I'm not back here next week I hope you all have a lovely Easter.  Best wishes, Pj x