Sunday, March 25, 2012

Knitting and daffodils

I've been going a bit mad in the garden recently, including taking a day off work to catch up with some gardening (!), and we had a lovely afternoon out today to see some daffodils, so I'll put some gratuitous daffodil photos in this post, but leave most of the garden update for garden-at-the-beginning-of-April, to make room for the knitting update.

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A couple of projects have been finished this week. I finally finished the KAL blanket from last year (!), just in time as I will be seeing the lucky recipient who's having it as a birthday present next weekend and want to take it with me, as it's a bit big to put in the post.

I'm pleased with how it's turned out. The squares aren't quite all the same size, but the crochet edging helped even it up a bit.

And I produced another tea cosy. Last year I knitted one for an old-lady-at-church, who wanted one to match her kitchen. Well, it turned out that old-lady-at-church thought her friend would like one too, so I ended up knitting another, identical, one! It's the Terrific Tea Cosy pattern that I've made a few times now. I am kind of hoping that old-lady-at-church hasn't got any more friends who would like tea cosies though...


And I'm trying to find some yarn to knit a jumper for my nephew's birthday in May. He apparently would like an Auntie-knitted jumper (thought he might be getting a bit too old for these things) but it has to be soft and bright red. I've settled on the Intrepid Pullover pattern from Interweave Knits, now I just need to source the yarn. I'm thinking either Patons Smoothie DK, or Sirdar Baby Bamboo (but without letting on to him that the yarn has "baby" in its name, as he'll be 6 and would be Totally Mortified).

How did I get so old and wrinkly that my youngest nephew is 6?! Although I now have three grey hairs, so it's obviously downhill from now on.

This afternoon we went for an afternoon out to Valley Gardens, as I'd heard rumours of some amazing daffodils at this time of year. And we weren't disappointed.

Some bits were very familiar. I went to university very close to here, so I've walked past this pool many times (usually whilst avoiding revising for exams/with an essay deadline looming etc)

 But I hadn't ventured into the gardens themselves before, and they're spectacular. With a lot of rhododendrons (we later discovered that it's the home of the national collection of rhododendrons, which would explain why there's rather a lot!).

 And beautiful swathes of daffodils as far as the eye could see!


These are some of the daffodils out at home. I planted the same varieties together, so they group into different coloured clumps around the garden. Apart from at the far end, where I obviously forgot to plant any at all.





Think that's all for now. I'm away next weekend so I'm not sure when my next blog update will be.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

The blanket turned out very nicely! I am sure the recipient will feel very blessed by such a gift.

And I love the daffodils! They are one of my favorite flowers. They bloom wild around here and I don't think I'll ever get enough of them. :)

Nic said...

Wow! Those gardens are beautiful and I like your daffodils too. My garden looks best in the Spring. Tulips and daffodils just do their thing all by themselves and look so bright after the winter.
I bet your friend will love the blanket.

Tina said...

The blanker came out Great, I think.
Daffodils are my favourite spring bulbs, too. So bright and sunny, perfect after a long grey winter.

Mary deB said...

The blanket looks great! And, ah, daffodils! We even have some here in Toronto already, although usually it's at least April when they are blooming, if not May!

Mary Anne said...

Your blanket came out beautifully and I like that tea cozy very much. 'Old lady at church', love that moniker!

Daffodils are definitely a harbinger of spring and they look lovely in your garden.