Four seasons in one day

Spring continues to be full of surprises as we veer from light rain to torrential rain to hailstones to bright sunshine – all in the space of an hour or so and pretty much every day!  It’s been the sort of weather that makes me want to sit inside and knit until the rain clears up, but because the showers have been so short and intermittent, I have made myself get outside.  I’ve got a raincoat, I don’t dissolve in the rain!

Last week, I headed out to RHS Bridgewater with a friend who had spotted an excellent deal – you could get into the garden for £1 if you also showed a National Lottery ticket as the garden was taking part in the National Lottery Open Week where you get to visit National Lottery-funded venues for free or a small amount.  I’ve never heard of this before but what a great idea!

It was very busy when we got there but the garden is so big that as soon as you get out of the main entrance hall, it’s easy to find a quieter spot.  You might be able to tell from this photo what the weather was like and we were well-prepared to embrace all four seasons whilst we were there!

It’s a little early to see much in the ground.  There’s lots of replanting and redesigning going on and I’ll definitely want to go back later in the year to see how those new plants and borders have progressed.

We saw plenty of early spring flowers …

but the main borders and the kitchen garden were still bare.

Hooray for the greenhouses!  Not only was it lovely and warm in there (sunshine plus heaters – we could have stayed in there all morning), there were colours and scents galore.  I was amazed to see this passionflower blooming, and the cyclamen were so pretty en masse.

I’ve got quite a few succulents and some non-spiky cacti but you can see how much better they grow when they’re living in an environment that properly suits them – and nobody forgets to water them!

There are two greenhouses at Bridgewater and the second one was filled with spring flowers.  Pots and pots of narcissi and daffodil varieties and grape hyacinths – but down the other side of the greenhouse were the real stars of the green house … oh my goodness, as soon as you opened the door, the scent of those hyacinths was unbelievable!  So many colours from pale pink to white to the deepest shade of purpley-blue.  They were fabulous!

Amazingly, the rain stayed off for long enough for my friend and I to sit on a sheltered swing seat and eat our lunch.  We stayed there for quite some time, watching the groups of school children walk past to the big marquee where they could eat their own lunch.  They were having a lovely time, laughing and chattering loudly to each other in their lines as the teachers herded them along.  And like everyone who doesn’t have to look after a group of 30 children (or even mind your own small people for a bit), my friend and I thoroughly enjoyed watching them go past without us having to be involved in any way 🤣

After a while, we prised ourselves off the bench and finished our walk around the garden.  You might remember from last week’s post I spoke about looking for the colours in the grey days and I did just that and it turns out that the bare borders at RHS Bridgewater aren’t quite so bleak-looking after all.

Back home, I was inspired to get out into my garden to carry on with the clearing up work I’m determined to do this year but unfortunately, there were no sunny moments in this particular garden.  Oh my goodness, I got drenched, and I turned the path I was walking on into a muddy mess.  I got plenty done but I looked like a cross between a drowned rat and a swamp monster by the time I finally finished what I wanted to do and got back indoors, but it was nothing that a brew and a quick soak in the bath couldn’t fix!

And then there was the knitting.  I felt absolutely no guilt in lighting the fire, putting my PJs on and spending the rest of the day and the evening knitting.

I’ve finished the first of my husband’s forethought heel socks.  I’m not convinced this is the easiest way to knit socks, or not for me at least.  I needed my husband to try his sock on for length but had to go back and create the heel first, whereas if it had been a heel flap sock it would all have been done already.  However, because my best boy likes socks that look like bought socks, I knit heels that create that look for him so I am not grumbling about it too much.

As you can see, I’ve started the second heel so this pair shouldn’t take too long to finish now.  The heel itself is just like creating another toe decrease section and I think that the join where the decreases meet is tighter than the short row heel I usually do – to be honest, I don’t knit enough of either type of heel to really perfect them so I just want them not to wear out too quickly!

If you’re interested in trying this technique for yourself, I used this video by The Chilly Dog to get started, and I worked an extra three rounds after picking up the stitches to make the heel a bit longer.

My Aardvarkish Shawl is coming on a-pace now, as you would hope now that I’m only working garter stitch rows.  I’ve got a feeling that I’m going to run out of yarn before I’ve used up all the lace stitches but that’s fine, it still works OK with this pattern as you can use a yarn-less cast off (bind off) to finish off the stitches even if you don’t have any yarn left.  I’ve got instructions on how to do that in the pattern so don’t worry if you think you’re going to be in the same situation!

And finally for today, I mentioned last week that I might have something new to tell you about … and I do!  I’ve got a new sock pattern which I’ll be releasing on 11 April!  It’s currently with my test knitters to make sure it makes sense, but here’s a sneak peek of the toes …

I think they might need re-blocking as my toes are definitely not that shape!   We’re still a few weeks away so I’ll fix those toes and show you some more soon.

Have a lovely week and I’ll catch up with you again later! xx