Grey days

I got all giddy earlier in the week because the sun shone.  I even sat outside on the step in the sunshine and ate my lunch one day … but now we’re back to grey and dismal.

Even the dog hasn’t been inclined to get out of bed but by Friday, I was bored of sloshing along the same paths so we headed off to Culcheth Linear Park to see if it was a little less grey there.

It’s funny when you look at this photo because now I can see so much green but as we set off along the path, it all still looked the same shade of dismal.

And that’s when you have a choice.  Do you sigh and put with the gloomy day or do you look for something to brighten it up?  I’m all about looking for the extraordinary in the everyday so you can probably guess what’s coming next …

I stopped to look at the daffodils.  Really look at them, with their cheerful yellow faces even on the dullest of days.

I noticed that the sound of birdsong was particularly loud – all kinds of songs as birds flitted amongst the branches, and looking up, I spotted these.  Lots of bird boxes have been put up and they’re all numbered as no doubt there will be someone taking taking notes of what does or doesn’t move in.  You might spot a different type of box in the bottom right of this collage …

That’s a bat box.  We get the little pipistrelle bats flying around our house in the summer evenings but I can imagine that a woodland would be the perfect place for them to live.

Now I was on a roll and I was actively looking for what I could see that was different.  I don’t think I’ve ever stopped to look at the bark on these trees before …

It’s a good job that the dog prefers to sniff rather than hurtle into the bushes these days as I was having a lovely time looking for new things to spot!

There were new leaves appearing everywhere and as I walked further into the wood, I wondered how I’d thought it was grey at all.

I’ve always liked these stones; I think there used to be a lot more carved stones in the Linear Park but they have worn away over the years.  These look ancient now with their worn leaves and moss covering, but they’re not that old in the scheme of things.  Certainly not Neolithic!

There are two paths through the Linear Park – the “top path” and the “bottom path”.  The top path that we were on is higher and drier, but the bottom path is quite the opposite.  We usually do a loop starting at one or the other going one way and then the other one on the way back.  I was glad that I was wearing my wellies!

Somebody with me didn’t care about wellies!

Not a big bear at all but my favourite boy having a paddle.  He doesn’t leap into the water in the same way now, but he still loves getting his feet wet and still likes to wallow like a hippo when he can.  He’d already wallowed several times by the time we reached this point!

And just as we were on our way back to the car, I spotted these lone narcissi on a bank.  There were a few of them, presumably from scattered bulbs, and they were a cheerful view against the brown leafy bank.

By the time we got home, the weather had picked up the change in my mood and the sun had come out.  Oh, how I love the colour of the sky at this time of year when it’s not covered with clouds!

The twisted hazel tree is absolutely covered with catkins, and now I know to look for the tiny flowers too.

Can you see them?  Little tiny red flowers – you’d never see them if you weren’t looking for them.

I was in the garden for a good few hours last weekend as I’m planning to repurpose the old duck enclosure as a catio for Astrid.  She’s absolutely determined to be outside at the moment and loiters right next to the door if you’re coming in and out so that she can make a break for it.  She always pauses once she’s out, though – whether that’s in shock at having escaped or sudden overwhelm that the sky is higher up than the ceilings I’m not sure, but I do know that she isn’t allowed to wander outdoors on her own any more (she was hit by a car a few years ago crossing a main road and the vet said it was likely she would go back to the same route if we let her out again) and it would be nice for her to have a safe outdoor space to go to.

I got as far as digging the mesh out from the ground so that I can actually move the enclosure now.  I had forgotten that we’d buried it to try to stop foxes getting in and it worked with the foxes, but not with other furry things as the mesh gauge wasn’t small enough.  That’s less of an issue with Astrid who might be delighted to have furry things in the enclosure with her … although they’d be taking their lives in their hands if they did!

Does anybody have any experience with catios? I will need to replace some of the mesh as it’s rusted away despite the plastic coating, but does this look safe enough to contain my girl?  I’d be heartbroken if I left her in there and she got out!

Back indoors, I have finished my polo t-shirt that’s the colour of the spring sky …

This is first garment I’ve knitted for absolutely years!  I am delighted at the way that I was able to sew in the sleeves after my friend helped me with the shaping last week and I really am very proud of it – but it’s also a bit of a disaster.  It’s too big!  Not just a little bit too big – I was between sizes so chose the bigger one to knit, and it’s come out 2″ bigger than that!  Did I check my tension before I started?  Yes, I did.  Did I check it as I was working the pieces?  No, I didn’t, and that’s been my downfall.  If I had only measured the pieces as I was going along, I would have seen that it was never going to fit me (seriously, I look like I’m about 10 and I’ve borrowed my Dad’s clothes!) but having got the gauge in the beginning, I steamed blindly on and this is the result.  Oh, all that extra knitting I didn’t need to do!  There’s a reason why people knit top-down instead of in pieces …

I’ve tried it on several times. I’ve wondered if I can shrink it (it’s 100% cotton, it’s only going to grow).  I’ve thought about putting it in the charity bag and buying more yarn to start again … but I have finally decided that I’m going to unravel it.  I don’t want to buy more yarn: I know I have enough to knit the smaller size (if it grows again, it’ll be a great fit!), they’re the colours I want and I am just going to consider this as a practice piece that shows that I can knit myself a t-shirt if I want to.  I very much doubt that I’ll be wearing it this year, but one day I will!

More successfully, my Aardvarkish Shawl is at the point where I’ve finished the lace section and the short garter stitch rows start.  It’s taking me longer to knit this version than it did to knit the original design – my own fault for knitting it in the evenings and watching TV instead of properly looking at what I was doing!

There’s finally been progress on my husband’s afterthought heel socks as well, as I found a ball of darker purple yarn for the heel.  Both the yarns are Yarnsmiths Merino Sock but I’d have to have a good look for the ball bands if you wanted the colour numbers.

I don’t usually knit forethought/afterthought heels (forethought uses waste yarn, afterthought uses scissors) as I think that heel flap heels give a better fit, especially if you have a high instep or a wider heel, but my husband likes the effect it gives and so I knit them for him – don’t be expecting any patterns with this heel, though! 🙂

Thank you for all your lovely comments on my fabric t-shirt that I showed you last week.  I wore it out the other day for the first time and didn’t get that “ugh, someone is going to spot it’s home-made” feeling that I used to get – in fact, someone even said to me that they thought I’d bought it from White Stuff!  I have lots of White Stuff clothes in my wardrobe as I love that shop (and most definitely the sale rack 🙂 ) so I took that as a very great compliment!

And that’s it for this very long blog post!  I’ve got more sock stuff to talk to you about next week (something new coming?  Ooh … maybe!) and until then I hope you have a lovely Sunday! xx