Musings on a rainy day

It's raining again but it's a softer kind of mizzle - mist/drizzle all wrapped up together. The cars are swishing by through the puddles, sounds outside are quite muted and it has a quiet, soporific feel, inviting you to relax for a bit in a comfy chair with a warm cuppa. I'm wondering if there is a good film on that I could lose myself in whilst comfort knitting. Might have to get out the dvd's and find an oldie....

You know what I really feel like doing today? Spinning. Out of the blue, not planned, and it's not as if I really need to start anything else new with so many things already on my to-do list. But it seems to fit this afternoon perfectly. I'll have to dust off the spinning wheel as it has been quite a while. In fact, there is a roving still being spun on it so that should be rectified immediately :) So I'm going to follow my muse today and just 'be'. I always find spinning quite meditative - keeping the hands busy whilst letting the mind wander off wherever it likes.

So a nice pile of roving to get stuck into. Now, just need to put the kettle on...... what does it matter if it's raining when there is good fibre yumminess to enjoy?  Back soon with some spun yarn maybe? Enjoy your day!

Cheery Rhododendron

Not much in the way of knitting has been going on today due to this one new purchase - my lovely pink Rhododendron. It's officially called 'Cheers' I think, but it's now stuck in my head as Cheery - as it is bright and cheery! I had only gone into the garden centre to get some cat friendly slug pellets and this was calling to me. None of the rest were in flower and this was bursting with colour. And a glorious pink! I love how the unopened buds are a deep magenta but the flowers themselves are a delicate lighter pink with those lovely deep pink spots inside.

And just why has this lovely plant stopped me from knitting, you ask? Because I have to clear a space to put it! It grows to 1.8m x 1.8m and needs to be in a more protected space. It was originally going to be a lovely evergreen windbreak to stop all my other plants dying on one side of my garden but the label says it won't like that at all. But now, I have to bring my garden excavation plans forward a little:-)

This year, we've decided that we will still grow vegetables and tomatoes but not in the designated vegetable patch. The slugs were getting fat and the soil wasn't that good for growing, so this year we are having a vegetable and herb pot garden!! This leaves the old veggie patch empty and we have dithered between paving it, planting it with a few plants but we don't really have enough to fill it straight away, or maybe even making a zen garden for me to relax in. I thought that would be the cheapest option - gravel, rake and a few stones - ummm!

But now I've impulsively bought my cheery rhododendron, it needs a home so back to being a raised flower bed it is. Mind you, it will take pride of place:-) and I can 'borrow' some plants to pad it out a bit from elsewhere in the garden - she says optimistically.

So we are now knackered from clearing the surface, digging out all the accumulated weeds and laying out the bed with bricks. But too tired for any planting. So, after a day of hard graft and no knitting, cheery is still in it's pot but a lot closer to a new home.

Magenta in bloom

All of a sudden, a little sun and somehow, everything seems to be coming out in bloom. When I parked the car on my way to the library the other day, I couldn't help but notice this magnificent strong magenta coloured rhododendron. There were so many flower heads it was really quite stunning.

Unfortunately I only had the camera on my phone so the pictures aren't as crisp or as tonally balanced as I would have liked, being such a bright day, but they manage to capture enough of the colours and the grandness of this plant. I had forgotten how BIG these can grow if they have the room - me walking backwards into the car park to get more in the photo (no zoom - sigh).

But it doesn't stop there, it keeps on going....... I think I was at the other end of the car park by this stage :-) It was slightly bigger than I could fit in but truly an impressive glory in pink.

I wished I had worn my magenta ishbel beret and I would have blended right in! But being pink inspired after so much sock green, I'm now working on a matching magenta Ishbel scarf - the small version first in 4ply/fingering weight and then I'll work my way up to a larger matching teal 2ply/laceweight version. I've nearly finished the first stocking stitch section and I'll soon start the vine stitch section. Now I'm familiar with the pattern from the beret, I'm hoping this will flow easily straight away - well, here's hoping:-)

I think this will be a warm scarf/shawl but not too bulky for spring. Not much to photograph as yet but I'll keep you posted.

Finally, I'd like to wish my sister a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! and I hope you enjoy wearing your chic, stylish, terribly fashionable teal ishbel beret:-))) Enjoy!