the twisted yarn

Knitting, crochet, running, and silliness.

Spring! Don’t Jump Out At Me Like That!

by 24 Comments

WOAH-there. Spring, where on earth did you, um, ‘spring’ from? That was a bit sudden. A few days ago I was pondering whether our log supplies would last the month at our current rate of huddling in front of the log-burner, and whether I could afford another lorry-load of logs, and whether my stinking head-cold was turning to bubonic plague (being prone to diagnostic melodrama), and now I’m sitting in my parents’ Herefordshire garden, enjoying these colours whilst the Toddler Twinnage rampage around pretending to be stegasauruses and sundry other dinosaurs. I still reckon I’ve got bubonic plague, though. This head-cold is vicious.

image
The Parent-Garden

Colours in Herefordshire are always vivid. The distant hills take on a blueish hint, the ample rain keeps the grass ultra-green, and even the soil is a rich red-brown from all the Devonian sandstone underneath.

Speaking of colours, I’m working hard on my crochet house-bag design and my knitted skirt design. Look!

image

But the flaw in my otherwise happy plan is of course that many colours mean many, many, many, did I mention many ends to be woven/cajoled/sworn in. Look at the reverse side of the house’s front!

image
It’s Not Pretty.

So I sit in the parent-garden and weave in the ends. (Did I perchance mention that they were numerous?) Since it’s suddenly spring, the birdage has all gone a bit bonkers around me, and whilst I work, the only thing I can hear from my parents’ otherwise silent garden is about a thousand feathered friends wanting to get very, well, friendly with each other. I am now in a position to reliably inform you that robins, though normally antisocial avians, woo each other by wiggling their bottoms and shuffling their feet in a little dance that’s not unlike your uncle’s efforts on the dancefloor circa 1975. I’ll never ever tire of the fact that the more you stop and the more you stare, the more nature reveals its little quirks to you.

Now, TheTwistedYarn ain’t very good at seasonal festivities, but I’ve heard a rumour that it’s Easter, and I have something immensely cute to show you. My wonderful, kind, creative friend in both real and virtual life (Selma from EclecticHomeLife) put together thoughtful little gifts for the Toddler Twinnage, and the bags containing each of these were tied with little rabbit motifs that she’d designed and crocheted. How adorable? I’m strugglings slightly because I’m not sure how to repay her. Do you think I can measure her feet (for hand-made socks) without her noticing?

image

Of course, spring is a time of change, and there’s plenty of change a-coming here. I’ll soon be showing you the column I’ve got starting in a British knitting magazine. And I’m off to Yorkshire in a fortnight to co-judge the Stylecraft yarn competition. The Twisted Seniors are selling their beautiful Herefordshire barn and heading over to our corner of Oxfordshire. And after some careful discussion with the Stoic Spouse, I would like you to know that we’re about to begin our last ever round of IVF. Sometimes it feels as though the new year doesn’t really get properly going until the springtime, and this year has the potential for much development.

Comments

  6. That skirt looks intriguing, and your cottage is lovely. Here we watch the squirrels. They are usually engaged in a mad chase, which we haven’t figured out is a courtship chase or a get outta my turf chase.

    Reply

  7. The house is looking good, I like the skirt. My daughter has just made a short skirt knitted in the round, it’s very good for her first ever attempt at knitting, Good luck with the IVF.

    Reply

  8. Such a lot of news! adorable bunnies, beautiful gardens, parents moving, potential new life and parents closer! Wow. And that bag is very cute. I also had the thought that, well, if you were lining it, maybe you didn’t have to finish it so carefully; but then Steve Jobs thought the insides of the computer should be beautiful as well. You may have that same idea…

    Reply

  10. Urmm… Have to confess I didn’t design the bunnies. They were a tiny little design tucked in near the back if a Simply Crochet magazine. Wish I were that clever. Love that the boys lived their gifts. Those ends are so worth it and I LOVE that skirt. I’m thinking now to make a crochet one…

    Reply

  11. Ditto on all of the above, except I, too, would have to bury those ends, “just because.” 😉 Ask your friend to help you check the gauge on your skirt. Casually set a ruler on the table in front of her, and take your best guess on the length of her forearm. That will be the same length as her foot. It’s an old trick that really works. A few generations back, Mommies would measure the length of the little Kiddos’ arms each fall, from wrist to inner elbow, “to see how much you’ve grown.” Then, as if by magic, new slippers and/or socks for each child, knit by Grannies near or far, would appear on Christmas morning.

    Reply

    • Oh thanks for that. I have just measured my foot for a friend who is knitting me some socks. I can see now I could have more easily measured wrist to inner elbow.

      Reply

  15. So just now I lined up my right heel with my left inner elbow line and the toes touched the bulby part of my hand, in other words, the very end of the wrist. 🙂

    All is shockingly green here also.

    I don’t know if it was you who looked at one of my older entries entitled “twisted”, but if so, I have fixed the photo.

    Reply

  17. “Accidentally” shove Selma over and while you are apologetically helping her up, quickly measure her feet with a tape measure. Easy peasy. I hope the bubonic plague settles down soon. I hear that hot green or red curry soup can put the kybosh on it’s last vestibules of tenacity. It must be lovely knowing that your folks are about to move closer to you, but you will miss visiting your childhood home. I guess nothing wonderful ever comes without something nostalgic having to twang in the background. I have my fingers, my toes, my eyes and my intestines crossed for you both with your upcoming IVF. If you could see your way fit to letting us know when we can uncross everything again that would be nice. I am already a bit of a sight, but add in all of the crossing and I might have to stay indoors for the duration…

    Reply

  20. Spring has certainly sprung, thank goodness, I feel myself come alive again after too much loafing inside over the winter months. Cutest bunnies and your projects are looking fab. Ends, ends and more ends, wouldn’t it be lovely if someone would invent a yarn that didn’t leave all those ends to so in? We can but live in hope!

    Reply

Please do leave a comment - I love to read them.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

%d bloggers like this: