Snapshots - October 2016

 Welcome to October! This is the month when spring really kicks in. The weather was up and down which became the norm for spring - our weather in winter was much more settled! A bit of rain is always good for the garden of course and luckily the blossom trees still bloom no matter the weather. The hellebores continued to flower steadily and looked pretty next to silver-grey lambs' ears.


I made a couple more Jan Eaton squares.

 The bright colours of spring begin to show! Left is Cercis Forest Pansy and right is rhododendron Mrs GW Leak.

 And I had more tulips. These frilly ones are just amazing! Even more amazing to me was the way the petals age, becoming more beautiful and antique looking as they dry. Next year I really need to plant all the tulips.

 I tried my hand at yarn dyeing early in the month. It's so much fun and I'm quite happy with the results given that I used food colouring! And just a cheap supermarket packet at that. I really can't wait to try some different colour combinations and techniques now, and hand dyed yarn knits up into really fun socks!

 Peony season began this month! On the left is a Pink Hawaiian Sunset variety. Of my nine or so peony plants, only 4 actually flowered this season. Most of them were transplanted the winter before last, so it would seem that they are taking their time to get established.

On the right is a little posy of tulips, clematis and snowball viburnum. The clematis was looking great and covered with flowers bursting open. Then it suddenly wilted. I read about clematis wilt, which can suddenly afflict a healthy plant (usually when a young plant puts on a big growth spurt, and it grows too big for the root system to send nutrients to). The advice was to cut the plant back to the ground so it can grow back. I cut it back and there is absolutely no sign of anything growing back... boo. RIP my fancy clematis.

This month went fast as I spent the bulk of my spare time working on reseeding the back lawn. Not a fun job, or easy, or quick, but I deemed it necessary. At least I had all the spring pretties to look at!

I'll be back soon with November's update.

Snapshots - September 2016

 Hi again! It's been a wee while hasn't it? Poor little blog, I had somewhat forgotten you (although I've still been compiling the photos). I keep thinking I'll do it this week, perhaps tonight, but then I pick up knitting or crochet and open up YouTube and the night disappears. Gentle inquiries from family members have reminded me that others read here occasionally, so I'm making a bit effort this week to bring things up to date!

And so we begin back in September, still in that transitional phase between winter and spring, where the light is bright and hard and contrasty, and you still need candles in the evening.

 I finished my In The Yarn Garden cushion. I had put it aside for a little while as something about it wasn't making me feel the joy. I realised that it was the size - it was going to be quite big for a cushion, much bigger than my other couch cushions, and it just wouldn't work for me. So I decided that instead of working a separate back piece and joining them, I'd put some extra rounds on the front piece to enlarge it a bit, and then fold it envelope style and join at the back. That worked well and it was the perfect size. I added tassels to the corners for extra drama and I now call it my boudoir pillow. I made a second cushion from my original back piece, but I cheated and sewed it on the front of an existing cushion cover! So basically I got two for the price of one... gotta love that.

 Spring blooms! I always love getting out my glass bottle collection and filling them with tiny blooms and blossoms. I used hellebores, anemones, stocks, spring stars, osteospermums, and my favourite foliage Jacob's Ladder.

 I had a week off work too, to work on the garden of course! I dug a new bed lining the back lawn, and I had some trees and shrubs to put in. Naturally the weather was iffy for at least half the week. But I did get to enjoy the first blossoms of the season on the almond trees, along with the first tulips (also the first tulips I've ever grown - but not the last!), and at last a flower on a market-purchased hellebore (bottom left) that is perhaps the most striking hellebore I've seen. Now to try breeding it with a double...!

 

Here are a couple of videos from my phone... I haven't tried adding a video here before so I hope this works!

 When I wasn't gardening I was crocheting, and I even organised my yarn stash into a chest of drawers (right). It JUST holds everything. On the left is my Jack and Lydia project bag, which is big enough to hold several balls of yarn plus a few smaller project bags for things like socks. It's helping keep my work station (the couch) much tidier!

 Here's another project I completed quite quickly, a crochet capelet! I just love this and it's perfect for chilly mornings. The pattern is called Chanson en Crochet and you can find it on Ravelry. Make sure you print the errata as well, as it's fairly complex! I found it a lot of fun to make with all the different lace patterns, and it became lovely and drapey when blocked.

I found these pretty gold metal candle holders at Kmart so I redid the mantelpiece with lots of glass and light metal (and lights). I really love it and for once I don't feel the need to redo it!

And I started knitting another sock (my second pair). Will they fit better than the first? Stay tuned to find out!

Here's a video showing the new bit of garden I created (with furry help of course)

See you soon for October's update!