{ my april }

Another month so very nearly over.  This one has fled by in a flurry of Spring blossoms, bunnies & Bank Holidays.  I still have a few things left on my month's to do list, but there is a satisfying number already ticked off.

{ knitting }

The month of March had been all about the planning.  And April was all about the knitting.  It has been both exciting, and scary, ordering lots of yarn and knitting needles, and my first foray into jumbo knitting has been a fun one.  In a way it's taken me back to those childhood days of learning to knit, when the yarn & needles felt a little clumsy and unfamiliar.  And then you settle into that routine;  needle through the stitch, yarn around the needle, make new stitch.  The pile of swatches of different stitches, and different yarns, has grown, and things are slowly starting to take shape.  It still feels too early to reveal much more, though I think this may be the last month I allow myself to say that, but I think there may be a couple of posts coming next month to give you a bit more of a peek into the plan. 

{ reading }

My reading list this month has been a tad impressive, mainly due to being laid low by a virus at the beginning of the month, and reading being the only thing I had the energy, or the inclination for.  Somewhat ironically, I began the month reading Julian Barnes The Sense of an Ending a book that has been on my bookshelf for a while, but never read.  A book about memory and history, about re-examining events of the past from a different perspective; "I need to return briefly to a few incidents that have grown into anecdotes, to some approximate memories which time  has deformed into certainty."  

Something a little less serious next, and my next Agatha Christie, The Man in the Brown Suit a book of murder, mystery, intrigue, in the usual Ms Christie style.  Eager to find out Who'd Done It, I was quickly onto the book I've just finished, Anna Hope's The Ballroom.  I've just had a quick read through some of the reviews for this book on Goodreads, and by no coincidence do the same words appear;  beautiful, anguished, simple, slow, heartbreaking.  Set in an asylum on the edge of the Yorkshire Moors, the story is told from three person's viewpoints, inmates Ella and John, and one of the doctors, Charles.  To call it a love story would be to simplify the narrative, as it's so much more than that.  This isn't the book to pick up if you are looking for something to lift your spirits, you are more in danger of being left feeling slightly bereft, but a wonderful read none the less.

{ making }

Easter provided a lovely excuse to make a few little treat boxes to send out to friends.  Unlike previous years, I didn't do a lot of Easter baking this year, but did try my hand at making mini Easter eggs.  A little trickier than I thought they'd be, I have a new found respect for all the chocolatiers of the country.  Slightly easier to put together were these little gift boxes, each complete with their own Easter bunny, guarding those chocolate eggs.

{ watching }

Spring may have officially arrived in March, but I always feel it's April that it really begins to arrive.  Despite the British weather's best efforts to thwart the spring blooms, it seems there's been enough sunshine to bring out all the beautiful blossom, and to start making good in the garden.  Two trips already to the local nursery, with a few more to come I'm sure, though with the temperature having plummeted once again, this box of blooms is safely tucked inside the greenhouse for now.

At the moment the calendar looks very quiet for May, leaving plenty of time for more knitting, more reading, and more gardening I think #slowliving.

{ have a happy day }