Yep, Spring has definitely arrived, hooray!
We have spent the whole weekend out in the garden, sorting out the lawn (which is now mostly mud thanks to the very wet winter), tidying the beds ready for veg planting and just soaking up the wonderful warmth of the sun. It seems that we aren't the only ones sunbathing either as the plum tree is a magnet for Peacock butterflies emerging from hibernation. We often find them hibernating in the wood pile - they make the most alarming sound with their wings when disturbed and we're always careful to rebuild a shelter for them when we take wood away to burn on the stove. At one point this morning I counted six of them fluttering around and feeding from the tree blossom (which must be one of the earliest and most abundant food sources available to them), it was a truly magical sight.
Despite the closed wings I love this picture below because you can see that lovely spiralled proboscis
There must be a feast of nectar up there because there have also been loads of bees buzzing around the thousands of blossoms that are open on the tree at the moment.
It's so nice to have warm, bright days here again and to be able to be outside without getting soaked or shivering! Everything feels more manageable when the sun is shining :)
I've also taken advantage of the brighter weather to take some pictures of my finished Dream Stripes shawl (details of pattern and yarn here).
I'm really pleased with how it has turned out and with how blocking really accentuates those lovely points - I've never actually been bothered to wet block anything before - a quick steam block under a damp cloth is usually the best my projects can expect, but that wasn't going to cut the mustard here so I'm glad I took the time to wet block this time.
Now I just have to work out how to wear it - Amy tells me I look like a granny with the way I'm currently wearing it (you can always rely on a teenager for brutal honesty, thanks my lovely for your kind words). So, any tips on cool shawl wearing would be gratefully received!