Missing camera

It turns out that the reason I couldn't find my camera was that my husband had taken it to work and not told me. Which is a good thing because I thought I had lost it (pregnancy brain strikes again).

So this is the yarn that I received from my painting yarn swap. I also got a whole lot of goodies (despite there being no requirement for presents). My painting was the Adoration of the Magi by Gentile deFabriano. I saw this at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, and it was just stunning and magestic - encrusted with beautiful gems and gold leaf. Like all my favourite art, it is so much better in real life than in pictures.

My yarn is 4ply Merino, dyed with cake gel dyes, and it looks stunning in the ball. It also came with a pattern for a baby jersey and I've started knitting it up, but I'm not so sure that I like the combination of colours in the finished product. I'll post photos of how its going and I'll decide whether I like it once its all finished and seamed up.

So I wanted my first post to be about my Rhododendron that has just started flowering, and looks gorgeous out my kitchen window - but I can't find my camera so I'll have to start with something equally interesting, but not as picturesque.

I was involved with my first yarn swap a little while ago, and I dyed the wool (also for the first time). It was really cool. The swap was based on a favourite painting. My swapee's painting was "Hylas and the Water nymphs" so I dyed my wool green and yellow to go with the waterlilies in the picture. It was really exciting dyeing the wool - my Mum was super sceptical that it would work, but it turned out fabulously. I can't wait to see how it knits up.