This week’s Ten on Tuesday topic is Ten Things on Your To-Do List.  I love lists.  I love to-do lists.  I love crossing things off my to-do list.  This is going to be easy!

1. Knit squares for a new Warming Grace project.  Cynthia is trying to pull this afghan together really quickly so I’m hoping some of you might be willing to add this item to your to-do list as well.  You can read the specifics here.

2. Read the book No Ordinary Time.  I’ve wanted to learn more about FDR for some time now and this book, while epic, should fill the bill.

3. Knit Bristow for Lois.  In exchange for my knitting Lois is finishing my pinwheel quilt.  Hooray for swapping skills.

4. Plant some pansies.

5. Contact upholsterer about reupholstering my mother’s old wing chair for the dining room.

6. Make lasagna tonight to have for dinner tomorrow night.

7. Arrange for limo for Hannah’s prom.  I cannot believe I have a kid old enough to be going to the prom.  Yikes.

8. Plan Easter dinner.  I could probably do that right now.  Baked ham, Parmesan mashed potatoes, asparagus, glazed carrots, cheesecake for dessert.  Hey, I’m done with this one now.

9. RSVP to Kiwanis about attending the Key Club dinner.  I really need to take care of this one today.

10. Remind Dale to order next year’s firewood.

What’s on your to-do list?

Wow, I cannot believe it is Monday already!  Home improvement projects sure don’t make for exciting or blogworthy weekends.  This particular weekend involved a lot of painting (mostly by Dale) and not nearly enough knitting.

We did do one fun thing, though.  We celebrated Earth Hour on Saturday night.

We turned off the lights and played cards.  I won.  Maybe it wasn’t such a bad weekend after all.

Of course we bought Hannah a bouquet of flowers for her performance in Into the Woods last weekend.  And of course I took pictures of it.  This is the best one.

Have a great weekend!

So a friend of mine had a baby recently and I, of course, wanted to knit something for the new little guy.  This is a special friend and therefore she has a special baby.  A baby deserving of handspun, I decided.  So I plowed through the stash and I found this skein from a while back.

Merino and silk for a baby?  Sure, why not?

My first attempt was the Cisco hat.  It’s very cute but I kept getting confused trying to follow the directions without actually knitting the stripes.  Frog.

My second attempt was the Jester Hat #104 from the book Knit Baby Head and Toes.  It was working out just fine until I got about 2/3 of the way through and realized I was going to run out of yarn.  Frog.

My third attempt was the Striped Stocking Cap, also from the book Knit Baby Head and Toes.  Turns out that third time is the charm.

I had to pose it on a Longaberger vase.  I’m sure it will be cuter on the actual baby.

I love the little knot at the top, too.

Thank goodness I finally found a pattern that worked or this kid would have been 5 before I had a finished hat for him!

Hannah was in a performance of “Into The Woods” last weekend.  She played Little Red Riding Hood and this required that she have banana curls.  As you may have noticed, Hannah has straight hair so achieving banana curls was no small task.  It took me an hour and a half to do her hair for each performance.  There were 3 performances.  That’s a lot of time with a curling iron!  No wonder I didn’t get much knitting done last weekend.

Anyway, once her hair was done I thought it would be fun to take some photos of her new ‘do.

Turns out she really liked those bouncy curls.

She jumped.

And twirled.

She just wouldn’t stand still.

Ahh.  That’s better.

It’s been a while since I’ve done a Ten on Tuesday post.  The themes just haven’t hit me for a few weeks but this week?  This week is a topic I can get behind.

10 Things You Like Doing on Vacation

1. Going to the beach.

2. Knitting at the beach.

3. Drinking at the beach.

4. Taking pictures at the beach.  Are you sensing a theme here?

5. Eating lobster after a day at the beach.

6. Walking on the beach.

7. Watching the sunset at the beach.

8. Going to the beach at night and seeing the moonlight dance on the water.

9. Finding shells, sea glass and other treasures at the beach.

10. Visiting, talking, and laughing.  At the beach.

In case you didn’t know – I love the beach!

I think it’s nice to have small projects in between big projects like vests and sweaters.  So when Gale posted her Lamar Scarf a while back I queued it up and ordered some yarn from Webs.  I ordered gray to make one for Dale and orange to make one for Lois.   Wouldn’t you know that Lois’ birthday was last week?  And wouldn’t you know that I made her this scarf!

The yarn is Cascade 109 Tweed LE and it comes in lots of beautiful colors.  It knits up super fast on size 13 needles and it’s completely reversible.  Truly this scarf makes a great gift.

Lois loves orange and she is thrilled with how cushy and warm it is.  I am thrilled that I finished a birthday present on time – for once.

It’s finally here – the first day of spring!  I’m ready to celebrate.  How about you?

I wondered yesterday what I would blog about today.  And then I went to a meeting and during the meeting I was knitting on my current socks.  I realized that if I hauled ass I could finish them by the end of the meeting and then photograph them for today’s post.

I just love it when a plan works out.

So the yarn is Schaefer Yarn’s Sock the Vote in the color “Michelle” but I just call them my First Lady Socks.  The pattern is my standard 64 stitch, picot-edge, stockinette sock.  I never get tired of it.

And I never get tired of the feeling I get when I wear a new pair of handknit socks.  It’s great!

Posting a recipe for Magic Cookie Bars is probably silly because everybody makes these, right?  But they are a favorite around here and they are great for a quick, easy dessert.  It’s easy to keep the ingredients on hand and when you need to bring something to a party you can throw these together in no time.  And they mix up in one pan so you don’t wind up with a sink full of dirty dishes, either.  I used to make them and bring them to other places so much that when Hannah was little she once asked me if I could make them “just for us” to eat.  Of course I obliged.  And now you can make them, too.   You don’t have to send them to Hannah, though.  You can keep them for your own self.

Magic Cookie Bars

• 1 stick of butter
• 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate morsels
• 1 1/3 cups flaked coconut
• 1 cup chopped nuts

1. Heat oven to 350°
   
2. Put a 9 X 13 pan in the oven with the stick of butter while the oven preheats.  This melts the butter without using another pan.
   
3. When the butter is melted take the pan out of the oven and stir in the graham cracker crumbs.  Press evenly throughout the pan.  Sprinkle nuts over graham cracker crumbs, then chocolate chips, then coconut.  Pour sweetened condensed milk evenly over the top.
4. Bake 25 minutes or until lightly browned.   Cool and then cut into squares.
5. Eat.