A bouquet of daffodils for $3 is awesome but you know what’s even better?

Daffodils right in your own yard! They make me smile.

Have a great weekend, my friends.

About 10 years ago this spring, while taking the roundabout way home from work, I came across this daffodil stand. This time of year the stand is almost always full and it is operated completely on the honor system. In fact, I’ve never actually seen a living soul around when I’ve stopped.

There must be someone who cuts and bundles the flowers, though. The stand sits beside a lovely old house with a huge field of nothing but daffodils. There are all yellow ones, yellow and white ones, yellow and orange ones, orange and white ones . . . hundreds and hundreds of daffodils.

A bouquet is $3 and on Tuesday I stopped and bought myself a bunch. It’s an inexpensive way to brighten my day.

And my windowsill.

In my effort to create more small, wearable shawls, I knit myself a Berger Shawlette. I started on 2/25 and finished on 3/20, making this a perfect little project.

I will pause now so that you can reflect on the time elapsed from finishing this shawl until posting about this shawl. Part of the problem has been the weather. It’s been rainy or windy more days than not. Part of the problem has been location. I didn’t want to shoot the photos of this shawl in my back yard but rather wanted to take them somewhere special. And part of the problem has been my memory. Several times I have forgotten to take the shawl to work with me so that I could photograph it down by the pond near my office.. One day I remembered the shawl and the camera only to discover that my memory card was at home.

Yesterday, though, it finally all came together. I didn’t get pictures at the pond but rather at the very old cemetery up the street.

The iron fence made a great place to display the shawl.

And the overcast weather made some great lighting conditions.

The yarn is Kim’s Kashmir, a merino/cashmere/nylon blend in the color Victorian Hydrangea.

It was a pleasure to work with and I love the blend of soft greens and roses.

How about a couple more glamour shots?

I guess these photos were worth waiting for. And now I can finally wear my shawl.

When I first “took over” Ten on Tuesday it was so easy to come up with ideas for topics. I was brimming with them. These days, though, I often feel like I’m scraping the bottom of the barrel for ideas. I’m always open to suggestions so feel free to throw some my way. In the meantime, I hope you won’t mind hearing about my 10 Favorite Snacks.

1. Pretzels. I have loved pretzels since I was a kid. Traditional pretzels, pretzel rods, and especially pretzel sticks. When I was little I used to see how many of those pretzel sticks I could fit in my mouth. Of course, I don’t do that anymore. Shut up. I don’t.
2. Crackers and cheese. For the crackers I prefer reduced-fat Triscuits or Sociables. For the cheese, Extra Sharp Cheddar, please. I also like Muenster. And Pepper  Jack. I also don’t object to some green olives with my cheese and crackers.
3. Popcorn. I like microwave popcorn for the easy clean up and convenience but I fondly remember my college days of eating popcorn made from an old-fashioned popcorn popper that belonged to my best friend, Chrissie. I think we ate it every night. My favorite were the half-popped kernels at the bottom of the bowl. I would just get one in my sight and just as I was about to grab it Chrissie would reach in an flick it away. I still laugh when I think about that.
4. Nachos. Honestly, I’m happy to take some tortilla chips, top them with jarred salsa and grated cheddar and stick them in the microwave for a minute. That’s not to say I don’t love the restaurant ones that are loaded down with chili and guacamole and all that good stuff, too, however.
5. Celery sticks and ranch dip. The dip may not be healthy but at least the veggies are.
6. Speaking of dip, potato chips and onion dip. And by onion dip I mean the kind made from Lipton Onion Soup Mix. Brings back memories of my childhood, I tell ya.
7. Green grapes. I especially love them right out of the fridge on a hot summer day.
8. Bing cherries. The price has gone sky high in recent years but I love them. I’ve been known to eat them until I get a belly ache.
9. Combos. The pretzel and cheese ones. They are sort of disgusting but I love them. I only allow myself to eat them on road trips, however. I don’t even know how I came up with this rule but I did and I stick to it.
10. Chocolate Chip Cookies. Only homemade ones, though. I made some the other night and they are so simple and fast that I wonder why I don’t make them more often.

All this thinking about food has made me hungry. I think I’ll go have a snack!

I spent my weekend doing all the things I love best. Knitting, spinning, cooking, and . . . crocheting! Yes, it’s true, I now love crocheting. It still feels awkward but it’s getting easier and I’m  – dare I say it aloud – starting to understand it.  I even went to so far as to actually make and finish a potholder.

The pattern is Maggie’s Kitchen and the yarn is some Knitpicks CotLin that I had lying around.  I found the yarn to be rather split-y and I didn’t love working with it but the colors are nice and I didn’t want to use yarn I really loved in case it wound up a disaster.

It’s not bad for my first effort and the back was definitely faster to crochet than the front. I know there are mistakes but I found that crocheting, unlike knitting, is easier to read. I was able to see where I was in the pattern, I was able to count my stitches, and I found the learning curve to just be faster than when I learned to knit. I’m not sure if this is because of my existing knitting skills or if it’s because crocheting is easier to learn but I’m happy that the process is moving along.

I must admit that the edging is my favorite part. I used version 3 from the pattern and it was fun and came out just the way I expected. Hooray for that!

I’m certainly not ready for any potholder swap but I do think I’ve earned the right to crochet with the good stuff.

Next up – Maryse’s Modern Vintage Potholder!

Nothing says spring like squill! Happily the forecast is spring-like, too!

Have a great weekend, my friends.

I have a pair of finished socks to photograph.

I have a finished shawl to photograph.

The weather, however, has not been conducive to photographing anything. It has been rainy or it has been windy or it has been rainy and windy at the same time. In other words, the light has been crap and I haven’t taken photos of the socks or the shawl. I truly  hope to set up the photo shoots for these projects over the weekend.

In the meantime, I think this photo of a vine curling around my deck railing is appropriate for Photo Theme Thursday since the topic is soft.

In this case, soft focus.

Like a lot of spinners, I tend to spend time at the wheel in fits and starts. I always get very inspired after SPA, though, and this year it seems like my inspiration has stuck around a bit.

By putting in time with the wheel consistently each week I am slowly but surely working my way through the backlog of Hello Yarn Fiber Club installments.

Some has been finished and plied and wound into skeins.

And some is waiting to be plied.

And some is being spun.

When the 4 oz I’m currently spinning is done I will only have two 4 oz bags left.

Then I’ll finally be able to spin all the other stuff I’ve been buying. This is quite a relief, because, as you can imagine . . .

It’s been piling up a bit.

I don’t often pick music related topics for Ten On Tuesday but this week I was inspired by a friend’s status update on Facebook and that led me to . . . 10 Favorite One Hit Wonders.

1. Montego Bay by Bobby Bloom. Makes me think of our Cape Cod vacation.
2. Love Grows Where My Rosemary Goes by Edison Lighthouse. Another peppy little tune and Dale should explain (in the comments, I hope) about his misheard song lyrics from this one.
3. Tired of Toein’ the Line by Rocky Burnette. I like this one but Dale absolutely loves it.
4. Spirit in the Sky by Norman Greenbaum. I’ve loved this song since I was a kid. Goin’ up to the spirit in the sky, that’s where I’m gonna go when I die . . .
5. O-0-h Child by the Five Stairsteps. Things are gonna get easier.
6. Start the Commotion by the Wise Guys. Fire it up, baby.
7. Rose Garden by Lynn Anderson. I had a cousin named Lynn Anderson and when I was a kid I really believed she had a hit with this song.
8. Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Deep Blue Sound. Anyone else remember this one?
9. Breathless by the Corrs. Let us not forget, I fell in love in the 90s.
10. Mambo #5 by Lou Bega. So fun for dancing.

The cheese factor is pretty high on some of these but nevertheless, I love me a one hit wonder!

Taking a queue from The Habit of Being, I want to share the highlights of my weekend.

In no particular order, I:

• Knit. I finished a pair of socks and started another pair.
• Spent some time spinning. 2 oz, to be exact.
• Crocheted. Not a lot but enough to say I am practicing.
• Engaged in political discussions. Our local selectman’s race is proving to be quite controversial this year.
• Finished How to Knit a Heart Back Home. It was wonderful.
• Made a chocolate cream pie. Delicious!
• Went to dinner at a friend’s house. The food was great and the company was even better.
• Attended a birthday party for a dear friend. While there I made plans to do a family photo shoot with a sweet young family and their dog. This will be good experience for me and I hope I can make some beautiful photos for them.

What did you do this weekend?