the little red hen: Finally, daffodils!

Aren't these just so pretty?!? Every time I walk into the kitchen I smile - the yellow cheeriness is infectious! Oh, and the smell ... the hyacinths are so heady! Just walking past them their incredible fragrance follows you ... yes, I am so pleased!

Couldn't resist another pic, this one with Mr. Easter Bunny ;)

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Yesterday was such a busy, wonderful day! My Mom, Sister, Ollie & I all went shopping! Our first stop was Trader Joe's (fabulous!!) I can't say enough wonderful things about it ... that is where I purchased the above beautiful posies (plus a little potted bunch of tete-a-tete daffy's, for my kitchen sill - they are all still green, but I'll surely post a pic when it's blooming!) not to mention loads of delicious produce & groceries. Ollie even picked out a bag for me to hold my crochet (I wish you could hear him say crochet - it's so cute!)

Afterwards, we had lunch then went searching for yarn shops! The first one we found wasn't successful ... so out came my iPhone and Google Maps helped us find another, so off we went!

The Village Yarn Shop in East Rochester was great! It was loaded with so many beautiful yarns ... the textures and the colors! After perusing the store, I got busy finding the right "feel" (I wanted a soft wool blend) and Encore, by Plymouth Yarn, fit the bill! And oh, the CoLoRS!! I just started pulling skeins down from the wall cubbies and began putting together color families, my goal was at least 16 different colors and I ended up with twenty-seven ... yes, 27!! I may have squealed a few times with excitement, I'm not sure! I tried, truly I did, to stick with the intended 16, but the colors beckoned! Even my Mom & Sis agreed that yes, I did indeed, need all 27. Making the choice even easier, my Mama was purchasing the yarn goodness for my birthday!! (Imagine much hopping, clapping, hugging and kissing going on at this point ... even Ollie gave Gramma Marcia a ton of hugs & kisses!)

Looking back, I wonder if the sales ladies thought that we all may be slightly bonkers ... oh, well! The good news, I have a gorgeous array of colors, so I can begin the Hexie Blanket from Attic24 ....

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So, I now have an even bigger list of projects to complete .... the Hexie Blanket, a Yarn Bag, a Circles in Squares throw, a Stained Glass Window throw, Bennie & Millie's blankets, 2 ruffle scarves, several frou-frou scarves & my Octo-blanket ... oh my! Thankfully for crochet, you can put one thing away for a bit and resume it at another time ... perhaps that's why it suits so many of us?

Ok! Now onto Monday & the Octo-Blanket -

Remember when I decided to border each octagon in espresso brown? Well, after several attempts at joining said shapes and I do mean 3 different ways of joining (slip stitch, single crochet & sewing) and hating every style, I realized that the borders were what was making them all look like poo. So, out come the scissors and snip, snip, snip, the awful task of pulling out stitches progressed ... as you can imagine, I was not happy! A little hissy fit ensued with an occasional cuss word, but off came the brown borders ... that alone took me almost 1/2 a day. The more I ripped apart, the more I realized that this whole process of crochet really is cathartic ... it's ok to make mistakes - some you can leave, with an apology - but, you can always pull apart the really big uh-ohs and start again. (These were the musings rambling about in my brain as I ate a Fig Newton with my cuppa tea) ;)

After my tea and seeing to the hungry kiddos (they are always ravenous when they get home from school!) they all traipsed outside to play, allowing me to hunker down and make some progress. I decided on a single crochet to join the octagons & granny's together (I really like the ridged effect it gives) ... I was able to put one panel together - I finished at 10:30pm - I could barely keep my eyes open, but I'm a stubborn one and was determined to complete it!! Not too bad ... but I am, quite honestly, ready to start something else! Which, by the way I have .... ;)

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so not happy with the brown borders ... grrr

the last one ...

beginning the joining ...

one down, ten more to go ... ugh

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As you can imagine, my brain is thinking up all the different things I can make with all this beautiful, colorful, yummy yarn ... but, I do realize that the best thing, if I'm going to take a break from the octo-project, is to create the yarn bag! It will be handy to tote all my yarn goodness and current project around, so that's it then! The Yarn Bag project mat commence!

I have this lovely Paton's pure wool yarn - in outstanding vibrant colors - the prefect yarn for this!

After the kiddos were all tucked in (and Bennie's teeth, yes plural, were in the fairy box and tucked beneath his pillow) I poured myself a giant ice water, sat on the sofa, turned on Graham Norton (DVR'd from Saturday) and sorted colors. When happy, I began hooking away ... this is what I've got so far (not bad, I think for just an hour!)