Easter was quiet and lovely here. The predicted snow/rain showers never materialized. Instead, we had a lovely blue sky, puffy cloud day. It was a little cold but that didn't matter. On Saturday, Kate and I spent the whole day together. We baked cookies. We had Easter eggs, Easter stars, Easter cows, Easter Mooses, Easter Elephants and some chicks. What? You all don't have Easter cows or elephants or mooses? That's too bad. They were delicious.

We also baked babka. This is a recipe from Peter Kevin's polish grandmother. It is a bread we only make for Christmas and Easter. This one has dried cranberries instead of raisins and was just as yummy as it looks. We also made the baked beans and potato salad for Easter dinner. There was a lot of laughter in our kitchen. During baking times, we worked on a jigsaw puzzle. These are a favorite but we don't often take the time anymore. It was a terrific day.

Easter Sunday was a quiet day. Em and Jim came late in the afternoon for dinner. There was chocolate, of course, and dyed eggs. There was also a lot of knitting. I finished the first MacGreggor's garden sock that I was test knitting for Susan. You can see the entwined heart design on the side and the rabbit ears on the foot. This is Shi Bui yarn in color 1601 (I looked up Shi Bui online. It means "elegance with a touch of bitterness" Interesting name for a yarn company). It was a prize in a blog contest and I thought the color would work well with the pattern. I started with a 54 gram skein of yarn and was getting nervous as the ball dwindled down into nothing and I still had a pattern repeat to go so I opted for the safe route. I only did one pattern repeat down the side of the leg. I cut off about 20 rows. I finshed with a 4 gram little ball of yarn. I don't think it would have been enough to finish. Since Susan didn't give yarn amounts in the pattern (duh, it's a test knit!) I wasn't sure how much I would use. I wanted to be able to make a pair so using the second skein for the first sock was not an option because the yarn was a prize and is not available around here. The sock is a toe up pattern, my first. I'm not sure I like this method. I'll let you know after I finish the second sock!

Today it was back to work after a long weekend. Typical Monday. Two med clinics and since I was off Thurs and Fri, no prep work was done. I ran around like a madwoman today. It was so nice to come home to my peaceful, quiet home. I walked in the door and sighed. It's good to come home.