I have a sock that needs to be done in just under 26 hours (ah, Sock Madness!), so this will be quick. Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. The flowers have really popped this week. The tulips are finally up, the magnolia trees in front of the Phillips Gallery are in full bloom, and I walked back to the Brookland Metro station on Wednesday under a canopy of cherry blossoms.

2. I did not have a jar of cherries after all. Our lemon juice was nearly out. I’d turned all our apples into sauce. But I did have pecans and corn syrup, which meant we got to eat this for Pi(e) Day —>

3. Sunday night we headed up to the American City Diner for a meal. We ate soup and sandwiches and fries, drank milkshakes (cherry for me; a black and white for Rudi), and played 1950s tunes on the jukebox with the quarters we had at hand.

How about you? What was beautiful in your world this week?

Emily, over at Yarn Miracle, is a pattern designer and stuffed toy maker. And recently she has added crack dealer to her titles.

Okay, well, maybe that’s a slight exaggeration. But it’s not far from the truth, if by crack one means squee-worthy yarn.

But she has started writing a monthly series of blog posts entitled Mindful Fiber featuring small, sustainable yarn makers with pictures and quotes from the farmers and, most excitingly, a giveaway. And I won the prize for February.

The package was waiting for me when I returned home from errands on Saturday afternoon and I have been petting the yarn included in it nonstop since then.

It is Shadyside Farm Studio‘s Homespun Bunny, an exquisite worsted weight yarn that’s 25% angora combined with lambswool. This colorway is Rose Pink.

There is more than enough yarn to knit the Like Sleeves pattern from Yumiko Sakurai, which came as part of the prize, although now that I’ve met the yarn, I may find it difficult to give it away. (I’ll definitely knit both the yarn and the pattern; they just not be knit together.) And Emily (who many years ago knit me socks and gave me a personalized knitting bag as part of the Blooming Feet sock swap) tucked in a bunny clip and some chocolates.

There is still time to enter the March Mindful Fiber Giveaway to win an angora bunny kit in time for your spring toy knitting. You’ve got until Tuesday.

Thanks again to Emily, Yumiko, and the folks at Shadyside Farm Studio for such a lovely prize! It’s the most pettable present I’ve received in a while!