Done, done, done!

If you're in the middle of knitting a big project, or if you're making a project in a yarn you don't especially enjoy knitting (why would you do that? Oh, it's cotton and the project is a sleeveless spring top), then I highly recommend taking a break to make a wool hat.

I finished this one in just a couple of days, and I'm so pleased with it. It's blocking on a dinner plate and since it's St. Patrick's Day, I'm calling it a tam. But when I send it to my granddaughter, it will again be a beret, because she's taking French and said her French teacher would "flip" if she knew I could make berets.

The nice thing about hats is they don't have to be laundered often; I think even a middle-schooler can manage its upkeep. If not, I can make another one!

Speaking of St. Patrick's Day (kiss me, I'm Irish – or at least part-Irish), I had intended to corn my own grass-fed beef this year, but didn't research the method in time to get 'er done. Did you know it takes three weeks to corn a brisket? So we're having store-bought corned beef (190 calories in a four-ounce serving) with cabbage, carrots and potatoes, and I'm going to try my hand at brown soda bread. If soda bread is as good as sourdough, I should probably plan to only eat once (dinner) today.

I've been making sourdough bread weekly for about a month now, and it gets better every time. My husband loves it; he can eat half a loaf by himself. I, on the other hand, weigh my single slice on my kitchen scale and savor it crumb by crumb.

Sorry for going AWOL yesterday, we had to spring my mother-in-law from the hospital and if you've ever had to spring anyone from the hospital you know it can take some time. By the time we got home, did our five-miler and played a game of Scrabble, I just wasn't in a blogging mood.

I have a new freelance project to work on, one in which I will barter my design skills for herb and asparagus plants! The best kind of payment, if you ask me!