I bought some new shoes today. I went into TJ Maxx with a couple things I was hunting for and after I found these cute warm-weather Mary Janes I stopped looking. (Well, okay, I browsed through the dresses, but that’s pretty much mandatory every time I walk into one.) The photo shows them to be a little more grey than they are in real life; I’d say they are closer to periwinkle.

I’m up to the toe on my Smock Madness. I hope to finish before the noon deadline, but either way I’m moving back to my lightning shawl after this!

… you could taste it if your allergies hadn’t given you a stuffy head…

With only a handful of days remaining until spring arrives, the trees across the street have finally bloomed. My window is open. Birds are singing. (Okay, not right this second, but you know what I mean…) Pollen was recorded in record quantities today. Only 4.5 days to go…

If it’s Thursday, it’s time to reflect back on three beautiful things from the past week:

1. Rudi brought home cherry pie for Pi Day.

2. A college friend who has returned home to the Philippines and I exchange snail mail on an annual basis. He wrote this week to ask if my address was still the same, so I know his missive is on the way and that I should practice deciphering cryptic hieroglyphics in order to be able to read his scrawl.

3. I was in a neighborhood I don’t tend to frequent during the day and stopped in at a stationer/chocolatier, since they were open. The owner invited me to sample one of her handmade brigadeiros (sort of a Brazilian truffle) to encourage me to stop back. (It was walnut and was divine. And I will.)

How about you? What’s been beautiful in your world lately?

Progress on my two main projects — Jasper Fforde’s Early Riser and Smock Madness — continues apace. I’m nearly to mid-foot on the latter and, in the former, our protagonist Charlie (whose gender I decided on page 70 I’d incorrectly assigned at the start of the novel, but whose pronouns I keep ascribing to my original assumption) has gotten stuck in the worst possible region to overwinter due to a fit of retributive pique.

I need to finish a complete pair of Smock Madnesses by late morning on Sunday in order to advance to the next round. I suppose it’s possible, particularly as Rudi is leaving early on Friday, but I’ll chalk it up as unlikely. I need only finish one by that time in order to qualify as a cheerleader and to keep receiving the patterns to knit along with at my glacial pace, which seems a far more plausible — and, frankly, pleasant — outcome.

We watched the film adaptation of The Hate U Give last night, which was perfectly fine (Rudi, who hadn’t read the book, liked it quite a bit), but it paled in comparison to the book. (I sometimes wonder why they bother trying.) It made me want to get started on Angie Thomas’ sophomore novel, On the Come Up, which Rudi gave me for my birthday and which is sitting temptingly on our coffee table just beyond my reach. But first I need to get past the roving gangsters and winter monsters and viral dreams of Wales in order to move on.

I’m also listening to two audiobooks. Questlove’s Creative Quest is what I listen to while I’m watching dishes, because I’ve discovered I’m prone to dozing off if I listen to him on the couch, no matter how interesting I find his thoughts on creativity. The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy, a followup to Mackenzi Lee’s The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue is much more suited to playing while I knit once I’ve tired of reruns of Agents of SHIELD and Miss Fisher for the night.

Head over to As Kat Knits to see what other people are reading and crafting.

I can tell spring has pretty much arrived in D.C. because of the burning of my eyes, the tickle in my throat, and the snuffliness of my head.

May spring soon arrive where you are, but may the allergies pass you by.

Today’s Top Ten Tuesday topic invites participants to consider some of the one-off books we love that we’d enjoy revisiting. While recognizing that authors may not do kind things with beloved characters once they hit the keyboard again (see To Kill a Mockingbird), then, are ten standalone books I still mostly wish had a sequel (or two):

1. Eleanor and Park
2. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
3. Pride and Prejudice
4. The Night Circus
5. The Invention of Hugo Cabret
6. Travels with Charley
7. Dear Mrs. Bird
8. Geekerella
9. A Snicker of Magic
10. Wonder Woman: Warbringer

How about you? Are there standalones you’ve read that you wish would suddenly become a series.