Hand-crafted hooks and a corsage

You guys are the very best! Your comments the other day were so fierce and righteous and hilarious. Solidarity! Thank you, so much. As always, it is best in the end to find yourself with a funny story.

For my (now infamous) birthday, the doc totally came through.

That's two hand-carved crochet hooks, made from the seasoned wood of our old apple tree, whittled in secret while I was elsewhere, and I can't imagine when he had time to do that. On his lunch break at the University? While I napped? Clever man. Aren't they wonderful? No wonder everybody and their brother wants a piece of him.

His famous mustache is finally back in progress. What a heartthrob.

These beautiful hooks made working on this little flower a great pleasure. I'm going to stitch a pin back to the wrong side and wear it every year on my birthday. Here's my pattern, in case you want to wear a yarny corsage on your birthday (or any other day) to announce to the world that you are fabulous: (All crochet terms are US) Big Fluffy Birthday Flower Choose two pink yarns and a hook that will make working with it a pleasure. Leaving a long tail at the beginning, use the lighter of the two and Chain 57. Row 1: Dc in 6th ch from hook (1st V made). *Ch 1, skip next 2 chs, (dc, ch2, dc) in next ch, rep from * across. (18 Vs made). Row 2: Work (1 hdc, 3 dc, 1hdc) in 1st five V spaces. (5 five-stitch shells made). Work (1hdc, 7dc, 1hdc) in next 6 V spaces. (Mid row, break yarn, join darker pink, continue in row as follows:) Work (1hdc, 11dc, 1 hdc) in last 7 V spaces.

Break yarn and fasten off, leaving a tail for sewing. Thread the beginning tail on a darning needle, and starting at the beginning (light pink) end, start rolling it. Tack it at the bottom edge as you go, and arrange the petals so they are a little bit offset and pretty. When you get to the end, tack like crazy all over the back with both tails to secure. Tie the tail ends together and weave in. You'll need a couple leaves too: Ch 11 Working in first chain from hook, sl st, sc, hdc, 5dc, hdc, sc, ch1, sc, hdc, 5dc, hdc, sc, sl st. Break yarn and fasten off. Use the tails to sew the leaves to the back of the flower, then weave them in and secure. Sew a pin to the back.

Thank you, friends. xoxo