Frondescence

Here's a new word for you. I believe the blog should be educational as well as crafty.

Besides, I like to make use of my book of synonyms with it's over 1 million entries. I paid big bucks for it when I went back to college a few years ago and I've certainly gotten my money's worth. There's no excuse for ever being at a loss for words, and that's a good thing when one has a blog.

Frondescence means "the process or period of putting forth leaves, as a tree, plant, or the like." As you can see, I've been doing my part. Spring can't come soon enough. These leaves are the crocheted variety and they'll be attached to the felted-flower pins. In the picture, you can see the result of the felting process.

I looked for a leaf pattern without much success so I ended up winging it. It's easy to create shape with crochet by using a variety of stitches. For the leaves, I started with a chain and then used single crochet stitches, as well as half-doubles, doubles, and triples. I was able to make about 4 or 5 leaves during a single episode of Jeopardy. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to make enough flowers to fill my farm stand while watching the NCAA women's basketball tournament starting next week.

This coming weekend Big City Girl will be competing in the crossword tournament. If she gets through the first rounds on Saturday, she'll go on to the final rounds on Sunday--her 27th birthday. She's not counting on that because the competition will likely be fierce. In fact, she's almost hoping she's free that day to party with her friends. I'm only sorry I didn't sew her a little something festive to wear--especially after I saw pictures of last year's tournament.

Maybe I'll ask her if she's ever come across frondescence in any of her previous crossword puzzles. It can't hurt to have a few 12-letter words in her arsenal. From the looks of things, there will be some serious players on the front lines. It's likely to be quite a scuffle.