Flowers, at last!

This is going to be a photo heavy post. My garden is blooming! It has woken up at last from its winter's slumber. I had a few hyacinths earlier but the rest of it was just brown. But we had warmer weather last week and poof! the world is alive again. Wordsworth's lines about daffodils are ringing in my ears, especially the lines:

"When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;"...
"They stretch'd in never-ending line"

It describes my forsythia so perfectly. So without further ado, here is my garden this week.

This is a weeping cherry. The only sad part about this tree is that its blooms are very short-lived. In a week they will be gone.A close-up of the cherry blossoms or 'sakura' in Japanese.
There the the glorious forsythia bushes. I love forsythia. They make spring in the Northeast arrive with a BANG! Everywhere you look, there is that lovely yellow color shouting "Spring is here". They aren't like the crocuses and the hyacinths that whisper the arrival of spring. The forsythias proclaim it in the town square, in every street and corner.There are my daffodils. Just a few at present, but there will be more soon. My daffodils bloom a bit later. They were advertised as having pink centers but as you can see, they aren't pink. They are yellow. I love them anyway.
The hyacinths are almost done. Here's one that still looks good. Hyacinths have the most wonderful scent. I' was inhaling it as I planted pansies last weekend. I will have photos of the pansies in a couple of weeks once they have settled in and are blooming in earnest.

I also finished a few things, or thought I did. Here's the necklace. Looks pretty good, doesn't it? Wait? What is that loop doing off on the side?
After I finished securing the clasp , I noticed one of the knots had come loose! I've spent much time thinking about how to fix it and have come to the conclusion that I have to undo the twist above the cone and secure the loop back into the circle holding the other strands under the cone. I tried a few fudges but nothing seems to work. There is no help for it. I am super-gluing the knots before I finish it again.

I added some pearls to the seed beads as the beads by themselves seemed a bit unbalanced relative to the big bead. I am quite happy with the result. Here's close-up of the clasp that has to be undone. You can also see the strand of pearls I added on the bottom here. I wove the pearls through the strands of seed beads to echo the glass filigree on the bead.I also finished a sock. The first of the pair from the Shibui sock yarn. It is lovely. I need to cast on for the second.
A close-up of the stitch pattern on the cuff. You can see the ribbing at the very top of the photo. The broken rib transitions very effectively into a 2x2 rib.