a lovely winter break

We have had such a nice winter break holiday together, mostly just the three of us, at home, baking, reading, knitting, playing, time in the dark room, laughing...  The snow kept us in for the most part, but it was such a welcome break (I say that now that the roads are clean enough of snow that I can finally drive myself around).  

We did host my family on a VERY snowy Sunday for a pot-luck lunch with lots of visiting, playing and decorating of cookies.  We decided no gifts this year and had such a great time just hanging out.  

A very big gift from some very special friends arrived on a particularly long day at home snowed in and the box was a very welcome activity for us.  We added windows, Star Wars masks and a mailbox.  

I made those yummy chocolate peanut butter cups from a previous post again and an apple crisp for Christmas dinner with friends.  They were really good, again, and I mixed some milk chocolate chips in with the semi-sweet chips as I found them a little too rich last time, I also mixed some peanut butter into the chocolate mix, both adjustments worked really well.

Typical state of our coffee table now, my knitting project in works (see below) and various Star Wars paraphernalia.  It was a very Star Wars Christmas over here, complete with the Millennium Falcon (the gift in the big box).  

I have been working on some new fingerless gloves, these using the pattern, Fetching, from knitty.com and a similar yarn to what they recommend, with a combination of Merlino, Microfiber and Cashmere. I was inspired by the wonderful sets that Erin over at House on Hill Road did last season, and wanted to give some a try. The first set of cables was pure torture, stitches slipping off of the cable needle, and all sorts of fun, which had me questioning the idea of these being a "fun, easy project".  For the next set of cables, I switched to using the fifth bamboo double point needle, which, while not "easy", did involve a lot less profanity.  I finished the one above, including the picot edging on the top (thank goodness for YouTube knitting videos, I would never have known what to do).  I have started on the other hand, this one is cabling to the front, which is a little more fiddly than to the back for me, but I will persevere.  

Today held a little Seattle outing.

One stop was to pick up some more coffee from my new favorite coffee roaster.  I am so in love with this coffee let me tell you, it's like discovering fine wine after drinking the cheap stuff.  Drove across town just to pick up my coffee beans, and in a coffee city where there are sometimes three coffee shops at one intersection, that is saying a lot.

Start 'em young :)  No, really he is having hot chocolate.  Notice the t-shirt?  I tell you it is everywhere in our house right now.

Comments

[Oiyi]

Your Fetching looks nice! I omitted the picot edging when I made a pair a few years ago.

I like the idea of no gifts. When we were in Boston, some people that we normally don't exchange gifts with were giving us gifts, so I had to make a mad dash to buy something. Ugh!

[kirsten]

looks like you had a lovely holiday. those peanut butter cups look sooooooooo yummy. i MUST try and make them!

i love stumptown too! we don't have it here, but everytime i head south it's on my list.

[Nancy]

thanks for your comment on my blog
i've been wanting to try fetching
and i scrolled down to see you did toasty in malabrigo
i did toast in the same color malabrigo this fall.
i love fingerless mittens too!
happy new year

[Kristen]

Have you ever read this blog: http://bread-and-honey.blogspot.com/ ? The Stumptown mention made me think of it - they mention it over there sometimes, and they're Seattle people. :) Makes me want to visit that area - I'm down in NorCal.

I need to try those peanut butter cups sometime. They look delicious.