Christmas 2.0

One of the lovely gifts I got for Christmas 2009 was two skeins of fingering weight Surino (alpaca/merino) from Flaggy Meadow Fiber Works that Jennifer had purchased at some kind of festival in Georgia. I was thrilled that she had been thinking of me and selected such a perfect gift. I wanted to knit it up right away, and I did just that. I think the hat and mitts came out really cute, and used up nearly all of the delightful yarn. The hat is slouchy and quite honestly was kind of a pain to knit - most of it was 192 stitches around on #1 needles. It seemed like it was the same size after hours and hours of knitting. I did it using the Magic Loop to avoid dropped stitches at all costs. In stockinette every flaw shows, although the handspun nature of the yarn provides a little cover for minor discrepancies of tension.

The crafty spirit continues at home. Shana is honing her baking skills, and typically chose a very ambitious recipe to practice on. She made us an Italian cream cake with an orange curd filling and cream cheese frosting for Sunday dinner. It turned out beautifully and tasted just as good as it looked. The remains went to work with her the next day and disappeared down to the last crumb, with suitable compliments to the chef. I supplied very little help and advice on this one; she's getting much more comfortable with the baking process and her confidence is growing with every attempt.

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