Catching up

Oh, my! So much has happened over the last two weeks! I baked (and baked and baked!) for the holidays. Apple dumplings, pear coated cookies, pear liquor, dried pears (can you tell the pears in the backyard ripened?) chocolate chip cookies, milk and honey bread, challah (14 loaves!), sour cherry/chocolate hermit cookies, biscotti (vanilla and chocolate) and six formal meals for the Rabbi (who eats kosher style, meaning milk and meat cannot be served at the same meal but my kitchen does not have to be kashered). I belong to a small congregation and this year we hired a student Rabbi. She is smart and nice and we are lucky to have her. For the days she is here she needs a driver and someone to feed her (the congregation pays for a hotel room). As a member of the board I volunteered for Yom Kippur weekend. The Rabbi was great, but really, what was I thinking? I was already the co-chair of the Break the Fast meal and then I took on the Rabbi, too? Ah, well, we all survived and no one went hungry.
On the knitting front, I lost my voice (see above. Stress, you know?) for an entire week and I couldn't go into school so I caught up on my TV addiction and knit.

I have to finish the neck and armholes and sew the side seams. It is an Adrienne Vittadini pattern and the yarn is one I found in the sewing room during the great "Mom, my roommate is coming home with me for Rosh Hashanah" cleaning. The yarn is Red Heart cotton sport yarn and the whole sweater cost me less than three dollars. I made a few changes (you knew I would, didn't you?). The pattern calls for 4 sts/inch and that felt too loose so I knit it at 5.3 sts/inch and made adjustments for sizing. The shoulders are supposed to be seamed together and I used a three needle bind-off. I think that will be stronger and last better.

Aunt Purl asked us to take pictures of our knitting spots and mail them to her. Well, with all the commotion here I didn't get it mailed, but here is my spot:

My rocking chair is next to the window so I have great light, all my tools are in a basket next to me, there's a great big ledge to spread out the pieces of my project and there is a box of what we refer to as the "drug cookies". Reese's chocolate covered, peanut butter filled, cookies. A box of these rarely lasts 24 hours once opened. The afghan is a feather and fan made from some cheap yarn and really needs to be replaced. I see another project in the future! Where do you knit?