All the News That Fits

Sorry to have been gone so long. It's the High Holiday season and that means cooking. And cooking. And Cooking!! The last two Sundays I went to a friend's house to work on cookies for the Break the Fast dinner (right after 26 hours of fasting on Yom Kippur). Last Sunday, we baked for more than five hours. At the end we were so giddy, I threw a pan of prepared cookie dough at her (I swear, it was an accident) and she laughed so hard she had to leave the room. Yesterday we baked for four hours and filled her freezer. During this week, I am a second grade teacher who comes home at night and bakes another batch or two of cookies. On Friday, I will be baking challah. Lots of challah. Thank goodness Sandra (the cookie wearing friend above) talked my out of baking challah napkin rings for the tables. I will only have to bake 14 loaves.

I am going to Rhinebeck. I was kind of looking forward to taking a trip with The Husband but he has been offered an extension on his contract and will be staying in the South for an extra month. Yay! for the exchequer. Boo! for the lonely wife. Anyhow, I've got my room reserved and have already made plans to stop and visit The Brother and his family on the way. See you there (if I don't get lost.......)

On the knitting front" The Husband made another order to Daedelus and found this knitting book:

The book is Perfectly Brilliant Knits and are they ever! There is a pattern for a sweater with knitted in DNA strands. COOL! The sizing is even realistic with most sweaters running up to an extra large. The blue sweater is a shell pattern with a cardigan that sort of matches (without being all matchy matchy if you're careful about your yarns). It's knit from Knitpicks Shine, a cotton yarn. Speaking of Knitpicks....Have you seen the beautiful new wooden needles for the Options set? We wants it!! (sorry about that, I read the Harlot just before I posted and the note kind of got to me).

On the sock needles, I'm still working on the socotta yarn. Did I ever get that picture on? If not, here they are at the beginning:

I am actually on the foot by now, I just haven't got any pictures. The second graders I have this week are really impressed that anyone could make socks! Gotta get to the kitchen and make something for dinner and about 3 million more cookies. Don't worry if I don't post soon, I'm just buried in dough (the cookie kind, darn it!)

Happy Birthday to ME!!

If you are reading this on March 21, it's my birthday! Welcome to the party!

This is for Rae. Mix to your heart's content. A few weeks ago we had a Purim party at the Temple. Every year we work really hard to make sure our kids enjoy the Jewish holidays. A friend and I decided that this year it should be the adults' turn. I made four kinds of creamy drinkees. Here you see the ingredients and final products (well, two of them). On Purim we are commanded to get drunk enough so that we can't tell the difference between, "Praise Mordacai" and "Curse Hamen". That takes me, oh, about, um, one. Best part of the evening: One of the members of the "other" congregation told us she almost didn't come to our "Adults Only" game night because she thought we were selling .......sex toys. Yeah, and when she showed up, she had her six-year-old with her. Fun times. For the record, we just didn't want anyone underage finishing the drinks while no one was watching, and we played Scrabble. Scrabble, people!

This is for Knitterbunny. I got a few early presents for myself (these, and I spent waaayyy too much money at Knitpicks, the package hasn't come yet, pictures later). The little teapot makes about 2 cups of tea. That little ball of stuff in front of the teapot is a "blooming" tea ball. When I drop it in hot water, not only do I get some tea to drink I get a beautiful flower to look at.

Oh, yeah, I also got a book. I'm putting off starting it because I hear how people are just sucked in and can't put it down. Thanks, Amy. One of the reasons I am wary of getting sucked in is that I decided (during a moment of lunacy, or maybe just not enough sleep) to knit a sweater (the Cable Down Sweater) for First Seder (April 2). We are going to a friend's house this year, which means I won't have to do as much cooking, so, hey! I can knit something special in eleven days! I'm taking out a couple of days because The Husband is taking me to Pittsburgh for the Represent Tour. He made reservations in a B&B just around the corner from where Stephanie is going to speak. I just have one questions for you all: How long in advance (the lecture starts at 7) should I get in line to get a seat?

One last picture: usually at our house the birthday cakes are homemade. The cake of choice is Boston Cream Pie. Since it is my birthday, and I am the only baker, The Husband picked up this little goodie. Chocolate AND peanut butter, yum! I can do this because The Baby is not home (he is allergic to PB) and he got his birthday cake last week (the aforementioned BCP). For anyone searching for knitting content (aside from the moment of insanity above) the Huge Blue Sweater is all knitted and sewn up. I am looking for good buttons. I found some in my stash that work, but I'm not feeling the love. Tomorrow I should (ha!) have some time to drop by a button shop and check them out. I have been working on some Pink Ribbon Socks with Miss Violet's Pink Ribbon Yarn, but you will just have to wait for pictures. Now, I am going to go knit a Pesach sweater and watch the tube (Love you, Netflix!) Thanks for coming to the party!