Winter is Tasty

Nom.
Winter is tasty.
And we haven't even started baking yet.


This same kid, in addition to always wanting to eat snow, also eats ice cubes. Robin's friends and family will recognize what genes she inherited that contribute to this. Last year the flight attendants were very surprised to hear her request. Not juice, not milk, (and definitely not soda), but ice water please - emphasis on the ice.

Also, a while back I finally re-finished her Alpaca toque using an interesting pattern for the top, one that creates a "square" finish. The first time I finished this toque I was using up what I had of the grey alpaca. As you might be able to tell from looking, clearly it wasn't big enough.
 


Now it has some room to grow. The ribbing makes it quite stretchy and there's room at the top. I'm hoping to get another winter out of it because, well, it's alpaca! Enough said. (I recently had to pry some alpaca yarn from the hands of a friend's daughter who was quite enthralled with the soft yarn. I had to promise her an alpaca hat to get my yarn back. lol. That's okay, I have a lovely bulky alpaca blend that I can whip into a hat this weekend. Shh. Don't tell ;) She'll likely read this too on FB.  How can I refuse such a lovely person asking for a knit alpaca hat?)

In other tasty news - we're participating in a cookie exchange this year. I can't wait to see what tasty delights we get. I still haven't decided what I'll bake, but I'm leaning towards either my soft ginger or crisp cinnamon cookies.
That's all part of the party-weekend. All of our Winter parties are around the 17th.

This weekend we'll be kicking off the holiday season at home.  For the first time in many years we will decorate our home, put up the tree, play some Christmas music, and drink egg nog (okay, well we did the last part in past years).  Tonight I'm taking Abi to the tree lighting ceremony in New Hamburg.  She's delighted by all the Christmas lights outside, so I think she'll be thrilled to see a large tree be lit up.  Tomorrow I'll be volunteering at an event for the Grand River All Breed animal rescue.  From 1-5pm there will be pet photos with Santa at Pet Planet on Erb St (at Erbsville/Ira Needles). Sunday evening we'll be back in New Hamburg for their Santa parade.  We're looking forward to the lights, because with an evening parade there must be plenty of sparkling Christmas lights.  Not sure yet when we'll fit in decorating, but there is plenty of time between events.  And, hey, I won't have to hang the star lights on the wall this year... because they are still up from last year. (I know, I know...)

AND, I'm almost done my Yule gift preparations - a combination of shopping and knitting.  Well, for all the gifts I have to mail. Or, well, when i think about it... there's still that pair of socks to finish and something quick to start... but I'm CLOSE. ;)  And then there's the stuff for Abi and Robin that is only partially finished... but I have until the 21st for that. "plenty" of time. *cough*