Author: denisemor

Pre-Christmas Stay-cation

It was quite a week-

Measuring and mixing.

Beating and blending.

Scraping and rolling.

Baking, cooling, frosting.

Packing and Shipping.

But I made it. All 13 batches of it.

Then I sent it off to friends and family. (ok, not ALL of it. I kept a little for local munching)

And I’m afraid I didn’t take any pictures of the process. I was just glad to get it all done in time.

Of course, I made sure to take wool breaks to ensure I retained my sanity in the midst of all this cookie craziness.

Exhibit A- Oscar Socks

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I started these socks months ago, when the recipients feet were only as long as the white part! Yeeks!

Exhibit B- Custom Photo Glove/Mitts

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These are a not-so-secret Christmas present for The Man. Still need thumbs and index fingers (with openings for finger tips), but I’m getting close!

And the spinning-

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Mioget Shetland with blonde mohair and gold tussah silk, Border Leicester, and some CVM/Suffolk cross.

Yum. High fiber goodies. Healthiest things I made all week!

Now perhaps I can just relax and enjoy the holidays 🙂

Let the Games Begin!

This week I am taking off work to participate in the Christmas Cookie Olympics.

I plan to compete in the following events:

Springerle
Gingerbread
Cinnamon Mandelbrot
Sugar Cookies
Fruit and Nut Bread

and perhaps Pfeffernusse and Cardamom Biscotti if I have strength left.

This is the view from the starting blocks

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All ingredients are present and accounted for, and I’m going to get a start first thing in the morning.

Dough chilling, baking and cookie cooling time will hopefully offer me the opportunity to take some wool breaks, as I do have a few little non-baking projects that I need to wrap up pretty quick!

The goal is to have everything packed up and shipped out by Saturday the 17th.

See you at the finish line- 🙂

Signed, Seamed and Delivered.

Shadow is officially done.

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And its a good fit! I am so pleased.

First sweater knit entirely of wool from my very own guys. Way to go Edgar and Griff! 🙂

In other news, I finally did something with all those neat little quinces that our tree produced this year!

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After doing a little research online, I decided to go with processing them into quince paste, aka Membrillo.

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It seems that Manchego cheese is the perfect match for the quince paste, and I thought that was mighty cool, since it is a sheep milk cheese. So I set about finding some!

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Oh yeah. Just the right thing.
Big yum.

Some Assembly (still) Required

But the hardest part is done.

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Only straight seams left- one sleeve and the two sides.

I feel pretty good about having tried something new. Something that was a little outside my comfort zone.
And I also feel pretty good about how it’s turning out.

Here’s a side shot-
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It’s nice to know that I can actually follow a pattern if I have a mind to 🙂

Might not make my self-imposed Thanksgiving deadline, but it will be close.

It’s really seeming like winter here recently. Got down to 20F last night (which is pretty dang cold for us)
So right now everything is frosty and crunchy.
And while it’s kind of a pain that the chicken and sheeps’ water is icing over, it’s kind of nice that the yard isn’t squishy.

I guess freezing weather does hold some advantages.

And it makes for nice crisp, wintery photos-

Three Sisters, on the way up Hwy 9

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Lyman Ridge (behind our little orchard)

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Frosty sheeps munch munch munching

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Sadie going long for a frozen apple

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And Walla inexplicibly zoomin’ round and round the garden beds

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Guess the chill and the crunchiness really gets the pups charged up!