A Little Knitting and a Little Cooking

I have been attempting to squeeze in a little knitting - I cast on for another moebius wrap. I really love this pattern - and now that I understand this knitting method the results are much better. The first one I made in bright orange was a little disappointing - too big and it had several mistakes. So, I bought more orange yarn and will make it again.

I started this cute giraffe sweater for Alex. It is called "Creature Comfort" from a booklet by Better Homes and Gardens, "Teach Yourself Intarsia & Fair Isle Knitting". Well, I would have never been able to understand these instructions on my own. If it wasn't for a new co-worker, who is a very fast and talented knitter I would have thrown my arms up on this one. This is a quote from the booklet - "Intarsia is sometimes called picture knitting. This method of color knitting allows the knitter to create incredible designs in unlimited colors and shapes on a single layer of fabric". I should have known there was trouble ahead. Then, "With intarsia, each color section is worked with its own yarn supply. If your design uses 10 colors in one row, you'll probably have 10 strands of yarn hanging from your work". Once I got started, I thought no way!!, but persistance payed off, plus the help from my co-worker. Each row got easier and less cumbersome with all those strands of yarn versus the one strand I was use to having. I have had to tear out many a row and start over but I think I finally have it. By the way, my co-worker finished this sweater in less than two weeks. Oh well, I have several projects going on at one time so it will take me longer. I am still working on my scarves project for Christmas gifts. But, I will finish it - eventually.

I made some Halloween cookies from my favorite sugar cookie recipe. I have been using this recipe for years. I think the recipe came from a girlfriend back in high school. Amy and I made these every Christmas when she was growing up.

Now I make them for every major holiday. Dough rolled out and ready for the cookie cutters.

I put sugar sprinkles on half of the cookies.

and the best glaze on the other half. This is the best cookie icing. When it dries it is shiny and crispy. This is the way I prefer them. But I have to be careful, they are made with real butter and not low in calories.

This is a batch that I am taking to work on Halloween. There is a picture of Meg and Alex in last years' costumes in the background.

A few weeks ago, Dave requested cheesecake or something lemony. I decided to make lemon bars from Ina Garten's book.

It took a dozen lemons to get the amount of juice needed.

And a lot of zesting.

After this delicious dinner of shrimp alfredo we had a great dessert.

Dave thought the bars were great, especially with a cup of coffee in one of his favorite mugs.