When we last spoke, it was a week before Christmas.  Now it is almost a week past New Year’s.  So, how to tell you about the last three weeks?  Probably a list.

Top of the list is that we are yet again emerging from a germ fest in this house, and hoping it is the last of the season.  That is all I will say about the total annoying-ness of crappy germs that keep coming around and bothering us and messing with holidays and vacations.

2)  Leading up to Christmas (and the germ fest) was some finishing-of-knitting, including felting my nephew’s slippers…

Before (13″-ish long):

After (10″-ish long):

He put them on immediately and wore them all night. I think that means he loves them and they are the best present he ever got.  Hooray!

I also got the infamous hat-that-took-three-tries-to-make done and promptly forgot to take a picture of it.  But my brother-in-law seemed to like it.  And it fit!  He did not wear it around all day but that’s ok.

I had been working on these mittens leading up to my sister-in-law’s birthday and sent them off:

….forgetting to take a picture of them, so thank you to Anita for taking one for me!

3) In more pre-Christmas crafts-with-the-doodlebugs news, we made Santa’s and reindeer:

And a gingerbread house!…

(No, I didn’t bake it.  It was a kit from Jo-Ann’s, and wonderfully easy!)

4) I baked exactly one batch of cookies this season:

Cowboy Cookies, made with my homemade granola, which I thought were really, really  yummuy.

5) Christmas Eve was spent with my family in Connecticut and then Christmas Day was spent with Paul’s family in Albany.  Busy, busy days with lots of fun.

6) Post-Christmas/Pre-Germ Fest involved the task of removing the body of my car from the frame:

Anyone remember this crazy contraption for installing the heater?:

This project felt kind of like that.  At any moment I was expecting the car to fall off the jacks.  It didn’t.  Paul usually knows what he’s doing.  I usually doubt it all, the whole way through, and then wonder what I was worried/nail-biting/screaming about.

7) During the germ fest, I made 1/2 a pair of these Trillium Mitts:

Soon to be a class scheduled at The Spinning Room.

And I finished this Zipper Scarf:

Also a soon-to-be-scheduled class.

Then last night I started this Simple Chevron Stripe Scarf:

Also for an upcoming class.

8) So, now that it is the new year, and to help ensure that it is germ free, I’m making these Anti-Flu Super Smoothies:

Kale, frozen berries, pomegranate juice and flax seed (this one is without flax seed because I don’t have any yet.  I’m getting some today.).  It sounds gross, but it is really very yummy and you cannot taste the kale at all.  Didn’t I say at the beginning of this post that I wasn’t going to talk about germs any more?

HAPPY NEW YEAR!  I’m hoping to have more blog posts this year and more knitting designing to show you!