Happy New Year. I hope you had a lovely holiday. Ours was really nice. Full of family and friends and good food and quiet time. Maisie was very excited about everything this year. That's one of her more recent words in fact. "Me 'xcited" she'll say and bounce around the room. It make me smile so much. We're easing back into our usual routine after almost two weeks of being on holiday. Rob is back at work today and Maisie and I go back to daycare and work on Tuesday.

The sun is coming back. The difference is already becoming noticeable. We've got still got two or three months of cold weather ahead of us but knowing the days are getting longer already lifts my mood and makes me think of my garden. I finished Maisie's Christmas stocking at the very last minute (thank you, my dear, for sleeping in on Christmas morning). I need to make sure I take a picture of it before it gets packed away for next year. Maisie loves to look at all the Christmas things. I put ornaments that could be handled on the bottom of the tree and they are regularly removed and carried around. We taught her that they all have to return to their home when she's done. It mostly works. Ollie and Fred were in raptures when we finally let them play in a bag that some of our gifts came in. We tossed in a pinch of the catnip that was part of the gift (thanks Samera, now we know why they kept trying to crawl inside) and they spent a wonderful time diving in and out of the bag. I've been working on perfecting my coffee making. I only drink decaf and am tired of the mediocre cup that decaf so often gives. I found this set of instructions a while ago and my coffee drinking experiences have improved incredibly. I'd never have guessed that a six dollar plastic cone would be what I needed. Abby had a pretty major health scare at the end of November. She's okay now but I think it makes us appreciate getting to spend so much time with her that much more. I think she enjoys having us around all the time too. I'm not sure if we're as enthralling as the local fox though. Maisie's vocabulary also  includes the words "fox" (complete with the X) and "Abby hush". I love this picture of Maisie with the ball of yarn just because of the story attached to it. I'd set up a little photo studio* on the armchair because the light was nice but Maisie changed my plans by climbing onto the chair and getting comfortable. I asked her if she would like to help me photograph my new yarn. She answered enthusiastically and held each ball on her lap while I snapped a photo. Then she asked me to show her the pictures I took. She's very interested in cameras and pictures right now. I'm very interested in seeing how this will develop as she gets older.

*I threw a blanket over the chair and turned the whole thing to face the window.

I made stored dough for the first time in ages last week and use a chunk of it for cinnamon rolls on Saturday morning. I think I'd forgotten just how handy it is to have a big bowl of ready to use bread dough in the fridge and just how good fresh from the oven cinnamon rolls smell. I drizzled a little icing over them just for fun. Rob and I had ours with coffee and Maisie had hers with some apple sauce. She's starting to get the hang of using a spoon. Sometimes she'll just use her fingers to move whatever is on the bowl of the spoon to her mouth but a few times now she's grabbed the spoon and put it in her mouth with most of the food still on it. On Sunday she also used her piece of cinnamon roll as a vehicle for apple sauce. It turns out this is really good and Rob and I finished off the remained of her cup of apple sauce by dipping cinnamon rolls in it. I think I'll plan on putting out a dish a of apple sauce every time I make cinnamon rolls now. They just went together so perfectly.

These represent two future projects to keep us warm next winter. My sweater will be the light coffee (with lots of milk) colour and Rob’s will be forest green.
 
One of my favourite online shops, Dream Weaver Yarns , announced a sale on Rowan yarns on Easter weekend. One of the things I like best about this site is that when you look at a book or magazine from their catalogue they always show you some of the pictures from inside - not just the cover. Because of this I knew that the Bigger Picture pattern book from Rowan had a nice cozy men’s sweater in it that I thought might look good on Rob. I looked up the sale and discovered that the yarns were about 20% off - which is quite a bit when you are buying six or nine balls - and that there was a women’s sweater pattern I liked in the same book. I looked through the colours available and found one for and asked Rob to take a look at the pattern when he had a free moment and to pick a colour if he liked it.
 
The yarn arrived last week and it is so soft and squashy. I can’t wait to knit it up. Its super bulky weight so the knitting will go quickly - I only have to cast-on 28 stitches for the front of my sweater. I’m am planning to wait until after the wedding to start knitting though - I need to get needles and I know I will be too busy with other things to get a bunch of extra knitting done. Besides, it is unlikely to be cool enough for us to wear them in July.