When I baked and decorated the snazzy sugar cookies earlier this week for the Daring Baker challenge last month, I mentioned they were destined for our neighbour’s tummies, since we were going to package them up and give them out when we walk around introducing ourselves. We live in a seasonal area, and as we discovered this week, we are one of just five houses that are occupied all year! Most of our neighbours are long gone back to their regular lives and we wont see them again till next summer. Pfft. Amatures.

Our little treasures were only recieved by three of our neighbours, one was away for the weekend, and one I only found out later lives here all year (I thought she had cleared out with everyone else, whoops)!

The people we met and chatted with were all genuinely surprised that anyone would come and say hello, let alone bring a treat, which was sweet because they were all really warm and inviting. Of course, we are already friendly wiith the people next door, they are wonderful neighbours and I am sad to say they are trying to sell their house. 🙁

We will likely be driving into town for trick or treating, so the kids have houses to visit! We’ll bake up something cute and wish our handful of neighbours a spooky night though!

Even though it’s not even Halloween, I have started on Christmas knitting. As any serious knitter will tell you (hi Mom!) I am very late for this. So late actually, that before I could get started on I had to finish a Christmas project from last year! Behold the three Twinkleberry socks it took me almost a year to knit!

It’s not that it’s a hard pattern or that I had issue, it’s just that I wasn’t knitting. Life hit me hard and I was doing everything but knitting. Why are there three? What’s Christmasy about them? My bestie Miss Talea, bought me this yarn for my birthday last October. It’s called Starry Night, because it has flecks of real silver in it (!), I totally adore it. I also knew that she was leaving Toronto for Ottawa and the way my husband was talking it looked like I was leaving Toronto for the middle of nowhere (hey look, here I am), so I really needed to make soemthing special from this yarn.

I had read in a Martha Stewart Living magazine almost 10 years ago an idea to knit up little Christmas stockingsa for kids and hang them on the inside of their bedroom doors on Christmas eve! When the kids get up they have a wee snack, a few small toys and mom and dad can throw back a coffee or two before the kids bust the doors down and make a run for the living room.

Making something I’ll use every Christnmas eve forever was a wonderful way to know that Talea will be with me in some fashion every year no matter what – though she will hopefully be here for real too! The yarn is perfect for this project too because it’s all twinkly and pretty – and the pattern was chosen solely for it’s name – Twinkleberry! So sweet – and finally finished. Actually, almost! I need to find some pretty silver or blue ribbon to make a loop to hang them from.

Finally free from the shame for a year long knitting project that should not have taken more than a couple of weeks, I casted on just three days ago these lovlies, Socks of Kindness. They are knitting up so incredibly fast it’s bananas! The pattern is a snap and I’m already on the heel. I can only knit for a few hours a day with all the wee ones and other obligations so this is surprising!

Now I’m off to learn how to make a short row heel (hooray for You Tube)!

I am excited about Christmas, but with only trace amounts of snow in Toronto (so far) I’m sort of forcing it. The best way to get in the spirit (aside from unhealthy amounts of Bailey’s in my coffee) is through decorations and baking, right? So I have been trolling the internet (no really?) looking for fun Christmas projects. Of all the neat things I have found, this yarn wreath idea, posted on Craftster tops them all. Yes, I know Starbucks did it last year, but I’m looking forward to doing it myself this year.

I would love to hang this on my front door! It’s so ‘me’ and my Saturday night Stitch n Bitch ladies will love it too! I think the yarn balls were made by wrapping yarn around different sized styrofoam balls and secured with hot glue. I’m going to try to make one with found objects around the house, we’ll see how it goes!! There are enough balls loose from games long forgotten kicking around here for me to put to good use, though I will have to take a trip to the dollar store to get the shiny balls to fill in the gaps and add some twinkle. Twinkle! I could cover the whole thing in glitter!! I’m a little more excited about this wreath than I probably should be. Pfft.

Christmas stuff for the kids classes is a fast approaching issue, these candy cane Rudolphs are a really sweet idea, especially for the kindergarteners! There are two kids in wee one #2’s class that have serious peanut allergies, so these little treats are something we can give and know that the little ones with peanut issues wont have to pass them up!

It’s been said before but Ill go there again, while the husband machine and I are both on the odd side, we are odd in very different ways. If I could, I’d embroider a skull on pretty much anything I could – dish towels, socks, underwear, whatever. He, however, would love the Star Trek emblem emblazoned on everything. I’m down with Star Trek, but clearly not as down as he is. These stockings are a great fit for that vibe, though I think I’ll just make one for him! Maybe I’ll make myself a similar one with a skull instead!

I am head over heels for these guys! I want to make a whole family of them and dress them in different hats and scarves. If I didn’t already have wee one #2’s teacher’s gift on the needles (Fetching), I’d be casting on for these fun characters right now!

The parade of baked goods to join the hilarity I’ve already made is growing. We’ll see how many of these ideas I get to try out. We’re alternating going away around the holidays every year now, and this year we’re away so I don’t know if I’ll be able to play around in the kitchen as much but I know I’ll be able to do some baking before we leave, and at two out of the three places we’re visiting. 🙂 Here are some of the cookies that caught my eye (a bunch of them are from a site I just found with nice recipes!); Santa Hats, Rudolph the Red Nosed Cookie, Pinwheel Cookies, The Elve’s Snickerdoodles, Vanilla Marshmallows, Gingerbread Reindeer, Rocky Road Brownies, Surprise Cookies.

The marshmallows are on the must-do list! I’d love to give them away with homemade hot chocolate mix – with a chocolate dipped spoon! Feel free to steal that idea if you’re willing to do it all! When I make some of those packages up, I’ll post the marshmallow how to and a good recipe for hot chocolate. Maybe packaged in a cute cup. The pinnacle of this I think would be to make the cup yourself, but I’m not into pottery so that’s that. 😛

I’ll end on a few Martha ideas I’ve had on my to do since at least last Christmas! Mitten Clips, Candy Sticks, Snowman Button Cards, and Mini Stockings.

Next week, I’ll have my own versions of some of these ideas and a few others!