Stash Enhancement, Knitting, Cooking, Puppy...Oh, MY!

With birthdays often comes stash enhancement.  This year was no different.  Thanks to not one, but TWO generous Webs gift cards, I was able to add to my project bags, needles, and sock yarn:

Sock Rockets and my first Madelinetosh yarn -
Tosh Sock in Thunderstorm

My first Erin Lane bag and some bent-tip yarn needles

Not really a birthday gift, but a gift all the same - when our friends Phun and Xin came back from Iceland, they brought me some Lettlopi!

The grey has already been earmarked for a specific project.
Thinking of combining the white with some handspun
for some mitts.  Lopi's a great yarn, but not
something you want on your neck or elsewhere sensitive
b/c it is SO SCRATCHY.

I finished the socks I was working on.  It seems that, no matter what else I've got going, I need to keep a pair of simple socks on the needles as my carry-along project.  I love the "fraternal twins" look and the subtle striped-but-not-striped look.

They look really long and skinny here, but they fit
my size 8 feet just fine.

I'll have another finished project - a baby gift for Sarah's friend's sister's baby - to show you soon.  In the meantime, I've wound and cast on the Madelinetosh for another pair of simple toe-up, two-at-a-time socks.

Oh, and lest you think the Instant Pot is the only kind of cooking that's been happening around here, Andrew has been smoking lots of meat, much of it for Christmas gifts.  This brisket was AMAZING.

Honey is doing well with the Christmas decor - has only attacked my big felted Christmas tree pillow - but we're not taking many chances.  The tree is getting very minimal decorations in order to avoid disaster and heartbreak, and we're not putting the gifts under the tree until the last minute so we can help Miss Honey Biscuit avoid temptation.