Silver Lining: SP Thank you!

Thank you, thank you to my Secret Pal Kristan . She sent me the BEST stuff over the past few months. Here are the pics from my last package.

She sent me two balls of the cutest twist yarn...the color is really hard to pick up on camera correctly...it's mostly purple and green with other colors twisted in as well. She also sent a neat-o knitting book, about the history of knitting. There was a sock yarn pattern to match the yarn she sent, swedish fish (yum!), a "K" shaped ornament which we hung on the tree when we decorated it last week, a tape measure, and a pack of tissues. Then there are the two things that were my favorites of all the goodies I have received over the past few months. The first was the needle roll that will fit my circs. It's sooooo cute. It actually matches one that I made for my DPN's. The other item that was the most thoughtful thing I've ever received in a package was a small package of gourmet doggie treats for my dog, Chance. Thanks sooo much Kristan! I have loved opening up the packages the past few months, and I have loved every single thing you've sent. Thank you sooo much :)

In other news, this past Saturday my mom, Beth, and I had the bake-o-rama.

These cookies are "Spritz" cookies that I made using a cookie press. I had never used a cookie press before. It took some getting used to but I loved it once I got the hang of it. My least favorite part of making cookies is rolling them into balls and shaping them, so I lean toward drop style cookies or other things I don't have to mess with. That makes the press perfect...just stuff the dough in and poof! cookies in cute shapes. I didn't opt to ice these, just leaving them plain, but I think they came out really cute. All-in-all we made five different kinds of cookies, several dozen each. We ended up baking for about 8 hours....that's a long time to spend preparing dough and washing dishes. There is still one dough prepared and in my fridge that I will bake up tonight. I'll post pictures of that one when it's done....I got the recipe out of a magazine and the cookies should end up being really cute. It's just a basic sugar cookie recipe with peppermint extract that you form into uniform size balls. Once the cookies are cooled you brush them with melted white chocolate and then dip them in crushed candy canes. Yum!