Holiday cupcakery

During the holiday break I tried a couple of recipes from Cupcakes! I made gingerbread cupcakes for a Christmas party, topped with honey cream cheese frosting and a few pomegranate seeds.


Gingerbread cuppies in the setting sun

The recipe calls for filling them with lemon curd, but I used apple butter from the farmers' market instead.


Inside the cupcake

Dan and I did not stay too late at the party, so not sure how everyone liked the flavor combination...hopefully the cupcakes were enjoyed by all. The weekend before Christmas I made reindeer snacks at Joanne's, for Wii-playing, Elf viewing, gift-exchanging, and general merriment.


Dimly-lit reindeer snacks

The chocolate sour cream cupcakes were topped with white chocolate buttercream and crushed peppermint candies. The menfolk helped smash the candies. I couldn't believe the grocery store ran out of candy canes!

I made the placemats from InStitches as part of Joanne's gift, though I used regular heavy interfacing instead of the dreaded Timtex.


Lavender & brown color pairing

The dotty edge fabric was also the lining of her Swing Bag, a gift last Christmas!

Winter white

No snow in San Francisco...in fact, there has been very little rain so far...eeks! But last week I got infected by a cool weather bug, so I had to skip a couple of holiday parties that I had been looking forward to...phooey! However, during my recuperation I did some knitting...hooray!


Winter white scarf

Pattern: Seed stitch, I think I cast on 9 stitches
Yarn: Rowan Biggy Print, in a discontinued colorway, 3 skeins
Needles: US 19 bamboo straights

I got four skeins of this lovely white and silvery gray yarn, sadly discontinued, on sale a couple years ago. The wooly scarf is super warm, and I like the white and gray colors with my cheery red wool coat. But now I only have one skein left...will it be enough for a hat? Hmm...I wonder...