Valentines

I wanted to post this for Valentine's Day, but we were away for a few days, and it didn't get done, until now.  The week before Valentine's Day we made some quick, no fail fudge, to give to friends, inspired by this post over at angry chicken .  We made three different flavors, vanilla cherry--made with white chocolate and dried cherries, chocolate cherry, and an extra dark chocolate made with raw cacao powder.  I didn't exactly follow a recipe (this is a habit I have with pretty much all directions).  
But I based all of the above loosely on the following:

1/2 pound confectioners sugar
one egg (I used our fresh eggs)
6 oz. of chocolate chocolate chips
1 stick of butter

Melt butter and stir in chips until melted.
Mix sugar and egg in mixer until blended.
Stir in chocolate butter mixture and blend until smooth.
Pour into pan and chill.

That's it!

There were also some small gifts for my littles.  Wylie got a cowl that I'm calling "the chessman" since it is made of alternating stockinette and garter stitch squares, with a chess piece felted on.   For Juniper I made this pink and red hat, with hearts.  This was my first intarsia project, and of course, like the fudge it was made sans pattern.  I think it came out great, except she says its a bit small for her.  She has declared it a gift for her cousin, my niece, in Washington state (its headed your way Audrey!) which surprised me since, really it fits her fine, and it is her favorite colors.  But, perhaps (I'm crossing my fingers here) she is outgrowing the "everything pink, and I only wear dresses" phase.  Actually, as you can see in the photo, she seems to have entered the pajama's only phase, and will not wear actual clothes unless I make her.  And really why not, they're cozy, warm enough, and she wears a snowsuit when she leaves the house anyway.

 
Poor Bittle (Kale) didn't get anything knit since we ended up traveling to NH unexpectedly.  My favorite place to knit is in the car (when someone else is driving) but alas I was the only adult, so I had to just look at the knitting beside me on the seat.  Such a waste of three long hours. (I would be lying if I said I didn't think about trying to knit and drive-- honestly, I only thought about it). Fortunately Bittle is still really a baby and didn't notice at all.  I did get him some dried cranberries and some strawberry flavored baby yogurt snacks.  I never buy those "baby snacks" marketed just for babies, but they were all natural and they were pink. I thought they might be a nice treat in place of the fudge.  He hated them.  Even the big kids won't eat them.  Oh well.  We were at Mimi's house so it didn't matter anyway.  Everyday at Mimi's is special.  And of course Mimi was up to her usual "mischief" (Juniper's word) and had gifts for each child to open.  No one was left out.  Including me, who made use of the three long hours home to eat most of the Mimi-made chocolates.  Yum.  Thanks mom.