Mittens, bread, and back to work

This week I felt the need to make mittens. I have never made mittens before. I have never even considered making mittens because I have my favorite pair of black leather gloves that I wear all winter. I don't like to drive with mittens on because I think they are too slippery. But I had to make mittens.

I orginally wanted to purchase either Latvian Mittens or Folk Mittens but niether my local bookstore nor my LYS had it in stock. Needing to make mittens NOW! I went searching the net and found Corazon on Knitty. I started them last night and I am half way done with the first mitten already! I am loving the pattern, very easy, no mistakes so far. Here is a pic of my progress so far.
I am not sure why some of the white stitches on the palm are showing up differently, but maybe it will smooth out with blocking. I am using encore dk so it probably won't block dramatically but it should smooth out. I am also currently knitting an entrelac baby blanket for my SIL and I am still working on the cotton hoodie. I will pick them back up as soon as my mitten obsession has passed :-)



Now, why is there bread in the title of my post? Just before Christmas, I bought myself a Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer. I made cookies with it and some pizza dough. I have been wanting to make bread but had to wait until my lifting restrictions from surgery were lifted. I couldn't lift my mixer...it was more than my limit! I have never made bread before, not even as a kid, that I can remember. I followed the recipe in the booklet that came with the mixer and it seems to have turned out ok. We have not tasted it yet, but we will very soon!
And, I am finally back to work. I was out for a total of 10 weeks! I was out for 8 weeks(including Christmas break) for the first surgery and then an additional 2 weeks for the second surgery. My official New Year's Resolution is not to have surgery in 2007! I am going to try very hard to make that happen.