Maintaining the pace

...or not, in this case. Following the recent flurry of activity, knitting progress has slowed down considerably.

Work has re-started on the Sunrise Circle jacket (link to the KAL on the right somewhere) and I expect completion by the end of the week but apart from that, nothing, zippo, zilch, nada, rien, nul, (you get the picture).
I'm not sure why there has been a slowing down; I have been out more than usual, to parents' evening, open days/evenings at 6th form colleges with Bethany and a modicum of socializing, but not enough to fully explain the lack of progress. I've not had much chance to knit at work over the last week or two, so maybe that explains it. (The real reason, of course, is that I spend far too much time lurking around on knitting forums , attending to wish lists and reading other people's blogs, especially those dedicated souls who post almost every day). After the Sunrise Circle, I have requests for black fingerless gloves (Bethany), a black neck-warmer (Lucy) and a zip-up jacket (OH) so I better get my a**e into gear and get on with it.

Today, I made the christmas cake and it smells absolutely wonderful. I used a new recipe this year which instructs you to soak the dried fruit and stem ginger overnight in a mixture of ginger wine and cognac, then puree half of this mixture before folding it into the cake. Pre-cooking tastings (ahem, who me?) indicate a treat in store on Christmas Day, and that's before I've added the almond paste and icing. Yum!
The downside (and there's always a downside) is that I had to buy a whole bottle of ginger wine just to use 75ml (10%) of it so I'm having to really force myself to use up the remainder as a mixer with whiskey - honestly, the sacrifices I make to provide for my family!