Cake and Candles

I awoke this morning about an hour before my usual time feeling a little heartburn and general unease. I popped a Tums and headed to the kitchen because I knew exactly what was wrong. Last night I made a cake for an office party today. I like to bake and, except in very unusual situations, if it comes from my kitchen it was made from scratch. Last night at 10:30 pm as I was fiishing off the cake, I ran out of homemade frosting. Noting my ongoing difficultywith my feet, hubbo convinced me that it was fine as it was so I went to bed.

It was not fine and we both knew it. He was able to move on and go to sleep and put it completely out of his head. I was not. This is why, at o'dark thirty this morning, I was whipping up another batch of frosting. I think that we can both agree that this is much better. Not perfect - but better.

Now that the cake issues are resolved I can return to the regularly scheduled display of the last of the holiday gifts I finished while I was stuck on the couch. These are the second set of votive sleeves that I planned and I'm really happy with the way they turned out.

I used the pattern for Wire Menorah/Votive Sleeves from Melanie Falick’s Handknit Holidays again but this time the 24 gauge wire I used was gold tone. I wanted to use a red and gold theme and I couldn't believe how hard it was to find beads in these colors that pleased me. I wanted glass beads in true reds and most of what I saw was coral or pink - not red. I think that these worked out well. I like the randomness of the placement and, although you can't see in this picture, they catch the light very nicely.