Utah was wonderful and lovely. It was my 3rd visit there but the first time it was for pleasure and not for business. Also the first time I was able to see more of the state than just Provo. We were up by Bear Lake, spending some time in Jim's cabin. It was a manly cabin, there's a reason they call him a mountain man. Here's ye olde welcome mat.



I was quite warm, despite the snow, thanks to the clothes Betsy lent me.
Thank You Betsy!

Jim built and decorated the cabin himself. The decor was mostly taxidermied and antlered, and I loved it! The antlers aren't hunting trophies as he finds them after they've been shed by the animals growing out of them. But the fish he did catch himself and we enjoyed having some for dinner.



There was a fire to knit by and a great view. Here's Jesse, Clara and Charlie on the back porch of the cabin. Behind them is Bear Lake and some of the hills where we went snowshoeing.



Alina really dug the cabin too.



There was lots to see while walking around, including the camera shy wild turkeys, moose and magpies. I did manage to capture some other picaresque scenes. Did I mention there was snow?





I loved the snow it was clean and bright, reflecting more sun than I'm used to, even in summer. As much as I love Seattle there are solid months of gloomy grey that I don't love.

Sunshine is no substitute for caffeine. Luckily we managed to find some of that as well. This lovely place even roasts their own and it was delicious.



We did stop in Salt Lake briefly before flying out. We looked up some genealogy and admired the architechture.



Everyone was warm and gracious. I hope its not our last visit to Utah, soon I'll have family there myself!

Glee

A new year, a new sweater. A simple, raglan, top down sweater. It's Glee from Zephyr knits in Cashcotton DK from Nashua.

The cotton is combined with cashmere and angora, so it hardly feels like cotton at all. It's so easy I can do it even in my pajamas even amongst all my lovely piles of... what's that? Books, music, knitting supplies?
Anyway I started it a little over a week ago and I'm already way past the point in the picture, in fact I'm over 12 inches from when this photo was taken. It just looks better with a body in it then in a lump on my table. Soon it will grace Hilltop, as pink isn't really my color and I'd like some store credit. The holidays left my wallet a wee bit empty and momma needs some handpainted yarn. More on that to come.