back in the routine

we enjoyed a nice holiday break with wonderful adventures (multnomah falls, the beach, hiking) and now are equally enjoying this time with everyone back to our normal routines of work and preschool.
i'm still working on my husband's christmas present; a scarf with a little owl design. i'm using a baby alpaca yarn and it is so nice feeling. i may need to knit one for myself too!

i did a bit of canning over the break and am really loving having a big stash of home canned broth, beans, and chick peas to use. we use a lot of broth and i can really taste the difference. while we aren't experiencing the severe winter weather that the rest of the country is, i'm still drawn to cozy soups and stews right now. rainy weather means warm, nourishing meals. we made a batch of peanut butter cookies yesterday. it was really fun making them (only a few had sprinkles) but they turned out really dry and crumbly. does anyone have a good peanut butter cookie recipe? i used one from martha stewart. i initially turned to cook's illustrated for a recipe, because they are always right, but they required peanuts, not peanut butter, and i didn't have them. i guess next time i should try it out.

so i've been thinking more about the sweater i'm going to knit for myself. i think it has to have pockets. clothes without pockets drive me crazy. i was chatting about this at my local yarn shop and it sounds like adding on pockets wouldn't be too difficult. have any of you added pockets onto a sweater? the options seem to be either knitting essentially a giant buttonhole where i want the pocket opening to be, and then sewing in a fabric pocket bag (knit would be too bulky), or waiting until the sweater is finished and then picking up stitches (pick up and knit) where i'd want the bottom of the pocket,  a flap, bind off and then hand stitch the sides down. i think the second option sounds easier and probably what i'll do for my first sweater, but the first options sounds aesthetically more appealing. i'll have to try that for my next sweater. oh, and my daughter has requested that i knit her a whole outfit (pants, dress, and hat) for her birthday in addition to the sewn strawberry outfit. oof, april is creeping up quickly! i had better finish that scarf so i can get on to everything else!