Cupcakes + Lace!

(Hey, this is my 101st post! Cool.)

First of all, if you have extra zucchini lying around (and who doesn't?), you should definitely use it to make these chocolate-zucchini cupcakes. I did so last night and I can promise you with complete confidence that you won't regret it! (Do watch out for overcooking them, though -- the baking time recommended in the recipe was much too long for my oven, at least.)

Also, look at what I got in the mail a couple weeks back from my lovely friend Yoli, who was working on destashing:


That, my friends, is a skein of Skacel Collection Merino Lace in a gorgeous teal! This yarn is stupidly beautiful and frighteningly fine. I haven't knit with lace-weight yet so I am definitely intimidated but also excited. I think the most beautiful lace pattern I've seen is the Seascape Shawl, so I might attempt to tackle that right off the bat, but I wondered if any of you had other suggestions for first lace projects, maybe something smaller and quicker to help me get comfortable with it? Let me know please!

I have made almost no progress on the socks recently -- like I said, having a curious kitten around really cuts into one's knitting time, not to mention the fact that 90°+ weather makes it difficult to feel terribly excited about wool socks, even if they are really fantastic wool socks.

We went to Lettuce Knit today! It was so so cute and I loved the whole Kensington neighborhood. There were so many cool-looking shops and restaurants and I'd like to spend a lot more time down there someday.

Making a purchasing decision at Lettuce Knit was damn near impossible but eventually I settled on some big dark red wool, which will likely become the Thorpe hat (I have some brown yarn at home for the trim). I still don't have my camera cord but I just did realize that Linn's computer has Photobooth, which is quite novel to me, so I can show you the yarn after all:



Linn just called to say she's on her way back here, so maybe it's time to stop using her computer for silly yarn photos. Hope you all have an excellent weekend!

Fall yarn.

Do you feel like I end every other post here with "and then I bought some pretty yarn, which I promise I will show you soon" but then never actually show you any yarn? That's probably because that's pretty much what I do. In an effort to correct this (and because I couldn't think of anything else I really wanted to talk about for today's NaBloPoMo post), I photographed my two most recent yarn purchases. We all know I'm predictable as can be when it comes to most of my color choices (green, green, brown, green, blue, green, green again...), but something about the stunning leaves this autumn made me really want to branch out (no pun intended). I searched in vain for yarn that came even remotely close to capturing the gorgeous oranges, golds, and reds I saw around me. Nothing was really doing it for me until I finally found these at Knit A Round:


That's Claudia's Hand Painted fingering weight yarn in the colorway Copper Pennies. I think it has a bit more orange in it than came through in this photo.
I still can't get over how insanely beautiful this yarn is, and I'm undecided on what to do with it. Claudia's is great for socks, of course, and this would make the most beautiful pair of socks in the whole world, but I might want to use it for something a little more visible. Any ideas?

During that same trip I picked up some lovely worsted weight Malabrigo, which will be a hat of some nature:


It's more reddish in real life but just as deliciously soft as it looks.
Hopefully my neighbors weren't looking out their windows just now, but if they were oh well -- I mean, who doesn't balance yarn on a corn stalk & photograph if from time to time?

Anticipation + a new cowl.

Just a few more days until the Ravelympics!! I'm so so eager to start my projects. I bought the last of the necessary yarn & needles yesterday (or, more accurately, my supremely generous/enabling Aunt Andrea bought them for me during our day of adventures). Here's what I'm making (Ravelry links):

• Chevalier Mittens for me, in a gorgeous dusty blue Cascade 220 Heather.
• Evangeline, elbow length, for my wonderful friend Linn. (Usually I don't blog about in-progress gifts for friends unless I'm fairly certain said friends don't read this. Linn does read this, actually, but I'm making an exception for the Ravelympics & I'm sure she'll understand.) She's allergic to all animal fibers and I'm not too experienced with plant fiber so I picked up some beautiful turquoise-y Berroco Comfort. It's an acrylic/nylon blend and probably the softest synthetic yarn I've ever felt.
• Juniper Mitts using the rest of my Mountain Goat yarn in the Juniper colorway (that's the stuff I used on my cowl). I haven't decided yet about keeping these or giving them away.

So do you think I can manage all of that in 17 days?! It'll be fun to try, anyway!

Last night I started a new cowl, since I loved the last one so much and I'd been dying to cast on for something with the Malabrigo Silky Merino I bought recently. This yarn, you guys! It is beyond perfect. I've gotten carried away and proposed marriage to it a few times. It's soft, it's squishy, it's a dream to work with, and the color is just beautiful:


(That's my lavender plant creeping in at the top of the photo.)
The cowl is just star stitch, inspired by the Holding Hands, Feeding Ducks scarf. I had to practice the stitch a lot before I started this -- it's a little tricky! It's not exactly easy on the hands, either, what with all the p3tog. But isn't it lovely?

A pretty WIP & some pretty yarn!

My knitting just made my day!! I picked the cloud bolero back up a few days ago and finally got to the part where I separated the sleeves from the body. This is my first remotely lacy project and it's been sort of tough to tell what's going on while it's on the needles, so I really wasn't sure how it was looking. Once I finally had the sleeves separated, I could try it on & find out, and it turns out that I LOVE IT!





I can't believe it was actually making sense that whole time! The pattern as written would have that be all for the sleeves -- I was actually supposed to do a picot bind-off on the last row. But I think that looks kind of stupid, so I'm going to go for probably 3/4-length sleeves. I'll figure it out when I've got the body done.

Also, my yarn from HandPaintedYarn.com came yesterday!!



It has more hot pink than I expected, and pink's not usually a color I go for, but isn't it beautiful? It's going to be Cherie Amour!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Gorgeous Yarn!

So I finished my Montana Scarf over the weekend but I don't have any good pictures of it yet -- I never seem to think of it until it's dark, and the few I've tried in the sunlight are just unacceptably crappy. I also can't show you pictures of the hat I knit for a friend over the weekend (not until I send it to him, anyway), and the Felted iPod Cozy I started yesterday is too boring to warrant photographing at this point (picture a green stockinette tube & you've got it). But I can make up for this lack of FO/WIP photos with some seriously beautiful yarn:




Are you drooling yet? That's 2 skeins of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport in Watercolor.




And this is 2 skeins of Claudia Hand-Painted Fingering Merino Wool in Caribbean Blue.
So, reason #230483240238 why you should join a knitting group in your area? Because if you say on your blog that you want to get started on socks, incredibly beautiful sock yarn might just come your way! Seriously, how lucky am I? The wonderful S. of Short N Crafty Sista read about my interest in socks & gathered up a whole bag of sock yarn that had green in it, since she needed to destash & doesn't care for green. I got to pick the two delicious yarns pictured above (an excruciatingly tough choice, by the way, since there were several other beautiful options), and everyone else got to take the rest. There aren't even any words for how grateful I am for this, but it definitely made my week!

I was up wayyyy too late last night trying to find suitable patterns for these. My first socks should probably be pretty simple, I figure, but I also want patterns worthy of these incredible yarns. I've pretty much ignored sock patterns up until now, so "overwhelmed" doesn't begin to cover how I feel looking through them now! There are so many! I'm starting to narrow it down, though, and hopefully I can start soon. I still need to get some of those tiny little sock needles, though -- I was going to run out & buy some today, but I think I might try to be patient and order some KnitPicks needles soon instead, since there are a few sizes I need for upcoming projects.

I did go yarn shopping over the weekend, too! I picked up some Berocco Peruvia in Maroon. (I almost went for green but I'm trying to branch out colorwise.) I'm using it on my aran weight version of Ysolda Teague's Cloud Bolero (Ravelry link). I am insanely nervous about this pattern, since I've never really done lace before, and I fully expect to make 10,000 stupid mistakes and have to restart it more than once. So far, though, it's going decently (knock on wood). I started it last night and have only moved through 10 or so rows, but it looks impressively lacy & lovely and I'm very excited about it!

Twin Calorimetries & Cookie #5.

Hi everyone! Sorry for being so quiet lately. It's been an insanely busy week. I was battling a sinus infection, helping out at my aunt's flower shop, and doing lots of school work. Now I'm feeling better, done with the flower shop until Mother's Day, and wishing I could spend the weekend kicking back & relaxing with some good knitting. Unfortunately, that's not going to happen. I have midterms next week & therefore tons of reading/studying/writing/etc. to do, plus I'm leaving for Montana Thursday (yay!) so there are things I want to get out of the way before then. Blah.

I've barely knit at all since completing that hat, though I did take a trip to an LYS just the other day, in search of yarn for a nice neck-warmer. I left with a nice big skein of Araucania Nature Wool. It's very pretty but it's also much thinner than I'd realized at the time, almost more of a heavy DK than a light worsted, and I'd wanted a heavy worsted. Oops. So I don't know what I'm going to do about that. I did find a pattern I liked written for 2 strands of DK held together, so I might use that. I might also just go buy different yarn over the weekend, we'll see.

The cardigan is moving slowly. Well, really it's not moving at all, because I STILL haven't started the second sleeve. I don't know why, but I always convince myself that picking up stitches is some horrible ordeal that I just don't want to deal with yet. In reality it's an easy & quick thing to do, but I put it off anyway. I promise I'm starting that sleeve tonight, though!

I can finally show you the two Calorimetries I made last week, though, since my friend Kenna received hers the other day & seems to like it! :) Here's a picture of her wearing it:


I was so happy when she sent me that! It just feels really good to see something you made being used by the recipient. I'm sure you all know what I mean. Here are some other shots I took of it before sending it off:


The orange was my favorite color in there and I'm thrilled that I had a button that worked with it so well. Also this yarn makes me want to take back every mean thing I've ever said about multi-colored yarns because it's so damn beautiful, especially with this pattern!

As you know, as soon as I finished that one for Kenna I cast on this one for myself:


The lighting is all weird/cool because I took these as the evening sunlight was streaming in through my favorite window. I've been wearing it nearly every day & loving how warm it keeps my ears.

For both of these I cast on 96 stitches & only did 5 repeats of row 5. To get 2 out of just one skein, I had to cheat a little on mine & knit to 8 stitches past the marker on a couple of the last rows. I was nervous about that but it worked out fine.
***
I really need to finally blog Cookie #5, since it's been at least a week since I made it!

Recipe: Chai Snickerdoodles

Modifications: I don't think I made any other than halving the recipe because having that many cookies around didn't seem particularly wise.

Review: I was so excited when I saw this recipe! I love snickerdoodles & I love chai, so combining the two seemed brilliant. Basically it's a traditional snickerdoodle recipe, but instead of rolling the dough in a simple cinnamon-sugar mixture, you add cardamom, ginger, & allspice, too! I love those spices & had fun mixing them up & making the cookies, but the end result tasted almost exactly like a basic snickerdoodle to me. I'm not complaining, since there is nothing bad at all about a basic snickerdoodle, but I was mildly disappointed that the chai flavor wasn't very pronounced. There's a good chance I'll try these again & just use much more cardamom, ginger, & allspice -- if I do, I'll let you know how it goes!

Right now I've got a loaf of this in the oven and if it tastes half as good as it looks & smells right now I'll be in heaven. I keep making breads & not blogging them! Basically that oatmeal bread I gushed about a couple weeks ago is on its way to becoming a weekly staple. Everyone likes it and the few scraps that are left over at the end of the week become the most delicious croutons the world has ever known. I also tried making English muffins for the first time a while back, following this recipe. I was amazed by how good they were for a first attempt, but they still weren't perfect. They were bland and I also didn't roll the dough out thin enough at all. My family still liked them but I hope to do better next time. If nothing else it was satisfying to know that I made them out of a few simple ingredients while the ones from the store have an ingredient list that's about two inches long and filled with unpronounceable words.

Ok, that's all for now, have a great weekend everyone!

A disappointing day with some good knitting.

I was so excited to go meet up with my fellow knitters at Caribou tonight but it did not work out. I had a paper I needed to finish first and I definitely thought it would be done by the early afternoon but every time I read back over it I noticed contradictions and flaws, and basically it's 11:30ish now and the thing is STILL not done. Ugh. I've never struggled so much with a paper. Pretty soon I'm going to just save what I have and resolve to turn it in whether I think it's perfect or not, but I thought I'd take a break & post before going over it for the gazillionth (and hopefully LAST) time.

I've been taking lots of breaks, really, to try to clear my head & be able to return to the paper with a fresh perspective. Usually that helps. Today it didn't but I still did some cool stuff with my breaks. For one thing, I finished a second Calorimetry as a gift for my wonderful friend Kenna. I can't show you a picture of it before I give it to her, but I can show you the yarn:


Filatura di Crosa 127 print in colorway 50, "Forest"

Isn't it gorgeous? It's the first variegated yarn I've really liked and I truly love the way it knit up! I'll show you guys when I can.

I also finished seaming the first sleeve on my cropped cardigan, so you finally get a picture:

Isn't it cute? Eventually it'll close with a cool button, and don't mind all that white yarn -- it's just a lifeline. I took much longer to knit the sleeve than to knit the body, and longer still to seam the damn sleeve. I think this just goes to show how much I hate doing boring things. :)

Ok, ok, back to work!

Cookie #4 + a great package.

First of all, I made cookie #4 for the year a couple nights ago. I'm a big fan of anything that involves a combination of spiciness & chocolate, so as soon as I came across a recipe for Mexican Hot Chocolate Butter Cookies, there was no turning back!

Recipe: Mexican Hot Chocolate Butter Cookies (last one on the page)

Modifications: Though there is no yield amount given in the recipe (one of the many flaws in its writing), it looked like it would be a lot so I cut just about everything in half. I skipped the espresso beans because (a) we didn't have any and (b) I'm not that big on coffee flavoring, though it can be nice. Instead of rolling the log of dough in crushed nuts, I sprinkled some on top just before baking. That was my step-dad's idea and I think they were more aesthetically appealing that way.

Finally, I used regular old sugar instead of Sucanat. I'm sure Sucanat is a little better for you, but it also comes from sugarcane. I'm 99% sure there are no sugarcane plantations in Michigan (or in the Midwest at all, for that matter), so that means sugarcane products aren't getting to me without lots & lots of fossil fuels. Add to that the fact that regular white sugar is one of the only local products I can buy in a huge supermarket and, well, I'm opting for the white sugar, at least for right now.

Review: The recipe itself is kinda terribly written, to the point where it doesn't even tell you how long you need to bake the cookies! Luckily that did not stop them from being delicious. My step-dad, who ordinarily does not eat much and definitely does not gush about what he does eat, wolfed down several of these and was singing their praises for the rest of the night! The cookies were crispier than I usually like, but the texture suited them well. Also, cinnamon and chocolate is the world's greatest combination and I hope there's a damn good reason it doesn't show up in baked goods more often. From here on out, I'll be mixing the two whenever I can. I have to admit, though, that the spiciness I was seeking wasn't really there at all -- next time, more cayenne!

***
The best part about yesterday was finding a huge envelope addressed to me. It was my first ever package from Finland! You may remember that I had the awesome luck of winning a Hasbu's birthday blog contest. Here are my great prizes:


There's yarn, of course! Two skeins of Sandnes Garn Fritidsgarn, dark green 100% wool. I'd never heard of it before getting this package but people on Ravelry have done beautiful work with it. I think I want to try a felted pattern, since it seems so well-suited to that. Right now I'm leaning toward mittens, since I've been wanting to make myself a pair...

In the package I also found some crushed caramel-coated almonds to bake with and 2 bars of unbelievably good Finnish chocolate. I'm so touched that Hasbu thought of my baking and I'm looking forward to using those almonds in something! And the chocolate, oh god! I'm usually a dark chocolate kind of girl, but apparently the Finns know what they're doing with milk chocolate, because it is flavorful & creamy & perfect. Kiittää te Hasbu!! (An internet translator told me that that's "thank you" in Finnish -- I hope it's right!)

A flower & an FO.

After all those boring pictureless posts, I bring you something pretty:

That's the amaryllis plant my family got for Christmas from my wonderful Aunt Andrea. At the time it didn't even look like a plant, just like something weird & ugly & spherical, but since then it's grown at crazy speed and that's one of its blossoms just the other day! I need to take some more pictures soon, since almost all the flowers are in bloom now and it's absolutely stunning.

I don't have any pictures of that cardigan but I've been working away at it. I finished the body in just a day but the sleeves are taking longer, primarily because they're boring. Also I really hate size 15 needles!

I finally made myself a Calorimetry! I cast on the other night so I would have something to work on at school, should the need arise, since the cardigan was getting too big to carry around & I have to do some math before I continue with the hat. Then I woke up yesterday morning and our power was out thanks to the wind. It was something like 15 degrees outside, with a wind chill closer to ten below zero, and I instantly started cursing myself for (a) having abandoned the hat I'm working on for so long and (b) giving away so many of the warm, woolen, wintry things I've made. And so I spent the morning standing in front of our gas stove, all 4 burners on, with a ball of yarn under my arm that quickly turned into this:



Ok, I really didn't finish it until after school yesterday evening, but it was still the quickest project I've ever done. I really like it, too! The yarn is Knit Picks Wool of the Andes and I'd ordered a skein just to test it out & see if it really was as good a deal as it seemed. My verdict is that it is! It's not the softest thing but it's not very itchy, either. I had no problems working with it and isn't that color (Sapphire Heather) gorgeous? The photo doesn't quite do it justice but it's the prettiest blue I've seen. And, well, at $2 for 110 yards, I can definitely see this yarn becoming a mainstay in my stash.

I'll be doing that pattern a few more times, too. I want to make some for gifts and probably more for me, too. If/when I do find a self-striping yarn I actually like, it'll be great. Actually, I think I did find one I like: Berocco Jasper. Look at those colors! People on Ravelry have made some truly gorgeous things with it, so here's hoping I see it in an LYS sometime soon!

I do have an LYS trip planned for Saturday. I'll be going back to Knit A Round with my beloved Aunt Andrea to return that last skein of Ironstone Harmony & spend the gift card my equally beloved Aunt Amy got me for Christmas. I actually want to talk yarn some more here but this has gotten long already, so I'll make that another post in the near future.

Before I go, though, I do want to make a note of just how hip my family is: my Aunt Amy now has a blog, too! It's The Alphabetical Vegetarian and there's not much there yet but I'm looking forward to reading more. Both of my aunts are witty & brilliant so of course I'm glad to see them sharing some of their genius with the world. If only we could get my mom blogging...we'd have to teach her how to use the internet first, though!

Frog City.

Major sweater setback: I reached the last skein of yarn on my Hot Lava cardigan last night and did the math and...that one last skein just wasn't going to be enough to finish it. Woe! I seriously did the calculations over & over & over but there was no way they were going to work out. I was pretty disappointed about this earlier but I quickly moved on to finding other cute patterns for the yarn and I've now started on this one. I think I just might like it better than Hot Lava, actually, and it's the fastest knit EVER! I started it this morning and literally only have a few more rows to go on the body. If things continue at this rate I'll be wearing it before the week's halfway over, which would be awesome!

Amusingly, my spit splices were undetectable while I was frogging, so I now have this gigantic ball of wool that represents roughly 2.5 skeins. Way to go saliva!

There's a lot of frogging going on around here lately. The other night I also knit about half a Calorimetry before I had to come out of denial and admit to myself that I hated the yarn I was using. It's Crystal Palace Yarns Fjord Print (colorway Black Pearls) and I got it in the spirit of branching out and trying some variegated colorways instead of solids like I usually use. I've realized that there's a reason I use solids all the time, though, and it's that I don't like the way print yarns look...or at least I don't like this one. The color changes are too rapid and the colors are too different for my taste. On the off chance that any of you click on the link & like the way that it looks, I'd be all too happy to part with my one skein (though a small portion of it is, of course, lightly used thanks to my half Calorimetry) -- email me or message me on Ravelry if you have any interest.

On the plus side, I really enjoyed the Calorimetry pattern (yeah, I realize I'm late to this bandwagon!), so I'll be making more of those in prettier yarns very soon.

I've been far more successful with cooking and baking lately than with knitting. I made my 3rd batch of cookies for the year the other night and, surprisingly, I've been making really good bread, too. Also I've just been eating well generally, cooking most of my meals at home and actually paying some attention to proper nutrition, which is something of an accomplishment for me (as well as a 2008 resolution). Anyway, details, pictures, & recipes to follow. I hope you all had a great weekend!

LOTS of knitting going on!

I'm definitely in a phase where I do not want to do anything but knit. It's not a bad thing, really, though I'm making myself stop for a few hours now because my hands are starting to hurt and I know I should at least look at my homework tonight if I don't want to spend the whole weekend on it (whether that knowledge will translate into action remains to be seen). I've gotten so much done this week, though!

Mainly I've been going crazy on my cardigan. That first sleeve took me 2 weeks to knit, mostly because I wasn't spending time on it each day. That is definitely no longer the case, as evidenced by the fact that the 2nd sleeve took me about 2 days and was completed just minutes ago. So now I have the "basic shrug" part done & need to create the bolero. Here's the shrug just a few minutes ago:



Isn't it lovely? This yarn is so pretty, though I have a sinking feeling that it's going to pill like crazy. Whatever. Those few rows of seed stitch are the spine of the sweater and the cuffs are also 2x2 seed. I reluctantly made them shorter than the pattern recommended, due to my fear of running out of yarn, but now I'm starting to think they're cute that way! And even with the short cuffs, the sleeves are plenty long.

I'm very nervous about making the bolero part. Ravelers seem pretty divided; some love it & some hate it. There are a lot of complaints about too much fabric in the back, where it does nothing but bunch up & look horrible. I wish I knew more about garment construction so I could modify it to avoid that, but...I don't. So for now I'm planning to follow the pattern and if I hate it I can always rip back.

Also, I started on that hat. After all my whining about needles it turned out I had a pair of circs that are perfect for just plain knitting in the round, if not for Magic Loop. Here it is so far:



Mmmmm, Malabrigo!!! There are no words that could truly express my love for this yarn! I was meaning to follow my friend Yoli's modifications to make the hat a bit smaller, but honestly (and I think largely because I've done most of the work in public) I keep forgetting where I'm at in the pattern and cabling at odd and uneven intervals. Oops? I guess I'm just going to keep doing that, more or less making up my own cable pattern, and if I like it that'll be awesome. If I don't, I'll get to rip back & knit with the beautiful Malabrigo all over again. Either way I win!

The time that I haven't spent on knitting I've spent on (what else?) Ravelry. That site should probably come with a warning label. Until recently I had just about no interst in groups but now I can't seem to stop joining them & reading posts. It's probably all down hill from here, folks...

Also I've been cooking & baking a bit, but I'll save that for another post. Have a fantastic weekend, everyone!

My brief venture into the world of designer knitting supplies.

Today was really spectacular in lots of ways, but ridiculously frustrating in some others. The day started with a yarn-shopping extravaganza with my beloved Aunt Andrea -- can't complain about that! Except I can, just a little bit: for one thing, I forgot the gift card I was intending to use. That was annoying, but I decided to just make the yarn a birthday gift to myself. Not that big of a deal.

So we wandered around the store and, after lots and lots of deliberation, I settled on the most gorgeous dark green Ironstone Harmony wool for the Hot Lava Cardigan. I'm excited to start that and the yarn is really soft and a great color, one I think I'll wear a lot. Feeling good about that, I headed on over to the needle section and located the circular I'd need for the project. There was exactly one left in the specified size and length and...you might want to make sure you're sitting down before I tell you the price (though why would you be standing and reading a blog?). It was $24! I went into a mild state of shock and even put back the yarn for a bit, dismayed but certain that I would have to be crazy to pay $24 for one freaking circular needle. Aunt Andrea offered to get it as an early birthday gift and I still said no, because I felt like I might explode with rage just from owning something so overpriced, even if I hadn't personally bought it. Eventually, though, she talked me into it.

Now, I might be something of a cheapskate some of the time, but I also understand that you get what you pay for and sometimes it's necessary to pay more than you would like for quality (that's definitely my philosophy when it comes to yarn, anyway). On the ride home after our delicious lunch, I started feeling ok about the needle. Maybe it really would help me knit faster and better! Maybe it would do all the work for me, then clean my room & cook me dinner, and therefore be worth the price! I cast on for the first sleeve as soon as I got home, and what did the $24 needle do?

Did it somehow make the knitting amazingly easy or more enjoyable? Was it a beautiful sensory experience? Did it magically make the project go faster? Did it, in fact, clean my room and cook my dinner?

NO! IT BROKE. IT @#)$ING BROKE! The first time it was kinda cute. I was on only the 2nd or 3rd round when the needle part came detached from the cord part. I stared at it in disbelief for a minute, said "Surely you're kidding me," and snapped it back together. It seemed to hold, and I got another several rounds completed before it happened again. This time, though, it seems serious about it, and doesn't hold very well when I snap it back together. al;dfj;alskfj;askdfl; there are no words for how frustrating I find this!

So, let this be a lesson. If you ever find yourself burdened with way too much money and think, "I know, I'll treat myself to a really fancy "Destiny Lantern Moon" circular needle," DON'T! Not only is the name stupid, but apparently the price does not, in fact, indicate quality. You would probably be better off just giving all that extra money to me, really.

As for me, I'm not sure what I'll do. The sleeve does look beautiful so far and maybe if I'm just really careful the needle will be nice to me... I would just go return it at the store, but it's kind of a lengthy drive for me, especially considering the fact that my car is barely even running at the moment. I think I'll try superglue first, or any suggestions you want to leave in the comments.

Various & Sundry

Just a few little notes before I go to bed:

• I bought some yarn today! The Michaels near me was having a 2-for-$7 sale on Patons Shetland Chunky & Classic Merino. As much as I prefer supporting local business...I'm on a budget & trying to make Xmas gifts for lots of people, so I really cannot argue with that kind of a deal! With the Shetland Chunky Tweed I started on a hat for my brother:
  
  
  It's much more blue & less purple in real life!
  When I first asked 3 of my younger brothers whether they'd wear hats I made them, the response was lots of laughter & exclamations of "no way!" Then the oldest of them, Mac, saw the hat I made my boyfriend, and every time I've spoken (or exchanged emails or Facebook messages or whatever) with him since then it's been "how's my hat coming?!" He's really excited about it, but it took me until now to find a good yarn. He wanted blue, and all the blues I found were just too damn girly or otherwise unsuitable. I'm still not sure about this yarn...it looked good on the skein but I keep panicking and thinking he won't like it. Everyone I've showed it to has assured me otherwise, and I figure if he really hates it I can just keep it for myself (because I like it lots!) and take him yarn shopping so I can make another.


• I'm planning on these mittens for my friend for Xmas. I'll probably start them within the next couple of days & I'm pretty excited! I may make myself a pair, too, once I'm done with all this holiday stuff, because I really love the way they look.


• I'm eager to start on Dashing for my boyfriend's Xmas gift, but I kind of hate the yarn I bought for them (Reynolds Lite Lopi). I was completely seduced by the gorgeous, incredibly rich brown color + the nice price tag, but it's the itchiest stuff I've ever encountered and he hates itchy wool. I'm really not sure what to do, but I think I'm going to just buy something else. There's an LYS near school that I want to check out, anyway (Neighborhood Knits, to be exact), and this gives me the perfect excuse (not that I ever really need an excuse to drool over yarn, but it doesn't hurt)...


• I wore the vest to school today and do you know how hard it was not to brag to complete strangers that I made it all by myself? Really, really hard! In my head every conversation was going like this:

  Unsuspecting Friend: Hey, how are you?
  Me: Pretty good, what about you?
  UF: Oh, pr--
  Me: DO YOU LIKE MY VEST?! I MADE IT MYSELF! WITH YARN AND POINTY STICKS! Isn't that just the most exciting and impressive thing you've ever heard?!
  UF: *backs slowly away*
  Me: Isn't it?!?
  UF: *runs for shelter*

  I'm very proud to say I restrained myself.


• Knit Night was kind of a bummer tonight -- a very small group! I was by myself most of the time. Turns out there's a huge difference between knitting in a cafe all by your lonesome & knitting in a cafe with a group of fun & interesting people. One is lots of fun & one just kinda sucks. Some excellent people did show up eventually, but unfortunately for me I had to leave shortly after they all arrived! Oh well. It was my own fault for not being sure to bring enough money to pay for parking for longer than an hour (in fact, I only made it out of the structure because Kim was kind enough to loan me a quarter -- had she not, I guess I would've gotten a $30 ticket!). I suppose this is what I get for never using cash.


• Does it bother anyone else that there isn't an apostrophe in "Michaels"? Probably not, but it drives me nuts.

Oh, look, I'm up too late yet again... Have a great week, everyone!

Also, I'm SO relieved this week is just about over!

Hi everyone! This'll just be a quick post, since I'm itching to go actually knit, but here are a few knitting-related things:

• I started working on this pattern yesterday. I'm using this soft, beautiful mystery yarn from my stash -- I had it wound into a ball at the LYS, & when they do that they put the tag inside the ball. So when I run out I'll know what the hell the stuff is, but for now it could be anything. I do remember that my Aunt Andrea bought it for me, though, so it's gotta be something pretty nice. :)
  
  You can see the headband as of yesterday here. It's gotten much longer since then, and so far everyone who has commented on the photo thinks it looks like I'm knitting a thong...
  
  It's worth noting that I'm using this version of the pattern, which is super-easy to follow. I didn't even try to follow the original, since I've heard lots of terrible things about DROPS patterns.
  
  
• My first ever online order of yarn came today from KnitPicks! It's beautiful stuff.
  
  
• I have the best friends/enablers EVER. My friend Taryn asked me the other night which knitting magazines I like. She was trying to be all stealthy but it came out that she's getting me a gift subscription for Christmas, which is just too sweet of her! And as if that weren't enough, I also got a package from my friend Kenna, who is studying in Dublin for the semester. This was inside:
  
  
  
  
  It's wonderful! After much internal debate, I think it's destined to become a pair of these. Your thoughts?
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Not that long ago, I said I didn't believe in colorwork more complicated than stripes. But then I saw this bag pattern, and now I can't get it out of my head. I'm becoming obsessed with it to the point where I think it's safe to say I'll be attempting Fair Isle pretty soon...

Wow, that got longer than I thought it would! I suspect I could go on about knitting for way too long. On the baking front, I haven't done anything too interesting lately but I did make oatmeal chocolate chip cookies a couple days ago & the classmates I shared them with really loved them, so that was cool.

Have a good weekend everyone!