The Great Cake Caper

... Heehee, caper. I like that word. Caper. It makes everything sound like so much fun, even if it was just making a cake. Although, to be fair, it was a pretty intense cake project.

My friend Natalie (not my roommate, another one... I know like five. They do get confusing) was turning 25 and having an 80s themed party. It was a lot of fun - we all dressed up, we played Singstar and Guitar Hero 80s, and we watched Interview with the Vampire (which, okay, is not an 80s movie, but we enjoyed it all the same, dammit.) Some choice pictures:


The birthday girl with her tiara, courtesy of me and Nathalie!


I think my favorite part of this one is how fierce Nathalie looks with that guitar controller.


Chris didn't dress up so much - that polo is from the 80s, but it still needed something else. Enter Elise and the rad Flock of Seagulls hairdo.


Pac-Man nacho dip by Elise.


Charles getting into the spirit of his 'chezzy rocker' outfit.


Nathalie went the Madonna route with her costume.


I am told this is very 80s... I think it's nifty, anyway.

I decided I would provide the birthday cake, and that it would be a red velvet 'bloody' cake. Now somewhere along the way I learned that Natalie didn't like chocolate, so... well, red velvet was out, since it's a chocolate-flavored cake. It kinda screwed with my ideas on what to do decoration wise. But then inspiration hit - probably from watching wayyyy too much Buffy - what about a coffin cake? Vanilla, with gray-tinged icing, and slightly ajar, with raspberry coulis leaking out of it. Not 80s, no. But still wicked cool. So Nat and I pumped ourselves up with lots and lots of 80s music and set to work.

My roommate helped me hardcore with this project - it was my design and all, but most of the actual decoration work was hers. All I really did was make the mix, pour it in a square pan, and turn the oven on. Then I made the gray icing, but she did supervise that - as she frequently reminds me, she's taken entire courses on how to mix colors, so she knows much more than I do about that. Then Nat cut the cake in a coffin shape, and we baked a separate, thinner layer for the lid and cut that to shape. We cut out a hollow in the cake, about half an inch deep, and smushed a bunch of raspberries with a tiny bit of sugar, and filled the hollow with them. We iced the sides and the rim of the hollow, then put the lid on top - slightly open, and iced that. Then we used more of the raspberry mush to have it overflowing out the side that was open, and over the side of the plate as if something had crawled out of the coffin trailing blood. Nat used green icing and some sugar roses to decorate the top and sides of the coffin, and I put a gummy spider on one side of it and one in the trail of blood. The end result was exactly what I wanted, and a big hit at the party - it tasted pretty darn good, too. (Progress pictures are coming - as soon as Nat unloads her camera!)


We made cupcakes to match, since the cake ended up pretty small:


Note the gummy spiders and smushed raspberry 'blood'.


It was Charles's birthday the day after, so we made him special boobie cupcakes (linked in case you don't want to see cartoony boobies). He liked them.


All and all, a good time was had by all. (Except maybe for poor Nick, who is severely allergic to Jake, Natalie's cat. Poor thing.)


On the knitting front, I haven't really gotten anything done. I had kind of a long week, with work (my company moved buildings this week, it's a mess), and scriptwriting, and the cake-planning and shopping, plus yesterday I had a bellydancing workshop and dinner-and-show event for my teacher's 10-year anniversary of dancing. It was a lot of fun, but... this weekend tired me right out.

To The Yarn Shop We Went

Ok. Uh... Yeah. Still here. Yarn? Yes.

My friends and I went to London-Wul last Thursday. I'd already been once before with my roommate, and we wanted to take Chris there cause, in Nat's words, 'he would shit a brick'. Here in Moncton we have about three places we can go for yarn: Wal-Mart, Michaels and Cricket Cove. Wal-Mart and Michaels carry mostly commercial, acrylic yarns, and we've (well, at least I've) kinda... graduated from those. Cricket Cove is awesome for fancier yarns, and I love going there, but they are still quite small and they don't carry handspun (and... I'm a sucker for handspun.) London-Wul, however, is not just a yarn shop, it's also Heidi Wulfraat's workshop, where she spins and dyes really gorgeous yarns. They also have pretty hand-turned needles, and they have a bunch of commercial yarn too - some that Cricket Cove doesn't have. It's really worth the trip - about a 15 minute drive from where we are - just to see the place. It's smack in the middle of nowhere, it's gorgeous, it's big but it feels cozy, there are birdies and a gorgeous huuuuuge super shy dog... There are big wood sheep outside with the heads cut out so you can take pictures with your face in a sheep. Chris. Was gonna. Shit. A brick.

The plan was to blindfold him and drive him there without telling him where we were taking him (how, I do not know - it's not like he'd have let us drive his car) and then un-blindfold him once inside the store (and hopefully the owners/staff wouldn't call the cops on us. "There's some... weird people in the store... I think they've kidnapped some guy."). The plan was flawed, first because of that car thing, and second because... well... he'd already heard of the place. We still wanted to be there when he went, though, just to see his face. So Nat, Chris, his girlfriend Danielle (remember her? the one who looked adorable in the slouchy hat?), their friend Valerie (a non-knitter, poor girl) and myself piled in Chris's car and moseyed on over to Lakeburn.

(Well. We had breakfast at Cora's on the way. It was good... except for my honeydew melon, which was crunchy. That was somewhat less than pleasant.)

Anyway. Chris's reaction did not disappoint, and a good time was had by all. Even Valerie, who said she didn't know the first thing about knitting, kept getting excited by the pretty yarn. (That's the first step... Insert evil cackle here.) Here's my portion of the haul:


Dazzle ribbon yarn by Estelle, with which I have cast on a bellydancing fringe belt.



Two skeins of handspun, handdyed polwarth wool. The green and blue one I actually already had from my last visit there, but I hadn't posted about it (see: wanting to surprise Chris.) The pink and white one I was kinda looking at, and then someone behind me said, Oh, nice, strawberries and cream! and the idea latched itself firmly in my brain, and I went 'yoink!' and promptly bought it. Not sure I would have if that idea hadn't taken root, but I'm glad I did.


This... this is something special. It's an 'odd lot', and the tag says... nothing. Seriously. All I know is that it is dyed by the Fleece Artist, but it doesn't match any of their colorways; it's 110g; it's a two-ply, but not quite laceweight (or at least, a bigger gauge laceweight than my Knitpicks Shimmer); and it's gorgeous. Fiber content? Yardage? Suggested gauge and needle size? What on earth I'm gonna do with it? I have no idea! The yarn feels like it could be mostly wool, maybe merino, and it's a little bit hazy like alpaca, but hell, don't quote me on that.

Anyway. All in all, I'd consider our expedition to London-Wul a resounding success, if not entirely healthy for my credit card. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go smell my Fleece Artist - it still smells like the yarn shop...

Tattoo

As promised:


This is the just-done pic, taken right when I got home with it. It's red and kinda swollen and all, and the color looks off till it heals, but I like it a lot :) A lot of people are asking me what it is. It's a peacock. (Not a turkey.) They do seem to realize it when they look closely at the feathers, though... I'm thinking when it's not so red anymore it'll look more like a peacock.

Randomness

I've been taking a little knitting break, only knitting at work a little bit, and I haven't done any at home at all in the past couple weeks. I think it's because I've kind of lost interest in all the projects I have on the needles at the moment, but I don't want to start anything new right now, either. I at least want to free up a stitch holder or two before I start something new. Hopefully this week I'll feel more like working on my Sunday Market shawl - which looks really good so far in the Silk Garden, I love the colors and feel. I also have a fringe belt planned out in my colorful ribbon yarn for a friend of mine who bellydances, which would mean ripping out one of the versions of the Holi belt that I still have on a stitch holder.

I went to the library the other day and picked up a bunch of books... I got a book on crochet, which hopefully I'll be able to use to teach myself the basics. I also got 'Knitting for Peace' which I'd been meaning to read, but I'm sorta glad I didn't buy it, to be honest. It's an alright book, but not quite worth the cover price to me. I got 'Charted Knitting Designs' by Barbara G. Walker as well, and I'm thinking I'll actually go ahead and purchase my own copy of that one - it's gorgeous. (And then I went a little crazy and checked out a book on Macrame along with the rest. I don't know, it sounded like fun at the time.)

And now for the big news: I got tattooed today! It was my very first, a henna-style peacock on my left ankle, and I'm really happy with the result. The colors look weird right now because it's not healed, but it's a reddish-brown so it even looks like henna. It hurt like a bitch, too - right on the bone... Like, it was bad enough when he was doing the outline on the skin, it was like he was just scratching me with a needle, but then when he got to the ankle bone and the bone was vibrating... Well that sucked. But it didn't take too long and I took it like a big girl, no whining or anything. It helped that Nat was there distracting me (I don't know how we got on the subject, but she discouraged me from 'knitting on the beach' this summer, because the work would get all sandy and smelly. The tattoo artist was like, "Knitting... on the beach? Geez, that's the first time I've heard that.")

Pictures soon when the roommie unloads them off her camera :D

Nothing Better

Is there any better treat for a knitter than finding someone who likes the stuff you've made enough to wear it? I'm ecstatic right now. My friend Danielle was just here and tried on the Slouch beret, and because she has beautiful curly hair with lots of body, it fit her perfectly. Here she is modeling it and looking adorable:





There are no words to properly describe how happy I am that she not only looked good in it, she liked it enough to wear it. So I happily gave it to her. And then I found these:



Little almost-steampunk ragamuffin wristwarmers that I'd made wayyy back in ... January or so, they didn't fit me very well - too big, I have tiny midget hands. Here modeled by Chel, for whose hands these could have been custom made, and who liked them enough to take them as a gift! Two FOs to good homes in one evening! It's so encouraging.


My latest expedition to Cricket Cove resulted in my acquisition of these beauties:


More Manos del Uruguay 100% Wool, this time in a beautiful variegated red, and


Noro Silk Garden.

I ended up frogging what I already had of the Sunday Market shawl in the Kureyon, for a few reasons. First, the thing was so wide I would've run out of yarn way before it was even close to long enough for a shawl. Second, I found the yarn too stiff for a shawl. And third, after the pretty purple and the vibrant pink and the gorgeous green was this ugly, ugly stripe of... Cheeto orange. Euurgh. Chris said I should just cut it and join the yarn again when the orange was over, but since I already didn't have enough yarn to make it long enough... I figured I'd save the Kureyon for something else, where the orange wouldn't bother me so much, and cast the Sunday Market shawl in the Silk Garden instead. There's still orange in this colorway, but much more muted and elegant, less... day-glo.

... Is This Thing Still On?

Bad blogger. Bad, bad blogger. For shame.


So! What's new at Chez Nemo. Well, I learned casting on and joining in the round on DPNs, which went rather well. I decided to cast on the same hat pattern again, this time using smaller gauge yarn (Moda Dea 'Tweedle Dee' in Cinnamon Twist, which means self-shading beret! Yay! The yarn is also incredibly cushy.) That should technically fix the problem, provided I also don't make the body too long. I did not poke myself in the eye this time around, but I will say that I am not a big fan of purling on DPNs in the first row with splitty yarn. It took me about an hour to finish that first round. And then I put it down and haven't picked it back up yet. I'll get around to it. Sometime.

I have also figured out that sadly, the acrylic content in the Gigantic Hat is way outnumbering the natural fiber content, and so... no felting. Damn. I really really hate having that amount of yarn go to waste. And yes, it was good for practice, but... I would've really liked to have a pretty red hat. Oh well.

I also cast on for a Sunday Market Shawl, which is so pretty it really should not be this easy to make. I am using Noro Kureyon (finally!) and size 13 needles, which is about three sizes bigger than she recommends (although she does say that if you are a tight knitter going up two sizes or so is a good idea - I just went three up instead of two...) So far it looks fine to me, and I did want it to be quite loose and not too overly warm. I like the Kureyon so far, the striping amuses me to no end, but it is kinda hard on the fingers... There are still a couple twigs stuck in the fiber here and there, and the fiber is a little irritating, but the end result is so going to be worth it, I can tell.


And on a completely different note, I want to tell you about this show I went to the other day. We went to see a band called The New Cities at the Paramount Lounge here in Moncton, and I had a freaking blast. It's a six-man band from Montreal (or Trois-Rivieres, depending who you ask, but... whatever.) There were maybe... 25 people there, which kinda sucked for them, but they still went all out and gave an amazing show. They're really good, very energetic, and I love their sound. They're also super friendly - my friends and I bought posters and I decided I wanted them to sign it, so we went around asking each one to sign. They were so nice, they each actually hung around and talked to us, and I had as much fun doing that as I did watching the show. (I especially liked the drummer, he was such a cutie. Actually they're all cute, but... he was the cutest. Yes, I sound like a third-grader, shut up.) I bought their EP and I am super excited that they're coming out with an album this summer, so... Yeah. Check them out and give them some love!

How To Make A Hat

1. Finish a project you really wanted to be able to wear when you were done (see: slouchy beret, last post.) Notice that it is way, way, way too big. Accept roommie's suggestion that it might felt, but feel too nervous to actually go through with the felting process since you invested so much time and energy into the project, and the only thing worse than a too big hat is a too small hat. Decide instead to stall for time, and to cast on another hat. Put on Firefly to watch while you're doing that.

2. Figure out what was wrong with the pattern you used last time. Determine that the rim had too many stitches, and that the body was too long, with decreases too slow. Decide to cast on fewer stitches.

3. Pick a yarn. Any yarn. That nice gray one will do. Sure it's much thinner than the one you used before, and it'll make for a totally different tension, but it's sooo pretty! Use same needles anyway. Gauge? We don't need no stinkin' gauge!

4. Cast on 60 stitches instead of the 66 the pattern calls for, on a 60cm circular needle. Realize there is no way in hell that will ever make it all the way around the cable, and that 60 stitches in that small a yarn might make a good hat for... oh... a two-month-old. Decide (rightly enough) that your head is not two-month-old-sized, and go for more stitches. Pick an arbitrary number - 80 sounds good, right? Sure.

5. Mutter and curse when you see that even 80 stitches ain't making it all the way around that circ. Make a mental note to buy 16" circs at some point in the future, and why make 24" circs anyway when a regular adult head is 22"? Take out the DPNs (thankfully the same size as used in the casting on), and divide the stitches onto three of them.

6. Realize you are totally clueless as to how to join something in the round on DPNs. On a circ, the concept is pretty dumbass-proof, but on DPNs? Um. Stare blankly at your pretty bamboo needles with the pretty, pretty yarn all cast on and ready to go.

7. Go to knittinghelp.com. Watch the video for circular knitting on DPNs. Boggle a little bit, then try what you think it is she's doing. Fiddle with that for a while, then poke yourself in the eye with a DPN while trying to join. (That last bit is optional, but loads of fun!)

8. Throw DPNs across the room Put DPNs gently aside and rewind your yarn. Pick up a scarf you've been procrastinating on, made with pink bulky yarn and crappy plastic straight needles. Pine for a gray wool beret the whole time you're working on that. Optional: chant 'Learning curve. I'll get better. Learning curve. I'll get better.' to keep from flipping out.

9. Look at your computer and see that it is 11:30. Feel better that at least it's not too late and you'll get a full night's sleep. Then open up your phone to check your messages, and see that the computer has once again switched the time back an hour. Curse loudly and violently.


Okay, so that last step isn't part of the hatmaking "process" (such as it is). But goddamn, am I getting sick of this happening. My computer is still on the old daylight savings schedule, so no matter how many times I fix it, every week or so it'll go, "Hey! I have the wrong time! Better fix that!" and changes back an hour. And I can't download the patch to fix that, because Windows doesn't recognize my version as genuine! It's enough to make me foam at the mouth. Stupid piece of go-se.