How Life Is

If I had known the firefighters were going to be at the coffee shop this morning, I would have put on a little makeup...

I went to a party last Saturday night...

I didn't get laid, I got in a fight. Uh-huh, it ain't no big thing.
So, I've had that song stuck in my head all day. Good thing I like it!
I hope everyone had a lovely Valentine's day. Not that I'm real big on the consumerism aspect, but I can get behind a day intended to remind your sweetie you appreciate them.
My sweetie appreciates me by linking up arms when we're skankin' to our favorite local ska band, this is the only time he dances, other than once at our wedding. It was a truly fun night! The stickers were their Valentine promotion. The other great thing about our favorite ska band? They've been around a while, so not all the members are original, but this means that my cousin is the newest member...can you guess which one he is?
That suave cat in the Skarf, perhaps? Shameless self-promotion on my part, I suppose, but I'm putting a band sticker on my car, so we'll call it even, okay?
I gave the unfinished skarf to the hubby for christmas, and the double-knitting just killed me. Seems that my knitting technique makes it take about 4 times as long to use this style and I will probably never do it again. But, since he was so psyched about the show, I busted my butt and finished it up so he could wear it. Skarf inaction:Skarf in ACTION!And, I wore my skankin' socks. Nice and cushy! Really, seriously, a fun fun night. We got there early to make sure we had a table and have some tasty food and tried some of the many beers they have on tap. Mmmm...
This is what makes my world go 'round. Good friends, family, music, beer and knitting! In no particular order.
Once again, I hope everyone had at least a little of the fun that I got to have this weekend.
I'll leave you with a very special Valentine message from the little guy. It just brings out the romantic in me!

Floofy Cupcakes - Free Pattern!

Here they are! Forgive me for not decorating them, perhaps after I work on something else for a while. And if you're on the west coast or in Alaska with me, it's still Friday!
The sizes run pretty true to mini-, regular-, and costco-sized muffins/cupcakes. The pictures of them in the muffin pans didn't turn out so well though.
This is another de-stash/leftovers pattern, half the fun is matching up yarns. I don't have nice feelings toward novelty yarn. No offense intended to those who like it, I just find it very rarely lends class to a project...if you get my drift. I don't even know why I had any. I don't remember buying it, some didn't have ball bands, so I'm not even sure what they are. I like Sirdar Snowflake, I guess it's a novelty yarn, but not so garrish. I used the white and pale pink to make a kitty ear hat for my best friend's baby girl when she was teeny tiny. But I digress...
So, let's get down to pattern!

What you'll need:

Smooth light worsted-ish yarn. Not sure of exact yardage, but it's not much
Light novelty yarn, again, not much
Set of size 5 (3.75mm) double pointed needles (I knit tightly, if you knit looser, maybe size 4)
Stitch marker
Yarn needle
Fiberfil or other stuffing
Buttons, beads, sequins or anything you like for decorating

Some of the yarns used for wrappers include: Rowan Calmer, Filatura Zara, Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece, Lion Microspun, Caron Simply Soft
Icing: Sirdar Snowflake, Patons Cha-Cha, Bernat (not Berocco) Bling-Bling, Muench Touch Me

Wrapper:
With worsted yarn, CO 30(42, 60) sts. Divide evenly over 3 DPNs and join for working in the round.
Work K1, P1 rib for 1.25(1.75, 2.25) inches
Purl one round
Sizes small and large: Knit next two rounds
Size medium: Knit one round, next round: [K19, K2tog] twice (40 sts)

Begin decreasing:

Large:
next round: [K10, K2tog] around (55 sts)
next round: [K4, K2tog, K5] around (50 sts)
next round: [K8, K2tog] around (45 sts)
next round: [K3, K2tog, K4] around (40 sts)

Continue decreasing size large, begin decreasing size medium:
next round: [K6, K2tog] around (35 sts)
next round: [K2, K2tog, K3] around (30 sts)

Continue decreasing large and medium, begin decreasing small:
next round: [K4, K2tog] around (25 sts)
next round: [K1, K2tog, K2] around (20 sts)
next round: [K2, K2tog] around (15 sts)
next round: [K2tog, K1] around (10 sts)

Cut yarn, leaving a 10 inch tail. Using yarn needle, thread tail through remaining 10 sts, pull tight and tie off.

Icing/Top:
With novelty yarn, CO 40(56, 80) sts, divide evenly over 3 needles and join for working in the round
Knit one round
next round: [K2, K2tog] around (30, 42, 60 sts)
next round: with each stitch in this round, pick up one loop from cast on edge of wrapper and knit the two together (see picture, the ribbing can make it difficult to see all the loops)

next 3(4, 5) rounds: Purl all sts

Begin decreasing size large:
next round: [P8, P2tog] around (54 sts)
next round: Purl all sts
next round: [P7, P2tog] around (48 sts)
next round: Purl
next round: [P6, P2tog] around (42 sts)
next round: Purl

Continue decreasing large, begin decreasing medium:
next round: [P5, P2tog] around (36 sts)
next round: Purl
next round: [P4, P2tog] around (30 sts)
next round: Purl

Stuff and shape cupcake before the hole gets too small, or it'll look like a mushroom!

Continue decreasing medium and large, begin decreasing small:
next round: [P3, P2tog] around (24 sts)
next round: Purl
next round: [P2, P2tog] around (18 sts)
next round: Purl
next round: [P1, P2tog] around (12 sts)
next round: P2tog around (6 sts)

Cut yarn, leaving a 10 inch tail. Using yarn needle, thread tail through remaining 6 sts and tie off.
Use yarn needle to sew in any loose yarn ends.
Sew on beads, buttons, sequins or whatever you like for decorations. VOILA!
Please let me know if you catch anything wrong that I missed when I was writing it!

Hey, guess what!

I'm really tired and I finished a dozen knitted cupcakes!
Since I was making them in three sizes for the pattern, I thought it would be fun to make 4 in each size and have a dozen. So now I'm totally burnt out and probably won't make any more. Not really though, knitting one at a time makes them more fun.
Just letting anyone who is paying attention that I PROMISE I will post the pattern in the next day or two, hopefully tomorrow.
Sleep well, everyone! I'm about to.