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.

Crafty!

Yeah, I was supposed to do this yesterday, but I'm pretty sure no one is following me that closely. I was distracted with all the fun things to make and was baking apple cinnamon buns at 11:30 or so and decided to hold off on the post. They turned out to be a very tasty dough-splosion.
Why, yes! My kitchen is a mess, thanks for noticing!
I've also put aside most of my knitting for a while, as I'm borrowing my mom's sewing machine and making dresses for the little girls in my life.
There's a long story about a little girl who played with my little boy and was wearing an adorable little dress. I searched around and found this pattern, which, it turns out is super fast and easy and the suckers multiply. I'm planning on knitting some cupcakes to go with these dresses when I send them off to the girls. But I haven't gotten to those yet. I have, however, managed to finish some socks that I started months ago. I love the color, especially in the middle of winter. Cascade Fixation, size 7 needles because I knit so damn tight, short row heel because the flap heel bothers me for some reason. Details for those who care.
Cupcake pattern coming soon, I swear.

...Or do I?

Wow, okay, I know the weather is generally just boring small talk, but this is crazy! In the last week, we've had a 60 degree weather change! No, it's not -80... Everything is melting, peoples' houses are flooding, the ceiling at my work is soggy, saggy and dripping.
I'll have a real post tomorrow, I just had to share about the WEATHER! Because it's interesting, I swear. The temperatures this week and last, both very unusual.
On the real post: socks, dresses, cupcakes!
Tune in tomorrow!

I don't know from cold

HAHA! I posted a blog a bit ago about the chilly weather and ice fog. Silly me, I think I tempted fate. For about two weeks, it's been hovering in the -10 to -20 F range (that's about -23 to-29 C), the kind of cold that freezes your nose hairs and makes you not want to do anything. So I'm trying my best not to do anything.
The only knitting I've gotten done in the last week or so is on some socks that have no owner. I know I'm not going to keep them, but I haven't decided who gets them yet. Because they're still abstract as a gift, it doesn't feel forced. I also need to knit myself a little eye mask for night-time since the hubby reads usually well after I'm asleep.
Okay, here's another thing! I've gotten some feedback on the cupcakes! You like them! So, next free pattern will be for cupcakes in three (maybe more!) sizes. I was inspired by the cupcakes in One Skein, but I think my pattern is different enough to be it's own pattern. Also, I'll try to work out a pattern for the rainbow hat, also to be modified for sock yarn so more of the pattern is visible. Whadda ya think?!
By the way, the picture was taken out my car window at about 9:30 in the morning. The moon is usually up most of the day, the sun, not so much.

2009

I hope everyone had a lovely Holiday of choice and enjoyed ringing in 2009!
I was lucky enough to spend time with many friends and much family over the last week. Christmas eve and day mostly spent with my extended family with plenty of good food and good company. I know I'm fortunate to have this life.
Last night was a blast! We were invited to a party at some friends' house and spent the evening into the early morning just having fun. We got to watch some fireworks and had a champagne toast at midnight outside in -20 cold. I wish there was a way to convey the feeling of being with wonderful friends, food, drink and ridiculously cold weather. I could bottle it and sell it for millions!
In the past week, I have not, however, picked up my knitting needles once. Thought about it a couple times, but I think I'm burnt out from gift knitting.
I made a silly ear-flap hat for my dad. He's already made good use of it. He has some property about 90 miles north of here and the temperature drops considerably in that 90 miles. I don't even want to think about what the temperature has been the last few days when it's been below zero here.
So, the hat was mostly knit in two pieces. Inside is some un-friendly boucle (supposed to look like fleece) knit on size 11 needles. The outside is a silk-wool blend that I lost the ball bands for, so I'm not sure what it is other than the fiber, knit on size 9 needles. Both pieces are top down since I just winged this pattern and had no clue how big to make it. The ties at the ear flaps are i-cord and the two pieces are just whip-stitched around the edge with the boucle yarn. Not too bad for improvisation.
Guess what else I've been making progress on! The Skarf! Silly hubby saw the picture on here, so he knew I was working on it. I made him wait till Christmas before I unrolled it to show him the progress. It's still in progress, I can't seem to muster up more than 6 rows at a time lately. Still, he and I both like how it's turning out! My goal is to finish it in time that he can wear it this winter.
Being in Alaska gives me some good time to finish this. At least three months, probably more like four.
Which means maybe I can work on something completely selfish. I've been coveting some sweaters in a certain lingere and clothing catalog that look fairly simple and I think I could rip them off. They charge too much for sweaters and I have three giant plastic storage tubs of yarn. Once again, the Alaska advantage. Sweater season is half the year.
Happy 2009 everyone!