Whoops...

Yeah so Newbs is gonna be mad at me. I've stolen her Wild Stripes blanket. Well it's completely her fault she's been talking about it a bit these past few days and it is too cute so how could I not knit it too. Plus until the 8th I can't start the Hemlock and what fun would it be if I finished something I already had going. Anyway it's not like I was going into Hobby Lobby to buy the yarn for it. I actually went in looking at cotton and saw Vanna's section and next thing you know I was walking out with 14 skeins (yes 14 I couldn't decide between 2 colors so I grabbed them both). Hey the good thing about it is that when she's finished and mine is sitting in a bag in the guest bedroom she'll be able to mock and torment me. Although that might be motivation for me to complete it...

Anyway so I'm off to watch the United States of Leland and cast on. I'll leave you with a picture of the yarn. Oh yeah see that glass hurricane/vase thingy, yeah so that was a wedding present that never made it to the recipient how horrible is that, we just kept it....

It's Hereeeee.....

Looky looky, two posts in one week. Yep so as you may have guessed I've joined the Ravelympics. I have my yarn in hand, pattern printed out, and I'm anxiously/nervously chewing away at my needles. If you don't know what the Ravelympics are let me break it down for you. First there is a Knitting Olympics and since I've never competed in it (although two more years baby...) I don't know all the details but the basics are....pick a project, one that will test your knitting abilities, grab all the necessary materials, and anxiously wait for the opening ceremonies to the real Olympics. This is when you can hear it around the world, what is it you ask? Well it's sort of a click but more like a bang, it's every one's needles clicking together as knitters around the world cast on with high hopes of finishing their projects before the closing ceremonies. Now the official Knitting Olympics only come around every 4 years so some folks over at Ravelry started one this year and that's what all this fuss is about.

So here's my specifics. I'm working with Cascade Ecological Wool in Latte or 8063 (down the page just a bit). I'm be using my Knit Picks needles, which I need to make sure are shined and ready to go. Oh you want to know the pattern eh? Ok so it's the Hemlock Ring Blanket. Ok so let me know when you've stopped laughing.....

And the last important fact, I've convinced my pal to shoot for the moons too. Although she went ahead and cast on (CHEATER) and is almost finished so I'm thinking she'll be looking for a new project shortly.

Cupcake anyone?

I figured that maybe just maybe if I introed with cupcake talk that everyone would forgive me for not posting. Back when I was in high school I used to babysit, for some of the best families I might add, I was sooo lucky. Anyway so one time one of the mothers had made cupcakes with marshmallows inside and for about 3 years now I've been wanting to make some. Do you know how hard it is to find info about a simple cupcake with a regular ole marshmallow inside? Apparently lots o people like to fill them with marshmallow creme and others like their cupcakes with a peep on top (and no surprisingly Amber this didn't strike my fancy), but no one just takes a cupcake and sticks a marshmallow in it. And yeah so it seems simple just stick one in but I guess I just needed confirmation. My original thinking was when you pour the batter that you would push one into the middle then, but what happens if the marshmallow blows up like it does in the microwave. Oh I did not want to be cleaning my oven at 9 o'clock last night, so I did find one site that used a spoon to scoop some of the cupcake out just put the mallow in while the cupcake was still hot. This is what I ended up doing and I guess it worked, although I'm still going to have to get my nerve up to try putting the mallow right in the batter. Oh and while I'm already rambling, my frosting was not being friendly either. I was going to make a white chocolate frosting (yes it is as good as it sounds) but turns out the white chocolate had a bug on it. The kind I get comes in a box and each block is individually wrapped and I hadn't even opened the box but when I was putting the blocks in a bowl to melt there he was. Some little tiny dead bug thing looking up at me. Needless to say we didn't get white chocolate frosting, instead I made some kind of whipped cream frosting, not bad but not even close to the white chocolate I was expecting. It would be really good on fresh strawberries (note to self) or some type of strawberry cake. Anyway maybe next time I'll have some knitting news. I've actually knit quite a bit but just haven't been so great with the update....