There’s no knitting content here, since my camera is in Italy (with Rob). I know, posts are pretty boring without the pretty photos! Well, I have one photo:

Mates of State this past weekend. Fun!

Ok, there has been thinking about knitting. I’m trying to decide on my next project. I want a cardigan, now. This whole knitting thing - it’s really preventing me from buying sweaters. Well, first there’s the whole living-in-TX thing, so I don’t have a huge need for sweaters. Then there’s the look-at-the-label-acrylic-blend-too-expensive-hell-no-I-can-totally-make-this thing. Then I never make This, whatever This was. Anyway, I want a sweater NOW before I travel to the northeast for xmas, and here are my options:

1. Ivy. I’ve swatched this in some old-skool Lang yarn that I bought from Webs eons ago. My gauge is off (6.5st me vs 6st Ivy), so it will involve thinking and math. I’d also probably change the bottom part to not pull in so much.
2. A sweater from the mind of kelly knit from my schmancy Rowan Cashcotton. I swatched this already, too. But this will involve tinkering and thinking and is unlikely to be completed in a timely manner.
3. The Asymmetrical Cardigan from Knitting Nature. I saw a post on the knitalong recently, and I want! She knit hers in Malabrigo, so I may or may not have bought a bunch of olive Malabrigo from Yarntopia today.

Also, I joined the Stranded Colorwork knitalong. Nope, never knit fair isle before. I bought this pattern, which is awesome in a Japanese woodblock, Legend of Zelda (cartooney Legend of Zelda, like the wind waker one, which btw I had played to death on my little gamecube and me and the mapfish are likethis) sort of way. I can’t wait to knit another pair of useless (in TX) mittens! I’d love to hear suggestions for solid-colored fingering weight yarn - I can get Louet pretty easily, but I want more pretty colors. One LYS here carries Koigu, but very, very few of the solids.

Lastly, I baked yesterday. I usually try to stay a reasonable distance from food preparation at all times. I hate, hate, hate cooking. Rob is my master chef. However, his birthday was on Tuesday, and I decided that I Will Bake a Cake From Scratch. So, last night I grabbed this recipe and some fancy chocolate and got cooking. Baking fun:

1. The recipe called to melt chocolate in fresh brewed coffee. Yum. However, for the first time since we moved here, we are out of beans. I had to dash to Starbucks to pick up a quick cup of coffee, and they were closed! What coffeeshop closes at 9:30? Doesn’t that seem crazy early? Anyway, the door was open (lights on, I hadn’t a clue that they were closed) and the guy gave me a cup for free so he wouldn’t have to mess with the closed register.
2. Wow, it is very easy to make a massive mess with cocoa powder.
3. Using our teeny food processor to chop chocolate is fun! It makes the most horrible little noise as it churns away!
4. I now own Corn Syrup. Please, if anyone in Houston needs some light corn syrup, you are more than welcome to take a hit off of my supply.
5. The cats like to lick butter. Ew.

I successfully did not burn one single-layer cake and a dozen cupcakes. Yay! The cupcakes are tiny because I’ve never made cupcakes before and I was pretty conservative when filling the little shiny liners. The cake is in the freezer since Rob doesn’t come home for a couple of days, and the ganache to frost it with is in the fridge, rock solid. Hopefully it melts up easily!