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!

Yarnival! Go check it out. I’m in there (at the bottom. no, scroll up a bit. bingo!), for the whole complaining-about-the-header thing. Cara did a great job with Yarnival, so yeah!

Also, I don’t have an accent, no matter what my mother says.

Meet Joe, the little creature bringing me one step closer to being a crazy cat lady. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Because Joe? He is cute! We have him because we are gigantic suckers for things that are small and furry (and cute!). We saved him from the streets, indirectly through Amy, whose cat hated poor little Joe.

Joe doesn’t photograph terribly well, since is both black and blurry. Seriously, he is either sleeping or in FULL ON CRAZY mode. There was a bit of hissing from the girls they first saw him, especially Blackie. Surprisingly to us, Joe can fit under our bedroom door. So much for keeping them separate for a day or two. However, everyone is cool with him now. It’s pretty fun to watch Blackie stare at Joe as he bats at her and tries to play.

Welcome to the new website. All of the posts and comments and such have been imported, and should be showing up a-ok. Let me know if things look wonky. There’s lots of tweaks and fixes to do, like figuring out why my nested list doesn’t look nested, and why the post titles look all squished if they’re more than one line, etc etc. In any case, welcome to the shiny new blog!

Coveting, right now!

Someone, please, give me $4000 for this couch (from Anthropologie). I am in love. Perhaps it’s for the best that money does not grow on trees and such, because I’d likely spill something dark and staining on the lovely couch the second I sit down. But still! I’m in love!

Times at which Rob was supposed to arrive this evening in Houston:

7:30
11:00
1:30
3:30
2:45

Awesome! And so I wait, trying to decide whether or not I should take a nap before I pick him up (it’s currently midnight).

For the Project Runway fans out there: The final 4 showed their collections today. Getty photos here - I personally liked Jeffrey’s collection (ETA: Laura’s - ick. Uli - the prints are beautiful, neutrals eh, Michael - safari?). Also, Nazri was one of Uli’s models, drama!

I have felt like poo lately. No fun, not at all. I spent the labor day weekend in Buffalo, visiting family and friends. It should have been fun, but the poo-factor kept me feeling blue. I did get the top score in Run 21 at the Pink, yahoo!

Rob is in lands far, far away with the camera (for two weeks, boo!), so there’s no photos today. I’m going to have to hit up Amy for a photoshoot with her shiny new Canon. The Baudelaires are almost (all but ribbing) done. After that I’m a clean slate, no other projects going on. There will likely be lace in my future, stay tuned.

Did you see that there’s a new Magknits up? The stitch pattern on the Snowflake Socks will be mine. Also cute: Honorine.

Yarnival! Go check it out - you may recognize this disaster (which fixed up nicely!).

I’m telling you, I love aquariums!

The Basalt Tank is blocking like a champ, which means that it is still sopping wet after 12 hours. It will do battle with the dryer this evening!

I am the Cat Paparazzi. Silver’s response: “I’m trying to sleep, bitch.” Yes, she is hanging out under the sink. Silver now possesses the wonderful talent of being able to open all of our kitchen cupboards. Awesome.

Rob’s parents are in town, so we’ve been doing all sorts of Houstoney things, including going to Galveston to check out the Moody Gardens aquarium. I love me some aquarium action. It was crazy humid today though, which makes me reminisce about Massachusetts and autumn, sigh. Knitting content to come, I have a 95% completed Basalt Tank and an all-but-bound-off Baudelaire.

Friday, fabulous friday, I heart you! Work bites the big one!

Thanks for all the awesome words on the mittens. I wish I lived in a cool climate so that I could actually wear the damn things. I think that my cutiepie mittens are destined for decor in our study - it’s the Cold Room, because 80% of the air conditioning in the house gets piped in there.

I got a package today - a necklace from Art School Dropout. Pretty cute, huh? I’ve had the website bookmarked forever, and finally got around to buying something. Blue, I am full of love for you. White, you’re cool too. My current everyday necklace is this teeny little bird one from Small Things designs, and I’m kind of tired of it. Although I did get a compliment from someone at the YH event last weekend. Thanks, random knitter!

Seen outside the Menil last weekend - a Knitta Please antenna cozy. Rob was mildly horrified.

I’m off to spend my hard-earned moola in a tax-free Texas this weekend. Wahoo!