Knotty Knickers

Death By Dessert

On Christmas Eve Alex and I had the family to our place for a bbq.  When the bbq was delivered from his parents' house we also received, for the afternoon, his cousin Scarlett - to give her parents time to catch up with the family and to give her and I a running start on our contribution to the next day's dessert.

We baked my old standby chocolate cake recipe out of the Good Housekeeping's Illustrated Book of Desserts, given to me by my Auntie Margaret in 1994, without a hitch.  There might have been some chocolate found later on elbows and eyebrows, but it was all very above board.  We wore aprons and everything!

The next day, being Christmas, we arrived to the family house bright and early for gift exchange and unwrapping.  After a nice breakfast and after she'd inspected her haul, Scarlett and I set about making the chocolate frosting for our cupcakes.

I think the end result was rather stunning.  And we all agreed it was very tasty.

Here's my helpful helper looking justifiably proud of herself:

Below left: nummy detail.  Below right: frosting tester!

While you might think that our dessert would be enough on its own, you would be forgetting that my lovely partner makes a mean cheesecake.  And brownie cake.  And his mother made homemade icecream for the weekend.

It was maybe a bit much to eat all this.  But I did!

More Pink Knitting!

Okay, full disclosure - these photos are over a week old.  I don't know why I was slack on posting them. 

I mean, look at the pink hat!  How could I withhold such knitted goodness from you?  I'm a total meanie.

Also, I look cute.  So, knitted goodness + cute Jesse...let's enjoy for a moment together:

Yes, that is my very lovely partner driving us to the Saturday Market.  Even if he still is unaware of it, his dream is to be in pictures with a blue eyed brunette from Seattle sporting vibrant hand knits.  Really.  Truly. 

No.

He still tells me it's 'not fair' when I snap these ninja shots in the car.

Moving on to other things pink - Cordelia walked through a painting our flatmate Ashley was creating on the deck and left behind some cat art.

 

And with that, I bid you a fair Solstice of your Hemisphere.

Thursday Afternoon Knitting

Spent a lovely morning with Sophie and Maggie.  We went to a new local farm's dairy shop (fresh feta and double cream for Alex and I - next time I'll get real sour cream and nummy whole milk with the cream on top!).  Then nosed around a huge and sparkling gift shop in full holiday tinsel.  After which we treated ourselves to lunch out at The Grape Escape Cafe - next time we plan on lunching at home and gorging on a dessert since we gave it a miss today lunch was so filling. 

There was much sniffing of flowers, in particular lavender and rose.  Delicious!

And now, after giving Sophie the few things I've been forgetting for weeks to take to her house or send her away from mine with, I'm settling in on the couch with a new favourite podcast (aplayfulday here or on iTunes) and some test knitting for Hunter over at Violently Domestic. 

First, I'd better go hang some more washing out to dry - it's a sunny day here!

We Killed Two Radlers Accidentally

Dear Radlers of the World,

We are sorry for the above photographed abuse.

We only put your Monteith's relatives in the freezer because we were short on time. 

Turns out we were also short on memory.

I've eaten all the beercicle I could access from the topless bottle.  Alex has removed the cap from the barely sealed bottle, as it was making alarming noises.  We will let them thaw on the counter and then honour them with honest drinking.

Should the scent of the Radler's linger like a ghost in the freezer for a while, I will accept the punishment.

And I promise that I'll be more forthright in claiming space in the refrigerator from our flatmates so that future beers can chill in peace without fear of their innards leaking out and/or exploding.

Sincerely Yours,

Jesse, who might go back to drinking red wine since it's best at room temperature

 

Cat's Out of the Curiosity Cabinet

Remember earlier in the year when I was working on secret projects?  Sample knits for a book?  Things I couldn't show you?

Well - Hunter took the website for her Book the Second live today and I can share! 

It's actually titled Knitter's Curiosity Cabinet and I'm just tickled to be able to send you over to have a look-see at the 20 beauties she's created for it!

And to point out I knit the Crocus fingerless gloves and the Narcissus cuffs pictured, not to brag or anything.

There is a whole Ravelry set up as well, for your queueing and planning pleasure. 

I've spent the bulk of last night and this morning planning and queuing, and winding heaping piles of skeins to see the plans and queue come into reality as finished thing - the book's patterns being free for all to see will make this all the more fun.  I've got several yarn ideas for the cuffs I made for the book and want for me and others, I'm totally thinking of doing the big shawl in the book in lace rather than DK, and I'm pondering how much brain power will it require to turn some of the stunning sock cuffs into gauntlets or fingerless gloves.