Love Fest, in Photos

Flowers from my mom!

Delivered on the 15th, so they'd be more of a surprise, and less work for the flower shop.

V-Day b-fast.

French toast, soaked overnight, and mimosas.

V-day dinner.

We spent three hours cooking and ended up with an Indian feast! Cashew curry lamb (from the farmer's market), potato samosas, and dried fruit rice pilaf. The curry was delicious, but decidedly un-photogenic. We did not, in fact, eat cat vomit for Valentine's Day dinner.

New yarn, and a new pattern.

Mike's dad is in town for the International Film Festival, and has been very generously taking us out to movies & extravagant meals all week. I was going to the Knit / Purl sale right after a movie, and he handed me some money for my yarn! I got Cashsoft by RYC, a mix of cashmere and cotton, and had a little leftover so bought myself some Addi Turbo circulars, to replace my shitty size 2 dpns that keep breaking and are absurdly long.

The yarn is awesome, and I think this is going to be the softest sweater ever.

And,thank you and welcome to all my new readers and commenters! I don't always receive your email address when you leave a comment, but I try to respond if I can (by tracking you down on Ravelry, for example). If you've left a comment and I didn't respond, I apologize- I promise I loved what you said and am so grateful you are reading my words!

It's a gorgeous spring day today, so I think I'll try doing some reading outside!

A Day for Love

Nothing is better in this world that waking up with a purring kitten, a lovely man, and a mimosa in your hand. I love Valentine's Day, especially when my first class is canceled and I can spend some extra time in bed and then have a special French Toast breakfast.

I tried to send my Valentines out early- I had them all ready to go the first few days of February, with cute heart postage stamps, and lettering with my set of rubber stamps, and I slid them into the mailbox with love for everyone in my heart.

Then, tragedy struck about three days ago.
Yes, the post office returned my Valentines, canceled the stamps, and smudged the ink. All because my cute little cards, so adorable in their small size, do not meet minimum size standards. Well, you'd think the USPS would be glad for any mail it could get. Harumph.

So, instead of just a few friends receiving Valentines, you all get one! And the internet triumphs over the postal service once again.

The point of it all

This blog is called Cast on a Cupcake, right? So you come here looking for both knitting and cupcake content, yes? Well, today, I'll make all your dreams come true.

First, with some knitting.

Tea Roses - the whole package - Beach Glass

I was seriously craving some bring pink sock yarn for Valentine's Day. And Sonny and Shear was having a 25% off sale. The Tea Roses (Whimzy Pinzy 2 Socks @ Once) looked close to what I was looking for, and the Beach Glass (Hazel Knits Sock) was just too gorgeous to pass up. Now that I've received it, I like the Beach Glass far more than I like the Tea Roses. I was looking for something more like this (which ends up like this when knit- unfortunately every store in the entire internet is sold out. Boo).

And second, with some cupcakes.

Coconut Lime deliciousness

Oregon passed a domestic partnership law that was supposed to go into effect January first, but someone got an injunction against the law, delaying its implementation until a judge could take a look at the law. Well, a judge looked at it, said discrimination is wrong, and allowed the law to go into effect February first. Unfortunately, that was a Friday, so the law really went into effect on the third. Long story short, my friends were among the first 50 couples in line at city hall on Monday, and got their domestic partnership in Oregon!

They held a marriage reception / party on Saturday night, and I promised them some approximation of Key Lime Pie cupcakes. Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World had these Coconut Lime Cupcakes, which were a dream to make, and came out beautifully, with the help of my decorating bag & the assistance of my friend Katie. (Someone has to taste the frosting & lick out the bowl!)

The cupcakes looked a little amateur next to the bakery-wedding cake, but they disappeared by the time I left the party, and the grooms had to shelter a cupcake in their refrigerator to make sure they were able to eat at least one. An unqualified hit!

Brightening your day, one mug sweater at a time.

Remember my friend Claudia? The one whose blog I told you to go read if you wanted witty anecdotes? The one for whom I made a mug sweater, to replace those silly cardboard sleeves you can put around your paper coffee cup so you don't burn your fingers?

Well, said wit and said mug sweater have combined for a touching and witty tale involving a university co-op, morning coffee, and an impressed unimpressibly hip co-op worker. Hie thyself to her blog to read the story, then come back here, refreshed and awed by the greatness that are university co-ops, for some knitting content.

I've picked up some stash yarn out of my rather large, inherited, acrylic stash and started some socks! I figured, while I'm waiting for the bulky wool to dry (seriously! It's been over a week. Portland is just that wet), and since I bought that book of sock patterns, I should make one.

I don't have enough of the white to make a whole sock, so I'm doing a blue cuff and perhaps toe, and a white body of the sock.

They're both some sort of acrylic mix - I know, I did the burn test! I think the white is cotton / acrylic and the blue is wool / acrylic. They're the same weight, t hough, and it's stash knitting, so I'm happy.

It's the Uptown Bootsock (Ravelry) from Interweave Favorite Socks.

I also gave into a serious yarn craving last night. I've been trolling the Destashing forum on Ravelry, and got a hankering for some bright pink sock yarn for Valentine's Day. Didn't find any on Ravelry, but got a tip that an online yarn shop (Sonny and Shear- too cute!) had a 20% discount. They also happened to have the perfect shade of pink. And also a gorgeous aquamarine I couldn't pass up. Scratching a yarn itch feels so good.

FO: Endpaper Mitts

Pattern: Endpaper Mitts, by Eunny Jang
Yarn: Shibui Knits Sock, in Finch and Midnight
Needles: US o (2.00mm) Brittany white birch dpns and 2 1/2 (3.00 mm) Crystal Palace bamboo dpns

Notes: They fit well, and they're pretty! Success.

The "seam" tends to slide around to the back of my hand, but I think that has to do with my hand shape, and not with the gloves.

It's a great pattern, easy to follow, and with beautiful results.

I don't know how to knit with my left hand, so my colorwork tends to move verrry slowly, as I work both yarns in my right hand. Pick the blue up, knit the stitches, put the blue down, pick the yellow up - whoops, they got twisted! - knit with the yellow... you get the picture. It's actually not too terribly slow, but it'd be faster if I learned Continental knitting. As long as this is working, though, I probably won't take the time to learn.

I like these because they cover my whole wrist, but aren't so long they'll get stuck on my sleeves. I knit another pair of fingerless gloves (in red! acrylic) but they're nearly elbow length, so fairly useless when I'm wearing long sleeves.

I haven't actually played piano since I was about twelve.

I still have about half a skein of the Finch yarn, and a quarter skein of the Midnight... I'm pondering about what I can use these for... maybe someone will have a baby and I can make baby socks!

The rest of today is dedicated to making up for my slacking off this whole week. Step One: go to the public interest career fair. Check. Steps Two-Six: finish scholarship applications, finish trial brief, teach self in personam and quasi in rem jurisdiction, teach self about modifications and changes to contracts, soak sheepy-wool to get the sheepiness out.

Ready, go.