I'd 've baked a cake...

Oh wait I did. ;)
Yeah we went blueberry picking a couple days ago, and I came home with a few thorn scratches and a big bucket of fresh blueberries. Some of them went into this cake.

Lemon cake with cream-cheese frosting and blueberries. I'm quite proud of it. I never used to be able to ice a cake without the whole thing trying to come apart.

Tilmani had some for breakfast.

Who are Toys For These Days

Everyone probably remembers my major gripe about trying to find kids toys that don't require a small forest of batteries these days, or that actually require some degree of imagination.

I admit my frustration has been reawakened by surfing ETSY. I found a gorgeous toy maker via Deviant Art (They got a Daily Deviation) and they make incredible little stuffed toys...

...Which are all designed to go in a display case and 'aren't for anyone under thirteen'.

Also they're all at least a hundred dollars.


...Why the HELL is it so hard these days to find stuffed toys that don't move or have batteries and are ACTUALLY FOR CHILDREN? It seems like toys which require imagination are an endangered species, and I find that really upsetting. I mean if someone wanted to use one of the toys I made as a display item, sure, cool, that's their prerogative, but unless I'm knitting it out of Silk Yarn, I kind of design my toys with the idea of appealing to children and the young at heart. Is that so wrong?

Purple Bunny

I made a purple knit bunny from Fuzzy Mitten's 'Scraps Chaps' for Karen's daughter. It came out hugely better than my first attempt to make a bunny, though I think that time I was using the "Easter Bunny" pattern. Anyway I was quite pleased with the results, and also used it as an chance to work with my skills at color swapping and pattern making.

I didn't put a heart button on it, since the target owner is three years old, so I just sitched a heart on with some embroidery floss.

I gave it pale pink eyes from Suncatcher-eyes, and I think the whole thing came out pretty nice. I even gave it an little bit of a tail, just knotted on a bunch of fluff on it's butt.

I felt pretty awesome, since I finished the whole thing in two days!

... I want a long relaxing QUIET soak in the tub, with bubbles, a peanut butter sandwich, and a Smirnoff Blueberry Lemonade.


... Did I mention Quiet?

Snoozers gonna Snooze

Taken in the parking lot after a shopping trip. Mini fell asleep in his Aunt's arms when she took over carrying him so I could make a dash for the ladies room.

Roxy and Short Rows

I just started working on my "Roxy Fox and her Pups" kit by KnitPicks, which I don't think is available any more or I'd provide people a link to the pattern.
((The tutorial's are still up though.))

The yarn is crazy soft and INSANELY fluffy, so it's like trying to knit my cat, ((A Himalayan)) but that wasn't where things went wrong.

Nope I screwed up around row 21 where the 'Short Rows' start. I saw the term and had no idea what they were talking about. All I saw was that stitches were decreasing and I had NO idea where the hell they were going. Were we decreasing them? Putting them on holders? What was happening? I had NO idea. It was infuriating and frustrating, and I completely screwed up. Then the fuzzy nature of the Suri Dream made it pretty much impossible to 'frog' what I'd done. So more frustration right there.

I stomped around for half an hour being enraged at the world and at my failure to comprehend what was required, and wondering if I'd just totally wasted my money, and wondering how another lady in my knitting group had actually suceeded at making this clearly diabolical knitting project.
Even better, my theoretically comprehensive knitting dictionary DID NOT include the term 'short row'.

Finally I got my temper cooled down enough to check online.

Knitpicks had a tutorial for short rows on YouTube.

It was one of those moments where you feel incredibly enlightened...and incredibly STUPID at the same time.

Lemon Cake for the Actor

So Grandpa P. Came over today, as well as one of my half brothers. It was a nice visit. My half brother lives a long shot away, so he doesn't come to our neck of the woods terribly often. It might have been slightly more pleasant though if Grandpa P. hadn't decided the entire affair was best suited to demonstrating his acting and hypochondria.


... I'm just not going to get into it. But it was really an incredible show. Awards have been given out for less. ((Also yes: I do see the man regularly, it really really was an act. Yes I'm sure.))

Anyway... it was nice other than the bad Shakespearean Drama, since evidently it was totally not fair that they drive forty five minutes to see Mini Monster and then have Mini Monster steal the stage... *cough* Heaven forbid.

We had something to drink and I served up some slices of Lemon Cake I made this morning. I was, in fact, pretty damn proud of that lemon cake. It's one of the first cakes I think I've ever iced that didn't fall apart. Partially due to me taking a tip and putting the damn thing in the fridge/freezer to get cold before I started trying to ice it.

Big day for cleaning too, so I'm feeling fairly accomplished all in all. I've just had my fill of bad acting for a little while. So the next person who staggers onto my personal stage throwing their arms up dramatically and weeping about the trouble they've seen... will probably get their slice of lemon cake stuffed in their ear.