June 2010 Archives

I made cupcakes this morning. If you live in the northeast I'm sure you're thinking "it's going to be in the 90s today and super humid - what is she doing making cupcakes?" but I finished them by 9 and the kitchen isn't even warm any more.

I made chocolate chili cupcakes this winter so there was a good chance I'd like these too. That recipe was good but over-spiced -- several people thought they were too hot. So I knew I liked the combo of chili and chocolate but needed to find something with a less fiery blend. I used this recipe from Rotel Across America. We use Rotel in guacamole and chili so I knew it wasn't as hot (I haven't tried the habanero one yet though). It sounded odd to use tomatoes in a cupcake recipe but zucchini works so well in zucchini bread that I thought it was worth a shot.

The ingredient list is rather long - 2 types of sugar, 2 extracts, cinnamon, cloves, flour, baking powder and soda, cocoa powder and a few others. At first I thought that would mean a complicated set of instructions but I was thrilled to read "In a large mixing bowl, beat all ingredients". Yes - all those ingredients and it's a one-bowl recipe. Nice.

The lack of liquid oil made for a very thick batter and required that I push the batter off of the spoon for every. single. cupcake. It was a bit tedious (I'm not into fiddly baking) but the result was fabulous!

The recipe says it makes 7 dozen but I wasn't quite able to make 6. I suspect I over-filled them. Even with over-filling mine were done at 12 minutes (recipe said 12-14) but that's not unusual for my oven.

I've never made mini cupcakes before but they're genius. They cool SUPER FAST. By the time I finished making the frosting they were completely cooled. I love not waiting around for things to cool.

The frosting was easy - a basic buttercream with margarita mix to give it some pop. It even gave me an excuse to use the food coloring my mom left here (I never use food coloring) although I only used 8 drops instead of the 15.

I iced them with star tip 1M and learned another great thing about mini cupcakes. Since the ratio of frosting to cake is much greater you don't have to worry about frosting the edges (a non-fiddly baker's dream). I started around 6:30 and was completely done by 9:15 (including the clean up).

What about the taste? They have a great texture - surprisingly light for the amount of butter in them. The heat level is definitely less than my last recipe. Some bites don't have any heat and others have "just enough". I think these will please a wider range of palettes. I would decrease the orange extract next time (using just 1/4 - 1/2 tsp). I love orange with chocolate but this amount makes it taste like a main ingredient rather than a flavor enhancer. I may also add a bit more margarita mix to the frosting next time (and probably a bit more powdered sugar to balance out the extra liquid). BTW I had extra frosting but that's probably because I wasn't able to get a full 7 dozen. I think there was more than enough to do the full amount.

I definitely plan to make these again, and bonus -- I even learned that mini cupcakes rock.

Earlier in the week I wrote about a skirt that I was head over heels obsessed with knitting and wearing. Several of us had conversations about it on flickr, Kristy and I talked about it over email, and by end of day Monday I ordered a purple and red version.

I finally picked up the pattern book from my LYS today and quickly flipped to the skirt pattern. I read and re-read and read the pattern again before I could believe that it was a two-color pattern. All this time I thought it was purely a slip stitch pattern. Looking at the pic I don't know why I thought that but I did. I don't think I would have chosen to knit it if I knew it was stranded.

After a few hours of contemplation I've come to accept the construction and think this might be the project that makes or breaks my interest in stranded knitting. But I'm still disappointed that it's not just slip stitch.

After work I decided to browse friend activity and came across a pattern I really like. Turns out I already had it in my queue. I haven't looked at my queue in a long time and really only use favorites (which seem to make more sense to me since how can I be planning to knit hundreds of patterns?)

I got intrigued and started browsing my queue. Guess what? It's chock full of projects I've wanted to knit (almost as if it was custom made just for me. heh) - many I had forgotten about completely. I feel so silly to have forgotten my queue existed and now I find myself daydreaming about the Corset Pullover, Glasgow Lace, and Bianca's Jacket.

So now I find myself here at 10:30 at night with 13 skeins of Cotton Classic making its way to me obsessed with knitting one of the gems I just discovered in my queue. All of which *of course* do not match up with my stash yarn.

So to recap, I have yarn being shipped to me for a project I'm not really excited to knit, and projects in my queue of things I'd love to knit but nothing in my stash that could work. Oh yeah I'm batting a thousand.

I'm working away on several WIPs at the moment. For the previous few months I've only worked on one WIP at a time. I was worried that adding more projects to the mix would mean I'd never finish any of them and I'm so tired of knit knit knit and never having anything to show for it. So far so good though.

WIP 1 - Multnomah (my rav project page)

This has been a fun knit. I'm using Dragonfly Fibers Djinni Sock in Reluctant Dragon and I LOVE LOVE LOVE this dye job. I got mine at the Cloverhill Yarn booth at Maryland Sheep and Wool (btw - best booth at Maryland for indy dyers).

The yarn looks great in both the garter and feather and fan portions and I can't wait to be done so I can stretch it out and block it. I have one repeat left (the photo above is from a few days ago) so I should bang this out pretty quickly today.

BTW - once this is done I will have knit all the yarn I got at this year's MDSW. Damn that feels good.

WIP 2 - Vesper ( my rav project page)

I bought a bag of Hempathy on eBay a few weeks back for a lightweight top. I picked several possible patterns but then larakarma's vesper popped up in my friend activity on ravelry last weekend and I knew it was for me.

The free pattern is ingenious. It's knitted top-down and you start by casting on all the stitches for the widest part of the yoke. Then you work that even for the length of the yoke. By starting off with all those stitches you create the extra fabric for the pleats. She even does some short rows to build up the back a bit (that's what you're seeing in the pic above).

Larakarma used a provisional CO and then knitted the pleats by knitting all 3 layers of the pleat together (similar to a 3-needle BO but with a third layer) and I love the more polished look. I'm might also do a few rounds of garter after making the pleats. I also really like this method because I'll be able to play with the positioning of the pleats and only knit them once I get the just so.

I'm not sure if I'm going to do bust short rows or waist shaping, but that's the beauty of top down. I'll figure it out once I get there.

I have 2 more in the plans - a Citron possibly out of my Just Our Yarn Aziza with a beaded bind off, and a pair of design your own for the June SKA Challenge, probably with the same gusset as my Aragorn socks.

ETA - Tahki Stacy Charles just emailed this week's newsletter and I love this skirt.

It's from their Garden Variety book. I would choose more figure-flattering colors so the bands aren't as pronounced (maybe reds and oranges?). I've already emailed my LYS to see if they have the book. I don't have any cotton classic in my stash so if I make it I would have to add to the stash. I can envision wearing this a lot throughout the summer though so I think I'll CO for this in the next few weeks.

So I have a few FOs for you all today.

First up are my Aragorn socks.

I knit these for the SKA May 2010 Challenge (cables and twisted stitches).

Pattern Aragorn (free pattern) by Janneke Maat
Yarn Miss Babs Yummy Superwash Socks & Baby in My Kelly
Needles US #1.5 (2.5mm) Knit Picks 24", magic loop
Mods None!
Thoughts I really enjoyed knitting these socks and finished up the pair in three weeks (unheard of for me). I *love love love* the gusset in this pattern! It fits well, it's fun to work (not a short row heel but no picking up stitches either), and once you finish the gusset you only have a few inches of knitting before staring the toe decreases. After working this pattern I went out and bought Cat Bordhi's New Pathways for Sock Knitters: Book One which has this gusset and several others.

The second pair is a simpler pattern that, in contrast, took 19 months to finish. So goes knitting life, right?

Pattern Dribbling Drops by Sabine Riefler from Knotions Fall 2008
Yarn Trekking XXL in color 305
Needles US #1.5 (2.5mm) Knit Picks 24", magic loop
Mods Knit them toe-up with my standard short row heel and the decrease BO for increased stretchiness (doesn't the name "decrease BO" sound anything but stretchy?
Thoughts Trekking never disappoints! They always feel a bit rough but once done I drop them in the wash with some fabric softener and they come out lovely. BTW I have tried drying them but over time it does something to the fabric and makes them a little less stretchy. So I don't dry them any more (except occasionally by mistake).

I'm also working on a few new things - a Multnomah, a Vesper, a pair of socks I'm designing for the SKA June 2010 challenge, and a Citron out of Just Our Yarn Aziza for the Stash Knit Down June KAL. More on those next time.