Studio Marlowe

Anyone remember the Cherry Tree Hill socks I started back in December?

I finished the first one in December, and I actually gave it to my mother because she was having to ice one of her ankles and it was making her foot cold. Then I didn’t get around to starting the second sock. But I have now and I’m so going to finish it–then I’ll have used up all the sock yarn in my stash!

So far I just have the toe, since this is, once again, a toe-up sock:

That’s right, the baby cardigan is done:

Adorable, no?

I actually then started swatching for a new project immediately–we’re having some warm weather here and the idea of working on any of my current projects (wool, wool/alpaca, huge and unwieldy afghan) is not appealing.  So I’m going all summery and making a halter top.  Pictures as soon as there’s anything worth photographing!

Yes, that’s right. I made not one, but TWO batches of cupcakes last night. These are for a party I’m going to this weekend.

First up are a batch of Lemon Gem cupcakes. Fresh out of the oven:

And after the application of a lemon buttercream icing and some yellow sprinkles:

This recipe is actually NOT from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. It’s a Vegan With a Vengeance recipe (same author). So it doesn’t count as part of my “bake everything in VCTOTW” project. Nonetheless, they were fun cupcakes to make and they’ve turned out pretty well. You’ll notice I’ve also started to get a little fancier with my icing job–that’s right, I bought an icing tip. I think I may be investing in a few more.

The second batch of cupcakes ARE a VCTOTW creation, chocolate orange:

And after the icing application:

The chocolate orange cupcakes are just a variation on the basic chocolate recipe–add a teaspoon or so of orange extract to the batter, as well as some grated orange zest (I added several very generous pinches). The frosting is actually the leftover lemon buttercream with orange extract, a little orange juice, and more powdered sugar added (the lemon was a little on the runny side). I also put in some orange zest here for added color. A warning about the zest in icing thing–it will totally clog a smaller icing tip. So for these cupcakes I went the “place icing in a plastic bag and cut a small hole in the corner” technique, which I had never tried before. I don’t know if I’ll do it again. First off, it’s a total waste of a plastic bag (although the one I used had already had several previous uses, so…). Secondly, the hole tends to grow in size as the icing job progresses, so by the end of it you might be getting a really thick tube of icing. And finally, it just doesn’t look all that exciting. So in future–bigger icing tips, or leave the zest out of the icing completely.

My exploration of Veganomicon continues, this time with a breadlike thing:

Maple orange pinwheels. Delicious. I made these for a brunch on Sunday and these are the few leftovers, which are actually now somewhat further depleted as I have been eating a pinwheel for breakfast for the past couple of days since this photo was taken. I didn’t bother with the icing (mostly because I totally forgot to buy confectioner’s sugar….) and while I think it would probably improve things somewhat, they are still quite tasty. Plus, the lack of icing makes it feel less like I am eating dessert for breakfast and more like everyday appropriate breakfast food:) If I were making these again I would probably also add in the optional raisins and maybe also some nuts–walnuts or pecans seem like they would work well.

I especially love the little flecks of color provided by the bits of orange peel:

Ripped and reknit the baby cardigan yoke, this time with stripes:

I did this mostly while lounging around in San Francisco on Sunday afternoon, an activity I highly recommend if you can find an opportunity to try it out. Especially if you can find someone who will provide a delicious brunch and some especially delicious brownies for you to eat along with all the lounging and knitting.

At any rate, I think the stripes came out quite nicely! Although I think my original idea of embroidering flowers on the body would now be Way Too Much. So now I just need to: knit front bands, sew underarms up, make button loop, find and attach a button, and weave in the ends.

Here’s a little close up of the stripes:

The method is very easy–k 2 rows contrast, k1 row main color, p 1 row main color, repeat.  Which gives you a nice garter ridge of the contrast colors.  I think I may use this little striping method again–I love garter stitch for baby things.

…just my pattern. I thought today I’d show off something somebody else made. Namely, this great sweater Julie made for her son using the Brendan pattern:

And the collar in the back:

Cute, no? I especially love that there’s finally a shot of this sweater on an actual baby. Especially one as handsome as Julie’s! Since I don’t have kids myself all my baby knitting is done for others and it always seems they do not live nearby so getting items photographed in action is a bit tricky. So it’s doubly nice to see that not only did someone knit one of my patterns, but that the piece is getting some wear also. Nice job Julie!

So, the baby sweater is going to require some reworking. When I started, I was a little nervous about whether or not I would have enough of the gray yarn. It was the end of a cone, the yardage was….who knows?, the yarn was four years old and had been a closeout on Elann, and I’d grown to dislike the sweater I’d made with the rest of it so much (BPT, if anyone cares. Nice cardigan but with waaaaaaaaay too much bulk around the underarms) that I’d given it to the thrift store two years ago. So, the yarn on the cone was It. And it appears It is, in fact, not going to be quite enough.

*sigh*

Time to rip the yoke and reknit with some stripes, as I suspected I was going to have to do all along.

On a less frustrating note, I made more cupcakes last night:

These are maple cupcakes with a walnut butter-maple syrup topping.  Delicious.

This weekend I went for a bit of a vacation up to Lake Tahoe. The snow was pretty eh, so after some hiking, I spent most of the weekend sitting around gazing at the lake and working on the baby cardigan:

A few more rows on the second sleeve and I’ll be onto the yoke. Have I mentioned before how much I love the speed with which baby clothes knit up? Because I do.

I cast on for a new project this weekend:

Nothing too terribly exciting, just a basic baby cardigan using some recycled cotton I had kicking around in the stash. Hopefully I’ll have enough to finish. The intended baby is about a month old and I’m making a nine-month size, so it should be perfect for this fall/winter (unless there’s a sudden huge growth spurt).

For my birthday last week, my parents gave me a new cookbook, Veganomicon (yes, I continue to cook at the altar of Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero. I do own, and even occasionally use, other author’s cookbooks, in case you’re wondering). Naturally, I was super excited to try out a new recipe:

This is the tomato-asparagus quiche. Except that I used a can of artichokes in place of asparagus, because I’m trying to use up random stuff in my cabinets. Also, fresh herbs are expensive, AND I then forgot to get dried tarragon at the co-op (even though it was RIGHT THERE ON MY LIST), so, you know…more substitutions had to be made. A bit of dried basil and fennel was employed instead of the tarragon. Overall, I have no idea if it tastes how it’s *supposed* to taste, but it’s pretty good regardless:

Mmmm.