Morning after rambles

Last night was our small October party - the knitters and the Dar fans (and those in it for the beer). It was such a nice day! Patti and Trai showed up first, then Jessica and Vicky, both cars after a bit of coaching (*why* does no one use my maps? I guess I need to specify that our road has a superfluous 'e' at the end, and that there's a similarly-named road in the same ZIP code), and then we were off to Miss Chickpea's, after I'd finished icing the chocolate cake. We met Jennifer in Hudson, and we all enjoyed browsing Miss Chickpea's Funky Fibers.

After doing our damage, we were out to get the free project bags. Miss Chickpea's was having a knit-in to support breast cancer research, and generate items for survivors. Chemo caps and whatnot. We signed our names to the pledge forms, picked up our goody bags, and sat on the green for a while. Now, everyone who knows me knows that I am so totally NOT a girly-girl. Very few of you have ever seen me wear pink (as only Kelly is the one who knew my eight-year-old self) and when pink, it's very rarely pastel. (Disclaimer: I do have a pink nightshirt, but it was free. Perhaps I should say that rarely am I outdoors wearing pink, or even just that I rarely wear pink where people can see it.) Pink just isn't me. Well, I bought some pink yarn yesterday. I'm sure everyone knows that pink=supporting the fight against breast cancer, supporting survivors, or whatnot. So pink was in abundance at Miss Chickpea's yesterday (and probably will be throughout the month). My survivor project will be.....SOCKS! (No surprise there, right?) I found some shocking pink Malabrigo that wants to be socks (and possibly a hat, as there is a decent bit left over from my rainbow socks). Those socks should be my next project, as they are due by the end of the month.

Otherwise, I shopped for Mike. Picked up some dark grey Malabrigo for socks for him (he wants some custom-fitted, toe-up socks, and I love the warmth and softness of Malabrigo), and some hat yarn. He wants a winter hat, so I found some black Ultra Alpaca from Berroco. Also grabbed some Lamb's Pride worsted in Onyx and Wild Mustard so I can make a Pittsburgh-sports hat. Will probably spend a decent bit of time today winding, as I don't yet have a ball winder, and these projects should be done before Christmas.

But I digress. I'm just a bit too preoccupied with yarn. The six of us came back to the house, and Mike started sharing beer. He entertained, while I put together a cheese tray and chopped veggies for the salad/pizza toppings. Made Jessica a margarita, as she is not a beer drinker. Hopefully it was acceptable - it was mostly strawberries. Blended frozen strawberries with some lime juice and a shot each of tequila and triple sec. I just kinda guessed on the proportions.

Finally the girls had learned more than they wanted to know about beer (and more!), and the group moved upstairs. While they enjoyed Mike's beer (Patti took home a growler of the chocolate stout - four less pints for me to drink; and *everyone* loves New Glarus Raspberry Tart and Belgian Red) I assembled some pizzas with the dough Mike made on Friday night, and the first two pizzas quickly disappeared. Shortly after that, our friends Carl and Jan showed up, with their friend Ron, and much of the third and fourth pizzas disappeared. (This morning, there was half a pizza left. I blame Mike, as I would have made another batch of dough, so we would have had two and a half pizzas left. Or people would have eaten more, who knows. I always make too much when left to my own devices.)

And then the chocolate cake... Thanks again to Kel and Shawn for the recipe. I shared it with Patti, too. (She deserved it - I couldn't give her directions because I was stirring and stirring and stirring and stirring... Thank goodness Mike could take over.) Fabulous as always. Very moist and chocolatey.

After the cake was cut, Rebecca and Matt showed up. They had lots going on, but we were glad they could make it. Matt spent his time with the guys in the basement man-cave, and Rebecca showed off her knitting and some of the yarn she'd dyed. Beautiful stuff!

Anyway, it was an evening filled with good conversation, good yarn, good food, and good music. The Dar DVD didn't want to play the audio at first, but Mike used his magic to make it work.

Oh yeah, cleanup was a breeze. Probably the easiest after-party cleaning I've had ever. I ran the dishwasher twice, once during the party and then after, and all the dishes were clean. (Aside from the cake pans, as they are nonstick and not dishwasher safe.)

I've learned (yet again, and will forget before the next party) that, while I have fun at my parties, I always miss out on something. Yesterday, even though it was a knitting event, I hardly knitted at all. (I did a few rows on Cookie 2 on the green, and then rewound the yarn so it didn't get too crazy-tangled, and did a round or so on Royal Llama sock 2 back at the house.) There was lots of beer, but I hardly had any (just a few sample glasses when everyone was downstairs--not even a full pint). Made a big salad, and didn't eat any (but a good bit is left over - that can be lunch today). Oh well - I definitely enjoyed the company. And the encouragement on Stripey Sweater. I'm certainly a better knitter now than I was when I started it, so I could probably pick up the stitches decently well. I should post a picture, since Stripey Sweater is downstairs now. Should also rename the thing--3HDTWLGWJ maybe, except that's even longer to type than Stripey Sweater. Maybe SAS for Stripey Alpaca Sweater. Okay, end tangent here.

Oh well - there's more than enough documented here. I can certainly ramble, eh? Time's a wasting, and I should start yarn winding. Or turning heels. Or picking up stitches. Or wiping down the counter. Or playing with the kitty, as she was an anti-social scaredy-cat most of yesterday. Definitely need to do something more productive than this.