Susie Cupcakes

Susie Cupcakes don't know cupcakes.

But these people really know cupcakes. There's a whole world out there filled with cupcake lovers. And Amy Sedaris is their patron saint? I just love the internets! I do find these cupcakes a little scary, though:

Don't you? They're the Nightmare Before Christmas cupcakes, so I guess they're supposed to be frightening. I'm not entirely sure if we're looking at a before or after picture of cupcake consumption. If it's the latter, then someone is a mighty messy eater. If it's a before picture, I would truly pity the birthday girl whose mom sends her to school with these to share with the class. But it would be a fun way for Mom to say "I really, really hate you."

Onto the news!

Sock COMPLETED! Kitchener stitch . . . still very difficult. But I think it went okay. Next time I'll be sure to tighten the stitches as I go along. Here is the sock:

It fits really nicely--it's great to be able to make perfectly fitting socks. I cast on for the second sock last night while watching Lost with Mr. Cupcakes.

Tonight Jenna arrives! We're going to have the best time. I'll have to warn her about Art, though.

Art is a really big problem in Carrboro.

It wasn't especially hot here today, but the air was especially sticky and ewwwww. Although we could probably use the rain, I was glad it was clear because we could knit outside at Weaver Street Market.

Looks like fun, huh?
My lord, it's like Knitters of the Corn. So serious! Maybe I shouldn't bring my cat-o-nine-tails and beat those who fall behind. Ah well, lesson learned.

Ellen is making an oven mitt . . . THE BIGGEST OVEN MITT IN THE WORLD!

Well, it will be until she felts it. For now it's just funny.

I completed my sock . . . almost.

My Graybaby let me show off her peachy paws along with my sock. All that's left is the Kitchener stitch. The deadly and confusing Kitchener stitch. Ayiiii!

Tomorrow Jenna comes to visit! My dear Jenna Wenna. Jenna was my next-door neighbor during our first year of college. Turck Hall, y'all. We bonded because we missed . . . I almost fear to admit it . . . our parents' subscriptions to Newsweek. We just loved those quotable quotes and little arrows! So we split a subscription, because we weren't only nerdy but also economical.

We're going to head down to Wilmington and try to figure out what happened in Dawson's Creek to make Joey Potter reject Pacey in favor of Tom Cruise. It truly boggles the mind.

I picked up Angela from the airport this evening, fresh from her Northern travels with Pumpkin. I don't have any pictures of Angela dressed as a gourd or squash, so we will have to use decorative fonts to say


Angela, if I could make it rainbowy and with sparkles, I would, but I can't so just pretend, kay? On the way to the airport, I saw someone driving with the license plate JSTIFIED. Which is awesome, because who knew JT had such devoted North Carolina fans?

Last night Rebecca slummed it in PBS Nerdville (aka Casa de Cupcake) and we worked on socks.

Socks cavorting! Dirty. The blue one is mine, completed and a lil funny looking. Ignore, please. The pinky-red one is Rebecca's, worked toe-up with Yarn Barn yarn (I think).

Oooh, so pretty! The picture really doesn't do justice to the beautiful fuschia and chocolate colors in the yarn.

I'm still plugging away at the Opal sock.

The heel has been turned, so now it's just round and round for the foot. The little red blob in the picture is a cat toy. Also, please ignore. I will try to improve my photographic composition and remove unwanted objects rather than trying to cajole readers' attention away from them.

And finally, the new shower curtain!

I know what you're saying. So what? It's just a curtain.

But, just a few days ago, we were showering with THIS:

And also these:

I feel much safer now. And less like I'm showering in the nautical equivalent of a unicorn painting.

I must have put my cranky pants on this afternoon because I feel very frustrated. I cannot find the digital camera, which is not even my digital camera but is Mr. Cupcakes's camera. Mr. Cupcakes is generous and understanding, but he will surely be annoyed that I somehow lost it inside our own house. I last remember using it to take pictures of the Bad Shower Curtain, the one I bought under duress last year, that one that is so ugly I felt the need to mention it to guests before they went in the bathroom. "Pay no attention to the shower curtain! I bought it under duress. Very ugly!" Thanks to Target, we have a new and sparkly Isaac Mizrahi shower curtain. I wanted to take pictures of this new shower curtain, to show the astounding aesthetic improvement between Bad Curtain and Good Curtain, but I CANNOT FIND THE CAMERA.

Arrrgh. Also making me cranky:

1. Having two gladware containers, identical size, but only one lid. Where do these lids go? We never have even numbers of containers and lids, and actually usually have a wide selection of lids for which there are no containers. Perhaps containers never existed. V. v. annoying.

2. The Amazon package I sent to my dad by 2-day express that took no fewer than 6 days to arrive. Why? Why?

3. Trying to figure out some kind of halter top strap for the tank that I knitted, as I am too dumb to understand the French pattern and did not order the strap that is necessary to make the pattern as pictured in the Phildar book. Now the pattern is outdated, and anyway I knit the halter in a different color (purple) than the strap (white) that Phildar used to sell. Therefore the completed halter will probably look amateurish and clunky rather than ethereal and European-chic.

Perhaps I am just in Pumpkin withdrawal, as she has been lured north by promises of Obama and Sedaris. Day 4 of no Pumpkin and at least a week to go.

Come back Pumpkin! Come back camera!

Today Rebecca and I made a trip to Bella Filati Luxury Yarns in Southern Pines, North Carolina. It's a cute little town with train tracks running down its main shopping street. Here's the depot.

The yarn store was really pretty fabulous. FAB-u-lous!

That's just one wall. The selection was great and the staff was super friendly. I wish I had gotten pictures of two of the sweaters lining the top of the yarn cabinets. One had a huge cat on the front, and the other was a super-duper Cosby sweater. Rebecca and I will no doubt be making/wearing those someday when we tire of beautiful patterns and only want to make insane things. Those sweaters looked pretty old, because most everything in the store was quite lovely and fashionable. Mr. Cupcakes's mom would like all the fuzzy, sparkly novelty yarn for the fancy scarves she makes.

We definitely need to go back--maybe for their sale in July--with our knitter friends Ellen, Angela, and Stef. They had socks in the window just like the kind Ellen has been making.

Maybe Ellen should display hers in saddle shoes, too?

I got yarn for a couple of projects. One is a secret project but the other is for a ribbon tank pattern from the Spring Knitty. The yarn, Crystal Palace Deco-Ribbon, is really cool (or so sayeth me).


It's looking cute in the lavender growing on my deck, but the ants that started crawling all over it weren't so cute. The yarn itself is surprisingly wide.

Should be a fun summer project. Yay summer! Yay car trips to yarn stores!

This morning I woke up to find a string of yarn extending from the bedroom, through the kitchen, and into the living room. This yarn is my dearly beloved Phildar Phil Ruban, which I'm using to make a halter top.

Who could have committed such a diabolical deed?

It was foster cat Gemini, AKA Striper, of course. Note the downcast eyes, a sign of guilt and regret . . . or possibly hunger?

The other cats showed little interest:

Mouse was bored. And also pretty fat.


Graybaby already knew Striper is is a hellion. Graybaby, on the other hand, is charming and delightful.

And of course, we have . . . BUCKLES!
Buckles is counting the hours until Mr. Cupcakes comes home. As we all do.

This weekend I hope to make some progress on the Phil Ruban halter, and also on the socks I'm making with Opal yarn, a birthday gift from the generous and talented Rebecca. This morning, the sock took advantage of the clear day and our skylight to get a little sun.


Ah, c'est magnifique, non?

Also magnifique is my sister Laura (nee Margreta). Today I came home to find the first issue of my birthday gift in the mail . . . US Weekly! It's trashtastic, fantastic! She also sent me a couple months of back issues so I can catch up on Jessica's bikini bod and the Tom Cruise Trainwreck 2005. As she wrote in the card, "I just can't get enough of Joey Potter and a midget!" Well said, my sister. Well said.

The fictional Susie Cupcakes, as immortalized in crude marker drawings, was a constantly smiling child with two giant blond ponytails on either side of the top of her head. When the Spice Girls got big I immediately realized that they had ripped off the whole Susie Cupcakes look for Baby Spice (although the platform shoes were all Baby Spice). Susie was irrepressible, evil, and totally unconcerned with her effects on others. It is remotely possible, perhaps, that Susie allowed a very shy child to act like a huge jerk. In the role of Susie's cousin Margreta, my sister very kindly played the straight man to Susie's antics, which if I recall correctly, often involved breaking things, stealing things, running away, and screaming.

The blogger Susie Cupcakes--me!-- is a different creature. I am a graduate student in school to learn the Lovliest Science, Library Science. I do not wear ponytails, nor do I have a cute, bakery-inspired name. But I like to think that maybe I share a little of Susie's joie de vivre, if you will.

So here I'll post updates on my life: knitting projects, friends, cats, people I meet on the bus, people I avoid on the bus, the goings-on of this small Southern town, whether my boyfriend, Mr. Cupcakes, will be able to finally buy a Volkswagon Thing, and so on. Join me, won't you?