:Kalliope Lane

I almost forgot: while I’ll be baking my heart out I’ll also be watching the first presidential debate. You’d better be watching them, too!

I’m being very ambitious for our latest departmental party, as I plan to make multiple things:

• Chocolate Chip Brownies from Modern Vegetarian Kitchen
• Veganized Original Tollhouse Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Pasta w/ Artichokes, Kalamata Olives, & Sundried Tomatoes from The Accidental Vegan

I’ve yet to find a fabulous vegan brownie recipe, so I’m very excited about this one. All of the reviews for this cookbook are positive and say the food is rich and flavorful. I’ve even seen a few mentions of the brownies in particular. I’ll be sure to report the outcome!

I’m almost done with my first listen through Interpol’s new album, Antics, and I’m really enjoying it. I might like it better than the first, which while really fun, was sort of one-note. I suppose that implies that this album is incredibly varied, and it’s not. It’s still that signature Interpol style…but somehow better. We’ll see how it sits over a few days.
Posted on Wednesday, September 29, 2004 at 02:21PM

So I’ve finished two knitting projects to date: the dumb baby sweater that I won’t give to Dawn because the yarn is scratchy, and my ugly tank top that’s kind of dumpy looking. Hoorah! Pictures to come.

I am excited about my next project, though. It’s the Peppermint Twist sweater from Stitch n’Bitch, although I’m doing it in shades of green instead of pink. I’m using Endless Summer Collection Lara yarn, from Elann. I’m absolutely loving the sport weight of the yarn — I’m making my swatch, and it’s knitting up to be so thin and delicate, I think I’ll adore the sweater if it fits. I’m having trouble getting gauge, though, since I knit so tightly. I’m using a size 6 now and I’m still not sure I have it. The pattern calls for a size 2 needle!

I’ve already redone the beginning of the ribbing twice, and I’m about to start it over to make the larger size. If I’m going to slightly err on the small-gauge size, I don’t want my sweater to turn out too small. Tom convinced me that the multi-colored yarn I had for one of the stripes would look strange, so I set off to find a replacement. I finally found an appropriate dark green in cotton, but it’s not mercerized, so it’s much more matte than the Lara. I’m hoping it blends in well once the sweater gets going, but if not, I’ll deal with it then.

Updated: Here are pics of the “dumb baby sweater” from Sweater Design in Plain English:

And the dumpy tank I made from horrible heavy cotton, the Chickami.  It’s too big and very unflattering, so no pic of wearing it:

some stitch detail here — it doesn’t look very even

I just read The Bad Beginning in the Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket. Very cute, only took about 45 minutes. I’m sure the movie will be fun with Jim Carrey starring (I actually just had to look up his name on IMDB — I went blank). The trailer looks great.

We’re going to camp out tonight with a movie and the futon instead of going to the Calexico show. Sometimes I feel like a loser when we make these decisions to take it easy on Friday nights, but then again, it’s what we really want to do. Sometimes I miss the days when I went out all the time, going to the Chamber or whatever the thing to do was at the time. Ultimately, though, I don’t miss most of the people or the drama or the repetition or the feeling like crap for the rest of the unproductive weekend. There are a few people I do miss, and sometimes I have an overwhelming urge to go and let loose on the dancefloor — it was such a cathartic, expressive thing for me. One day maybe I’ll play dressup and hitch along with Leah some weekend night.

I’m starving and so can’t think of much else. I’m deep into figuring out this whole blog thing with all of the choices and templates and all. A myriad of choices, and I’ve no mind for decisions. Rarely on a good day, most definitely not with low blood sugar.

Get me a snack though, and Oh! The Brilliance.

I’m sure.