Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Low Point Cupcakes

Going back on Weight Watchers has put a cramp in my cupcake style. For the plan I'm on, I have 35 "points" that I can play around with each week (an average of 5 a day) to eat whatever I want. Sadly, though, regular cupcakes are 5-8 points (and sometimes more if it's got fancy frosting)! Yikes! That leaves no room for things like, say, bread (it's hard to have a sandwich without bread).

Weight Watchers has a popular cake recipe where you mix a box of cake mix with a can of diet soda instead of the oil and eggs. Making cupcakes this way gets you surprisingly yummy cupcakes but they are 3 points each before frosting....and who wants to eat a cupcake without frosting?

So I set to work in my magical kitchen to whip up a low-point cupcake concoction of my very own. The results were a bit of a hybrid brownie-cupcake (it's a bit more dense than a regular cupcake) but Joe really liked them (and he's not on Weight Watchers) and overall, I think they're pretty good. And the best part is that after you add 1 Tablespoon of frosting, they come to just2 points. Just 2 points! That means I can have 2 if I want! Woo Hoo!

The recipe is here: on BakeSpace


Confession Time: My Addiction

It's not a habit, it's cool, I feel alive
If you don't have it you're on the other side
I'm not an addict (maybe that's a lie)

From Not an Addict by Fiona Apple

So unlike some Christian writers who want to deny a song (which is really about drugs) is about drugs in order to illustrate a (non-drug) point, I will fully admit that this song is, indeed, about drugs. But this post? This post is not about drugs but an addiction of a completely different sort. My friends, I think I am addicted to cupcakes.

I know. I know what some of you are thinking. But really…it’s true. I am a cupcakeophile….a full-fledged cupcake addict. I come to work and my very not-cupcake-related job and think about cupcakes. I think about fun ways to decorate cupcakes, how I might mail a dozen cupcakes across the country without smashing their beautiful frosting, what kind of cupcakes I want to bake next, how I might convert a normal cupcake recipe into a low Weight Watchers points but still entirely delicious cupcake. I read cupcake blogs. I look at cupcake pictures. I write down ideas I have about different kinds of cupcakes I could make. I dream of beginning a book review feature on the Cupcakes Take the Cake blog, that I might head, just so I can get free copies of cupcake books.

My friends….it’s bad. I feel like Izzie from Grey’s Anatomy. A brunette, Italian, married, non-surgical Izzie. Yup. That’s me.

And tonight, after I go get my nails done a sadly more grown-up color than they are now, I’m going to go home to feed the addiction. While working on my “Great Felted Mitten Experiment” I shall devise a delicious, yet low-point cupcake alternative to rich, decadent, chocolaty cupcake goodness. I will keep you apprised of the results.

Friday, January 26, 2007

A Sweater Grows Near Boston

Progress on my Wicked Sweater by Zephyr for the SKC KAL:


JANUARY 14, 2007









JANUARY 23, 2007









The color is more true in the first picture (hubby forgot the flash on the 2nd one). But the sleeves are off and now I'm working on the main body. (If you missed the previous sweater post, I'm doing it in Paton's Classic Merino in "Denim")

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Love the Bunny


If I'm going to be addicted to Mac and Cheese, I'm glad it's Annie's.

1) It makes me feel better

2) The bunny is cute

3) I dig their packaging (recycled and cute)

4) I heart organic non-radio active cheese

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Cupycakes!




I spent this evening baking and doing laundry. Not a big fan of coconut myself, I decided that if I were to make cupcakes with coconut in them I would be less likely to eat them and more likely to do a better job pretending I'm still on Weight Watchers. That and my husband loves coconut so all the better for him.

I got the recipe from cupcake maven, Babette on BakeSpace. While I'm sure Babette's frosting is amazing, I had some in the cupboard (I know, I know....bad cupcaker!) and it was getting late. Half are frosted with Duncan Hines cream cheese frosting and the other half are frosted with Duncan Hines classic vanilla frosting which I stirred almond extract into. All were topped with toasted coconut.

So Joe got to have fun eating them and I got to have fun decorating them and having a cupcake porn photoshoot. Ooh la la!

Saturday, January 20, 2007

My sad little intarsia project

Sassy gave me this sweet knit dish cloth for Christmas. I really like it and decided I needed some new ones so that I could have more dish cloths to wash with while the first one is being washed. I made a plain raspberry one but then decided I'd try a skull.


I've never done intarsia before and (stupidly) I didn't bother looking up directions I figured I'd just tie on my other-colored yarn and go. I had the vague impression that I was supposed to be carrying the yarn across the cloth, but being a dish cloth, I didn't want to have extra bits of yarn to snag. So...I didn't do that part and sadly my cloth 1) has holes in it and 2) I messed up the counting or something becasue he looks like his jaw is displaced or something. sad.

I am not defeated! I will try again! And maybe this time I'll read some directions...

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

My Life in Cupcakes

So Monday was cupcake day. Well, actually, Saturday was cupcake day. I made cupcakes on Saturday and when I went to make my yummy, lemony frosting, there was no powdered sugar to be found!
Gasp! Shock!Horror!

What's a cupcaker to do?

Sadly what this cupcaker did was wait until Monday to acquire the ingredients necessary for frosting. On a happy note, my new BakeSpace apron that I won in the last cook-off arrived. Hooray!

My new baking uniform..thanks Babette and BakeSpace!


The Journey of The Lonely Cupcakes.....

Once upon a time there were 8 lonely (and very naked) cupcakes. They were sad because nobody (except Joe) wanted to eat them.


Then one day a noble baker came along...

She saw the plight of the lonely cupcakes and decided to help. Rushing to her trusty computer, she logged onto
and found a recipe for [very] lemon[y] butter creme frosting.

Our heroine sprang quickly into action, donned her armor...


and whipped up a slightly healthier frosting made from 1 and 1/2 cups Splenda and 2 and 3/4 cups powdered sugar (instead of the 1lb powdered sugar in the recipe).


The cupcakes cheered as the baker began dressing them in their new clothes...

But wait! Where was cupcake number 7? Was she lost? Did she run away? Or even better....was she *gasp!* eaten? Was it Joe?


Sad for the loss of their friend, but glad she most likely in a better place, the cupcakes continued primping. A little frosting here. A wave of the spatula there. A shake, a dash and...wha-la!

Perfectly primped and manicured cupcakes ready for Team Bonham's consuming pleasure.

The End
***Insert Applause Here***

Fine. I did it.

I don't believe in New Year's Resolutions. I think if you need/want to change something you should do it because you need/want to....not because everyone and their dog thinks that January 1 is a good time to invent something you kind of wish you would have done a while ago but aren't really going to do anything about.

But this one.....This one's a keeper:


In the year 2007 I resolve to:
Start a knitting cult.



Get your resolution here.


Monday, January 15, 2007

Wicked Sweater Progress

Pardon the close-up of my chest....but it is a sweater. I think I really like how it's turning out so far. I'm doing it in Patons Classic Merino Wool in Denim. I like. :-)

WTF is a Mocha Latte?

Photo by Tim Knight: Seattle Photos by Tim Knight

Okay, seriously….

I have been watching a lot of Grey’s Anatomy lately while working on my SKC* sweater for the KAL*. As a Seattleite, my soul is salved by pictures of my beloved city and sound (that’s the water where the “ferry boats” go….not, um, noise). In fact it has a surprisingly calming effect on me which counteracts my allergic reaction to New England in general. Enough so, in fact, that I almost think that if I could simply watch enough episodes of Grey’s Anatomy, I could continue living here somewhat contentedly.

Aside from the beautiful scenery, they’ve done a lot of things right…The Native American art in the hospital, the over use of the word “seriously,” ferry schedules taped up in the locker room, the motorcycle ferry commuters, even the style of the cement pillars outside the hospital have pleasantly captured Seattle style in an almost impressive way.


Then there are the things they missed but are somewhat amusing for the “insiders.” Like George and his family hunting wild turkey in North Bend of all places? From the location of the hill in the shot, they did the scene behind the outlet mall off of I-90. I’m pretty sure guns aren’t allowed in such a densely populated area but I digress.

Then there’s Derrick’s “trailer and land in Seattle.” You know? The one he has to take the Seattle-Bainbridge ferry to get to work from? Right. I mean, I’m sure his trailer is really in Suquamish, that he drives to Bainbridge Island, takes the ferry to Seattle, and then goes to work. Thousands of Kitsap County residents do this every day (Heck, my dad did it for a decent chunk of my childhood). But why does he say he lives in Seattle? It’s one thing to tell people you’re “from Seattle” (even though you grew up in Kitsap County, went to college on the East Side and have never actually resided in Seattle proper) when you’re say, 3,000 miles away in Boston. But when Seattle is in your backyard, you say “I live in Poulsbo,” or “I live in Suquamish,” not “I live in Seattle,” unless you freaking live in Seattle.

Then there are some larger, much more annoying offenses. Like the ubiquitous location of Seattle Grace Hospital. In the first episode of season one, you see Meredith driving north-bound on the Alaskan Way Viaduct (you can tell because the Puget Sound is on her left as she is driving) to get to work. This might make you think the hospital is in North Seattle near, say, Ballard.

But then later in episodes of season’s one, two and three, you get these marvelous shots from the “roof of the hospital” which showcase the beautiful Space Needle and the oh-so-ugly EMP which are spitting distance from the hospital. While these shots of classic Seattle icons were most likely filmed from the roof of either the Center House (which is an over-glorified food court) in Seattle Center or from the roof of Fischer Plaza across the street from the Pacific Science Center, this imaginary location in Seattle Center is nowhere near Ballard.

Okay….so maybe Meredith got lost on her way to work in the first episode, turned around and went back to her imaginary hospital in Seattle Center. But then how the heck to George and Izzy walk south on the sidewalk (the opposite direction of Seattle center) along the waterfront, turn left and almost instantaneously arrive at the hospital? As if Safeco Field is now the hospital? Why? And Where? What the heck? Someone needs to mail the producer a map and ask her to pick one location and stick to it because Ballard, Seattle Center and Safeco field really aren’t at all the near each other (at all. seriously.).


Yes, this is the original Starbucks in Pike Place Market. Picture from www.citycomfortscom


Then finally, the source of my agitation which has inspired this blog-rant….their overuse (or rather, use at all) of the word “Mocha Latte.” I'm sure every single, self-respecting Seattlite out there watching this show is asking themselves,

“WTF is a Mocha Latte?!”

It’s either a mocha or it’s a latte. That’d be like me ordering a “Pepsi Water.” It’s either Pepsi or it’s Water…..not both and not at the same time. And it’s not as if one, well-meaning but ill-informed New Yorker is calling it that. Oh no!…..everyone on the show calls it that. Furthermore, nobody is corrected, and they all seem to know what they’re talking about.

If anyone were to order a “Mocha Latte” at any coffee shop within at least a 100 mile radius of Seattle, they would be made fun of by the baristas once they left, and they would be taunted endlessly by their friends because any self-respecting Seattle dweller over the age of 12 knows that it is either a Mocha or a Latte…not both. As Meg puts it so well in her blog post: “If you want both, bring two travel mugs and insert a conjunction.” Thank you.

*abbreviations:
SKC = Sexy Knitters Club
KAL = Knit-a-long / Knit Along

Saturday, January 13, 2007

New BakeSpace Picture

This morning was a photoshopping morning. I decided I needed a cooler picture than my fake-o chef hat supperimposed over my head for my BakeSpace profile. I wanted something cool like Miranda...so I went hunting for a cool cooking/baking graphic.

I happened to stumble across the graphic Miranda is using on Microsoft Design Gallery Live (DGL). Not wanting to be a copycat, I kept looking but the only other graphic similar to the style I was looking for was of an apparently asian girl. After my unsuccessful attempt to make the asian girl look anything like me, I resorted to semi-copycatdom. I must admit I am quite delighted with my end results.

BEFORE


AFTER

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

My new favorite stitch markers

Even more fun stuff from zephyrstyle.com. These markers are fantastic! Sadly I have a hard time justifying coughing up $13 for 4 stitch markers (as fabulous as they are). But if anyone is looking for a birthday present idea for me.....these are pretty darn cool.


check them out here: http://www.zephyrstyle.com/catalog/item.cfm/2606643/3904824

Sunday, January 7, 2007

New Project / Sexy Knitters Club KAL


I'm quite excited about my new project which is going to be part of the Sexy Knitters Club knit-along: The Wicked Sweater by Zephyr.

I'm doing it out of Patons Classic Merino Wool in Denim which gives is a nice, mottled blue look.

Want a copy of the pattern for yourself? You can get it here.

Friday, January 5, 2007

BakeSpace Badges

Inspired by my love for BakeSpace and cupcakes (check out my new link to All Cupcakes, All the Time) I was playing around with the BakeSpace logo to make blog/message board badges and would like to share my cupcakey badge goodness with you:



Feel free to use these buttons on your blogs, MySpace pages, e-mail signatures or message board posts.

Want something a little more official? BakeSpace now has official blog buttons and graphics on their site: click here.

Thursday, January 4, 2007

I won! I won!



Babette from BakeSpace e-mailed me today to let me know that I won first place in the December 2006 BakeSpace cook-off for my Mostly Fat Free (but delicious!) Chocolate Chip Pie. Sweet!

Thanks very much to everyone who checked out the contest and voted for me. :-)

You can read more about the cook-off and the other winners here:

It's a Carissa Invasion!!!

If you haven't noticed my new links section on the right called "Other Creative Carissas (you mean there's more than one?!)" allow me to point it out to you. Or if you have and are wondering if I've gone made creating all sorts of webpages (I haven't), let me explain....

I have a sitemeter on my blog that tells me fun things like what people clicked on to get to me (as in: did they find me through a Google search? Through a link on someone else's blog? Did they just know the address and type it in?). Being slightly more obsessed than is healthy with data, I look at it at least once a day. What have a found? Most people get here either through a link on the Punk Rock Knitters blog, through my profile on The Nest, through BakeSpace and the occaisional Google search. Of course, people get here all kinds of other ways, but I would say maybe two - three fifths of the traffic comes from one of the above mentioned sources.

All that background to tell you my story....

I noticed recently that I would have someone find my blog through a search on Google for terms like, "Carissa, yarn" or "Carissa and Joe" or "Carissa, knitting" or "Creative Carissa" but then click off of my blog almost as soon as they had clicked on it. Translation? I'm not who they were looking for.

What? They googled "Carissa, knitting" and I'm not who they're looking for?!?! How many knitting Carissas can there be? So I googled and blog-searched things like "Carissa, knitting" and "Carissa yarn" and apparently there are quite a few of us. Who knew?

Anyway, I think we should start a club. Okay...maybe not. But I'm at least trying to post links to the other knitting and otherwise creative Carissas mostly because I find it horribly amusing. So if you're looking for a creative, knitting Carissa who isn't me, please come back once you find her and let me know her web address. :-)

Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Low Point Cupcakes

Going back on Weight Watchers has put a cramp in my cupcake style. For the plan I'm on, I have 35 "points" that I can play around with each week (an average of 5 a day) to eat whatever I want. Sadly, though, regular cupcakes are 5-8 points (and sometimes more if it's got fancy frosting)! Yikes! That leaves no room for things like, say, bread (it's hard to have a sandwich without bread).

Weight Watchers has a popular cake recipe where you mix a box of cake mix with a can of diet soda instead of the oil and eggs. Making cupcakes this way gets you surprisingly yummy cupcakes but they are 3 points each before frosting....and who wants to eat a cupcake without frosting?

So I set to work in my magical kitchen to whip up a low-point cupcake concoction of my very own. The results were a bit of a hybrid brownie-cupcake (it's a bit more dense than a regular cupcake) but Joe really liked them (and he's not on Weight Watchers) and overall, I think they're pretty good. And the best part is that after you add 1 Tablespoon of frosting, they come to just2 points. Just 2 points! That means I can have 2 if I want! Woo Hoo!

The recipe is here: on BakeSpace


Confession Time: My Addiction

It's not a habit, it's cool, I feel alive
If you don't have it you're on the other side
I'm not an addict (maybe that's a lie)

From Not an Addict by Fiona Apple

So unlike some Christian writers who want to deny a song (which is really about drugs) is about drugs in order to illustrate a (non-drug) point, I will fully admit that this song is, indeed, about drugs. But this post? This post is not about drugs but an addiction of a completely different sort. My friends, I think I am addicted to cupcakes.

I know. I know what some of you are thinking. But really…it’s true. I am a cupcakeophile….a full-fledged cupcake addict. I come to work and my very not-cupcake-related job and think about cupcakes. I think about fun ways to decorate cupcakes, how I might mail a dozen cupcakes across the country without smashing their beautiful frosting, what kind of cupcakes I want to bake next, how I might convert a normal cupcake recipe into a low Weight Watchers points but still entirely delicious cupcake. I read cupcake blogs. I look at cupcake pictures. I write down ideas I have about different kinds of cupcakes I could make. I dream of beginning a book review feature on the Cupcakes Take the Cake blog, that I might head, just so I can get free copies of cupcake books.

My friends….it’s bad. I feel like Izzie from Grey’s Anatomy. A brunette, Italian, married, non-surgical Izzie. Yup. That’s me.

And tonight, after I go get my nails done a sadly more grown-up color than they are now, I’m going to go home to feed the addiction. While working on my “Great Felted Mitten Experiment” I shall devise a delicious, yet low-point cupcake alternative to rich, decadent, chocolaty cupcake goodness. I will keep you apprised of the results.

Friday, January 26, 2007

A Sweater Grows Near Boston

Progress on my Wicked Sweater by Zephyr for the SKC KAL:


JANUARY 14, 2007









JANUARY 23, 2007









The color is more true in the first picture (hubby forgot the flash on the 2nd one). But the sleeves are off and now I'm working on the main body. (If you missed the previous sweater post, I'm doing it in Paton's Classic Merino in "Denim")

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Love the Bunny


If I'm going to be addicted to Mac and Cheese, I'm glad it's Annie's.

1) It makes me feel better

2) The bunny is cute

3) I dig their packaging (recycled and cute)

4) I heart organic non-radio active cheese

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Cupycakes!




I spent this evening baking and doing laundry. Not a big fan of coconut myself, I decided that if I were to make cupcakes with coconut in them I would be less likely to eat them and more likely to do a better job pretending I'm still on Weight Watchers. That and my husband loves coconut so all the better for him.

I got the recipe from cupcake maven, Babette on BakeSpace. While I'm sure Babette's frosting is amazing, I had some in the cupboard (I know, I know....bad cupcaker!) and it was getting late. Half are frosted with Duncan Hines cream cheese frosting and the other half are frosted with Duncan Hines classic vanilla frosting which I stirred almond extract into. All were topped with toasted coconut.

So Joe got to have fun eating them and I got to have fun decorating them and having a cupcake porn photoshoot. Ooh la la!

Saturday, January 20, 2007

My sad little intarsia project

Sassy gave me this sweet knit dish cloth for Christmas. I really like it and decided I needed some new ones so that I could have more dish cloths to wash with while the first one is being washed. I made a plain raspberry one but then decided I'd try a skull.


I've never done intarsia before and (stupidly) I didn't bother looking up directions I figured I'd just tie on my other-colored yarn and go. I had the vague impression that I was supposed to be carrying the yarn across the cloth, but being a dish cloth, I didn't want to have extra bits of yarn to snag. So...I didn't do that part and sadly my cloth 1) has holes in it and 2) I messed up the counting or something becasue he looks like his jaw is displaced or something. sad.

I am not defeated! I will try again! And maybe this time I'll read some directions...

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Mmmmm Cookies


Want the recipe? See it on BakeSpace.

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

My Life in Cupcakes

So Monday was cupcake day. Well, actually, Saturday was cupcake day. I made cupcakes on Saturday and when I went to make my yummy, lemony frosting, there was no powdered sugar to be found!
Gasp! Shock!Horror!

What's a cupcaker to do?

Sadly what this cupcaker did was wait until Monday to acquire the ingredients necessary for frosting. On a happy note, my new BakeSpace apron that I won in the last cook-off arrived. Hooray!

My new baking uniform..thanks Babette and BakeSpace!


The Journey of The Lonely Cupcakes.....

Once upon a time there were 8 lonely (and very naked) cupcakes. They were sad because nobody (except Joe) wanted to eat them.


Then one day a noble baker came along...

She saw the plight of the lonely cupcakes and decided to help. Rushing to her trusty computer, she logged onto
and found a recipe for [very] lemon[y] butter creme frosting.

Our heroine sprang quickly into action, donned her armor...


and whipped up a slightly healthier frosting made from 1 and 1/2 cups Splenda and 2 and 3/4 cups powdered sugar (instead of the 1lb powdered sugar in the recipe).


The cupcakes cheered as the baker began dressing them in their new clothes...

But wait! Where was cupcake number 7? Was she lost? Did she run away? Or even better....was she *gasp!* eaten? Was it Joe?


Sad for the loss of their friend, but glad she most likely in a better place, the cupcakes continued primping. A little frosting here. A wave of the spatula there. A shake, a dash and...wha-la!

Perfectly primped and manicured cupcakes ready for Team Bonham's consuming pleasure.

The End
***Insert Applause Here***

Fine. I did it.

I don't believe in New Year's Resolutions. I think if you need/want to change something you should do it because you need/want to....not because everyone and their dog thinks that January 1 is a good time to invent something you kind of wish you would have done a while ago but aren't really going to do anything about.

But this one.....This one's a keeper:


In the year 2007 I resolve to:
Start a knitting cult.



Get your resolution here.


Monday, January 15, 2007

Wicked Sweater Progress

Pardon the close-up of my chest....but it is a sweater. I think I really like how it's turning out so far. I'm doing it in Patons Classic Merino Wool in Denim. I like. :-)

WTF is a Mocha Latte?

Photo by Tim Knight: Seattle Photos by Tim Knight

Okay, seriously….

I have been watching a lot of Grey’s Anatomy lately while working on my SKC* sweater for the KAL*. As a Seattleite, my soul is salved by pictures of my beloved city and sound (that’s the water where the “ferry boats” go….not, um, noise). In fact it has a surprisingly calming effect on me which counteracts my allergic reaction to New England in general. Enough so, in fact, that I almost think that if I could simply watch enough episodes of Grey’s Anatomy, I could continue living here somewhat contentedly.

Aside from the beautiful scenery, they’ve done a lot of things right…The Native American art in the hospital, the over use of the word “seriously,” ferry schedules taped up in the locker room, the motorcycle ferry commuters, even the style of the cement pillars outside the hospital have pleasantly captured Seattle style in an almost impressive way.


Then there are the things they missed but are somewhat amusing for the “insiders.” Like George and his family hunting wild turkey in North Bend of all places? From the location of the hill in the shot, they did the scene behind the outlet mall off of I-90. I’m pretty sure guns aren’t allowed in such a densely populated area but I digress.

Then there’s Derrick’s “trailer and land in Seattle.” You know? The one he has to take the Seattle-Bainbridge ferry to get to work from? Right. I mean, I’m sure his trailer is really in Suquamish, that he drives to Bainbridge Island, takes the ferry to Seattle, and then goes to work. Thousands of Kitsap County residents do this every day (Heck, my dad did it for a decent chunk of my childhood). But why does he say he lives in Seattle? It’s one thing to tell people you’re “from Seattle” (even though you grew up in Kitsap County, went to college on the East Side and have never actually resided in Seattle proper) when you’re say, 3,000 miles away in Boston. But when Seattle is in your backyard, you say “I live in Poulsbo,” or “I live in Suquamish,” not “I live in Seattle,” unless you freaking live in Seattle.

Then there are some larger, much more annoying offenses. Like the ubiquitous location of Seattle Grace Hospital. In the first episode of season one, you see Meredith driving north-bound on the Alaskan Way Viaduct (you can tell because the Puget Sound is on her left as she is driving) to get to work. This might make you think the hospital is in North Seattle near, say, Ballard.

But then later in episodes of season’s one, two and three, you get these marvelous shots from the “roof of the hospital” which showcase the beautiful Space Needle and the oh-so-ugly EMP which are spitting distance from the hospital. While these shots of classic Seattle icons were most likely filmed from the roof of either the Center House (which is an over-glorified food court) in Seattle Center or from the roof of Fischer Plaza across the street from the Pacific Science Center, this imaginary location in Seattle Center is nowhere near Ballard.

Okay….so maybe Meredith got lost on her way to work in the first episode, turned around and went back to her imaginary hospital in Seattle Center. But then how the heck to George and Izzy walk south on the sidewalk (the opposite direction of Seattle center) along the waterfront, turn left and almost instantaneously arrive at the hospital? As if Safeco Field is now the hospital? Why? And Where? What the heck? Someone needs to mail the producer a map and ask her to pick one location and stick to it because Ballard, Seattle Center and Safeco field really aren’t at all the near each other (at all. seriously.).


Yes, this is the original Starbucks in Pike Place Market. Picture from www.citycomfortscom


Then finally, the source of my agitation which has inspired this blog-rant….their overuse (or rather, use at all) of the word “Mocha Latte.” I'm sure every single, self-respecting Seattlite out there watching this show is asking themselves,

“WTF is a Mocha Latte?!”

It’s either a mocha or it’s a latte. That’d be like me ordering a “Pepsi Water.” It’s either Pepsi or it’s Water…..not both and not at the same time. And it’s not as if one, well-meaning but ill-informed New Yorker is calling it that. Oh no!…..everyone on the show calls it that. Furthermore, nobody is corrected, and they all seem to know what they’re talking about.

If anyone were to order a “Mocha Latte” at any coffee shop within at least a 100 mile radius of Seattle, they would be made fun of by the baristas once they left, and they would be taunted endlessly by their friends because any self-respecting Seattle dweller over the age of 12 knows that it is either a Mocha or a Latte…not both. As Meg puts it so well in her blog post: “If you want both, bring two travel mugs and insert a conjunction.” Thank you.

*abbreviations:
SKC = Sexy Knitters Club
KAL = Knit-a-long / Knit Along

Saturday, January 13, 2007

New BakeSpace Picture

This morning was a photoshopping morning. I decided I needed a cooler picture than my fake-o chef hat supperimposed over my head for my BakeSpace profile. I wanted something cool like Miranda...so I went hunting for a cool cooking/baking graphic.

I happened to stumble across the graphic Miranda is using on Microsoft Design Gallery Live (DGL). Not wanting to be a copycat, I kept looking but the only other graphic similar to the style I was looking for was of an apparently asian girl. After my unsuccessful attempt to make the asian girl look anything like me, I resorted to semi-copycatdom. I must admit I am quite delighted with my end results.

BEFORE


AFTER

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

My new favorite stitch markers

Even more fun stuff from zephyrstyle.com. These markers are fantastic! Sadly I have a hard time justifying coughing up $13 for 4 stitch markers (as fabulous as they are). But if anyone is looking for a birthday present idea for me.....these are pretty darn cool.


check them out here: http://www.zephyrstyle.com/catalog/item.cfm/2606643/3904824

Sunday, January 7, 2007

New Project / Sexy Knitters Club KAL


I'm quite excited about my new project which is going to be part of the Sexy Knitters Club knit-along: The Wicked Sweater by Zephyr.

I'm doing it out of Patons Classic Merino Wool in Denim which gives is a nice, mottled blue look.

Want a copy of the pattern for yourself? You can get it here.

Friday, January 5, 2007

BakeSpace Badges

Inspired by my love for BakeSpace and cupcakes (check out my new link to All Cupcakes, All the Time) I was playing around with the BakeSpace logo to make blog/message board badges and would like to share my cupcakey badge goodness with you:



Feel free to use these buttons on your blogs, MySpace pages, e-mail signatures or message board posts.

Want something a little more official? BakeSpace now has official blog buttons and graphics on their site: click here.

Thursday, January 4, 2007

I won! I won!



Babette from BakeSpace e-mailed me today to let me know that I won first place in the December 2006 BakeSpace cook-off for my Mostly Fat Free (but delicious!) Chocolate Chip Pie. Sweet!

Thanks very much to everyone who checked out the contest and voted for me. :-)

You can read more about the cook-off and the other winners here:

It's a Carissa Invasion!!!

If you haven't noticed my new links section on the right called "Other Creative Carissas (you mean there's more than one?!)" allow me to point it out to you. Or if you have and are wondering if I've gone made creating all sorts of webpages (I haven't), let me explain....

I have a sitemeter on my blog that tells me fun things like what people clicked on to get to me (as in: did they find me through a Google search? Through a link on someone else's blog? Did they just know the address and type it in?). Being slightly more obsessed than is healthy with data, I look at it at least once a day. What have a found? Most people get here either through a link on the Punk Rock Knitters blog, through my profile on The Nest, through BakeSpace and the occaisional Google search. Of course, people get here all kinds of other ways, but I would say maybe two - three fifths of the traffic comes from one of the above mentioned sources.

All that background to tell you my story....

I noticed recently that I would have someone find my blog through a search on Google for terms like, "Carissa, yarn" or "Carissa and Joe" or "Carissa, knitting" or "Creative Carissa" but then click off of my blog almost as soon as they had clicked on it. Translation? I'm not who they were looking for.

What? They googled "Carissa, knitting" and I'm not who they're looking for?!?! How many knitting Carissas can there be? So I googled and blog-searched things like "Carissa, knitting" and "Carissa yarn" and apparently there are quite a few of us. Who knew?

Anyway, I think we should start a club. Okay...maybe not. But I'm at least trying to post links to the other knitting and otherwise creative Carissas mostly because I find it horribly amusing. So if you're looking for a creative, knitting Carissa who isn't me, please come back once you find her and let me know her web address. :-)

 
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