It's my husband's birthday this weekend so what's a girl make her guy?  A scarf and a hot water bottle cozy that's what!  HA.

Well, poor guy.  He will get the Warm Friend (pattern coming soon), but the scarf will be wrapped "as is" and finished as soon as, well, as soon as I finish it!

Steve chose the yarn for his scarf while we were traveling in Germany last month.  I know they sell this yummy Lang Cashmere here in the states but it was so much fun to have him pick it out and purchase it there.  It's like I am knitting the memories of our trip into the scarf.  I love having a memory of where I buy the yarn and the places I knit the project.  

I made Banana Bread last weekend and it has been a friend every morning this week with my coffee.  Coffee, yarn and banana bread, well it just seems to be the perfect combo.

I'll be baking a cake later today.  Birthday cake goes well with knitting, too!   

Happy weekend!

*****

What I'm watching:  Fool me once on Netflix.  

What I'm reading:  One Italian Summer.

Wow. When I first started writing in this space, my girl turned nine. Today she turns twenty five. Holy cow.
There is so much magic in her I can't believe she is even mine.  I thank God for my children and the gift of raising them every single day.  
She is living for the year in Madrid, Spain.   I made her a Daily Pullover to take with her and I am always thrilled when she texts me a photo and she is wearing it.  She has told me it is her all time favorite sweater.  She even text me a photo this morning of her Birthday Outfit.  (Photo below.)

November 3 was an important day.

Friends! Bottle those little people!
How did this happen?!
Seventeen balloons.
My BABY is seventeen!
Happy Birthday to my most favorite seventeen year old in the whole, wide, GLORIOUS world.

 My sweet girl, Libby, turned nineteen last Thursday.  SO HARD TO BELIEVE.  I haven't seen her since we took her to school in August. (2 1/2 months!)  We decided to head out to celebrate with her.
 She wanted a picnic lunch on the mountains.  So, that is exactly what we did.
Sandwiches.  3 balloons instead of 19.  And a store bought cake instead of homemade.  It was absolutely perfect.
A few other things I want to remember:
Awesome dinner at Scotts on Alpine, Dushanbe Teahouse (best breakfast!), CorePower yoga, Flatirons hike, Farmers Market, CU vs. UCLA game (Go BUFFS!), mountain drive, meeting Jo, beer at The Sink, Boss Lady Pizza, Dinner at Aloy Thai.  The yarn store I want to go to next time.

I knit Libby a super quick gift.  I'll be back tomorrow to show.

 Birthday cakes are my absolute favorite to make.   I usually ask the children what flavor cake they would like and what color frosting.  The cake differs, but the icing is always the same.
 Then I make a stencil by hand and place it on top of the cake.   Pressing down slightly to keep clean lines.
 Pour the sprinkles slowly and slightly press down.  I absolutely love these gold crystals I found in our local grocery store.
Carefully remove the stencil.  Personalize it with some icing that was saved before it was tinted.  Pop in a few candles and S I N G!

Tessa is Steve's oldest daughter.  I giggled when Libby said that Tessa's was so much prettier than hers.  I said I couldn't even remember what color hers was.  She reminded me... brown.  Ha!  She requested Chocolate frosting.  ;)

Our favorite Butter Cream Frosting:

1 cup salted butter
3 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 Tbls milk

Cream the butter until fluffy.  Add the powdered sugar and continue creaming until well blended.  Add the vanilla and milk and blend on low speed for 2 minutes.  (Add additional milk if needed by the teaspoons.)  Beat at high speed until the frosting is fluffy.

*It's the only time I ever buy salted butter and I always double this recipe.  I usually have some left over, but I found there is nothing worse than trying to ice a cake with a minimal amount of frosting.  For a chocolate frosting add 1/2 cup cocoa powder and 2 tsp of milk.