Thursday 29 November 2012

Falling behind...

I realise I haven't posted a Sunday baking in a while. A long while. Last Sunday we didn't get a chance to back seeing as my boyfriend and I were so busy with uni/school work, and the Sunday before that... Well. We decided to make some White Chocolate cupcakes from a recipe mum had mysteriously found and couldn't remember where from.

It did not go well.

They tasted nice when they were just out of the oven - gooey white chocolate lumps with a bit of a crunchy topping... mmmmm. But as soon as they were left to cool - duhn duhn duuh - they were horrible! They tasted more like scones than anything else. Very dry for a cupcake.




Don't be fooled by how they look! You can tell in the first picture how little they rose, even though the recipe asked for a whole table spoonful of baking powder!



On the plus side I am making a scarf for my friend for Christmas, and as soon as it's finished I'll post the pattern. It's super easy and makes up pretty quickly as it uses chunky wool! I'm also making this cute dolphin for my dolphin-obsessed friend, and it's turning out great so far.

Tuesday 13 November 2012

Poppy pattern


As you probably know it was remembrance Sunday this Sunday, and so instead of Sunday baking I decided to make a crochet poppy. Don't worry, I still donated :) So, here we go! You'll need a 4.00mm hook and some red and some black DK wool.


R1: Make a magic circle and chain 3


R2: Dc 11 times into the circle and join with a slip stitch to the beginning ch3.


R3: Ch3, then dc into the same stitch. Dc twice into the next two stitches. Dc once into the next stitch. Now we're going to dc into the same stitch, but this time into the front of the stitch. I hope these pictures explain things better!



Now slip stitch into the next stitch. Ch3, and dc into the same stitch. Dc twice into the next two stitches. Dc once into the next stitch. Now we're going to the "dc into the same stitch, but this time into the front of the stitch" thing again:



^ This is what it should look like by now. Do you see how doing the 'dc into the front of the stitch' makes the petals more defined?

Slip stitch into the next stitch and ch3, and dc into the same stitch (we're basically going to repeat the last petal again, but if you need it I'll write it again :P ). Dc twice into the next two stitches. Dc once into the next stitch. Dc into the front of the same stitch. Finally, slip stitch into the ch3 we did at the very start in R1.


Ta-dah! You can either leave the poppy like this, or make a black circle to put in the middle by making a magic circle, chaining 2 and then doing 7 or so single crochets into the circle and pulling it tight.


Now just sew the black circle into the middle and sew the remaining ends in :)


You can either use a safety pin to attach it, or do like I did at put it onto a ball-chain-lock thingy to hang it from my school bag :)





Enjoy!

Monday 5 November 2012

Thanks!

I wanted to thank everyone who's viewed my Halloween inspired set - I've now had over 1000 views! Seeing how people have said they wanted to use my pattern and what they thought has made my week, and I want to thank all of you!

Now, this week has been a little different as it was half term at school, and so the two 'Sunday Baking' days became one 'Wednesday Baking'. One of my all-time favourites is Lemon Meringue Pie and I was so excited about making one! We used a tried and well tested recipe from Mary Berry's Day By Day Cooking. I'd definitely recommend getting this book if you can find it! It's got so many good recipies - another one of our favourites is the chicken curry. Me being a student and hopefully moving away to uni after my gap year I'll definitely be taking this book with me. Here are the photo's;






Mmm, this is making me hungry for Lemon Meringue Pie!


I can't post the recipe here for copyright reasons (I'm guessing), but if you want a free recipe a quick google search gives some good results.

I'm also working on a granny square blanket! It's been a long haul, but finally I'm at the joining stage! Fingers crossed it looks good when its finished.