Taste the rainbow

After a total baking disaster with the giant cupcake I was very pleased our skittles vodka had turned out great.

On another note the cupcake might look terrible but it tastes ok. Hopefully I get it right next time.

Now all I need is to get five small bottles so I can make all the colours.

Worlds ugliest cup cake

Bought myself the big top cupcake kit, its made from silicone. My neighbour said it was great.  How I managed to muck it up I will never know.  Lets just say I wont be volunteering to make anyone a cake anytime soon lmao. 

Lets hope it tastes a whole lot better that it looks.!!

Skittles vodka

Trying our first attempt at skittles vodka today We took skittles and put them into a empty bottle topped up with some of the vodka and shook like crazy. Hopefully they will have dissolved by tomorrow so we can go to the next step of pouring through a coffee filter to get rid of any scum which I'm told there will be. Then we will top up with some more of the vodka. We used orange and red skittles together. I want to get glass flask bottles sometime in the near future so I can make all the colours. Taste the rainbow!!

Tesco real food £5 deal

Pork and potatoes with caramelised apples with a wholegrain mustard sauce. Was very good. Busy day no time to craft because husband asked if I would like an electric stove fire in. Me like an idiot said yes and now I have huge hole in living room.

Learning a new knitting technique

Today I have been learning to double knit. One piece of knitting but a different colour for each side. Pretty cool. Not sure what I am making yet.

Saturday night quilting - Argos value stool cover

Well not actually the quilting bit  because here is some I made earlier. Probably a good job I had made some earlier because I was drinking vodka while making the stool  cover.

hexagon quilt

I took one argos value stool http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/6006606/Trail/searchtext%3ESTOOL.htm

 sat it upside down on the padding  to draw round it to give me exact size of cushion

and then I had a piece like this

and then....... well to be honest it all became a bit fuzzy (that's why you shouldn't drink vodka while you craft)

when I came downstairs this morning I had this 

so either I managed to finish it or the elfs did it  after I went to bed.

Another crochet necklace

I seem to be developing a slight obsession with crochet and washers

Saturday shortbread buttons

Today to keep the kids out of mischief we decided to make shortbread. I had seen cookies made into buttons on  internet and they looked so cute we decided to do this with the shortbread instead of just making the usual shape.


FOR THE SHORTBREAD YOU NEED;

1 cup of butter
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups sifted flour

baking trays that you have lightly sprinkled with flour, cookie  cutters,  a skewer or something to make button holes  and a oven preheated to 180

 oh almost forgot   a floured rolling pin.


HOW TO MAKE;

Cream sugar and flour then start adding the sifted flour.  Mix into a dough then grab it with your hands and squish it into a round shape.  Take dough and sit on a floured surface, roll out until it is about 1/4 inch in thickness.

We then used a round cutter to cut out buttons, found something that was just slightly smaller (we used coffee scoop)and pushed it into middle so the sides raised for button shape.  Then we took a skewer and pushed it in to make button holes.

 



Place shapes on baking tray leaving room apart and cook for approx 12 minutes until edges are slightly browned.   Leave to cool then transfer to a plate and scoff like greedy piggies.

washer necklaces for my girls

An idiot deleted this post. So now I have to make it again grrrr lol



cover the washers with crochet like this

assemble your washers together and maybe add a crochet flower or two

and  then add some ribbon or a crochet strip to tie necklace.

and hope some idiot doesn't delete the post again

microwave nutella cake

microwave nutella cake

For one of those days that you fancy some cake but really can't be bothered, microwave nutella cake is the answer.

7 ingredients and less than 3 minutes in microwave you can't beat it.

plus it tastes lovely with ice cream.

What to knit next

Been awake for a while now, I'm not feeling well so can't sleep. I was thinking what will I knit next. One of my last projects  before the horse was a knitted bag.  Which I have not used yet because I still need to put in a zip or press studs to keep it closed. I always have a fear that I will lose things out of bags that have no way to close.

my knitted handbag

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My husband has banned me from buying any more wool until  I have used the huge amount that has taken over (very messily I  may add) the unit in our bedroom.  He says my hoarding stuff is getting out of hand. If you looked in our fridge and saw the shelf that is totally dedicated to my nail polish you might agree and the scary thing is that's not all my nail polish  eeek!!!

So what I need  are some new projects to use up some wool so I can go buy some more, yipeeee!!!

I  may knit the whole family handwarmers like these ones from a lovely pattern from ravelry.

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/cupcake-mittlets

not sure they would suit the husband though :p

Suppose I better go to bed and attempt to sleep.

night night xx

My knitted hobby horse pattern

chunky yarn
4mm double pointed needles
glue  (I used a gluegun)
broom handle
small amounts of other yarn

This pattern was inspired by one I saw on the internet but cant read the instructions.  To make this pattern I used a knitting designer book I have ( Teach yourself visually, knitting design, working from a master pattern to fashion your own knits) that gives you a basic pattern for a sock. Basically you are making a sock :)  The decreasing at the nose was not taken from basic sock pattern because it would have made the horse face  the wrong shape. The nose decreasing was  just trial and error until I found something I liked.




with double pointed needles cast on 48 stitches evenly over 3 needles.
knit every round until piece measures 25cm.

knit 12 then turn and purl across 12 plus 12 from the 3rd needle.
work on these stitches for 24 rows.

(1) knit 12 stitches, k2, sl1 purlwise wyib, k1, psso, k1, turn work

(2) sl1 purlwise wyif, p5, p2tog, p1, turn work

(3) sl purlwise wyib, knit across to first stitch before gap caused by turning sl1 purlwise wyib k1 psso, k1 turn

(4) sl1 purlwise wyif, purl to last stitch before turning gap, p2tog, p1, turn

repeat rows (3) and (4) s more times.   ( the last 3 and 4 rows you do you will not have enough stitches for the end k1 or p1)

with right side facing you use an empty needle to knit halfway across stitches you were just working on, place a marker on last stitch so you know where  the round starts.

With another empty needle (i stole the needle that one of the 4 stitches were on, I placed them on a stitch holder) knit across remaining heel stitches then using the same needle pick up and knit 12 stitches down side of heel flap.

using another needle work across the instep stitches  ( this set of stitches will be needle 2)

with a new needle pick up and knit 12 stitches along other side of heel and knit across remaining heel  stitches.


at this point you should have 62 stitches

SHAPE GUSSET


RND 1:   knit to last 3 stitches of needle 1 and k2tog, k1
               needle 2 knit all stitches
               needle 3  k1, ssk, knit to end of round

RND 2:   knit
Repeat rounds 1 and 2 until 48 stitches remain.

work piece until it measures 18cm from heel.

k2tog, knit 6 repeat for whole round
knit 6 rounds
k2tog, knit 5 repeat for whole round
knit 3 rounds
k2tog, knit 4 repeat for whole round
knit 2 rounds
k2tog, knit 3 repeat for whole round
knit 1 round
k2tog, knit 2 repeat for whole round
knit1 round
k2tog, knit 1 repeat for whole round
knit 1 row
k2tog for whole round

cut yarn and pull through remaining stitches and fasten off

EARS:(make two the same) with 2 of the double pointed needles cast on 24 stitches and stocking stitch 6 rows.
s1 k9 k2tog k9 k2tog k1
s1 purl row
s1 k8 k2tog k8 k2tog k1
s1 purl row
s1 k7 k2tog k7 k2tog k1

continue dec in this fashion until 6 stitches remain
purl to end
s1. k2tog twice.  k1
s1 purlto end
k2tog twice
cast off in purl

fold ears in half and sew together 

my version of the horse has a covered pole which was made by knitting on double pointed needles. 

 I cast  9 stitches with 2 strands of double knitting and made a long tube to slide over the pole.

for this horse I used an old curtain pole 

 for next one I make I may use a broom handle so might need more than 9 stitches for the pole cover so will have to wait and see.

I covered the end of the pole that goes up into horses head with toy stuffing and stuck it on with some duct tape, very technical stuff lol.

I pushed the pole right inside of stuffed head to top because I wanted it to feel secure and not flop about. Then I tied head to pole but left a bit of the neck fabric to glue to pole. 

Head was then secured with glue gun.

The pole cover reached the bottom of neck and was sewed on.

Then I made a long cord with crochet and twisted it round top of neck to pole cover and sewed it on to make it look a bit neater.

I made the harness by crochet, although I cant follow a pattern or know any of the crochet terms its made of a crochet strap 3 stitches wide. I just made it long enough to go round nose. Then one to go round neck and  then one to join up. 

I used hard plastic washers and crochet over them to  make rings on the harness.

The bit for the child to hold on to was made with double pointed needles  and two strands for double knitting and is a tube for added sturdy ness.

The tube that covers the pole was just sewed at bottom of pole. sort of dragged it  round to cover bottom if you know what I mean.

The hair on the horse is dishcloth cotton that is attached and then I pulled the different strands apart to make it look a bit scruffy.

The eyes are made of a strip of crochet rolled into a circle and sewed together.

This pattern was inspired by this gorgeous one http://www.yhteishyva.fi/vapaa-aika_perhe/neuleohjeet/keppihevonen_villasukasta/fi_FI/keppihevonen_neuloen_villasukan_ohjeella/    unfortunately it is in finnish and when I put it into the translator I still don't understand it.

Mini banana loaves

Husband and mini me are making mini banana loaves.   Have to resist from eating loads of them because I am trying to lose a bit of weight.

Recipe:

175g brown sugar
125g butter or margarine
2 eggs
4 bananas
grated rind of 1 lemon
2 tsp lemon juice
250g self raising flour
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp bicarb  soda


mix all together stick into mini loaf tins and cook for approx 25 minutes at 180
waiting to go into oven.


















out of oven and tasting scrummy!!

Hobby the knitted Hobby Horse.

Hobby the knitted horse my version of  this pattern.

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/huima-ja-assa

Even when translated the pattern didnt make enough sense for me to follow so I had to make my own one which I will post here after I have knitted it again in a few days.