Hufflepuff Badger Birthday Cake!

Every year I love taking on the challenge of baking my own Birthday cake! Every year I learn something new about decorating cakes, normally related to their structural integrity!! I really had narrowed my cake this year down to a few simple options, but I couldn't choose between them. This led to my husband brain storminig with me and erm... a brand new slightly more complex idea took shape.

I'm a big Harry Potter fan, and a proud Hufflepuff. Obviously the animal associated with Hufflepuff is the adorable badger, and when I saw this image I just knew I had to make it out of cake!

The cake itself is Whisk Kid's chocolate cake, as it stays moist, but it's also quite firm for carving into shape. I stacked it with chocolate buttercream, added the back foot, tail and ears shaped from fondant, and crumb-coated the cake. The fur is created with royal icing which I'd coloured in various shades of grey, and applied using flat teaspoon handles - it created the fur texture quite nicely! I made the eyes and nose out of fondant, and piped the mouth on. I gave him a scarf in Hufflepuff colours, and a wee Hufflepuff badge - complete with mini badger! He tasted good...

Fluffy Cowl and Mittens

I was in Wilkos before Christmas, and found this amazingly soft, fluffy and brightly coloured wool by Yarnfair. I fell in love and a ball fell into my basket!

I began by making myself a cowl, based on this pattern by Delia Creates. Based on, because I adjusted the number of stitches in my foundation chain and the number of rows to suit my personal taste. Also, I began the cowl with half double foundation crochet, rather than working into a chain. And I got slightly distracted and realised afterwards the cowl isn't actually in hdc, because I managed to add an extra yo and pull through in the middle of every stitch, which is why the "knit look" is less effective - at least I made my mistake consistently!

I loved this wool so much that when I finished the cowl I immediately started on a pair of fingerless gloves too. I used the same pattern, just a smaller starting chain, and left a gap for a thumb hole. I ran out of wool partly through the second one, so I had to buy more (such a shame!)

I received a black leather jacket with bulky silver zips for Christmas, and I have enjoyed the contrast of wearing that jacket with these soft, bright feminine accessories. I also discovered a brooch I had previously made matched the colour scheme perfectly, and I love that it is an extra accessory for either the mitts or the cowl :)

Crochet Penguin

So, when I shared my Crochet Robin back in November, I mentioned that I had already used All About Ami's pattern as it was originally intended, for a penguin! This little penguin has waddled off to his new home now, so I thought I would share him :) He is rather cute!

His scarf is detachable, his eyes are made with felt, and he has a little tag for delivery!

Here, you can see my robin and penguin together. I followed the pattern the same for both of them (although I think I adjusted the tummy slightly on both too). I used the same size hook. And I thought I used double knitting wool for both - the purple definitely is. The brown however, came out of my Mum's stash without a label - I'm suspecting it might be 4 ply given the size difference, or can double knitting wool (and my tension?!) really vary this much?!