Dinosaur Baby Cardigan + Booties

The baby madness continues!

Pattern: Pan Pan Crafts (though the site now seems unavailable, very disappointing!)

Spines: made up as I went along!

Yarn: leftover Stylecraft Special DK

Buttons: from my stash.

Booties pattern: Hopeful Honey (though without the spike stitch)

Chocolate Rainbow Drip Cake

Every year I view my Birthday as a chance to bake an over the top cake. They're never perfect, but I enjoy baking them and they're great learning experiences! This year I used my favourite chocolate cake recipe by Whisk Kid, and stacked the 4 layers with standard vanilla buttercream. I then iced the cake using six different shades of buttercream to produce a rainbow effect! So pleased with how this worked out. I made a Cadbury Dairy Milk ganache and spooned it on top to create the drip cake (I used 50/50 chocolate and cream, but I think it could have done with a bit longer to cool so they drips look less "watery").

I decorated the cake with smarties, twirls and flakes. I bought candy melts in red, blue and yellow and melted them together to create the rainbow chocolate shards (and the flower!) I was a bit disappointed with how the colours muddied somewhat when making orange, green and purple, but couldn't justify the cost of buying every colour individually! I also made the rainbow meringues to decorate the cake! To save mixing six different colours of meringue, I painted lines of food colouring gel down the inside of the piping bag before adding the white meringue. I'm quite pleased with how they turned out :) Oh, and it was yummy!!

Sunburst Cushion

About this time last year I finished my rainbow crochet blanket (and matching granny bunny!) Upon finishing, I found I had a lot of the coloured Stylecraft DK left over, as you may have noticed by the amount they have been popping up in other crochet projects! I really wanted a cushion to go with my blanket, one that reflected it but didn't match perfectly. I considered a few styles, but eventually settled on the free Terra Cotta Sunburst pattern by Regina Weiss.

I began with the grey centre and then cycled through the colours in the same order as I used them in the blanket, using a 4mm hook. One side of the cushion expands from watermelon to daffodil, and the other side from daffodil to watermelon. I then did a round in grey, a round in back-loop-only to start expanding the edges, decreasing once between each "sunburst point", and 2 more rounds with the same decreases.

I lined both panels with some fleece I had lying around, and slip stitched the two panels most of the way together. I stuffed it, and then stitched the closure shut. It has made a nice, uniquely-shaped pillow that goes really well with my blanket.

Crochet Unicorn

I have a friend who loves unicorns - well, who doesn't?! - and I knew I wanted to crochet her a unicorn with a multi coloured mane. I looked through lots of patterns before settling on Hermione the unicorn.

What I liked about the pattern: I've never added limbs as I've crocheted before, so that was a good new experience which I will apply again. I like the frills around the feet, and the method for attaching the mane and tail. I also like the surface crochet details and I learnt to make french knots!

She looks cute with a lot of character, and the colours I selected work.

What I disliked about the pattern... Because you add the limbs as you go, it doesn't allow for working out the best possible positioning in terms of giving the unicorn character. The limbs are not where I would like them to be, nor is the horn. The head shape also came out a bit different for me, possibly for this reason. I also had to be very careful with the surface crochet detail to avoid the horn looking like a party hat!

I do love the rainbow mane and tail though. I added in lots of colours, and some sparkly thread, and teased is slightly with a fine tooth comb. It's so fluffy and just what I wanted.

I surrounded the eyes with felt as suggested, but the eyes themselves are buttons rather than safety eyes. I pulled the thread taught to help create more facial shape. Even with safety eyes I can't imagine this toy being suitable for a young child because of how the mane and tail are hooked in, but I'm no expert!

I added the nostrils in a pale wool for defininition without them overpowering, and a small smile.

I also made a Certificate of Authenticity to prove that s/he is a true unicorn. Obviously.

Rainbow Crochet Blanket

If you follow me on Facebook, you will have seen lots of progress shots of this blanket as I've worked on it! It took me less than 6 weeks to make a single bed sized blanket, which I am so proud of! I also made a matching granny rabbit using this pattern. She's called Fizzy, and she has every colour from the blanket on her somewhere!

I used this pattern, Stylecraft's Blanket 9091. But... I changed it up a bit! Firstly, I kept it to single stripes of each colour all the way through, instead of switching to double width stripes part way through, as the pattern suggests. I also added an extra 2 and a bit balls of grey wool to take it up to a bigger blanket size - I think mine is wider than the pattern as well as longer! There are two colour options for this blanket, and I went for the cheaper Stylecraft DK. It's not the same as the one pictured in the pattern, but I love it :)

I may have caught the blanket making bug, which my wallet really cannot afford!

Granny Rabbits

Yes, really, a post that isn't Christmas related!

I love these little bunnies! I love the ease of the pattern by The Green Dragonfly, I love the colour combinations and their expressions...

And I LOVE their little fluffy tails! (Rather than making a pom pom, I used the muzzle pattern with some fluffy wool, and stitched it on - so cute!)

I am so tempted to make a whole rainbow of these littles ones...

Hidden Treasure: Finished!

Do you remember last year, when I received a crochet blanket, which my Nan had left part way through? As a refresh, here is what it looked like on the night it was uncovered...

Well, in betweeen all the other projects I've been working on, this has had the odd row added to it. It's travelled with me everywhere - to see the Olympic Torch relay, up to Hadrian's Wall, down to Torquay, into Wales and everywhere I've been.

And this week? I finished it!

I was originally going to give it a white and turquoise border, but I simply wasn't feeling it. I needed it to be suitable for a boy or a girl, and rainbows have meant a lot to me on a very personal level recently.

Whilst a touch feminine, I think this pastel rainbow would suit any baby perfectly. Worst case scenario, the peach and yellow borders can be unravelled for a slightly more boy-ish feel!

I am so thrilled to have had the honour to finish this blanket that my Nan started. When it is laid out, you can see where she finished off and I picked up, as I simply could not get our styles to match. It all adds to the charm, though. 

I worked the main body in treble crochet, with the border (2 rows each of white, lilac, blue, turquoise, yellow and peach) in single crochet. And that peach? Yup, it's the one which was in the bag the blanket was found in, which my Nan had been making granny squares with :)

Rainbow Ribbons Card

I love rainbows. If having a rainbow wedding hadn't made it obvious...!

I also love ribbons.

And what better combination for my niece's 4th Birthday?!

Oooooh.