show us yer buns! August 15, 2009

Busy week, this week, for the bakey cakeyness! I had another order from work – twenty vanilla/vanilla cupcakes in little boy blues. And a chance to test out my new cupcake boxes!

And then for my mum’s birthday party later today, she requested buns, and so I tried out Rachel Allen’s lemon cupcake recipe (from the book ‘Bake’) only subbed the butter for Vitalite to make them dairy-free, as my cousin’s little girl is allergic to milk. I’ve only tasted the buttercream so far, cause the recipe made just enough for 12 cupcakes, but that was really very tasty indeed, so I feel pretty confident.

Topped with jellybabies just for giggles:

Aren’t I a lovely daughter?

a brief affair… August 15, 2009

Despite only having finished my 12th block of Baby Granny Blanket, I have already strayed my undivided attention from it.

I was passing my lovely little local yarn shop last weekend, after not being in town for weeks, and I felt the soft tug of temptation. After a few weeks perving over the granny square pools on Flickr, I had ideas for blanket 2 whirling round my head, and so it happened that I allowed myself to purchase these 4 balls of candy-coloured loveliness. It’s Rico Baby Classic DK, deliciously soft despite being synthetic, and a fair bit cheaper than the Rowan. I have plans.

Sorry, Baby Granny Blanket. It only happened the once.

honeymoon in venice August 9, 2009

We spent a few days of last September honeymooning in Venice. During that time, I took somewhere in the region of 700 photos. I edited a few of them last night to decorate our living room wall and fell in love with Venice’s other-worldly beauty all over again.

a change of heart August 4, 2009

Something has changed in the p&p household. The blocks are missing. In their place – a pile. A growing pile.

When I looked at the glaring error photo from the last post, it wasn’t just the obvious flaw that bugged me. It was the blocks. The segregation. It just didn’t feel right. So I took a deep breath and seperated all the blocks. I think I need to mix it up a bit.

The atmosphere now is a little more haphazard. A little more free. Port nestling with Dahlia and Damson and soon Hydrangea. And I think I like it better that way.

I still only have ten squares, so I can’t lay them out the way I’m invisioning, but I can give you an idea:

What do you reckon? Better?

first mistake August 1, 2009

This week I have had little time for crochet, although I have been enjoying the shopping bag I bought in Alnmouth that is just the right size to hold my project while I’m neglecting it. It reminds me of deckchairs and the seaside.

Despite my neglect, I have been making little bits of progress here and there. I’ve now finished the dahlia block, and am started on the damson one.

I was feeling quite pleased with myself until I looked at the following picture and noticed my glaring error. Oh no!

See it?

The block of four on the left has the two squares edged in avocado, port, then anthracite are NEXT TO EACH OTHER when they should be on the diagonal. Disaster!

I could just leave it – I doubt it’d be that noticeable when the whole blanket is put together.

But I would notice. Every time I saw it, I’d be silently cursing myself. I would never let it lie.

I know what I have to do.