Saturday, 31 December 2011

Knitted Phone Cover

This was a labour of love. Was my first attempt at using a cable in a pattern (the twisted sections). It took a few attempts to get it right but I kept trying and eventually managed it. Nice and cosy for my phone!



 The pattern is available online for free and was found via the Ravelry website. I adapted the pattern slightly to make it wider for my phone and added a flap to keep the phone secure. I chose wool that had a round profile and was fairly thick so that the cable stood out clearly. I also added in some extra padding material. Should keep my phone scratch free, fingers crossed!

Saturday, 24 December 2011

Ready Teddy Go!

 


This was a really fun project, if not a bit difficult at times. I find knitting very calming, until you have to do shaping. At the half way mark I was a little unsure but he seems to have turned out fine! Hope my niece is impressed with her christmas present!

 




And was found via Ravelry, I very useful website full of great knitting patterns.







Chocolate satsuma cakes

December brings lots of lovely juicy citrus fruits into the shops. For a winters evening in watching tv with friends, these went down a treat!

I mixed 100g butter with 200g caster sugar and then added the grated rind of 4 satsumas. I then added 2 eggs, mixing a bit inbetween. I combined 200g plain flour, half teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda and half teaspoon of baking powder (gives the cakes some air!) in one bowl, and the juice of four satsumas in a jug. I poured in a third of the flour, mixed, then a third of the juice, mixed... etc till all the mixture was used. I melted 100g orange chocolate in the microwave and stired this into the final mixture. It is much nicer to get proper 70% cocoa chocolate. Once spooned into the cases they were baked for about 20mins at 180 degrees.

For the icing I melted another 100g orange chocolate in a bowl in the microwave (I tend to zap it for 10sec, stir, then zap for another 10secs, because it can burn really easily. I poured the chocolate into a bowl with 200g butter and 250g icing sugar. I mixed this with an electric whisk until smooth. It is important to thoroughly test the mixture at this stage before icing, take a break with a cup of tea if needed. 

I went all out this time and actually piped the icing on to make it look neat. Some choc orange segments and satsuma segments finished the cakes off. Tasty!


Rainbow cakes

It was a dark day in late Novemeber and so I figured a bit of rainbow in our lives would make it better. 

Rainbow cakes are fun, sugary and full of e-numbers. 



Start with the usual cake mix, divide into as many colours as you want and then tint the mixtures with food colouring. 


 



Spoon the colours one at a time into the cake cases and slowly build up till all cakes have all colours. Bake. Eat, with lots of butter icing and hundreds and thousands sprinkled on.