Saturday, April 26, 2014

Easter Basket Cupcakes

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I don't know, I really think I go a little nutso sometimes.  In a former life when our grandkids were smaller and appreciated things like this, I decorated all their birthday cakes.  Then they got older and didn't have 'kid' parties anymore, some moved further away and I just got out of the cake decorating business.  This year, we went to our son and family's home for Easter dinner and I just got the bug to do some decorating again.  I found these cute little Easter basket cupcakes while surfing one day so I pulled out all my cake decorating supplies and off I went.  They're quite easy to do but guess I'd forgotten how time consuming even 24 cupcakes can be but they did turn out cute and they got rave reviews.  They're just oozing with sugar so not too many got eaten by the younger crowd but I sent the remainders home with our granddaughter who took them to work so they didn't go to waste.   They are cute as can be and I did get the cake decorating urge out of my system for a while again.

I used the Wilton's standard buttercream frosting recipe, http://www.wilton.com/recipe/Buttercream-Icing colored with Wilton's leaf green icing color, with decorating tip #233 for the grass, guidance at http://www.wilton.com/technique/Grass.   Instructions for the cupcakes suggested to use licorice sticks for the handles but I chose not to put all the handles on til Easter morning because the licorice stick from the one I did on Sat sucked up moisture from the frosting and cakes overnight and did a major flop over.  I even placed a toothpick on each side of the cupcake and used them as supports for the licorice but maybe the licorice needed to be older and more dried out. 

Cute, cute, cute.


Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Striped Cardigan

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I’ve been wanting just a basic, oversized, knock-around-the-house cardigan for a long time but just never found the time or urgency to fit it in with my other knitting which usually has priority.  So when my local yarn store hosted a promotion by Berroco Yarns, I decided it might just be time to do a cardigan for me. 

I basically knew what I wanted it to look like but the hardest part was deciding on colors.  I think it turned out pretty well actually.  I used Knitware software for the basic pattern with modified drop sleeves, hip length and 3” ribbing on the body and sleeve cuffs.   I used DAK to align the stripes but could’ve used DAK to design the whole pattern if I’d bone up on DAK’s garment shaping….which I should do anyway.  This is made with Berroco Comfort worsted on my KX350 midgauge at T5.   I worked the ribbing on my SK860 midgauge, scrapped it off and transferred it to my KX350 to make the body sections and sleeves….much easier and nicer looking that hand latching the ribbing on the 350.  I did a 1x1 rib for the button bands on the SK860 at T3, then mattress stitched it onto the fronts and neck back.  The next adventure was finding buttons that I wanted.  I found some really nice ones made from coconut shell that seemed to be just made for it.

I’m not going to post my pattern because I did so many alterations to the pattern to please me that it most likely wouldn’t fit anyone else.  The schematic in your size specifications and yarn gauge will get you in the ballpark.