Macaroons 2.0

Back in August I had a first attempt at making some macaroons today I had a second attempt and am pleased to report that these macaroons are tasty and a bit prettier!

I used the exact same recipe as previously so how did they turn out so differently? Firstly as commented by the very lovely monster yarns on my post about my first go, I added more colour…and by more I mean a lot more!

I was going for a dusky pink, I still haven’t got that colour however this current colour is much better that the pinky orange of my first attempt. The second thing I did was I made them much smaller, this has the advantage that I made a lot more but I thought making them smaller would mean the top would be less likely to crack. It appears to have worked.

Here is the macaroon from the side to show off their icing:

I feel very happy with this second attempt, and pleased to report that the flavour hasn’t been affected by the improvement in looks.

Shortly after finishing the macaroons I headed off to my swimming lesson so I placed them safely in the cupboard, away from little one. She is a menace about food and helps herself to anything on the kitchen side, as much as I love her there is no way she is laying a paw on them.

Pay It Forward – Crafty Sharing

I’ve signed up for a Pay it Forward at Dottie Doodle.  As soon as I saw the idea I thought it would be something that I would like to give a try. Would you like to join in too?

Here are the “rules” (taken from Dottie Doodle):

1. I will create a crafty gift for each of the first three people who comment to this post. This is a surprise, and will arrive to you anytime within the next year.

2. In signing up for PIF, you are committing yourself to the project…someone pays it forward to you, so you pay it forward to others! Just post this, or something similar so others can get involved. Basically you will create your own post where you create gifts for 3 people as well.

3. You need to have an active blog of your own… (or some way to post up your PIF info like a flickr, pinterest, or Facebook account. You’ll need a place to announce your own PIF and to post some pics of the process.)

I will email you asking for your mailing address and the online address where you are posting your PIF info.

Do let me know your favourite colours to help me decide what to make.  I like making  gifts for children, so if you’d prefer me to make something for a child, please say so in your comment.

Looking forward to seeing who joins me.

New Look 6674 – The Parisian Wrap Dress

Way back in October last year I had the pleasure of fabric shopping in Monmarte, Paris and selected a whole range of fabric as part of my capsule wardrobe challenge. Last Thursday I managed to get around to actually making up one of the item and today I wore it to work.

Please forgive the photos, it is so wet and dull in the UK at the minute and regardless of what we did Little One insisted on photo bombing me. Here is the dress on:

 

Firstly with the actual making, I made up view C, although I did not have a contrast band I wanted the band because when I have worn wrap dresses previously I prefer the way the band makes the dress sit. I also wanted the longer length so that it would go perfectly over my winter boots. Clearly the pattern included only options for short sleeve or no sleeves, I know that I would never wear a dress without sleeves and I kind of dislike short sleeves so I nicked the 3/4 sleeves from the Skater Dress pattern.

Overall I am mainly happy with this make, my main issues were the instructions, I felt that they weren’t the clearest (maybe I have been spoiled with indie pattern instructions which are incredibly clear) and the band took me about three attempts to put on, that seamripper is not my friend!

I am very happy with the way the pattern matches across the wrap, this took a fair bit of working out but I am so pleased that I did:

However the pattern on the skirt is ever slightly wonky, massive unhappy face, having clearly defined stripes on the pattern of the material makes this very unforgiving. I also would have liked the ties, which I have no pictures of to be a bit longer, I can fashion a knot that will not come undone, however they are no where near long enough to tie into a nice bow.

Wearing this dress today has however indicated one major issue, the wrap shows far to much breast curve for my liking and I spent the whole day fiddling with the fold trying to feel comfy with the amount of exposure…not a good look, especially when trying to chair meetings.  The next time I wear this it’ll be teamed with a vest of some description.

Paperdolls finally there

I am very excited to finally share my completed paperdolls jumper:

The fit is perfect so I am really happy that I listened to Lizzylikescakeand didn’t frog it (again a massive thank you to her) The design is by Kate Davies and I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it on Ravelry. The knit has been a proper labour of love, it has taken me 13 months to complete(not including the two years it took for me to get around to casting on). The reason for the length of completion time is because it has been periodically got out and then put away again and it is only really from joining the knitting group in Loughton that I ever really got around to finishing it. The paperdolls alone have taken me seven of this 13 months.

But look at them:

They really are lovely. The jumper goes perfectly with my new skater dress too:

I have the Kate Davies book and despite having it as one of my aims for 2013 to knit something from her book I have decided to cast on a different project first; Hetty by Andi Sutherland because I really want to work on something a bit quicker first.

Grey Skater…my final version!?

Considering that I have already made two skaters, my tiger one and my flamingo one it may come as no surprise that I love this pattern.

Here is my third version, a nice simple grey one:

This time I made the long sleeve version because it is made in a much heavier fabric and I wanted something suitable for winter. I have done the same alteration in the bodice as my previous two, taking one inch off the length of the body.

I also decided I wanted the skirt to be a bit longer so I could wear it with my knee high boots so I added three inches onto the lenght.

It now goes pretty perfectly with my boots. I did have two mishaps with this make however, firstly because I extended the skirt I found out, after cutting out the skirt that I did not have enough material left for the front of the bodice which is meant to be cut on the fold. I there cut out two halves with a bit extra and have ended up with a seam down the middle of the front. I am not too worried about this mishap, it adds quite a nice bit of detailing to the front of a simple dress.

My second mishap happened when I attached the neckband onto the dress, I don’t know how I managed it but it was massively wonky. The only thing I could do was take it off but because I had overlocker it the seam had been cut, I therefore had to cut out another neckband piece and the neckline is lower on this dress than my previous two:

Again as mishaps go this wasn’t too bad, the neckline isn’t obscene so it is still perfectly wearable. I have already worn this dress twice, once to the knitting and stitching show and then again to Newmarket Races, it is surprisingly warm so a great make for the cooler months. I have also teamed the dress up with another make that I am very excited about, more on that tomorrow.

T is for Thor

My superheroes alphabet sampler continues to be worked on and today I managed to finish off T for Thor.

I feel that the sampler is really coming along nicely and I am pretty confident that I will get it finished by the end of the year, as was my original aim. Also on the mention of aims for the year I have another swimming lesson tonight, last week I managed to do two lengths of the education pool so I have been told I can go in the big pool tonight.