1st crochet project complete!

A few months ago I got it into my head that I need to learn to knit. Easier said then done. I don't know anyone who knits and can't find any classes. I got the basic idea but had some problems I was not overcoming easily. So I decided to try crocheting because I was getting frustrated. It is much easier so far to get consistent stitches though I am still in love with the more intricate designs you can get with knitting. I WILL continue knitting, but for now I am focusing more on crochet. With that said I started a baby afghan and got about 1/4 of the way through it when I realized I was doing it in hdc instead of dc. So the blanket was too thick and I just could not live with it so I am starting this over again! Blech! But I found etsy.com and found a really cute hat pattern there that claimed to be easy. To my surprise it was! It also came out really cute (despite the fact that my balloon head model makes it look a little off). The pattern designer is thnkdfrent. She also has some other patterns I plan to try in the future. To finish this hat off I purchased the button from etsy.com user Gingerbells Gifts. Both great sellers and this was a really fun project for a beginner like me because I feel like I actually accomplished something with this craft. Thanks a lot wonderful etsy users! Now time to finish the baby afghan of doom! I also am planning to start crocheting some pieces for charity soon. I am very excited about all of this. It feels great to actually be creating again!

1st Birthday

Okay so this is very late news but my daughter had her first birthday. I decided to be extra crafty and make both of her cakes. It was kind of a debauchle. I made a chocolate layer cake and a Winnie-the-Pooh cake just from a plain funfetti mix. The chocolate cake was Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate cake which I had eaten before and was delicious. However neither of mine rose so they had to be trashed. I had to end up making chocolate cake mixes because by 6:00 p.m. I hadn't even begun to decorate the Winnie-the-Pooh cake. The chocolate butter cream was a recipe I basically made up and did not come out terrific but was still tasty, though could have been thinner. Winnie-the-Pooh was more hassle than I had originally thought it would be. It probably would have been easier if I had made all the colors at the same time. Or if I had an assistant that could make them for me! heh I didn't purchase the Wilton colors, I just used regular old food coloring which made it more time consuming to get the colors I wanted and they never did come out just right. A lot of the frosting for Pooh was also too thin and didn't hold its shape too well. But! The cakes were a hit at the party and the party was a hit too. Evan did fall asleep half way through the party but we thought it best so she would be in a good mood for smash cake and presents. She missed out on swimming with all of her cousins but it was just as well. Oh I almost forgot. Instead of making a separate smash cake, after we sang Happy Birthday we simply decapitated Pooh bear and it was really just the perfect size cake for her. Although she daintily scraped all the frosting off to eat instead of digging in and smashing it! She got lots of great presents including homemade hair bows from her Aunt, a homemade tutu which she actually kept on for the rest of the party and lots of lighty up noisy making toys! All said and done it was a great family day and a great day for my daughter. As a bonus I also learned some lessons and realized I really need to work on my writing with frosting skills (see chocolate layer cake). But with no classes or anything I think I did pretty well! Yea me and yea to my big 1 year old girl!