Sorry for the radio silence last week, friends. We had a week full of birthdays and birthday celebrations. First, Jellybean turned 3, then later in the week was my birthday and my Mom’s the day after! We had the big party for Jellybean on Saturday and I spent the week prior making cupcakes and getting prepared.
I tried four different cupcake recipes before I found one that worked well enough that I was happy with it. The recipe I really wanted to make is my favorite chocolate cake – rich, moist and very very chocolaty – but it did NOT translate into cupcakes.
Yummy, just way too flat.
I may try those again sometime and not fill the cups so much. That recipe had a cup of boiling water, so I tried just leaving that out for the next batch.
Looks promising, if a little overfilled.
Uh, no.
After scraping all the bits off the cupcake pan. At least this will still taste good on ice cream!
The third recipe was Alton Brown’s fudge cake recipe from I’m Just Here For More Food. I liked it pretty well, good flavor, nice texture, but there were chunks of chocolate throughout the cupcake, which was distracting.
Pretty, and tasty, but not quite what I’m looking for.
At the 11th hour, I decided to try this recipe. They turned out pretty good. They are a bit on the dry side but they taste good and are firm and have a nice shape.
Almost perfect, and that’s good enough!
We have cupcakes and cupcake bits galore in our freezer. Since we only eat dessert two nights a week, we’ll be eating chocolate cupcakes for a while.
Anyway, the party was fun for everyone. (Even the little girl who got a door shut on her foot while playing… ouch!) It may not be Pinterest worthy, but I am pretty proud of what I managed.
Yes, we’re paw patrol fanatics around here.
Anyway, yes this is a knitting blog and I did manage to get some knitting done, too, thanks to a couple of snow days.
I finished Jellybean’s birthday present. It’s Rory from Huge And Huggable Mochi Mochi. It was so fun and fast to knit. The only problem was getting the final touches on it after stuffing it. I didn’t want Jellybean to see it, so I had to work only at night.
He doesn’t have a name yet, but Jellybean insists his tongue be sticking out at all times. Ha!
I finished the Maeve hat. I’m planning on the mittens, too, but I will definitely have to use a smaller gauge. The hat is warm, but I would like the mittens to actually fit.
Yes, it’s that huge!
I made myself another pair of felted slippers. My old pair are worn to death. They are fixable, (I’ll show you how I fix them later) but I wanted to try a new style, too.
Old and definitely busted.
New fuzzy hotness!
I’ve been getting a head start on Christmas gifts, too. I decided to make my nieces and nephew toys from Huge And Huggable Mochi Mochi by Anna Hrachovec. Those are going really great, just like the dinosaur, but I’m stuck on them until the eyes are delivered. I sewed the eyes on the dinosaur, since I know we’ve got a new baby on the way, but I think safety eyes will be just fine for theirs.
Thanks to the weather and timing, I still don’t have a photo of hubby in his new sweater. Hopefully he’ll get a chance to wear it this winter. Hey, there’s a chance of snow on Thursday. Perhaps I can convince him to put it on.
Other than that, I’m nesting. I’ve got about two more months before Lollypop’s estimated arrival date. I’ve started washing the tiny clothes and prepping the cloth diapers. I’m digging it all out of boxes and trying to figure out where to put it. We bought the new car seat, I’m searching for a new babywearing wrap, and trying to get all my breastfeeding supplies in order. We sold a few crucial items (bassinet, swing, bouncy seat, to name a few) to a neighbor after Jellybean outgrew them, so we’re trying to find new (or gently used) ones for Lollypop. I am excited to have a new baby around, but a little nervous about the changes that will happen around here. Thankfully Jellybean is a pretty easygoing kiddo. I think he’ll be a really awesome big brother.
I’m going to go knit on some toys, now. I hope you have a great week, friends!
