KNITTING & CROCHETING

28 April 2008

I have just been reading some posts in a website on crochet and now I am thinking of adding that into this blog too ! I took up knitting about 2 years ago and then crochet after that. Found that knitting takes up too much time and maybe I am not that patient a person after all ! Crochet on the other hand is quicker. Also, if there are any errors in stitches, it can be undone & redone quickly ! Am posting some pictures of stuff I have knitted or crocheted since learning the craft !

This is a baby blanket that is knitted using 100% cotton yarn by Coats. Made this specially for my sister in law who was having a baby then. We didn't know if it would be a boy or a girl which is why I chose this light, pastel green colour. Using 100% cotton makes it softer on the baby's skin too.

This is also made from 100% cotton yarn. Gave this to my niece for her birthday last year !



After that I made many little baby dresses/blouses for my nieces and also my friends' daughters ! Here are some pictures !




Heh heh! I know there's still lots to do to improve on the stitches.... Oh well, in the meantime these are some of the stuff I've done. Will keep posting more once I've completed the rest !

Back To School !!

26 April 2008 - after a very long wait, my classes have finally begun ! I signed up for a Certificate In Baking (part time) class at the Malaysian Institute of Baking. This course is designed for people like me who would like to get a general knowledge of the different preparations of different baked goods. We would be learning how to bake breads, pastries and cakes over a course of 24 lessons (about 2 months). So now I would be going for lessons twice a week in the evenings and one in the afternoon. At our first lesson we learnt about the 'sponge & dough' method of making bread. And... this is the first time I have ever baked bread! We made a sandwich loaf and a panettone. Brought the finished goods back home for my friends and family to try out. Got good reviews ! Am very happy since this is the first time I'm making bread ! The second class would be on Tuesday and I am really looking forward to it. Now with these lessons I would learn more about the techniques and things to take note of when preparing and baking. THIS IS REALLY GOING TO BE FUN !!

Gong Xi Fa Cai !! Happy Birthday !!!

15 February 2008 - time really flies... it's already the 9th day of the Chinese New Year. Didn't do much baking and was also really too lazy to bake anything for the Chinese New Year. The weather is just so hot and besides I've already cleaned my kitchen (what an excuse!)


Well, I did bake 3 cakes though.




01 February 2008 - Reunion Dinner & My Aunt's Birthday !

As usual we have our reunion dinner with my aunt before the Chinese New Year and since her birthday was on the following day, I decided to bake her a cake and we celebrated her birthday then ! Went shopping on that day and saw some cute marshmallows and also one in the shape of a cow's head ! Decided to use those for my cake decoration. The outcome ... a cute little cake with marshmallow flowers & a marshmallow cow !





02 February 2008 - it was my sister's really good friend's birthday and I owed her a 'smiley' cake so I decided to bake one for her surprise birthday party. Nope I didn't get to attend this party but I heard that the Bak Kut Teh was good! Well, my sister wanted a chocolate cake (maybe because she still thinks my butter cake is not good enough) so I made a chocolate cake and iced it. Then piped the little stars to form a 'smiley' face. I used the red sugar hearts to shape the eyes and the mouth. Tried to sprinkle some chocolate rice at the sides and when I tilted the tray my whole cake slid ! Luckily I managed to catch hold of it. But the sides were already slightly damaged ..... now you know why the sides are decorated with the savoiardi biscuits. Luckily I had a packet that was unopened so I could use those! Oh well... at least the birthday girl liked the cake ! I still haven't told her the story though.





03 February 2008 - today we celebrate my friend's birthday. With the chinese new year coming up we decided not to have chinese food but instead opted for thai ! Good choice ! I had some more marshmallows and a few pieces of the savoiardi biscuits and rather than waste them, I decided to use those for decoration ... again ! My friend's son loved the little sprinkly stars !!




16 February 2008 - It's now the 10th day of the chinese new year and since the 3rd February I have not been baking ! Tomorrow is my sister's birthday and I have told her that I would not be baking her a cake (we have been overeating this chinese new year !) she agreed that it would be a good idea. After all, we would be having Italian and with all the pasta & pizza it would be really filling ! What she doesn't know is that I have prepared something else ! Not food though. I bought party packs for everyone and also a 'smiley' badge for each person to wear. Got her an extra big soft smiley and tied it to a necklace and I'll make her wear that tomorrow !! Hope she'll like it. Yes, my sister is a great fan of the 'smiley'.

Happy Birthday to my favourite sister!!

I've Been Dreaming of a True Love's Kiss .. lalalala

24 January 2008 - well... I did it ! I made the 'Enchanted Princess' birthday cake on the 20th of January !! I'm so happy I managed to do it. Wouldn't have liked to see the dissappointed look on a child's face if I didn't fulfill my promise ! The base of this cake is made of 10 inch (diameter) styrofoam, the middle level is my ever 'popular' chocolate cake (8 inch cake) and the top layer is butter cake (6 inch cake). Didn't want the bottom layer to be cake as there were only about 20 adults and if I made a 3 tier cake we wouldn't have been able to finish it. Since this was a cake for a 5 year old I also didn't want to cover it with too much flowers but used hundreds and thousands and some flower shaped sprinkles instead. The patterns on the bottom layer were inspired by a story book which had patterns like these for its fairytales !

I scanned the pictures of the Disney princesses into my computer (from some stickers I bought) and printed four princesses. Also changed the 'heads' of the same four princesses to be those of my friend's daughter ! Altogether I put 8 princesses on the cake !

But.. I think the birthday girl was a bit shocked to see her own face on the princesses. She preferred the real princesses instead of those with her face ! But her mom liked it though !

Note : Children might not see the fun side of having their faces superimposed on characters or bodies that are not theirs !

Two Birthday Cakes and a New Year Cupcake !

09 January 2008 - Happy New Year!! It's time for resolutions and maybe I should put mine as .. to bake better cakes, better looking cakes and to update this blog more often. But then again, I seldom make resolutions anyway ! Hahaha! Oh well, just to update this blog on what I did before the new year .....

15 December 2007 - my mother in law had a 60th birthday party and yes, I baked the cake. Was not too happy with it though. Had some problems and also not enough time (yes, I am still slow) so this is the result ..

29 December 2007 - then my aunt had a birthday and my cousin sister asked me to bake a chocolate cake for the dinner. Yes, the ever famous chocolate cake! I made it using the same recipe that is posted in this blog but this time in order to make it more moist, I tried something different !

First I pre-heated the oven while I was mixing the ingredients, then once the cake was ready to be baked, I put it into the oven and increased the heat to 200 degrees celcius for 10 minutes.

After that I lowered it to 160 degrees celcius and for the last 10 minutes I increased it back to 180 degrees celcius.

Outcome : VERY GOOD ! The cake was moist, texture was soft (but not too soft).... I was very happy with the results. Here's what it looked like.

05 January 2008 - finally the new year and I attended a Puppy Cupcake class with a friend. Class was supposed to be held on 30 December but I think because of the holidays many weren't able to attend. So, the class was postponed to 05 January instead. The class was fun, we learnt how to use modelling paste to decorate 2 cupcakes and make it into a 'puppy' cupcake. I had problems trying to attach the ear to the puppy. It kept falling off ! The paste also kept drying very fast. I think it was because of the air conditioner that was right above me. Maybe that's why the paste for the ear couldn't stick onto the puppy's head. Anyway, it stuck in the end but alas, it dropped off when I got home. Sigh !

Coming up next would be a cake that I would be baking for a friend whose daughter is turning 5 and the theme that I'm working on is Enchanted Princesses. Hope it turns out good ! Till then... adios !