Rainbow Chunky Knit Lace Scarf

My young daughter keeps wearing my scarves whenever she sees them, including when there is one around my neck. She usually wears them and puts them somewhere in her room instead of putting them back away so I never know where they are. So I thought I would make her a new one of her own, hopefully one that she would want to wear instead of mine. I mean, it would be lovely to be able to wear my own scarf on those chilly mornings when I leave early for university.

I went to my local Lincraft store and seen a rainbow yarn that I loved straight away, I knew my daughter would too. It was a chunky yarn and so I thought about knitting in a plain pattern, but I have been wanting to knit a lace pattern for a little while. So I did an internet search and came up with an easy and cute pattern. I tried it out and it looked great.

You can find the "Old Shale" pattern that I used for this project HERE. (Keep scrolling down the page to find it).
NOTE that you will need to know how to knit for this project, if you do not know how then you can always ask someone to teach you (my wonderful mother taught me years ago) or teach yourself by watching videos from the net. Youtube has a lot of video tutorials but so do some of the other great knitting sites.

I followed the pattern exactly and loved it so much, it was so easy. I bought 2 x 100g balls of "Veronica" wool but only used about one and a half balls. I am planning on making another item with this wool for her so will use this and buy some more shortly. I used size 7 needles (as the label of the wool suggested) but I am a very tight knitter so I probably should have used a size or 2 bigger. It would have made the lace pattern a bit more visible as well I guess. I didn't block this piece as I have read that acrylic wool doesn't always need it and it wasn't a piece that needs to be an exact size. Plus my daughter just would not have been very patient for that sort of thing to take place.

And here is the finished scarf. The pattern is slightly different on both sides which I think is unique, I like both the right and wrong side look of this pattern. The finished length was ... and the width was.....
It was a simple pattern to follow and it took me only a few hours, my favourite kind of project.

I really wanted to add a fringe but my daughter was not so patient, she wanted me to finish it up and give it to her quick smart. She loved it and I think it turned out wonderfully. My daughter loved the curved pattern, she thought it was fitting in rainbow yarn as the curved lines looked like rainbows all over the scarf  :)

Here is a quick tip for stopping your ball of wool from rolling all around on the floor as you knit. Place a small box or container (a shoe box is ideal) either next to you or on the floor by your feet. Place your ball of wool inside and knit as normal. The ball will roll around in the box instead of on the floor, keeps your wool clean and in reach at all times (I know that  I absolutely hate it when my ball of wool travels across the room all of a sudden).

Let me know what you think, especially if you try it out for yourself  :)
Don't forget to check back often to see what I will knit next. Thanks for reading  :)

Cupcake Decorating

This is such a fun activity that I love to do with the whole family. On this occasion I had the two kids involved as well as my partner, sister and mother. We all sat around the dining table decorating these cupcakes and it was great!

Directions:

1. Using a box of cake mix, cook cupcakes according to packet directions. Let them cool.

2. Spoon half of the icing from a tub of ready made frosting into a small bowl, leaving the remaining half in the     tub. Put a few drops of food colouring into the bowl and tub (a different colour for each), then mix until completely combined. As you can see I used blue and yellow. My partner decided to get creative and put a little of both colours on his cupcake at once and mix, creating green. Clever cookie he is  :)

3. Set up the table (or other preparation area). I put the different lollies into separate small bowls in the centre of the table. I bought sprinkles and 100's & 1000's in tubes (they were easier for the kids to use than a dispenser) which I snipped the end off and stood upright in a tall plastic container. The 2 bowls of icing were passed along to whoever needed them at the time. The cupcakes were to the side on the table and one person was designated to hand them  out as needed. Everyone had a paper plate in front of them to work on and were given a plastic tablespoon to use for icing the cupcakes (knives leave funny marks, the back of spoons create a smoother finish).

4. Now get decorating. If you have other lollies or decorations feel free to use those, my kids wanted to make faces as they could make cupcakes that represented the family and their friends, many laughs were had over  some of the results (my daughter even made one of her best friend, she then took it into school the next day to give to her as a gift, her best friend was so delighted).

We mostly made faces, using smarties or jelly beans for the eyes and lolly teeth or sour worms for the mouths. The sprinkles (or 100's & 1000's) we used on some to create hair which was a cute touch.

Some people got tired of faces so there were a few more original pieces made.

I really recommend this activity for the whole family, I have made these at playgroup with kids as young as 3 (with supervision), but it is also quite fun for the adults to join in as well. Not to mention that everyone can join in on having a yummy afternoon tea right after and eat them  :)

Let me know if you try this, I would love to see your pics  :)