Tag Archives: craft

Yarn Bombing at Acorn Bank

Posted on by Abi

Acorn Bank is a National Trust property very near to Penrith and the Lake District. Having read on the UK Hand Knitting website about a community project located there I was eager to visit. People had been asked to knit natural things to decorate the trees! Unfortunately there is not a lot to see in the house itself although there are hopes for some restoration work in the future.

Acorn Bank has lovely gardens and a working water mill that grinds flour. Unfortunately the day I visited was very wet so I didn’t spend too long looking around, instead venturing into the woods to find the knitted creatures and plants.

The bluebells were all out and as they are one of my favourite flowers I had to get a quick picture 🙂

Knitted pieces had been created by lots of different people, the name of the contributers could be found in a book inside the house. If I had more time I would have loved to have joined in, but we have our own Yarn Bombing project set to go up at the end of this month so needed to concentrate on that! Here are some pictures of the things we saw.

At first I wondered why there were playing cards hanging up but then I realised that this is an Alice in Wonderland Tree and from a previous post you will know how we love Alice in Wonderland!

After getting rather damp in the woodland we rushed into the cafe for tea and cake (any excuse!) and this I can thoroughly recommend. I had a truly delicious slice of gluten free almond cake.

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Easter Egg Cakes cooked in Egg Shells!

Posted on by Abi

I absolutely adored the edible ‘turtle’ eggs I saw at the Tate & Lyle Tasting house earlier in the week, I also fell head over heels in love with the gingerbread creations. The only logical thing to do…. combine the two ideas with an Easter twist!

I used the new Tate & Lyle Taste Experience Dark Muscovado sugar in my gingerbread. It added a very moreish quality and gave the gingerbread a deep rich flavour, I would definitely recommend trying it out!

To make the Easter Eggs

Start by carefully making a small hole in the end of an egg, I used a sterilised needle.

Then carefully make the hole ever so slightly larger using the needle, or your fingers if you can pinch tiny bits.

Next I used a cocktail stick to break up the egg inside it’s shell. Drain out over a bowl, I washed out the eggs at this stage.

Decorating your Easter Eggs

Decorating eggs couldn’t be a simpler, all you need is approx 1/2 cup of room temperature water, add in about 1 Tbsp vinegar and then food colouring.

Dip your eggs in the colouring and keep turning until you have reached the desired shade. I used my handy egg dipper to pick them up. Place them on kitchen paper to dry.

Gingerbread Recipe

Of course you can fill the eggs with whatever cake takes your fancy, but if you like yummy squidgy gingerbread then this recipe is great.

100g/ 4oz Butter
100g/ 4oz Tate & Lyle Golden Syrup
100g/ 4oz Tate & Lyle Treacle
100g/ 4oz Tate & Lyle Taste Experience Dark Muscovado Sugar
275g/ 10oz Self Raising Flour
2 Tsp Ground Ginger
1 Tsp Ground Cinnamon
2 Beaten Eggs
225ml/ 7 to 8 floz Milk

Melt the butter, syrup, treacle and sugar gently in a pan. Leave to cool slightly.

Sieve together the flour, ginger and cinnamon.

Add the melted sugar mixture to the flour and beat.

Beat in the egg and milk.

Filling the Egg Shells

Preheat the oven to 160C/ 325F/ Gas Mark 3

Take each on your dyed eggs and wrap the base in a square of foil with the hole facing upwards. Place them gently into a muffin tin.

Fill a piping bag with your cake mixture and carefully pipe the cake batter into the hole in your egg.

Try to fill the eggs about 3/4 of the way up.

Bake them for about 20 minutes. If some of the cake oozes out of the top (as it did on a few of mine) then just nip those pieces off with your fingers.

Leave to cool and then present in an egg box 🙂

 

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Easter Egg Knitting Pattern Tutorial

Posted on by Abi

With Easter just around the corner there’s every chance that you are looking forward to baskets laden with chocolate eggs and gatherings with your family.

But what if you don’t like chocolate!? Or you’re on a diet and avoiding sugar!? Need you suffer an eggless day with little to bring you cheer? Here at Angel Eden we say no, we think you should knit yourself some calorie free Easter Egg decorations with our brand new pattern 🙂

In fact we think you should knit them even if you are endulging in chocolate, we like them that much!

The Pattern

The eggs were knitted using DK yarn and size 4mm(8) needles.

They could be made larger by using a bigger yarn and needles.

The eggs are knitted in stocking stitch, one row plain and the next purl.

Cast on 10 stitches

Row 1 Purl

Row 2 Knit 1, Kfb (Knit into the front and back of each stitch) all the remaining stitches, (19sts)

Row 3 Purl

Row 4 Knit 2, Kfb (Knit into the front and back of each stitch) all the remaining stitches, (36sts)

Row 5 Purl

Row 6 Knit

Row 7 Purl

Row 8 Knit 1, (Kfb, K1) repeat until last stitch, K1, (53 sts)

Row 9 Purl

Rows 10 – 25 continue in stocking stitch and pattern as desired. The pattern could be different coloured stripes or spots or zig zags.

Row 26 (K2, K2Tog) repeat to end of row, K1(40sts)

Row 27 Purl

Row 28 Knit

Row 29 Purl

Row 30 (K1,K2Tog) repeat to the end of the row, K1 (27sts)

Row 31 Purl

Row 32 Knit

Row 33 Purl

Row 34 K1, (K2Tog) to end of row, (14sts)

Row 35 Purl

Row 36 Knit

Row 37 Purl

Row 38 (K2Tog) to end of row, (7sts)

Cut the yarn and thread through the last 7 stitches and pull up. Sew down the side of the egg and then stuff with toy stuffing. Finish off by running some yarn round the cast on edge and complete sewing up.

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