Cakes of Summer

It strikes me every year how unfortunate it is that exam season coincides with another, extremely different season- summer.
Just as the sun starts to appear for more than a fleeting moment, just as days become beautiful, and you want to drop everything and rush outside to enjoy the climate, you are forced to do the opposite. You must stay inside (believe me, revising outside can't be done effectively) and sit very still, and fill your brain with un-summery thoughts.
Couldn't have timed it better!

I'm glad for the change in weather though, at least there'll be some nice weather this year. I'm growing sceptical about how the summers keep turning out. The only summers' day I can remember being particularly hot last year was Matt's birthday, and we took advantage of the heatwave to grab a rowing boat on the Serpentine, and then have a picnic. Oh, and sunning ourselves by the ponds in Holland park, while the koi idly nibbled at our toes.
This was my creation on that particular day:

The cake was complex to assemble because I had wanted it to be a secret, and so i had to ice it while he was away. We went to see the Ukelele Orchestra the night before and Matt came back to the house with me and I had to force him to go home so I could ice the damn thing!

So worth it though.
The cake is my mum's special recipe- maybe I'll post it because it's the most DELICIOUS recipe ever, chocolatey heaven.

I'm hoping this summer holds many more cakes in store!

It's panic season.

As my exams drift nearer and nearer, I find myself increasingly concerned with what I shall knit. It's the perfect procrastination, because at the end of it you either get a bitchin' accessory, or a present that the receiver has to love, or pretend to love and wear every time they see you. It's worked for me so far.

AH but there is one exception to this obligatory love of knitted gifts!
When you knit someone who looks a bit like Harry Potter (and is a bit sensitive about this) a Gryffindor scarf.
Here's the article in question:


It was, in fact, the first thing I ever knitted, and it took me a long time. That's why I was kinda sad when my own personal Potter went all Malfoy on me and refused to wear it. To be fair, he was apparently getting trouble from little kids on the tube, and who isn't terrified of small children?

So my token of love was put away in a cupboard, destined for continued resentment.
I guess the moral of the story is, don't knit ironically.
You didn't even think you could knit ironically, did you?

Well, you can- but don't. It always ends in being killed, or worse, expelled.

I'll MAKE it, and I'll make it GOOD.

Bonjour and welcome to my new blog!

I've always been creative and a little bit nifty, and especially since I've been at university, procrastination has become an important part of my life. A good example is a fact that I have 4 exams next week, and here I am creating a blog!
So this will be a journal of sorts, logging my progress at making stuff, be it soup, knitting, origami or any other foodstuff or craft. I've made quite a few things already so I might even profile some of them before we get down to the present (I'm currently knitting a sock. It's clearly going to take AGES.)
Here's one of my previous fabrications. It's a mobile made out of origami dinosaurs- the red is a dimetreodon, the brown is a brontosaurus, the yellow is a t-rex and the blue is a triceratops. I made this for my boyfriend but I was fairly reluctant to give him it (don't tell him)! The most fun part was playing with gravity at the end, and stealing some sticks from the quad downstairs. I got a few funny looks for that.

Well, let's hope this goes well! xxx