2015 round up

Here we are again, at the end of December, somehow?! 2015 has been a difficult year for me personally, but it has ended much more positively than it started so things are generally on the up.

Blogging-wise I've had a pretty good year, probably because it was a welcome distraction from anything unpleasant going on in "real" life. I've continued to bake regularly, mostly cakes, but that's hardly surprising considering my blog title. I really, really  like baking and eating cake.

a collage of most of my bakes from 2015

I haven't gone to the effort to see which bake was most popular this year, but I'd say my personal favourites were the raspberry trifle cupcakes (soooooo good) and  3D gingerbread dinosaurs as they were great fun to put together. I definitely need to use those biscuit cutter again.

My biggest revelation this year has been knitting. What casually started as one turquoise hat quickly snowballed into a full blown hobby. Knitting appears to have the ability to unwind and calm my brain which is great for a naturally anxious person. I genuinely think it saved my sanity this year. It can be bloody frustrating as I'm still a beginner and make loads of mistakes, but on the whole it seems to restore a sense of balance in me. I'm really excited about knitting more next year and already have projects lined up.

 I also crocheted something for the first time in a few years (the pineapple garland) which was fun!

My new found love for knitting sadly slowed down my sewing production, especially in the latter half of the year when I became obsessed with finishing my yellow agatha cardigan (which I am still stupidly proud of) but I'm really happy with what I managed to produce. Although I still haven't figured out my fitting issues I definitely feel a little more knowledgeable than this time last year. I'm also delighted that I took the plunge to sew with stretch fabric this year. My green coco dress is probably my most worn handmade item as it's just so comfortable, like stealth pyjamas, so I should definitely make more knit/jersey pieces.

And to round off the year I'd like to introduce my new partner in crime: an Elna sewing machine!

It was a complete surprise to receive an Elna for Christmas, although admittedly a new machine has been on my radar since my 11 year old Singer ran into problems and needed fixing last December. Although the sewing machine man fixed her he warned me it probably wouldn't be long term. He thought it was quite likely she'd fully conk out on me soon. Somewhat amazingly she has continued to work well this year, but I was aware I'd need to consider a new machine soon. Enter Elna!

Elna is a good bit fancier than old Sally the Singer and a lot quieter. She even has an automatic buttonhole foot and function! I don't know much about Elna machines other than they're Swiss designed with Janome parts. I like Swiss stuff - cheese, Toblerone, Roger Federer - so we should get along fine.

So, new year's resolutions... make something which requires multiple buttonholes? Give Elna the sewing machine a name? Learn to knit cables? Bake more things which aren't cake? Roll on, 2016!