Cupcake Tricks

After you crochet a lot of things you start to develop your own tricks of the trade. Here are some of mine.

I really like to crochet cupcakes to give at birthday parties. Since I have made quite a few of them now, I have found different ways to make them better. If you are making a cupcake, here are a few of my tricks to use. First, birthday cupcakes need a candle. Here is a candle pattern:

Candle:
Use two strands of yarn and an f hook
sc 5 in a circle
sc around until you get the height of candle you want. I sc around 5 times.

Flame:
I used a yellow fur yarn to make it look like flames.
sc 5 in a circle
sc 4, decrease 1
Cut yarn and weave it through the remaining stitches to make a point. Sew it to the top of the candle. Sew the candle to the top of the cupcake.


I like to use this cupcake pattern on Bittersweet. You could use any crochet cupcake pattern though.

My second trick is, a stiff bottom. I want my cupcake to stand upright, even after lots of use. Using plastic lids from butter tubs I cut out two circles to fit the bottom of the cupcake. You could use any plastic lids, like the ones on top of nuts or whipped topping. Make a second bottom from the cupcake pattern. Tack the second bottom on top of the lids to the sides of the cupcake. This will keep the stiff bottom in place and help the cupcake stand upright.

My third trick is a rattle. I like to give these cupcakes to little babies when they turn one. Little babies like rattles so I add a rattle to the cupcake. My rattle is a cat toy sew into a little bag of fabric. I put it in the fabric in case it breaks. I don't want plastic to stick out of the cupcake and poke the cute baby.

My final trick is I use scrap pieces of yarn to fill my cupcake (or any of my amigurumi). This way I feel like I am not wasting any of my thread. I keep all of the little pieces of yarn in a little bag so they are convenient for stuffing into my next project.

Here is a cupcake I made a long time ago without my 'tricks'. You can see it has been well played with.




Here is my new cupcake.




The stiff bottom



The cat rattle



The colored filling.



Do you have any tricks you use when crocheting? I would love to hear about them.