Cupcake Challenge

I've wanted to make cupcakes for some time now - no, not the cakey sort (they're easy) but the knitted or crochet sort. I tried a knitted one about a year ago and it was laughable. No, really - everyone laughed at it. Maybe it was the way it kept falling over, or maybe it was just that they only knew what it was when I answered their question - "What is it?" - and finally it was consigned to the bin.

But Molly, my granddaughter...

got a play kitchen for Christmas and I wanted to make her some things for it. So I got this cupcake pattern...

... from here ...

...and started.

I worked all day Sunday and made two basic cupcakes, but neither really looked like the pattern.... (they seemed very straight-sided and the bottom would not stay properly flat, while the top was too domed. Still, I struggled on, late into the night...

The 'cases' for the cupcakes are made separately, which sounded like a good idea, and they looked really realistic. However, they took AGES!!!! A 1.5mm hook and cotton perlé thread no. 8!! (I ended up using it double). This is cupcake case number 2, third attempt (you can see the rat's nest of thread where I pulled it back yet again)!

So, anyway, this is my first cupcake attempt:

...and then I sewed on the 'sprinkles'...

click on the photo to see the sprinkles

...which (I think) made it marginally more realistic. But it still looks like some sort of fairy playground ride.

Still, the good thing about making crochet cupcakes anything for a three-year old is that they think it's fantastic anyway.