Happy Tanabata!

     I suddenly realized this morning that today is Tanabata, the Japanese Star Festival. It's not a huge holiday in Japan, but it's probably the one I have the fondest memories of. It was part of summer vacation, and there was always a festival, big or small, wherever I was. I associate it with lanterns, yukatas, traveling around, meeting up with friends, and generally having a wonderful time. This morning it was perfect Tanabata weather, warm and sunny with a beautiful clear, blue sky. I found myself getting nostalgic (even a bit sad) for the Japan days.
     So I stuffed Chubby-Chan into her yukata onesie and took a few photos. Unfortunately, this one's a bit blurry but it it was the one with the most Tanabata spirit (I mean, how could this not put you in a sunnier, summery mood?).

Best Flourless Chocolate Cake

         There are no photos of this because it disappears too quickly.
         I found this recipe originally somewhere on the Internet. Later, I came across a similar recipe in The New James Beard Cookbook (which seems, surprisingly, to be now out of print) and ended up combining the two.
         The recipe is very easy. The cake actually improves if you cover it tightly and leave it in the fridge for a day or two so you can make it well ahead of a dinner party and have one less thing to worry about at the last minute.

Flourless Chocolate Cake

4 oz bittersweet or semisweet chocolate (chips or roughly chopped)
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter plus extra for baking dish
3/4 cup sugar
3 eggs
1/2 cup cocoa
grated zest of one orange (optional)
1/2 cup ground walnuts (optional)

Chocolate Glaze (optional)

2 oz (2 squares) unsweetened chocolate
Half a stick (1/4 cup) butter
1 Tbl honey
sugar to taste

Garnish (optional)

Slivered almonds and/or shredded orange rind

Directions
         Heat the oven to 375 degrees.
         Butter an 8" round baking dish. Line the bottom with cooking parchment or wax paper. Butter paper as well.
         Melt chocolate and butter together in double boiler. Remove from heat and whisk in sugar and eggs. Add orange zest and walnuts if using. Sift cocoa in and stir until combined.
         Bake for 25 minutes. If using the walnuts, check cake after 20 minutes. Take it out if the edges start to look a bit dry. You can test for done-ness by sticking a toothpick into the center of the cake. Since the cake is supposed to be gooey, the toothpick won't come out clean as it would with a floury cake, but it shouldn't be very liquidy either.
         Let cool in the pan. If desired, turn out onto a plate when quite cooled. Cover and refrigerate until ready to eat.

Glaze:
         Melt butter, chocolate and honey together in double boiler. This will be pretty bitter, so add sugar (or more honey) a bit at a time until it suits you. Cool down, beating occasionally, until it is still still liquid but no more than lukewarm. Pour onto cooled cake, letting it drip down the sides. Let it cool completely.
         Sprinkle the cake, glazed or unglazed, with slivered almonds and/or shredded orange zest.
         Serve cake with high-quality vanilla ice cream or thawed frozen raspberries.
         Or both.
         Or neither.
         Enjoy!

Just in Time for Summer

Knitting in the Sun, edited by Kristi Porter, is available in bookstores, LYSs, and libraries near you. I've seen a copy at Klose Knit and hope to have my own copy in hand soon.
It's an absolutely gorgeous book, but I'm not completely unbiased, having a pattern ("Montague," p. 104) in it. Although it's modeled with slacks in the book, I envisioned Montague being the sort of thing you could pull over a swimsuit when the sun went down or when you stop at the store on the way back from the beach and want to look a bit more clothed. I'm very pleased with the way the photos turned out (see my own below for comparison, lol!). In fact, all the photography in the book is beautiful--clear, colorful, very evocative of sun and summer. It's great from a practical point of view, too--lots of pictures, lots of different angles, and close-ups which knitters will love.
Kristi asked all the contributors to name our patterns after a vacation spot that had a special meaning for us, which I thought was a lovely idea. Montague was named for Montague, Michigan, on the shore of Lake Michigan, where we have vacationed the last two summers and where a significant chunk of the sweater itself was knit last July.

Here's another photo, somewhat less glamorous, of the same sweater just before it got mailed off to Kristi. Don't blame my bumpy tummy on the sweater--that's my Groundhog's Day present, mid-2nd trimester.
Anyway, this was a fun knit and a great project to be involved in!

Congratulations!

to HODGEPODGESPV who won the CAH Giveaway. Enjoy the pattern!

Blog Giveaway--Free Pattern!

      My friend Diana at Diana Rambles is hosting a blog giveaway this week featuring my Tie Cropped Cardigan pattern. If you think you might like a copy of the pattern, please visit Diana’s blog and follow her rules for entering. A winner will be chosen at random and notified on May 11.
      Heck, go give her site a quick visit anyway--she's very supportive of us crafty mamas (being a crafty mama herself) and she hosts a variety of giveaways on a regular basis.

New Pattern: Tie Cropped Cardigan

$5.95

     Well, sort of an old pattern, really. KnitPicks published it a couple of years ago, but the rights have reverted back to me and I'm making it available again. It's a nice springtime knit. Despite the relatively fine gauge it knits up quite quickly thanks to the cropped length and three-quarter sleeves (directions for full sleeves are included, though, if those are more your style) and the cotton/modal blend is cool and silky and keeps its shape. It's done mostly in Stockinette stitch (except, obviously, for the lace which is very easy) with some short-row shaping thrown in to keep you on your toes.
     If you're like me and like to see what other people have done with the pattern there are some nice examples on Ravelry. As always, please let me know if you have questions!

     (KnitPicks, by the way, was kind enough to give me permission to use the photo that they took for this pattern as well as the photo for the Kimono Styled Sweater. They did ask that I not show the models' faces which is why the photos are cropped the way they are--just in case you're interested.)

Useful info:

Finished Bust Sizes: 34” (36”, 38”, 40”, 42”, 44”) / [85 (90, 95, 100, 105, 110) cm].
Yarn: Knit Picks Shine (60% Pima Cotton, 40% Modal; 110 yards/50 grams): 9 (9, 9, 10, 10, 11) balls (shown in Turquoise #23619). NOTE: for full-length sleeves, add one ball.
Gauge: 24 sts x 28 rows = 4” using size 5 needles, worked over Stockinette stitch.
Needles: US size 5 (3.75 mm); US size 7 (4.5 mm). Adjust needle size if necessary to obtain correct gauge.
Notions: Size G/4 mm crochet hook; extra knitting needle for 3-needle BO; tapestry needle for seaming.

Better than Knitting

My 9-month WIP, ready for viewing:



She was born on Groundhog's Day (much to the delight of our midwife, who is from Punxatawney). She weighed 10 lbs, 9 oz, making her roly poly older sisters seem positively delicate by comparison. We brought her home a week ago.

She's darling. She's adorable. She's perfect.

There's not really much more to say, though I could go on and on using up every baby cliche ever invented. I'll spare you, and sign off instead with a little Wordsworth, who was much better with words than I am:

Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting:
The Soul that rises with us, our life's Star,
Hath had elsewhere its setting,
And cometh from afar:
Not in entire forgetfulness,
And not in utter nakedness,
But trailing clouds of glory do we come
From God, who is our home.