April 15, 2004

Somebody got to wear a new hand-knit sweater for an Easter Sunday in the country...




Easter Sunday, Chaumont. A small town outside of Vienne (about 40 mins from Lyon) where cousin Mari Jo has a house perched on top of a hill with a KILLER view. So killer, the kid stared outside of the window at it while he waited patiently for lunchtime. "Patient" is not usually a part of my son's character.



We had many an aperitif. After our aperitif, we had gazpacho, chicken and [gasp!] R-A-B-B-I-T for lunch. I had a double helping of the gazpacho and chicken, but passed on the [gasp!] R-A-B-B-I-T. After lunch, we discovered that the kid's hand-knit sweater withstands the rigors of the scooter. Oh, sorry. I meant "trotinette". Whenever I call my kid's scooter a "scooter", he "corrects" me and insists that it's a "trotinette". He also insists on riding it through every single puddle he can find. Bless those big wheels on it.




After the rigors of riding the trotinette through puddles, my son took his new hand-knit sweater with him to a nearby house where there's a burro. There are no pictures of the burro, as Mommy, a.k.a. Camera Lady, decided to stay behind and eat orange cake* and drink espresso with Tata Fifine.

Best of all, the kid didn't want to take his sweater off at all during the day. He loves that zipper on the side of the neckband. [Awwwwwwwww.] As always, there are a few additional action shots for you:




Project specs: This red raglan sweater was knit using Aviso. Pattern from Phildar Pitchoun Spring 2004. My son is three and a half years old, but I knit it in the six year old size and added a two extra centimeters in length, for good measure. Finishing consisted of knitting a double neckband separately and sewing to the neck using free-loop backstitch on the right side. I then hand-sewed the zipper in, folded the neckband inside and sewed down. I am very glad the neckband is constructed this way because the inside of the collar remains neat, and the kid insisted on opening and closing the zipper so the inside shows a lot. All in all, I give this project a thumbs-up. The husband even wants me to an adult version for him.

*Bonus: Tata Fifine has shared her orange cake recipe with me! Here you go:

Tata Fifine's Orange Cake

[Measurements are in metric.]

Ingredients:
250 grams flour
200 grams of white sugar
3 eggs
1/2 cup of vegetable oil
1/2 cup of milk
1 "sachet" of baking powder
1 "sachet" of powdered vanilla
1 whole orange - both the juice and the peel.
Note: 1 sachet of baking powder here contains about 4-5 level teaspoons of baking powder.

Heat oven to 180 degrees (celsius). Grate orange peel. Squeeze juice from orange into a glass. Put flour, sugar and baking powder into a bowl and mix together. Make a well in the center and add oil, eggs, milk, orange juice. Mix well until smooth. Stir in vanilla and orange peel. Pour into cake pan and bake for approximately 45 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

NOTE: I have not used this recipe yet; I've only eaten the cake Tata Fifine makes using this recipe, which she dictated to me from memory. Enjoy!

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