I have finished my next new-and-improved hat for Ralph. I’m quite pleased with it as a piece of knitting of my own design.

It can be worn with the rim down to reveal the green trinity stitch pattern, or with the ribbed rim up a la Dexys Midnight Runners (of ‘Come on Eileen’ fame). The one thing I would change about it is I wish I had joined the green wool on the other side, but I think I can live with it as it is. Best of all, it fits! I spent a while measuring Ralph’s head (50cm around by the way) and then figuring out how many stitches that would require (84, trinity stitch needs a number divisible by four). Doesn’t he look cute?

I knitted Ralph a new hat, in the same pattern as this one. I would have a photo of him wearing it, but that just doesn’t seem possible because he HATES it. He is usually pretty good about wearing hats and the like, but not this one. Frankly I don’t blame him. It is rather huge (the pattern said fits 1 year old, but it would probably fit me and my head is not small!) and other than the colour I don’t really like it. I’ve had a lot of trouble finding a good simple baby hat knitting pattern. It may be easier to adapt a few to make my own ultimate baby hat.

My friend Tessa introduced me to the wonder of Guinness Chocolate Cake last year. She mentioned it several times when we talked about baking, which we did quite often, so I figured it must be an exceptional cake. I had put it on my mental ‘baking-to-try’ list, but forgot about it for many months until St Patrick’s Day this year, when Floriditas sold Chocolate Guinness Cupcakes. Dark, rich, chocolatey with a slight bitter tang. I tried them and was hooked. 

The recipe I found on my internet search was by Nigella Lawson, (linked there, so I don’t have to copy it out) so I was not surprised to see how indulgently decadent it was. A lot of sugar and butter, but maybe that’s OK because Guinness is good for you. The icing I would have to say is, in my opinion, an extravagance too far (I mean, it is cream cheese PLUS cream, with a tad of sugar) but you can’t fault it aesthetically. The cake does end up looking like a giant glass of Guinness. I can easily imagine a chef serving the cake in a Guinness glass as a dessert gimmick. But really, I think it would have been nicer with a simple chocolate ganache. 

I think I made the icing far too runny as it didn’t set, and perhaps was rather impatient in not waiting til it was completely cool to ice, but that did add to the frothy-stout-look. Here is me pouring an icing shamrock on to the top of the cake.

I think this might be my new most delicious cake ever. Eaten while still bearing the vaguest hint of oven warmth, it had the most sublime depth of chocolatey flavour. It has quite a dense texture, so doesn’t refrigerate well, although if you didn’t ice it you could probably warm a slice slightly in the microwave after it had been in the fridge and I’m sure that would be really good. Nigella’s right in describing it as being almost like a non-spicy gingerbread. Maybe gingerbread crossed with a brownie would be a good description. I will definitely be making this cake again. 

One of my recent-ish discoveries for foods that Ralph likes to eat is banana ‘ice cream’. It is in fact just frozen bananas (peeled and chopped) which are then blitzed in the food processor with some frozen blackberries until smooth and creamy. It’s quite delicious- I happily eat it myself too, and hard to believe it’s just fruit, so super healthy.

We let Ralph feed himself which can be rather messy, but he has become quite adept at feeding himself ice cream in a cone (he eats the cone too despite his lack of teeth). I have however learnt the hard way that blackberry stains are almost impossible to get out. Why isn’t he wearing a bib in this photo??!!

Oh dear, it has been a very long time. I could blame many things, like sleep deprivation, or lack of motivation, or my six week period of single parenthood, but that’s all rather boring to dwell on. 

While Ralph and I basked in the gloriously long days of Wellington’s late Summer, Sam spent six weeks with his band touring the very cold central Europe. It was here, in Berlin, at -11 degrees celcius,  that he left the scarf that I knitted him. The scarf held quite a sentimental attachment to me, as I knitted it for him when we both started courting, five years ago. It was a stripy scarf made from a range of bits of wool I happened to have at the time. It was in brown, grey and navy blue tones, with a bit too much navy blue, but you didn’t seem to notice that when it was being worn.  He liked it because it was the perfect colour combo to go with his new duffel coat.

Sometimes the best thing to do when faced with such a loss is to replace it quickly. So I have knitted him another scarf. It will probably not get much wear in the near future as he will soon be heading back to the Northern Hemisphere, completely missing out on the worst of Wellington’s Winter (but really, who am I kidding, you can wear a scarf in Wellington for all but maybe two months of the year and not be too hot).

It is even knitted from the remnants of the very same wool used in the original scarf. I tried to replicate the ‘random’ stripes of the first scarf, which is actually quite difficult, achieving a balance of colours. While I was knitting it I thought a lot about the ‘rhythm’ of the stripes, how it was almost like playing music, deciding when there was enough of one colour or too much of another, and how it all fitted into the gestalt of the whole.

Here is the end result.

Ralph’s placenta has been in my parents’ deep freezer since he was born. We hadn’t been intending to keep it, however over the course of my pregnancy I grew to respect the amazingness of the work it did in supporting Ralph and decided to give it a proper burial.

The placenta is a unique organ consisting of half the mother’s cells and half the baby’s cells. Not only does the placenta nourish the developing baby, it also works hard to protect it from damaging substances like alcohol, tobacco, drugs and medicines. There are a range of practices and beliefs around the world in relation to how the placenta is treated, which you can read about here. Many people choose to not cut the umbilical cord at all resulting in what is called a lotus birth. However in most Western societies where births take place in hospitals the placenta is thrown away.

In traditional Maori practice the placenta is buried and a tree planted over it. In the Maori language the word for placenta: ‘whenua’, is also the word for land, thus the two are inextricably linked. In the term ‘Tangata whenua’ which translates as ‘people of the land’ or ‘citizens’ this tie to the land is shown. 

We decided to bury Ralph’s placenta at my parents’ house, as I figure they are unlikely to move anytime soon. We planted a little kowhai sapling on top. This sapling has been slowly growing over the last year or so in a pot outside our house. It was originally grown from seed collected by my friend Penny, who then gave it to me. 

Hopefully it will grow in to a big, beautiful, strong tree as baby Ralph grows in to a big, beautiful, strong man.