Another historical knitting project is in the works. Yes, I'm also still working on the leaf pullover and am almost finished with the back. But rare special requests from wiseNeedle's technical wizard take priority. The Resident Male (TRM) has requested a particular vest from the 1941s vintage Minerva troop knitting folio he gave to me for the holiday.

This is a very plain garter stitch vest. It has slightly set in armholes, and K2, P2 ribbing. He'd like the V-neck opening to be a bit lower, but other than that, he likes the slim fit and style.

Now knitting this ultra simple thing will not be a straightforward as one might think. For starters, the leaflet offers up only size 40, and TRM is a 46. On top of that, the pattern is particularly sketchy, and not in a format used widely today. (More on this tomorrow). I could just look at the picture and then come up with something from scratch, fobbing it off as the real thing, but that wouldn't be as much fun as trying to redact the original, keeping as close as possible to the 1941 instructions.

Let's begin by looking at the materials specified - Athena Noninflammable Needles size 6 and 7, plus Minerva Quality Knitting Worsted - 6 skeins. I am delighted to report that this pattern DOES include specific gauge - 4.5 stitches = 1 inch, 10 rows = 1 inch. Gauge is not always included in these older patterns, and having it makes a huge difference.

The size 6 and 7 needles are about right for the stated gauge and are probably comparable to modern US 6 and 7, but an exact match is irrelevant. I need to use the needles I need to achieve the stated gauge. The sizes suggested in any pattern (not just this historical one) are supposed to be starting points for your own swatching purposes, not absolute dictates. It doesn't matter a whit if you actually end up using 4s and 6s or 7s and 9s - so long as you achieve the specified gauge, your garment will fit as the pattern author intended.

Why "noninflammable" in the name of the needles? Prior to the early 1940s time early pre-plastic needles were either Bakelite or cellulose based. Cellulose needles were easy to ignite and burned quite hotly. The Athenas were probably either Bakelite or a new material (possibly nylon based), that melted rather than ignited when exposed to flame.

Now, "Minerva Quality Knitting Worsted - 6 skeins" is a bit more problematic. How much yarn is that? What would be a modern equivalent? How much do I need?

From the look of the picture, it's clear that the yarn is a plain, smooth finish multi-strand yarn. If this pattern was knit in stockinette, I'd guess that it was a heavy worsted yarn, But it's in garter stitch, which enlarges gauge somewhat, so I suspect that the yarn used is lighter than that, perhaps a true worsted with a native stockinette gauge of 5 stitches per inch. Possibly even a DK, with a native stockinette gauge of 5.5 stitches per inch. (True DK might be pushing it, as I'm not sure I can get 4.5spi with garter in DK without the fabric looking limp and loose).

More noodling is needed here. To start, I have a rough idea that a man's sleeveless vest in size 40 should take approximately 900-1000 yards of worsted weight yarn. I base this on my Nancy's Knit Knacks yardage estimator card, plus confirmation from Sweater Wizard, and from personal experience. If the original pattern called for 6 skeins, that would mean each skein would be around 150-166 yards. My absolute textbook standards for worsted weight yarns are Brunswick Germantown and Cascade 220. Both clock in at 220 yards per 100g (3.5 oz) or 110 per 50 g (1.75 oz). By contrast, DK weight smooth finish classic Rowan yarns tend to be between 240 and 255 yards for 100g (120 to 127 for 50g).

A web search on "Minerva Knitting Worsted" brings up an article on translating a 1934 vintage pattern, which calls out a yardage of 152 yards for 1.75 oz. Now 152 x 6 = 912 yards - within the target range, but 152 yards for 1.75oz (50g) sounds much lighter than worsted. I also find Columbia Minerva worsted on the Vintage Knits yardage chart. There it's listed at 280 yards for 4 oz. That works out to 245 yards for 100g (3.5 oz), or 122.5 yards for 1.75 oz. Still more than Cascade/Germantown's 110 and closer to DK than I expected when I started looking.

So to sum up my yarn weight findings, I'm now leaning to the light worsted/DK end of available choices, but without truly solid confirmation. Obviously intensive swatching is the next step. I want to make this vest out of stash-aged yarn. I've got a couple of choices on hand which I will detail in the next post.

Technorati : knitting

My forager's hat is finished - a nice big modified stocking cap with a blunt end and a double-thick self-lined brim (no ribbing). The only thing left to do is to find out if my re-enactor pal wants the optional big honking tassel at the top or not. Here you see it modeled by Smaller Daughter. This is really an adult size hat. It's not stretched at all on her head.

I used a very dense deep teal hand-spun yarn 100% wool yarn. I purchased it from an outside vendor at a local spring farm festival held at Drumlin Farm in Concord, MA. This yarn had no name, and the spinner (selling her own products) didn't include a card with the sale. The gold is a fragment of another single of similar weight. I know that the gold is Merino, but I don't know the fleece type of the teal, but it's scratchier than the gold (but not too much so to limit wearing).

My yarn has quite a bit of slubbing, and looks like the color was produced by aggressively combing together black and teal dyed fibers prior to spinning (some of the slubs are clearly one or the other color, others are blended). It's not bad, but it's not uniformly good, either. The staple is short and the twist is uneven. As a result it breaks easily. The good news is that it also splices easily. In terms of weight, it counts out to 15-16 wraps per inch, which lands it in between fingering and sport in weight.

You could use a lofty sport, knit down to gauge, or a very dense fingering - something thicker than a standard sock yarn though. I think the Regia and Socka style European sock yarns would be too thin for this. My hat weighs in at about 90 grams, which is about right as I used all of one 50g skein plus a bit more than half of a second. I haven't made a tassel yet so I can't estimate how much more yarn would be needed for one.

If you are making a Voyageur's hat - they were most often deep red. Liberty caps were most often red or blue. Sometimes liberty caps had patriotic mottoes knit into the brim area. "Don't Tread on Me" would work. An aside - Older Daughter tells me that people wanting to cosplay Link from Legend of Zelda would also want one of these hats, but in green and with a bit more of a pointed rather than rounded end.

This patten is a transcription of my working notes. I haven't test-knit a second item from them, so mistakes are certainly possible.

Voyageur's Hat/Liberty Cap In the Style of the Mid-1700s

Materials:

• Roughly 90 grams of a heavy fingering/light sport weight yarn, with a recommended label gauge of 6.5-7 stitches per inch (this does not include any yarn for a tassel)
• Waste string for provisional cast-on
• Double pointed or circular needles - US#0 (2mm)
• Extra circular or double pointed needle to hold stitches while fusing the brim US #0 (2mm) or smaller
• Tapestry needle for ending off
• Five stitch markers
• Optional: A graph of a motto or design that is no more than 30 rows tall
• Optional: A 4-6 inch long tassel made from the same yarn as the hat, and a small holed button (not a shank button) to sew it onto on the hat's inside as a reinforcement.

Gauge and Dimensions:

• Taken over stockinette on US #0 (2mm) needles - 6.75 stitches and 9.5 rows per inch
• Finished hat will fit most adults. It's 21 inches across the bottom opening (stretching to fit easily on a 23 inch head). It measures roughly 17.25 inches from brim edge to top.

Using a provisional cast-on, cast on 130 stitches. Distribute on DPNs or if you're using the two-circ method - onto two circular needles. Knit 32 rounds, then purl two rounds to create a fold line. If you are inserting a pattern follow the optional directions below. If not, skip to the no design instructions.

If inserting an optional graphed colorwork design. Your graph can be worked in stranding or intarsia, but must be no more than 30 rows tall. For best proportions and an authentic look, I suggest single color (plus background) patterns of no more than 20 rows in height. My X is 16 rows tall). In terms of horizontal placement, the hat's brim finish ensures that there is no visible jag where the cast-on round begins, and there is no front or back, so don't agonize about centering the pattern in any one particular spot. Subtract your graph's row count from 32, then divide the result by two. Knit that many rounds before starting your graph. Knit the remainder after the graph is complete. To prepare for the next step, look at your colorwork area. Take a moment to tug any extra loose ends so that the appearance on the front is as neat as possible. If any are particularly unruly, thread them onto a tapestry needle and take a little sewing stitch to secure them. So long as you flick the loose ends right and left so that there is no giant lump of strands in any one spot, you don't need to take the time to end them all off neatly.

If not working an optional graphed colorwork design. Knit 32 rounds.

All knitters. At this point you are ready to fuse the brim. The knitting done before the fold welt will become a self facing, totally encapsulating any loose ends resulting from the optional colorwork. Unzip or unpick your provisional cast-on, threading those stitches onto spare DPNs or a circular needle.

Hold the work folded at the purl welt with the purl sides inside. Then knit around one row, knitting each stitch from your active needles along with its complement on the needle holding the now awakened stitches from the provisional cast on. At the end of this row you will have the same 130 stitches left on your active needles, and the brim will be completely fused to the hat body with all ends neatly out of sight.

Continue knitting in stockinette (all knits) until your hat measures 8 inches when measured from the bottom of the purl welts at the brim's opening. On the last round before you begin the decreases, place a stitch marker every 26 stitches

Decrease rounds:

Round 1: (Knit 24, K2tog)5x - 125 stitches remain (You will be knitting to two stitches before the each stitch marker, then working your K2tog)
Knit 10 rounds
Round 12: (Knit 23, K2tog)5x - 120 stitches remain
Knit 10 rounds
Round 23: (Knit 22, K2tog)5x - 115 stitches remain
Knit 10 rounds
Round 34: (Knit 21, K2tog)5x - 110 stitches remain
Knit 10 rounds
Round 45: (Knit 20, K2tog)5x - 115 stitches remain
Knit 5 rounds
Round 51: (Knit 19, K2tog)5x - 110 stitches remain
Knit 5 rounds
Round 57: (Knit 18, K2tog)5x - 105 stitches remain
Knit 5 rounds
Round 63: (Knit 17, K2tog)5x - 100 stitches remain
Knit 5 rounds
Round 69: (Knit 16, K2tog)5x - 95 stitches remain
Knit 5 rounds
Round 75: (Knit 15, K2tog)5x - 90 stitches remain
Knit 5 rounds
Round 81: (Knit 14, K2tog)5x - 85 stitches remain
Knit 5 rounds
Round 87: (Knit 13, K2tog)5x - 80 stitches remain
Knit 5 rounds
Round 93: (Knit 12, K2tog)5x - 75 stitches remain
Knit 5 rounds
Round 99: (Knit 11, K2tog)5x - 70 stitches remain
Knit 5 rounds
Round 105: (Knit 10, K2tog)5x -65 stitches remain
Knit 5 rounds
Round 111: (Knit 9, K2tog)5x - 60 stitches remain
Knit 5 rounds
Round 117: (Knit 8, K2tog)5x - 55 stitches remain
Knit 2 rounds
Round 110: (Knit 7, K2tog)5x - 50 stitches remain
Knit 2 rounds
Round 113: (K6, K2tog)5x - 45 stitches remain
Knit 2 rounds
Round 116: (K5, K2tog)5x - 40 stitches remain
Knit 2 rounds:
Round 119: (K4, K2tog)5x - 35 stitches remain
Knit 1 round

The rounded point:

Continue working (K1, K2tog) until fewer than 10 stitches remain. Break the yarn leaving a 6 inch tail. Thread tail onto tapestry needle, and use the tapestry needle to gather up all remaining stitches draw-string style, pulling them together and securely ending off on the inside of the hat. Affix any optional tassel to this center point, sewing it on through a small button placed on the hat's inside. This button acts as a reinforcement and decreases the chance of the tassel pulling out or distorting the end to which it is sewn.

Technorati : knitting

A happy holiday week to all. I report knitting-related developments here at the world of String. First and foremost, we had a wonderful holiday, full of of friends, immediate family and food. Not necessarily in that order. All cookies and tamales were well received, as were this year's various knitted gifts. I in turn received a couple of knit-related gifts from The Resident Male.

His first gift was a universe of Clover needles and accessories - a trove he scored on eBay.

There's one of every size 10-inch and 14-inch straight, plus a good sampling of the larger diameter circs, mostly in the 24 inch length, and a couple of crochet hooks and two kinds of stitch markers. A princely gift, and I am looking forward to using some of them in the very near future (see below).

His second gift was a bit more esoteric - three knitting leaflets from the 1940s, also found on eBay:

The two in front are troop knitting compendiums, each containing sweaters and accessories for men. The Minerva one has excellent instructions for several types of shooters mittens and marksman's gloves - some with separate trigger fingers, some with convertible flip-tops. One pattern - a simple garter stitch v-neck vest in worsted weight - has already been bespoken by the giver, and will be knit on my new bamboo needles (see above). Since bidding was hot and heavy on his eBay finds, he asks me to extend apologies to anyone reading here whom he may have inadvertently trampled.

The third booklet contains several very simple but elegant sweaters knit in fingering weight cashmere. While I doubt that I'll be stumbling across fingering weight cashmere in quantity any time soon, the shaping on the patterns is particularly flattering. Also because sizes are small (typical for the era, when an 18 is the equivalent of a modern 10), adjustment to a slightly larger gauge than 8 stitches per inch will enable easy production in larger sizes.

The final item is a bit of a lagniappe. I did most of my stocking-stuffer shopping at American Science & Surplus. I got all manner of inexpensive silly things for the kids - small flashlights, magnifiers, craft supplies, and the like. (For the record, this site is worth keeping an eye on for measuring tools, scales, calipers, scissors, bags and containers of all types - all things that knitters can use.) While I was there I also got myself a full page magnifier and two packs of military type assorted metal shank buttons. Each pack contained 10, of mixed styles and sizes. Two packs are needed to make up a usable quantity of the larger size buttons. Between two I received enough buttons for four sweaters, the majority bearing Soviet star with hammer and sickle motifs. I also got four Canadian Air Cadets buttons. At under $2.00 total for the entire lot, the price can't be beat:

Technorati : knitting

I've promised a re-enactor pal a forager's cap that he can wear at historical recreation bivouacs with his Revolutionary War era British regiment. He described it as being basically the same shape as a voyageur's hat (the ancestor of the toque) or a liberty cap - a rather blunt stocking cap of medium length related somewhat to the Phrygian cap seen on some statues of Lady Liberty, and omnipresent in the French Revolution (but without a turned brim).

It's tough to see from the various representations of similar hats in paintings and illustrations (mostly created long after-the-fact tiny thumbnails of behatted folk rowing boats, or running around in idealized depictions of famous battles), but I don't think they had a modern ribbed type bottom edge like most of the contemporary knitting patterns show. Some look to have a sturdy split section that was turned up to make a sort of a bottom cuff (the Phrygian cap variants), others look to have plain edges. Some look like they've been fulled or made up from fulled yardage of some sort. Voyageur's hats are usually described as being either red or blue. So are liberty caps. Some liberty caps bore mottoes either knitted in or embroidered on the bottom edge. And finally both hats are mentioned as sometimes, but not always having a large tassel on the end.

Throwing any attempt at historical accuracy beyond this cursory level of attention to the winds, I've taken a middle ground among all of these. I am making a blunt end slightly tapered stocking cap, long enough for the top to flap down to just below the brim when worn. The verdict is still out on the tassel thing. To recap, I've decided that instead of ribbing, I'm going to use a doubled ear band done with a self-facing and turning row of welting. And I'm going to knit an X into the brim (my friend's regiment number). I am also going to use a hand-spun single that's probably heavier and probably coarser than what would have been used back then, but is closer in spirit to a period yarn than is modern factory-made DK or worsted. I am somewhat limited in color choice. As I described before, my red is heathered with too much white for this purpose. Instead I've got a nice, strong tealed blue/green, with the X done in a mustardy gold.

So. Here's what I have so far.

I ripped out what I had before because it was too big.

I began again on US #0s and did a better job of swatching. For my hat to fit snugly at my demonstrated gauge of 6.5 stitches = 1 inch on 2mm (US #0) needles, I cast on 130 stitches. I used a provisional cast-on and knit 32 rounds in stockinette. Then I purled two rounds, and knit another 7 rounds. At this point I was ready to begin my X. I adapted that letter from a graphed alphabet first published in the mid 1500s, but stretched it out a row to improve the proportions. Yes, this is wildly anachronistic, but the letter form was pleasing, and in keeping with type faces current in the mid 1700s. Then I worked my 18 row tall X in stranding. Sort of.

I'm knitting in the round here on two circs. I cheated. To do the first two rounds, I broke off a length of about 8 inches from my ball of gold yarn. Then starting in the center, I worked the first row of my X. I dropped the gold when I was done with that area and continued around. When I got to round two of the pattern, I used the second leg of my length of gold to finish it. I continued in this manner, using broken pieces for every two rows of my X chart.

When my X was done, I worked another 8 rows in stockinette. At that point when the brim was folded along the purl welt, the facing side was the same length as the X-bearing part. So I unzipped my provisional cast-on, and threaded those stitches onto a spare needle. I tidied up the X, and did a couple of anchoring stitches to keep the gold from wiggling loose and to make sure that the ends weren't lumping up in one mass, but I didn't bother doing a full darn-in/finish on them. They are after all going to be completely encapsulated in the double-thick hat brim. Holding the piece folded along the welt, on the next row I knit together one body stitch along with one stitch rescued from my provisional cast-on. When it was done I had my double-thick brim neatly finished, with no pesky ends of my X to peek through.

I'm now at the "make the thing longer until you can't stand doing it any more" stage of lengthening the hat body. I've read several descriptions of how others have formed the top of their caps, plus other speculations. Since 130 isn't a particularly convenient number for evenly staged decreases, I'll be noodling out this part on the fly. Some descriptions of these hats opine that there is no taper at all, just a drawstring finish. But I don't believe that the people who wrote that have ever knit. A drawstring on an untapered tube would not make the graceful shapes I see in the paintings, instead that finish would make something that looked like a gathered pants leg, with a bulby end.

I'll keep posting here as I go along. Comments from anyone with real historical citations to either support or blast to shreds any supposition here are most welcome.

Technorati : knitting

As promised, here is the Pecan Sandies recipe I use. It's a legacy from my Buffalo family - from hand-written notes shared by my mother-in-law Gail, originally attributed to her cousin. I've redacted the recipe a bit to add instructions (the original groups the ingredients in two units and says little more than mix the groups together, roll into balls and bake). This makes a boatload of cookies, with a yield about twice that of most typical cookie recipes. But then again, considering the large families common in Buffalo in the 1960s, I'm not surprised. I have to admit I've never counted exactly how many I get beyond "two boxes full" - probably something in the neighborhood of 6-8 dozen depending on cookie size.

A note on ingredients. I buy a bag of raw, unsalted pecan halves for this at Trader Joes. Then I set one of the kids to sorting the pecans. All the unbroken pretty halves go in one bowl. All the broken ones and pieces go in the second. I usually have enough bits and less attractive pieces to furnish the ground pecans needed in the recipe. The pretty halves are reserved as decoration. I usually have enough of those too. If need be, some cookies go bare. Finishing the cookies with pecan halves is another tinker I've done to the recipe. They were naked in the original.

Other notes: There is no need to sift the flour for this recipe. I use shortening for these rather than butter. Butter makes the cookies richer but much softer. I get a good baking rhythm going on these using two insulated baking sheets, two cooling racks, and four pieces of parchment. If you don't want to use baking parchment, you can lightly grease the cookie sheets. But the parchment is worth the investment in ease in batch manipulation and clean-up, plus speed of production (no washing baking pans between batches). You can substitute store-bought ground pecan meal for the finely chopped pecans. Although I haven't tried it, I suspect you can also make this cookie with almond meal and top with whole almonds, but then you'd have almond sandies...

Sue, I don't know if we've ever met, but thank you for the cookies!

Sue Ralicki's Pecan Sandies
Makes roughly 6-8 dozen depending on cookie size

Ingredients:

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup confectioner's sugar
• 1 cup shortening
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 2 extra large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 4.5 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp cream of tartar
• 1 cup finely chopped pecans, ground fine in a food processor
• More granulated sugar to roll cookies in prior to baking
• Pecan halves for garnish

Equipment needed:

• Two mixing bowls, one for the wet and one for the dry ingredients
• Flexible stirring spatula or mixing spoon
• Hand held mixer (or stand mixer if you're lucky enough to have one)
• Food processor to grind nuts (alternate method - put them in a ziplock plastic bag and beat them into submission with a meat tenderizer mallet, rolling pin or other heavy object)
• A small bowl or plastic bag to hold the granulated sugar for coating the cookies
• At least one and preferably two flat baking sheets (not lipped jelly roll pans)
• At least one and preferably two racks on which to cool the cookies
• A tin, ziplock bag, or airtight box to store the finished cookies

In a large mixing bowl, using a hand mixer, beat together confectioners sugar, granulated sugar, shortening, and vegetable oil until completely blended. Add eggs and vanilla and beat to incorporate.

In a second bowl, mix together flour, salt, baking soda and cream of tartar. Pour these dry ingredients into sugar/shortening mixture, stir well to incorporate. Add finely chopped pecans and stir again to ensure everything is mixed together. Chill the dough for about an hour.

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 375-degrees. Form the dough into balls slightly smaller than a walnut. Roll the balls in granulated sugar to cover. Place them about two inches apart on a baking sheet lined with baking parchment (the cookies will puff up and spread a bit). If you are garnishing each cookie with pecan halves, dip the nut halves in water and press firmly on top of the sugared dough balls on the cookie sheet to make them stick. The balls may crack a bit around the edge. That's expected.

Bake cookies at 375-degrees for 10-12 minutes until lightly browned. Slide the cookie-laden parchment sheet onto a rack to cool. Cookies can be stacked in an open box once partially cool, and the parchment sheet can be re-used for a subsequent batch. Once fully cool, store in an airtight box or cookie tin.

Technorati : cooking

Not much knitting here beyond finishing up the gift socks mentioned yesterday, which later today will be given to the target recipient. I also posted a yarn review for the Schoeller/Stahl sock yarn I used.

(Please consider leaving reviews of your current yarn yourself, as a holiday present to fellow knitters worldwide).

I can in the spirit of ecumenicism born of our happy, culturally jumbled household recommend two non-knitting related holiday hacks.

First for Hanukkah (and Kwanzaa): Every kid is fascinated by the candles used in menorahs and other holiday candle holders. They burn quickly, and often being close together, act on each other to make strange melting patterns and drips - especially when "encouraged" by the viewer. And every kid who grew up with a menorah in the house will either admit to performing said encouragements, or by virtue of being watched constantly, not having the chance to do what he or she really wanted to do. But not every parent can hover over the candles for the entire time they are lit for eight nights straight.

Now devices are no substitute for parental supervision, but accidents happen in even the most careful household. Place your menorah on a shallow lipped pan (like an inexpensive jellyroll pan or in my case - the liner pan that came with a now defunct toaster oven) and fill the pan with about a quarter inch of water. Drips will fall into the water, and won't weld the menorah to the table or counter top. Should your offspring be too helpful and a candle come loose from its moorings - it will fall harmlessly into your mini-reflecting pool and be extinguished.

Second for Christmas trees: Fighting one's way underneath the lower branches to water the thing is a major pain. I cheat. I float some packing peanuts or crumpled aluminum foil on top of the water so I can see the level while still standing. I also take a tube or pipe (in this house, the unobtrusive brown extension tubes from our upright vacuum cleaner) and wedge them into the tree holder's bucket area. I use some twist-ties to anchor the tube against a branch. The tube remains there as long as the tree is in the house. Then when watering time comes, I take a watering can and pour into the tube until I see my floating markers rise. No bending, no needles in my hair, no overflows.

Technorati : Hanukkah, holidays, knitting

We celebrated Hanukkah this weekend past in our own style. Fried foods are traditional. We did crab cakes. Not traditional by a long shot, but tasty none the less.

The Resident Male, finding himself at the fish shop buying the crab was tempted by some beautiful Bluepoint oysters. So he brought home four as a special grownups-only treat.

So there we were, happily slurping down our excellent oysters, when I thought I found a bit of shell. Not uncommon in oysters opened by amateurs*. But it wasn't shell.

It was a pearl.

A natural pearl. Far from gem grade, but round and pearly enough to qualify, even though you can see a bit of the gravel that inspired it sticking out from one end.

I've put my tiny pearl next to a strand of cultured pearls for size comparison. I've joked about finding a pearl, and have known it was remotely possible. But I'd never heard of anyone actually finding one. So what to do with my inferior but extremely lucky pearl? Wear it for luck, of course. I'm thinking of getting a tiny silver charm in the shape of a cage to keep it in.

And I'll probably make the traditional latkes tonight.

As far as knitting goes, I'm trying to zip through the remainder of a pair of socks, plus get a start on the foraging cap (in the style of a Liberty or voyageur's cap) for my re-enactor friend. I've got a nice hand-spun wool fingering weight single, in a color sort of between forest and teal, with a touch of black. I would have preferred a barn red, but the red I had was heathered with too much white and from a distance read "pink." Shown here are my larval beginnings (I'm working on the area that when finished will be the facing in the earband, plus the too-pink yarn. Gauge here is between 5.75 and 6 stitches per inch. I've got 130 on the needles, and am getting a band big enough to fit a 23" circumference head. There's some allowance for stretch and the hat will be double thick at the earband, but I don't want to make it so tight that the wearer will get a headache. You can see just a bit of provisional cast-on peeking out at the bottom of that dark green wiggle:

Other than that, I am finishing up yet another pair of gift socks. This one from Schoeller+Stahl Fortissma Colori/Socka Color, color #5.

* We follow the safer Julia Child oyster method (learned while watching her on TV). It involves identifying the hinge and using the pointy end of a bottle opener to dislocate it. Then using a thin, sharp knife - winkling it into the opening made by the unhinging and running it around the oyster inside to scrape it top and bottom from its shell.

Technorati : knitting

In fact, this year, there are eleven plus fudge. I offer up ocular proof, plus a round-up of baking notes:

Starting from the top left and reading each row across

Row 1:

• Semisweet chocolate/pecan fudge
• Lemon cutouts with ginger glaze. Cut-outs painted by the kids. Ginger glaze new this year
• My first attempt at biscotti (not entirely successful). Dried cherries soaked in Armagnac and almonds

Row 2:

• Cocoa rum balls
• Classic peanut butter cookies
• Oysters (this year in heart shape). Toasted hazelnut spritz with bittersweet chocolate filling

Row 3:

• Green (and minty) tree-shaped spritz
• Pecan sandies
• Lime cookies with lemon sugar dusting (new this year)

Row 4:

• Classic chocolate chip cookies
• Earthquakes (my kids' name for chocolate crinkles - soft, moist, and very chocolaty
• Linzer cookies - lightly spiced cut-outs with seedless raspberry jam filling

I've linked to or highlighted the source of most recipes. Here are some notes:

Fudge - Absolutely the easiest thing to make if you've got a microwave and a microwave safe bowl. We make it last to use up any leftover nuts (and because more than half this household is made up of chocolate fiends). Have a significant other who is mad for chocolate? Impress her/him with this even if your cooking skill so far is limited to opening a jar of peanut butter.

Lemon cutouts with ginger glaze - I start with the basic sugar cut out recipe in Joy, but add lemon zest. I usually frost these with confectioners sugar to which I add lemon juice until it's paint consistency plus colors. This year since I had another cookie that ended up being more lemon than lime, so I went looking for a flavor we hadn't done yet in this year's cookie crop. I thinned the confectioners sugar with ginger juice (grate a thumb-sized piece of ginger onto a paper towel, then squeeze tightly to extract the juice). Wow. A do-again to be sure!

Biscotti - This piece looks good, and they taste wonderful. But I added whole toasted almonds plus the cherries, and the dough proved too crumbly to make many pretty pieces. But we'll enjoy eating the crumbles! I'll keep hunting for a better biscotti-with-stuff-in-it recipe.

Rum balls - This year we did the classic cocoa/vanilla wafers/pecans one. I've tried other combos but I like it the best. This is another no-bake cookie that's difficult to mess up, provided you make it at least a week before you serve it so that the flavors mellow.

Classic peanut butter cookies - In this house we use chunky peanut butter. Heresy, but heresy with more texture.

Oysters - I've gone on about these before. They're one of the three "must haves" along with peanut butter, and chocolate chip.

Green mint trees - I got a last minute call from one of my third-grader's "room moms" alerting me to a party this week and requesting cookies with no nuts in them. While anything produced in my kitchen won't pass muster for a nut allergic kid, there are no allergies in the class. So I made plain spritz trees, starting with the recipe in Joy of Cooking, adding a touch of mint flavoring and the lurid color. It's not as forgiving a spritz recipe as my own Oyster one, and the tree shape isn't one of the more reliable dies, but we got a batch done that will (in its entirety) go to school on Monday, leaving no memories behind other than a lingering ghoulishly green shadow on my fingernails.

Pecan Sandies - A family recipe. I'll share this one in its entirety later this week. My variation on the thing is to add the half-pecan to the top before baking. An easy and tasty cookie from a recipe with a huge yield.

Lime cookies - I started with the King Arthur recipe, but could not find sour salt (citric acid) locally - my favorite baking supply source having closed forever last month. Horrors. Instead I improvised. Lemonheads candy is mostly sugar and citric acid. So I ground up a bag into a powder, and used it to dust the cookies. It worked extremely well - nice and lemony tart. But it did overwhelm the lime-nature of the cookie itself, and I find that the lemonheads dust is more of a humectant than is plain powdered sugar. The cookies need to be stored with air circulation, otherwise they get sticky and lump together. (I'll probably roll them one last time in plain powered sugar before sending them on their way).

Classic chocolate chips - the recipe on the back of the Tollhouse bag, although (another heresy) - I use Ghiardelli semisweet chips instead because I like them better.

Earthquakes - I was introduced to these the year before last by a good pal (Hi, Kathryn!) I'm not using the recipe she sent to me, mostly because I know it's filed here on my desk and saved securely (it was VERY important that I do so). Unfortunately, it's saved so securely that I can't find it and am too ashamed to admit it. So I went looking for something equivalent to the one she sent me. This one is pretty good, but hers was better.

Linzer cookies - Nope, you don't need a fancy set to make these. The set makes it easier and the cookies prettier, but it's not necessary. I happened to have a fluted circle cutter on hand, and a mini leaf cutter. But you could use a water glass to cut the big circle and a top from a screw bottle of water or soda to make the smaller window. This dough is pretty easy to handle for a roll-out. And the taste is fabulous. More work than most, but according to the Resident Male - worth the effort.

Later this week - ultimate holiday luck, the sandies recipe, plus some actual knitting content.

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