Silent Knit, Deadly Knit

by Peggy Ehrhart

  To make a glove for the right hand, follow these directions again, except when you get to the row where you cast off for the thumb hole, knit 20, cast off 4, then knit 4 to finish the row. As you work on the second glove, you can hold it up against the completed one to make sure your proportions are the same.

  Now it’s time to sew your gloves up. Start with either one. Fold it so the right sides—the obvious stockinette sides—are facing each other, in the same way that you put right sides of fabric together when you sew a seam. Use a yarn needle—a large needle with a large eye and a blunt end. Thread the needle with the long tail you left and stitch the two edges together. To make a neat seam, use an overcast stitch and catch only the outer loops along each side. When you get to the top of the ribbing, pass your needle through a loop of yarn to make a knot. Hide the smaller tail that remains by working the needle in and out of the knitted fabric for an inch or so. Pull the yarn through and cut off the bit of yarn that’s left. Thread your yarn needle with the tail left from when you cast on and hide it too.

  Turn your fingerless glove right side out and try it on. Sew up the other glove.

  For a picture of the finished Cozy Hands,

  visit the Knit & Nibble Mysteries page

  at PeggyEhrhart.com.

  NIBBLE

  Christmas Poppy-Seed Cake

  In Silent Knit, Deadly Knit, Pamela bakes a double recipe of poppy-seed cake. The directions below are for a single recipe. It makes two loaves about 4” by 8” or four loaves about 3” by 5”.

  Ingredients

  1 cup poppy seeds

  1 cup milk

  2 cups flour—whole wheat or white or 1 cup

  of each

  1½ tsp. salt

  2½ tsp. baking powder

  1 cup butter (two sticks)

  2 cups sugar—brown or white or 1 cup of each

  3 eggs

  2 tsp. vanilla

  In advance, cut the butter into small chunks, put it in a bowl large enough to eventually hold all the ingredients, and let it sit out unrefrigerated. You want the butter to be soft enough to cream easily when you begin your recipe. Also in advance, put the poppy seeds in a small saucepan and pour the milk over them. Bring the mixture almost to a boil and then turn the heat off and let the seeds and milk sit for at least an hour.

  When you are ready to start, grease and flour your loaf pans. Sift the flour, salt, and baking powder into a small bowl and set it aside. Separate the eggs, catching the whites in a bowl large enough to accommodate beaters. Set the yolks aside in small bowl. Beat the whites until they are stiff but not dry and set the bowl aside.

  With your mixer, cream the butter in the large bowl, adding the sugar slowly. When sugar and butter are blended well, add the yolks one by one and beat them in. Add the seeds, milk, and vanilla and continue to beat. Beat in the dry ingredients a little at a time. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the beaten egg whites.

  Transfer the batter to the loaf pans. A large soup ladle works well for this step because you can apportion your batter evenly by counting the number of ladles for each loaf. Then use the spatula to collect every last dab of batter from the mixing bowl and add it to the loaf pans.

  Bake the loaves at 350 degrees for 45 to 60 minutes. Check that your loaves are done by sticking a wooden toothpick into the middle of the tops. If the toothpick comes out clean, your loaves are baked. Cool them for half an hour or so before removing them from the pans.

  For a picture of the finished

  Christmas Poppy-Seed Cake,

  visit the Knit & Nibble Mysteries page

  at PeggyEhrhart.com.