Spring has sprung in Arborville, New Jersey, and Pamela Paterson and Bettina Fraser are keeping busy with their knitting group, Knit and Nibble. But it looks like April showers have brought May murders . . .
Fiber artist Ingrid Barrick has just been found dead in her ransacked house, but the fact that she’d seemed a bit troubled lately—and had been obsessively doodling pictures of bees—has the Knit and Nibblers wondering if this was really a burglary gone bad like the police think. There had been tension with a neighbor who was fuming (and sneezing) over the ragweed in Ingrid’s garden—but allergies don’t seem like grounds for murder.
As they chat with a local beekeeper, learn more about Ingrid’s knitwear-designer ex, and look into a suddenly cancelled tapestry exhibit, Pamela and Bettina are intrigued to find more nature-themed sketches by Ingrid. The question is which of these many threads will lead to the truth about her unnatural death . . .
Click here to order from Amazon. Click here to order from Barnes & Noble. Click here to order from Bookshop.org. Bookshop.org supports independent bookstores.
In keeping with the butterfly theme in Last Wool and Testament, here’s a gallery of butterflies. The photos were all taken by my husband, Norm Smith, in our yard or on his walks in the county park near our house. The park features a butterfly garden created and maintained by the local chapter of the Audubon Society.
Top row, left to right: American Lady, Black Swallowtail, Buckeye, Monarch. Bottom row, left to right: Mystery Butterfly, Red Admiral, Tiger Swallowtail, Variegated Fritillary. (Please speak up if you can i.d. Mystery Butterfly!)
And because bees are important in the plot too, here’s one of his bee photos.
Here’s the cover for the large-print version with library binding, from Thorndike Press:
Here’s the cover for the audio version, from Tantor Media:
KNIT
Doll Sweater with Intarsia Butterfly
Intarsia is a knitting technique that allows the knitter to create patterns involving blocks of color on a background of another color. The name derives from a similar, and very old, woodworking technique in which designs are created by inlaying one type of wood into a solid background of another type. Intarsia knitting is easy and fun to do once one gets a bit of practice, and what better way to practice than on something small, like this charming doll sweater with an intarsia butterfly on the front?
Directions for the Doll Sweater with Intarsia Butterfly appear at the end of Last Wool and Testament. Many YouTube videos illustrate the intarsia technique. Click here for very useful one.
Here is a link for a PDF with the butterfly pattern. It will print just as you see it here on an 8 1/2 X 11 sheet of paper.
As you knit, check off completed rows to keep track of where you are in the pattern.
Here are my improvised bobbins.
This is the technique for grafting in the butterfly color. (Steps are shown clockwise.)
When there are just a few stitches of the butterfly color, the main color can float across the back of them, and vice versa. Here’s the reverse side after the butterfly color is first introduced.
Here a bit of the main color is being grafted into the middle of a row knit in the butterfly color. (Steps are shown clockwise. Bottom left-hand photo shows the reverse side after the grafting is complete.)
This photo shows the technique for hiding tails.
Here’s the reverse with all the tails hidden.
Here are all the completed pieces.
Here’s the front pinned to the back, ready to sew the shoulders.
The front-back piece is opened out flat and the sleeves placed in position.
A sleeve is pinned, ready to sew.
A side and sleeve are pinned, ready to sew.
All finished.
NIBBLE
Strawberry-Banana Pudding
May is strawberry season and it’s fun to use them whenever possible—as the various cooks who make strawberry-based goodies in Last Wool and Testament demonstrate. When Pamela hosts the Knit and Nibble group at the end of the book, she makes this variation on classic banana pudding, the layered creation involving vanilla wafers, vanilla pudding, bananas, and whipped cream.
The recipe for Strawberry-Banana Pudding appears at the end of Last Wool and Testament.
Bananas and strawberries are the key ingredients.
Slice or quarter the strawberries before simmering them to make a simple jam.
Two saucepans, a smaller inside a larger, can be used for a makeshift double boiler.
The pudding is done when it coats a metal spoon.
You’ll need vanilla wafers.
Here’s the finished pudding.
Bananas are cut into crosswise slices.
The simmered strawberries have become jam.
The cream is whipped until it forms soft peaks.
The puddings are assembled one layer at a time.
Then the process is repeated.
As you can see, the recipe makes four LARGE servings. You can divide the components among six dessert bowls or goblets for smaller servings.
Have a bite!
BONUS NIBBLE
Roland’s Magic Cake
Roland describes the cake he serves when the Knit and Nibblers meet at his house as “magic”—and the recipe indeed seems magical. Four simple ingredients combine, and then separate while baking, to form a three-layer creation: custard-like on the bottom, soft and creamy in the middle, and light as a soufflé on top. It’s an old French recipe, and like many French desserts, it’s not overwhelmingly sweet. Its simplicity makes it a great backdrop for berries or other fruit.
The recipe for Roland’s Magic Cake appears at the end of Last Wool and Testament.
Doreen Sheridan baked her own version of Roland’s Magic Cake for her review of Last Wool and Testament in “Cooking the Books.” Click here for the review and many more in-progress photos of the baking process.
Here it is when it comes out of the oven. Parchment paper is crucial.
It can be served with just a sprinkling of powdered sugar.
But it’s great with strawberries or other fruit.
