In subter laboro demens

Heri ab amica demonstratus est mihi pilleus in modo 16-imi saeculi perfactus similis illis, qui ab Anglicis tempore octavi Henrici regis gesti erant. Gosh golly! I was so intrigued by the clever motto of the Cornell Univeristy historian, whose patterns I was shown Saturday afternoon, I forgot to remove my Latin teacher hat, and just started off describing these wonderful things! At any rate, my ferver and zeal for most things Renaissance had me glued to the page when a knitter came in to purchase supplies to re-create a historically accurate Tudor flat cap. Those of you who watch the entertaining series The Tudors will recognize that practically every man pictured in crowd scenes is donning one of these groovy headgears. We determined that the cap will work on Brown Sheep Nature Spun lace weight on needles of proportional size -- a zillion stitches, felted. Likewise, this same historian has also made a study of period gloves. She provides pictures of historical gloves from the 16th Century, both for everyday wear and some rather ornate ones to be worn by eccliastic higher-up's for liturgical use. These cool items are also re-creatable by the ambitious knitter. Interestingly, the colors and construction of the re-created gloves resemble almost in every detail my own 21st Century fencing gloves (of course those are made of heavy cloth over the wrists and leather on the hands and fingers -- I doubt a woolen glove could cushion the blow from a mis-aimed foil or keenly targeted epee, not to mention a painful, finger-breaking slash from a sabre). I'm not giving you a picture of those, as they're a bit icky, as most fencer's gloves are. The wool gloves in blue and white would be great to wear to the tournament, but not actually in the tournament. If you'd like to investigate these intriguing patterns of historical knits, visit the website: http://www.people.cornell.edu/pages/ms154/ICEDragon03/cap.document.html. It is my understanding that the site may not be up for long, but do visit as long as it is, and give these interesting patterns a try. I plan to make the cap for sure. Oh, and the nifty motto. It aptly describes the knitter who likes a challenge!