Lo, 'Quats!

For the past two years, I've used the fruit from my front yard loquat tree to make loquat jam under my own Black Dog label. Last year's was a cinnamon-loquat variety, liked by at least one Pennsylvania four-and-a-half-year old. The year before that, I submitted a couple of jars in the category of Jam-Tropical Fruit-Any to the State Fair of Texas. I got a not-quite-respectable 10th place. What color ribbon would you get if they handed out ribbons for 10th place? Probably "loquat."

I had all but written off this year's crop due to the dry winter we've had. What few loquats there were on the tree had a scrawniness to them that did not bode well. Then, in the last few weeks, we've had rain. And the loquats have responded. Looks like I know what I'll be doing next weekend. Loquats are delicate things that don't store well, so I pretty much have to pick, peel, cook and jar them all on the same day.

Loquats, being semi-tropical, are some of the first tree fruit to ripen during the calendar year and are subject to the vagaries of central Texas winter weather. So, in order to protect next year's crop, I've decided to knit individual cozies that could be slipped over each delicate fruit as it emerges. The one here is a prototype. If I used leftover sock yarn from all of my projects, I should have a head start on next year. To get an idea of the scope of this project, see the second picture -- the loquat cozy is circled in red.

Better get to knitting...