Bootie and Bossy are two sisters who share a love of cooking and crafting. Please join us in our adventures and misadventures! We'll share our best recipes and make you feel better about your craft projects. Whatever you do, don't knit like my sister! For show notes and more, please visit Bootieandbossy.com
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What's so great about 1950s America? We admit this is a trick question. It might have been great for men, but at least according to Anne Macdonald in No Idle Hands: The Social History of American Knitting, for many women, particularly young mothers, it felt like being "trapped in a squirrel cage" of modern appliance-packed houses that feminist writer Betty Friedan would later describe as "comfortable concentration camps" (p. 323). More women dropped out of college to get the coveted "Mrs" degree and then devoted themselves to cleaning their houses and popping out kids. And they succeeded--the birth rate at the time was close to India's. But they also struggled to meet impossible and opposing expectations, as one woman memorably described it:"I've been married ten years and I still feel my husband expects me to be a combination of Fanny Farmer and Marilyn Monroe."--Quoted in Anne Macdonald, No Idle Hands: The Social History of American Knitting, p. 323.With little time and mounting resentment, the 1960s and 70s unsurprisingly ushered in Women's Lib and the era of "Jiffy Knits" with giant needles. No one is knitting for thrift anymore, but knitting still offers cures for the following ailments: nail biting; arthritis (dubbed by one woman as "Mr. Arthur," whom she successfully banished from her hands with knitting every morning); anxiety; agoraphobia; overeating; smoking; impatience and finally boredom, as many knit while waiting in the long lines during the gas shortage. But out of this period emerge the three graces of the knitting world: Mary Walker Phillips, Elizabeth Zimmerman and Barbara Walker. They bring their expertise to the masses, and we all owe them a tremendous debt.As we approach the holiday season, we are grateful to Anne Macdonald for writing No Idle Hands, which has given us so much to talk about and stories to share. So take a moment to make a batch of biscotti, then grab your pointed sticks and settle in for some good stories about finding the bright side of things, stories that have made us smile many times over the years. And join us in declaring this the season of "Cookies for Everyone!"
Episode 54: Natasha Darius and the Soul of Spinning (01:07:10)
Listen to this episode and you will never look at handspun yarn in quite the same way. A bold claim, we know, but that’s just one of the many things that Natasha Darius taught us in this interview. We met Natasha at Woolworks, Ltd., in Putnam, Connecticut, where she manages the volunteer-run store, teaches spinning, knits and does 10,000 other things. Growing up Haitian in Scotland, Connecticut, she did not come from a knitting family, but being a self-described old soul with an insatiable curiosity to “know all the things,” she was fascinated by the Afghans made by her friends’ mothers and grandmothers. So she went to the local library (imagine!) and checked out every book on the fiber arts. Thus began her odyssey that would lead to learning to knit and then spin at Yarns with a Twist, a local yarn store in Chaplin, CT. Eventually, she would join “Fleece to Shawl” competitions at local fairs and help others with their knitting projects at Woolworks. But it was her philosophy of spinning that most captivated us, as she explained that every fiber has a personality, an idea of what it wants to be, and each of her 28 spinning wheels has a personality and a story waiting to unfold too. Mix in Natasha’s own personality, and, well, that’s a lot of personality spinning around: "If you are going to pick up spinning, you have to realize that there are moments where your will will not be done. If you want to enjoy the process sometimes you just have to listen to the fiber and let the fiber tell you what it wants to be . . . you can’t control everything. You are not meant to control everything. You do not get the final say of what is a good instinct. You are not the final decision maker on what’s considered beautiful or perfect. Let it do what it wants to do."We can see that philosophy at work in how she approaches teaching spinning too, as she explained that every student has their own language for learning. The teacher’s job is to figure out what that language is by listening and observing. Her favorite part of teaching? Seeing the flicker of understanding that happens right behind her students’ eyes when they get it and all the complexity of spinning falls into place for them.Perhaps most of all, spinning brings Natasha joy—the joy of interacting with the unique personality of each fiber and spinning wheel, and the pride and satisfaction that comes from making something from start to finish: “If you can spin it, you can make something beautiful out of anything . . . I surprise myself all the time.” And then there’s the joy of sharing it with the magical community at Woolworks. As we enter the holiday season, we think sharing Natasha’s story about the joys of learning, making and teaching “all the things” with her local community is what we all need.
Episode 53: How Knitting Helps Everyone (00:33:09)
Let's go back about 85 years. It's November, 1941, and America is about to enter World War II, when once again we will discover that we are a cold-footed, sockless nation. We have been here before. Think Revolutionary War, then the Civil War, and then World War I. But coming out of the Depression when there was not much money, we have evolved. We are now a nation of knitters--10 million knitters strong according to estimates from the National Dry Goods Association. So when the men pick up their guns, women pick up their needles once again, according to Anne Macdonald in No Idle Hands: The Social History of American Knitting. What's different? This time we have more music to knit by, like Glenn Miller's "Knit One, Purl Two" (you can ask Alexa to play it for you). Emily Post also decides on some rules of etiquette for knitting in public like "Do not wave long or shiny needles about in the air" (Macdonald, p. 304), so if you are doing that, stop it. But more than anything, accounts of knitting at the time speak to how it keeps us calm and connected, and in that way, it's good for everybody, knitters and wearers alike. Handknit garments helped the men at the front because they were"visible evidence that someone at home has been thinking about him--a lot. ... Nothing warms the hearts of the boys away from home like articles knitted by the loving hands of those they hold near and dear."Quoted in Anne L. Macdonald's No Idle Hands: The Social History of American Knitting (New York: Ballantine Books, 1988), p. 294.Knitting also helped the knitter, as writer Jane Cobb explained: Knitters "get satisfaction from the orderly row of stitches falling into patterns of accomplishment. In times like these there are few occupations that have that sort of effect. It is quite possible that women in wartime knit as much for the knitting as for what their knitting accomplished" (quoted in Macdonald, p. 298).So as we enter the season of thanks and perhaps some panic knitting for holiday gifts, stop waving your needles, ask Alexa to play "Knit One, Purl Two," and then take a breath and a moment to enjoy the "orderly row of stitches falling into patterns of accomplishment." Then make our Pecan Pie, and we have no doubt that many hearts will be warmed.
Episode 52: Rhinebeck Recap! (00:32:23)
What is it about Rhinebeck?! It's hard to believe that a modest gathering of local shepherds and 4-H Clubs to trade fleece and auction small livestock in 1980 is now a booming event attracting 30,000 people from all over the world. We met so many fascinating fiber folks, including Ting who owns a knitting store in Taiwan and three different knitting groups from Kansas City, in addition to seeing some of our favorite knitting celebs like Adele and Jimmy of Lolabean Yarn, designers Caitlin Hunter, Safiyyah Talley and Zanete, knitting gurus Patty Lyons and Carson Demers, and Gigi in all of her orange glory. We also reconnected with our friend Christina Kading and enjoyed watching her dad demonstrate how to shear a sheep. There's just a great sense of community that magically happens when a bunch of people sporting their handknit sweaters (Andrea Mowry's Ooey Gooey was well represented!) gather on a beautiful fall day on the Dutchess County Fair Grounds. Perhaps Alice Seeger, founder of Belfast Fiber Arts, said it best:"You can make a lot of things when you spin, dye, weave, knit, or crochet . . . But the most important things are the friendships.” Quoted in Laura Bannister's article, "Counting Sheep in Rhinebeck, New York," Vogue, October 24, 2022.
Episode 51: Does Knitting Shut Men Out? (00:38:15)
It's the Depression--the Great Depression. The economy is in the toilet, and birth rates, marriage rates, divorce rates are down, but guess what's up? Knitting! This is truly the Renaissance period for knitting according to Anne Macdonald in No Idle Hands: The Social History of American Knitting. The National Dry Goods Association estimated that 1/12th of the population knit, or about 10 million people. Between thrifty necessity, clever yarn companies sponsoring contests and stars like Joan Crawford and Katherine Hepburn taking up the needles on set, "the knitting craze" was the upside to the economic downside of the Depression. But does knitting shut men out? Humorist Ogden Nash devoted some rhymes to the claim that knitting wives left their husbands in a world of bitter silence:"Life will teach you many things, chief of which is that every man who talks to himself isn't necessarily out of his wits;He may have a wife who knits. . .Ah, my inquiring offspring, you must learn that life can be very bitter,But never quite so much so as when trying to pry a word out of a knitter."Ogden Nash, Not Many Years Ago, quoted in Anne Macdonald's No Idle Hands: The Social History of American Knitting, p. 277.So we wanted to know, does knitting shut men out? We did extensive research--okay, we asked one man--Bossy's husband. His answer? "I think knitting allows women to tolerate men." He gets a piece of Oreo cake for this answer, specifically Jevin's Victory Oreo Cake.Who says you can't inspire academic achievement with the promise of a special cake? So make this Oreo cake and always remember the power of knitting, as the 1932 Spring issue of McCall's Decorative Arts and Needlework proclaimed, "a gaily becoming sweater blouse always makes us feel like conquering the world."
50th Episode Giveaway Reminder (00:01:03)
Bootie and Bossy are popping in to remind you that the deadline of October 7, 2025 for our 50th episode giveaway is fast approaching! We are giving away two Skellie kits (two winners) from the fabulous www.serialknitters.com All you need to do to enter is to sign up for our newsletter on our website: www.bootieandbossy.com That's it! Don't miss out on your chance to win!
Episode 50: A Giveaway because we thought that would be Fun! (00:38:11)
We made it to our 50th episode, so what keeps us going? In a word, YOU. From our listeners to invited guests, to family members who helped with tech and made suggestions--to everyone who graced us with their time, support and expertise, we want to say THANK YOU. And that's why we are offering a great giveaway--two of Debie Frable's Skellie Kits will be awarded to two randomly selected subscribers to our newsletter--if you don't subscribe, it's easy to sign up through our website bootieandbossy.com. Please subscribe by October 7th, 2025 to be entered into the drawing. Thank you, Debie, for providing the fabulous Skellie kits!"What is the meaning of life? That was all--a simple question; one that tended to close in on one with years. The great revelation had never come. The great revelation perhaps never did come. Instead there were little daily miracles, illuminations, matches struck unexpectedly in the dark; here was one."Virginia Woolf, To the LighthouseWhen we first embarked on this great podcast adventure, we had no idea how meaningful it would become, offering us a series of "little daily miracles, illuminations, matches struck in the dark," as Virginia Woolf wrote in her novel, To the Lighthouse. Woolf herself was an avid knitter and wrote to her husband in 1912 that "Knitting is the saving of life." Her sister Vanessa Bell even painted a portrait of her knitting quietly in a chair. The opportunity to connect with others, hear their stories and learn tidbits of history (like the whereabouts of Napoleon's penis . . . ) and share our mistakes and missteps as well as those little daily miracles, has propelled us through 50 episodes. Along the way listeners in 44 of the 50 states (time to step up, you knitters in Utah, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Wyoming, Montana and North Dakota!) and in 17 countries abroad have joined us.And a good drink has helped too--try our celebratory Kir Royal--a nice glass of sparkling white wine with a splash of liquor. And then grab your pointed sticks and tune in to hear us reminisce because, well, like Mom setting off to marry Dad, we "thought that would be fun," and frankly, that's as good a reason as any to do anything.
Episode 49: Bare Female Shoulders, Oh My! (00:39:36)
Bare Female Shoulders, Oh My! Flapping through the 1920s in Bootie and Bossy's Episode 49!Why, why, why do men care so much about what women wear? Oh right, because they want to control women, but Irene Castle did not let the condemnation of Pope Pius and other religious leaders stop her from bobbing her hair and baring her shoulders. As a result, Castle was blamed for everything from broken engagements to wrecked homes, according to Anne Macdonald in No Idle Hands: The Social History of American Knitting. But this was the roaring 20s, the era of the Flappers, when women emerged from World War I empowered by new economic opportunity, and they said hello to voting and goodbye to old fashion, especially the corset. Now women were finally free to breath and move, or in Irene Castle's case, dance. Despite the liberation, Flapper fashion had some downsides--like constant dieting to get the boyish figure that looked good in the new, clingy tube knits. With rising hemlines and plunging necklines, it also ushered in the practice of women shaving their armpits and legs. That practice is still with us. Thanks.Everyone was so tired of knitting socks for the war, many turned to more decorative needlework like embroidery, but wool companies fought hard to keep knitting on the national radar by sponsoring contests with top prizes running as high as $2000. And knitting was still known for calming the nerves, as First Lady Grace Coolidge explained while sailing on the Presidential yacht, the Mayflower:"Many a time when I have to hold myself firmly, I have taken up my needle. It might be a sewing needle, knitting needles, or a crochet hook—whatever its form or purposes, it often proved to be the needle of the compass, keeping me to the course."Grace Coolidge, quoted in Macdonald, No Idle Hands, p. 243.It’s not only the knitting that centers us though—the wearing of a beautiful, hand-knit garment brings a special joy, as Bossy recently discovered when wearing the Goldwing sweater that Bootie gifted her after three months of repeated badgering. It was worth it—this is just the best thing, and look, no bare shoulders! Certain popes might even approve--oh wait, we don't care.So join us for some good flapping about knitting then and now, and a great recipe for Vietnamese Chicken, compliments of Michele Lee Bernstein!
Episode 48: Is knitting an Anti-feminist act? (00:45:06)
Let's set the scene: America at the beginning of the 20th Century, and despite their suffocating corsets that created the prized Gibson Girl physique, women are on the move, literally--they are fishing, biking, golfing, playing tennis and riding in those new automobiles. And there's a war raging between the Suffragists fighting for Women's rights, and the Anti-Suffragists who think it's enough that women are queens of the domestic sphere. What are their weapons? Pointed sticks--specifically knitting needles. According to Anne Macdonald's No Idle Hands: The Social History of Knitting, knitting for the Suffragists was exactly the kind of thing keeping women in chains, quiet, silent and occupied in the home. For Haryot Cahoon, a "forward woman" Suffragist, real women don't knit, and it's time to drop all those stitches and do something important: "A vast amount of drudgery is sugar coated with economy . . . If you wish to knit lace because you have more time on your hands than you know what to do with, you are the very one the world needs, with your youth and your energy and your industrious spirit . . . [Don't] puzzle your brain over 'knit one, skip one, purl one, drop one.' Drop them all! That's best!" Haryot Cahoon, quoted in Anne Macdonald's No Idle Hands: The Social History of American Knitting, p. 181. The "Antis" or Anti-Suffragists were quick to characterize their opponents as "a sisterhood of cranks who wear grey woolen underwear and number seven shoes and whose skirt and waist don't meet in the back" (Macdonald, p. 178). Knitting wasn't drudgery--it was magic for the Antis, "mysteriously 'feminine,' a bit of sorcery beyond the mere ken of males" (p. 182). The battle ended with a real war--World War I, where once again every woman, and yes, even man and child, picked up their pointed sticks to "Knit For Sammy" and save the world, or at least a lot of American feet. Even the "Rocky Mountain Knitter Boys" of Mapleton, Colorado stopped throwing spitballs for a while and declared "Knitting's the best thing ever to steady your nerves" (p. 235).We are glad to say goodbye to corsets, but we are grateful to the Suffragists for our rights and to the Anti-Suffragists who kept the magic of knitting alive--we'll take our rights with our knitting, thank you. We want the freedom to do what we want--whether that's knitting or making Michele Lee Bernstein's fabulous Lemon Orzo Pasta Salad, or something else. We say, do what you want! That's best!
Fun with Michele Lee Bernstein (01:07:52)
How do you eat Cheetos safely while knitting so everything is not covered with a fine neon orange dust? Chopsticks! How do you keep your balls of yarn from doing the Tango in your knitting bag while you are not looking? Yarn bras! How do you get yourself to do the things that you really don't want to do, like bookkeeping and managing your social media? Wear a tiara! How do fix your yarn after frogging a project so you can actually use it again? These are just some of the fun and helpful tips that Michele Lee Bernstein of PDXKnitterati shares with us here. Michele is a wonderful designer, teacher, blogger and author of Brioche Knit Love: 21 Skill Building Projects from Simple to Sublime, but her knitting journey began when she was 14 years old and too boy-crazy for her mother. So off she went to visit her Aunt Rose for a summer in Huntington Beach, California. We don't know what happened in the boy-crazy department, but her Aunt Rose taught her to knit, and she has never looked back. Her ambitious first project, a baby-blue pullover sweater with cables in front, also taught her that she has "a two-skein attention span" and her favorite three words are "Gauge not critical."She loves designing and teaching brioche knitting, but her knitting is always evolving--there's just so much to learn about knitting and food! Definitely try her recipe for Chocolate Chip Shortbread! She has recently added assigned pooling to her brioche repertoire, as shown in this design, "Scattered Petals." Unlike planned pooling, which requires a rock-steady gauge and careful calculations--not the best combination for a gauge-not-critical knitter!--assigned pooling is more random and free-form, with a pop of color conveyed through a special stitch every time a color occurs. She writes her patterns with the idea that they offer suggestions:"Assigned pooling is really fun, but just remember that you are the boss of the knitting, it's not the boss of you. . . Everything it tells you is a suggestion, but you are in charge!"--Michele Lee BernsteinThis is the magical flow of knitting: the way we discover that we always have something more to learn from a whole new technique liked assigned pooling to a quick tip about making yarn bras from a mesh bath poof. Michele Lee Bernstein taught us a lot in this episode, and we are honored to share it with you!
Episode 46: Quiet, Everyday Magic (00:43:58)
Here's something we love: Hunter Hammersen's "quiet, everyday magic that's easy to overlook. But it's magic nonetheless." She is talking about her "Noteworthy" pattern for a little pouch that looks like a piece of paper because "paper is magic, and the right piece of paper can change the world." When Bootie knit this little gem, it brought her "a bit of happy distraction," and while that did not change the world, it did just what Hammersen promised: it made the world "a tiny bit more comfortable, for just one person, for just a moment. And that's a kind of magic too." This is the power of knitting to take us out of the present and into a timeless moment of making. Hammersen is right--look at the world through the frame of quiet, everyday magic, and you'll find all kinds of magic. And here's a bit of culinary magic: Strawberry Shortcake with a Lemon Curd Cream--an upgrade on the old family favorite that you just have to try.We also found some magic in Anne Macdonald's account of women knitting in the 19th Century in No Idle Hands: The Social History of American Knitting. While we tend not to think of the Victorian era as particularly "sporty," this was when women started riding bicycles, playing tennis, golf and croquet; they were literally moving more and their clothing had to change to keep up. So they ditched their shawls, corsets and hoopskirts for sweaters and bloomers. Some regarded these new fashions as "ugly and eccentric," but thankfully, they persevered. The specter of a woman knitting was an assurance of womanliness that Mrs. Clorinda Nichols appropriated as she "tended strictly to her knitting" while she "duped male legislators into underestimating her crusade for more liberal property rights for women" at Kansas's first state constitutional convention (p. 143). Brilliant. But in the midst of all this moving and change, many women still found in knitting the space for creative transformation, as author Jane Croly expressed it:"The little work-tables of women's fingers, are the playgrounds of women's fancies, and their knitting needles are the fairy-wands by which they transform a whole room into a spirit isle of dreams."Jane Croly on her "view of knitting serenity," quoted in Anne L. Macdonald, No Idle Hands: The Social History of American Knitting, p. 142.So we hope we offer a little bit of quiet, everyday magic in this episode--it's not changing the world, we know, but if it makes you smile just once, or provides a bit of happy distraction, well, that's the kind of magic we aim to make.
Episode 45: Where is Napoleon's Penis? (00:38:35)
Inquiring minds want to know: where is Napolean's penis these days? We will give you a hint: it's not with the rest of his body, but it's a cautionary tale for today's despots that we think should be more widely known. To be clear, the whereabouts of Napolean's penis is not discussed in Anne Macdonald's No Idle Hands: The Social History of American Knitting, but many other fascinating historical tidbits are. We are now up to the Civil War, and guess what both sides, Union and Confederate, need the most? Yup, you guessed it: SOCKS. "'Send socks!' pleaded Civil War soldiers, and when their heartrending stories of bleeding, frostbitten and blistered feet reached 'the womenfolk,' there followed an unprecedented fever of sock-knitting 'for the boys'" (p. 97). The dearth of socks even inspired Albert M. Hubbard to compose "The Knitting Song: Dedicated to the Patriotic Ladies of the North," "a zesty tribute that quickly became a great favorite with choral groups at fairs and parlor sing-alongs and accounted for even further acceleration of knitting" (p. 102). While the North had more resources and infrastructure thanks to the unfortunately named "United States Sanitary Commission," the women of South showed their devotion and ingenuity in other ways. Scarlet O'Hara's famous upcycling of the drawing room curtains into a dress had its roots in real events, and later made for great comedy on the Carol Burnett Show. And how can we not admire Lucy Nickolson Lindsay of Missouri for delivering vials of quinine and morphine hidden in the coiled locks of her hair and 22 pairs of socks tucked in the hems of her skirts to the frontline? Women on both sides sent notes to the troops in the socks and garments they made to inspire hope for better days:Brave Sentry, on your lonely beatMay these blue stockings warm your feetAnd when from wars and camps you partMay some fair knitter warm your heart."Quoted in Anne L. Macdonald, No Idle Hands: The Social History of American Knitting, p. 105.These are the tales from American history that warm our hearts! And if you want something tasty to warm your palate, may we suggest our recipe for roasted balsamic onions? A treat in salads or sandwiches--tune in and try it!
Episode 44: The Cult of True Womanhood? We think not! (00:40:03)
Piety! Purity! Submissiveness! Domesticity! These are the four pillars of the "Cult of True Womanhood" in 19th-Century America according to Anne Macdonald in No Idle Hands: The Social History of American Knitting, and we say, "No thanks!" We also say "no thanks" to knitting in covered wagons, the long skirts that created clouds of dust, and the bloomers that replaced them. And then there's Brigham Young who bemoaned the sock problem that seems to have always plagued our country--never enough socks, and those they had were ill-fitting. Whose fault was it? The ladies are to blame, according to Young: "it is a fact that the art of knitting stockings is not near so generally understood among the ladies as it should be. I could tell you how it should be done had I time and knew how myself" (p. 92). Knit your own damn socks, Brigham! Oh wait--he can't because he doesn't know how. But we say "yes" to the Fragment Society, the longest continuously running women's sewing circle in the US (still going since 1812 and still supplying needy mothers and children with clothing and handknits). We say "yes" to the ingenuity of the pioneer woman who hooked up a butter churn to her wagon so her family had sweet butter every evening. We say "yes" to the incredible spirit and resilience of women like Aunt Becky Morris who crossed the Overland Trail in 1848 and remembered her experience at a 1918 reunion in the following terms:“We didn't come in automobiles ... We came by ox teams ... It was a hard, hard trip, hard work, slow progress, and not always dainties to eat. But we got here! We never gave up, never looked back, just kept on the move. And I guess that trip and the tough times we had after getting here were good for us ... Look at me! I will race anybody in the crowd who is under fifty if the race is at least four miles ... If you find anybody who wishes to take on such a race, just tell them to ask for Aunt Becky Morris."Quoted in Anne L. Macdonald, No Idle Hands: The Social History of American Knitting, p. 69.That's the kind of American pioneer spirit we celebrate here, and we hope it will carry us through these turbulent times, but it definitely helps to have a little dainty to eat, like Ina Garten's Spring Green Risotto--try it, it's springtime in a bowl and with that in your belly, you might just have a chance in racing Aunt Becky Morris!
Episode 43 (00:34:41)
If George Washington knew about Debie Frable's Killer Sangria, he probably would have wanted A LOT of it to help him get through the Revolutionary War because boy, is this good stuff! Make it TODAY. But at the time, Washington really just wanted socks--he never had enough socks, as we learned from reading Anne L. Macdonald's No Idle Hands: The Social History of American Knitting. As much as knitting and needlework have been dismissed as the stuff of “Pots and Pans,” as the “prankish students” at Yale referred to their social history class in the 1930s, Macdonald reminds us that local women bearing clothing and food to the naked, starving soldiers at Valley Forge literally saved the day:“[T]here was no mistaking the joy of soldiers on the verge of open revolt when sentinels pacing the camp’s outer limits spotted an advancing cavalcade of ‘[t]en women in carts, each cart drawn by ten pairs of oxen, and bearing tons of meal and other supplies, [who] passed through the lines amid cheers that rent the air.’ Those devoted women . . . ‘preserved the army, and Independence from that day was assured.’”Anne L. Macdonald, No Idle Hands: The Social History of American Knitting, pp. 36-7.The value of everyday things--adequate food and clothing--should never be underestimated. Macdonald reminds us that the war for American independence was fought on two fronts, the political and the economic. The burden of weaponizing the economy through the boycott of British goods fell mainly to women who were charged with making their own or doing without. As one Mrs. Troupe recounted Martha Washington explaining, “Whilst our husbands and brothers are examples of patriotism, we must be patterns of industry” (p. 39). Townships—which really meant local women—were charged with clothing their troops or risk being fined. Even children were expected to knit or spin a certain amount every day before going out to play. Can you imagine?! “Finish that row, buddy, because George Washington needs those socks!”As bad as we think it is now, we would not go back to those times, but reading about them reminds us of the sacrifices everyone—men, women and children—made in the fight for our nation’s political and economic independence. We owe it to them to preserve that. Enough said.
Episode 42: Behind the Scenes with Debie Frable (00:51:27)
Behind the scenes at Serial Knitters with Debie Frable in Bootie and Bossy's Episode 42!Ever wonder what goes into hand-dyed yarn? The short answer is A LOT, as we learned from Debie Frable, owner of Serial Knitters Dye House. First there’s the prepping of the yarn—teasing out each tie on the skein so that the dye can fully penetrate the fiber (unless you want something that looks like tie-dye). There are 3 ties on a skein, so let’s do the math: if she makes 300 skeins of her top-selling yarn, Cherry Creek sock, she is teasing out 900 ties for just that colorway in one base, not to mention the new ties she is attaching so she can manipulate it and hang it up. Then she has to wash it because dirt and fat on the yarn will resist the dye. Then there’s the soaking in an acid bath (not the kind of acid used for dissolving dead bodies, in case you were wondering). Tired yet? You have not even started the dyeing, you slacker! Maybe that’s multiple dips in a single color to get just the right depth of red for her “Drac Snack” (are you picking up a bit of a Goth theme yet?). Or Debie’s favorite speckled yarns where she sprinkles on powdered dyes. She then “cooks” the yarn in a warming oven to set the color. Now more washing, and finally hanging the skeins up to dry. As Debie says,"Nothing about my dye process is glamorous. I consider myself a glorified washer woman, except for the fact that I am dealing with color, and I am in love with color--it inspires me and keeps me going. But it’s a heavy job in that you are dealing with wet skeins of yarn, big pots of water, heavy pans of wet yarn. Then you’re hunched over a sink washing out yarn. Sometimes knitters think it’s so expensive, but you need to understand how much work goes into it."Debie Frable, Serial KnittersThere’s a lot of work, but there’s also artistry in her colorways, and some quirky creativity, like her colorway named for her favorite cat, Ted, and the adventures they have together in her dreams (look for “Snorkel Ted”). And there are the sweaters she makes for skeletons too--they are clearly having a blast!We learned so much from Debie, not just about dyeing and selling, but also some tips about knitting with hand-dyed yarn. And did we mention her “Killer Sangria” recipe? Because you are going to need a drink after all that work!
Episode 41: Purls Before Swine (00:46:23)
What's worth talking about? Pixar's short "Purl" in Bootie and Bossy's Episode 41!What happens when a pink ball of yarn named Purl starts working at B.R.O. Industries? Find out in Kristen Lester’s Pixar animated short “Purl.” There’s a lot going on in these 8 minutes that’s worth talking about. It’s “unbeweavable,” as Purl herself would say, but there’s a deeper message underneath all of the knitting puns. Purl is the literal and classic “round” character capable of surprise and transformation as she reknits herself in the bathroom to look more like her male co-workers. Her knitting skills are rewarded too: when she looks and talks more like her “flat,” stereotypical male co-workers, she’s accepted and listened to. But what’s the cost? The arrival of another ball of yellow yarn—"Lacy"—forces her to make a choice: go back to her old, true, round, pink self, or stay flat in her knitted power suit and be accepted by the bros? There’s a beautiful arc and message here as Purl returns to her former self. Here's what Kristen Lester, the director, had to say:"I wanted to tell and speak to an experience that I felt like we had not been talking about a lot . . . Believe in your voice, believe in what you have to say, believe in the things that you like. You can get challenged a lot, especially when you are a young woman going into the industry. It’s really important to stay true to who you are and believe in yourself."--Kristen Lester, Director of “Purl”But Purl’s round, colorful presence also transforms B.R.O. Industries, ostensibly making it a more welcoming place for all. That’s the beauty of inclusion—it makes it better for everyone, right? But what about how the men are flattened and stereotyped? And the guys at B.R.O. Industries—what if they don’t want to change? What if the culture of scarcity makes them feel like they are losing instead of gaining something? Art prompts these important conversations, and these things are worth talking about, especially today. And speaking of great conversation, did we mention that we will be hosting a Zoom Knit Night with Kim Davis on Friday, April 4, 7:00 PM EST/4:00 PM PST? Put it on your calendars now and plan to join us! We’ll be sending out a link to register soon, so stay tuned!And if you need a little snack to go with your wine, may we recommend Dorie Greenspan’s recipe for “Savory Cheese and Chive Bread” from her cookbook, Around My French Table? It’s easy and versatile—throw in whatever you have on hand—those random hunks of leftover cheese, bacon, walnuts or olives. Even the ungrateful children love it! So whip up some cheesy, savory bread, watch “Purl,” and join us on April 4 for some laughs, some good crafting talk and great conversation!
Episode 40: Vengeance Most Fowl (00:36:06)
Snow! Rain! Ice! Wind! When the blows of winter buffet us, we need to find joy in small things like bowls of warm, tasty Jamaican Chicken Curry, compliments of Kim Davis of Slaycation fame. Kim might not love cooking, but sometimes the non-cooks have the one tried-and-true recipe that hits all the notes. This recipe will definitely make it into your regular rotation because it’s delicious, easy and flexible—throw whatever you have on hand into one pot and make the ones you love happy today and tomorrow.And speaking of Kim Davis and finding joy in good company, we are excited to announce that we will be hosting a Zoom meet-up for our Bootie and Bossy listeners and Slaycation crafters on Friday, April 4 at 7:00 PM EST and 4:00 PM PST. Sign up for our newsletter through our website, bootieandbossy.com and we will send you a link to register. Grab a glass of wine or one of our cocktails and join us for some great conversation with Kim. And did we mention the PRIZES?! There will be some good ones! Mom might even come too (hi, Mom)!And for our knitting pop-culture moment in this episode, there’s lots to love in the latest Wallace and Gromit feature film, Vengeance Most Fowl. While Gromit, Wallace’s ever-faithful canine companion, finds joy in making things by hand from knitting socks to cultivating his English garden, Wallace is determined to make his life "better" through time-saving inventions like Norbot, the happy, nifty gnome who does everything fast. Besides the knitting references, we love the commentary on modern life that this “simple” stop-motion/Claymation film offers, like the settings Wallace devises to capture the spectrum of available human emotional and moral states: Good, Pleasant, Unassuming, Dull, Boorish, Mildly Annoying, Bit Selfish, Grumpy, Mean Spirited, Really Nasty, EvilIf only we could wear this on a t-shirt to alert everyone to our setting on a given day. Or maybe everyone else could wear it so we would know when to steer clear. Remember, it's not their fault that they woke up on the "Grumpy" setting--it's just the programming. A good project and a nice cup of “Snoozy Choc” might be the answer. Keep finding the joy in cooking and making, and join us on April 4 too--more joy to come!
What could murders, vacations and knitting possibly have to do with one another? Kim Davis, one of the hosts of the podcast Slaycation, connects the dots in this episode. The name “Slaycation” says it all: these are true-crime tales of murders that take place on vacation—more reason, as if we needed it, to stay home and, well, eat, drink and knit. It’s just safer. But in addition to her popular podcast, Kim is a crafter extraordinaire, and we dive deep into her story here. She learned to crochet as a child growing up in Brooklyn—even then she was fascinated by how a piece of yarn could become a fabric with a little deft maneuvering of a hooked piece of wood. Taking classes at a local yarn store introduced her to knitting and brought her skills to a whole new level. Now she teaches those classes and runs workshops. But the real connection between her twin obsessions with knitting and true crime is in the details. Knitting taught her to see, to pay attention to all the little things because the truth—what really happened on that beach or on that hike in Colorado—always lies in the little stitches that make up the tale. And like true crime, knitting is a bit like a puzzle, particularly when it comes to fixing your mistakes. First you have to see the mistake, and often it's lying there in plain sight, just waiting for you like that little clue, that critical piece of evidence that unravels the whole mystery of who done it. That’s why she calls one of her classes, “Forensic Knitting.” But beyond the surprising parallels between true crime and crafting, knitting brings her peace of mind, something we could all use right now:“Knitting is the perfect combination of meditating and peace. It sounds crazy, but when I don’t have knitting, I can feel myself shorting out a little bit, being a little crankier and just missing it . . . it’s just such a great way to disconnect from the chaos of the world . . . to just center yourself and take your mind out of the orbit of insanity but on to what it is that is right in front of you. And I think that’s really important. When I say to people that you need a hobby, it’s not an insult. It’s the best thing you can do for yourself.”Kim DavisIf only more people understood that the cure to our collective crankiness is more time alone with nice yarn and pointed sticks. So tune in for a great conversation with Kim Davis and explore the surprising parallels between the world of true crime and knitting because everything really is connected!
Wondering what to do for Valentine’s Day for all those special Valentines in your life? Bootie and Bossy to the rescue with a recipe for FIVE POUNDS of our Aunt Annie’s homemade fudge, also known as “Overseas Fudge” because it will withstand a military transport plane. And that’s our Aunt Annie, rocking the yellow pantsuit in the ‘70s—how could it not be good when it comes from her?! The well-spattered recipe from 1968 is fool-proof and delicious, and even if you eat one pound yourself, you’ll still have four pounds left to send to everyone else.But there’s more to the story here, as we discovered when we read Lee Edwards Benning’s Oh Fudge! A Celebration of America’s Favorite Candy with Nearly 300 Mouth-Watering, Fully Tested Recipes. While fudge began as an accidental discovery (as its name suggests), it was Emelyn Battersby Hartridge, a freshman at Vassar in 1888, who began the trend of fundraising through fudge-making at women’s colleges. Soon the women at Smith and Wellesley had their own recipes that they whipped up over a gas lamp after lights out at 10:00 PM. They even wrote songs about it:We love the sight of the fudge-pan bright,We love the sight of the spoon,And better by far than the light of the starIs the gas, now outshining the moon.Then gather around with whispers profoundFor the bell has rung ten at night,With the transom shut, at our very last cutWe’ll sing to the fudge-pan bright . . . --Lee Edwards Benning, Oh Fudge! A Celebration of America’s Favorite Candy (New York: Henry Holt), p. 9.Who says that they did not know how to party back then? And fudge-making is still fun now, just like our Aunt Annie, who is also a master of many crafts, including pet portraits! So sing the song to the fudge-pan bright and whip up some chocolate magic—the Cocoa bean is, after all, from the genus Theobroma, Greek for “Food for the Gods.” Then send it off to all your Valentines—they will definitely feel the love!
Episode 38: Perfectly Perfect, or not (00:40:00)
What is it about Martha Stewart? If you want a good watch while you are playing with your Christmas yarn and pointed sticks, tune in to the Netflix biopic, Martha. Talk about a phoenix. Launching her own I.P.O. in 1999, she became the first self-made woman billionaire in American history. Five years later, she’s wearing her “Coming Home Poncho” that a fellow inmate crocheted for her as she leaves a federal prison, a.k.a. “Camp Cupcake.” We have watched her rise and fall and rise again, and there’s a lot to admire here. Perhaps Joan Didion said it best in her New Yorker piece: “This is not a story about a woman who made the best of traditional skills. This is a story about a woman who did her own I.P.O. This is the 'woman’s pluck' story, the dust-bowl story, the burying-your-child-on-the-trail story, the I-will-never-go-hungry-again story . . . The dreams and the fears into which Martha Stewart taps are not of “feminine” domesticity but of female power, of the woman who sits down at the table with the men and, still in her apron, walks away with the chips." Joan Didion, The New Yorker, February 21 and 28, 2000.This is a Martha who is 83, and she’s got an edge—she even drops an occasional f-bomb! But it’s an edge that she has earned, and she’s not going to sand it down or dip it in sugar. And in the midst of the triumphs and the tribulations, she’s learned a few things worth listening to: “If you want to be happy for a year, get married. If you want to be happy for a decade, get a dog. If you want to be happy for life, plant a garden.” She learns something new every day, and she lives by the dictum that “when you are through changing, you are through.” This is a Martha who is perfectly human, flawed like the rest of us and weathered by experience, but still standing and inspecting her peonies. She makes us think that whatever happens, we'll survive--a message we could use right now. Speaking of transformation, of taking clown-colors and making them wearable, check out Bootie’s shawl that she over-dyed with Kool-Aid. Her daughter actually wears it on a regular basis! A knitting triumph, but it didn’t start out that way. Between this and Martha’s story, you’ll definitely find some inspiration in this episode, and a healthy snack with Martha’s Lemony White Bean Hummus! Please check out the Show Notes at www.bootieandbossy.com
Episode 37: How is Ina Garten like a Phoenix? (00:32:51)
Want to start out the New Year with a great read? If you are an Ina Garten fan, as we are, her new memoir Be Ready When the Luck Happens and this episode are for you! And with the audio version, it’s like Ina is keeping you company while you’re knitting—as Ina would say, “How great is that?”We decided that Ina is a bit like a Phoenix rising from the ashes. How can that possibly be, you ask? To be clear, she does not compare herself to a Phoenix. But as she describes growing up in a strict, 1950s household obsessed with appearances where her mother (a dietician) saw food as sustenance and insisted her daughter focus only on her studies, Ina rises from the ashes to create a food empire grounded on the opposite of those values. Ina’s food is about love, something she learned when she started making cookies for her then boyfriend, Jeffrey: “baking something delicious was a way to express my feelings and to connect with Jeffrey—I’d think of him while I cooked, and when he reached for one of my cookies or brownies, I knew he’d think of me” (35). Grandma always said the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.What Ina wanted—and still wants—is to be “independent and self-determined,” and if that meant leaving her job in the White House to own a specialty food shoppe, then that’s the point: she wanted the freedom to make that decision, even when everyone else, including her parents, thought it was wrong. And guess what? Ina was right. The irony is that she worked incredibly hard to make cooking easy for the rest of us.“You weren’t lucky. You make your own luck.”Oprah Winfrey to Ina Garten (303)There’s only one thing we must take issue with, and we are going to side with Oprah Winfrey here, who smacked Ina on the arm when she returned to her seat after accepting an award and expressing gratitude for all of her good luck. Ina made her own luck. Oprah wins that one.A Phoenix is also the theme for Bootie’s latest knitting project for our sister Melissa, who decided she needed a pussy hat emblazoned with a Phoenix rising from the ashes of 2024. As all good things, it was a collaborative effort, with Liss designing the Phoenix, Bootie’s son providing the graphing paper for a knitting-stitch scale, and Bootie knitting and embellishing with duplicate stitches. A lot of work, but it looks great!So make a big batch of Ina’s delicious carrot ginger soup—very healthy, depending on how much cream you add—and snuggle in for a listen to Ina reading Be Ready When the Luck Happens and to our podcast!P.S. Did we mention that Ina is also a knitter?!Show notes at www.bootieandbossy.com
Christmas Bonus 2024 (00:16:20)
Let’s set the scene. It’s December, 1946, and it’s beginning to look a lot like a disappointing Christmas at the Fort Hamilton, NY military base. No Christmas tree, no decorations for eight-year-old Mom waiting to disembark with her two sisters and mother for Heidelberg, Germany where they will join their father, then serving as an Army intelligence officer. The only gift? A pair of mittens for each girl handknit by their grandmother, wrapped and waiting on the bedstand Christmas morning. The disappointment of a handknit gift is what Mom decides to share on our knitting podcast. We can’t make this up."I have wished many times over the years that I had asked our mother more questions when she was still with us. Eight-year-old me was disappointed in such a sparse Christmas, but I now realize how difficult that time was for our mother, and I am grateful for what she managed to do under the circumstances. I wish I could tell her that.”Janet Lewis Klein, "My Strangest Christmas"Thankfully, it does not end there. Her older sister didn’t remember the mittens, but she did remember the stocking filled with candy hanging at the end of the bed. Which version is more true? Perhaps the Christmas miracle here is that both are true, and it takes a family to reconstruct the whole story. But that little detail changed the story for Mom and what it meant to her. As she says, “Our memories are unreliable. Thank heavens we grow up.” This is why we need each other, and why we share these memories and mis-rememberings.We hope you find some time over the holiday season to share some memories with family too, and maybe make some new ones. And Mom, we are grateful for all you have given us over the years, but it was a C and H Pure Cane Sugar ad, not Hawaiian Punch.Check out the Show Notes at www.bootieandbossy.com
Episode 36: Shear delight, an interview with Christina Kading (00:50:14)
Shear delight is the only way to describe our conversation with the wonderfully talented Christina Kading, who began her career as a second-generation sheep-shearer at the age of 8 ("I was born on top of a sheep!"). What's so hard about sheep shearing, you ask? First there are the kicking animals who don't necessarily want a woolcut, even though they have it growing out of their ears and eyeballs. Then there's the sheer physicality it demands, second only to jackhammering. And finally there's all the sexism, the men like Gary in Pennsylvania who didn't think Christina--a woman!--could shear his alpacas. Step aside, Gary, and let Christina Kading show you just how capable she is. She can do so much more than shear Gary's alpacas, though that alone would be enough--she's an accomplished artist, working in wood and wool, and a mixologist to boot. Try out Christina's recipes for a Jade Gimlet and an Espresso Martini--they are divine concoctions to warm up and refresh on a cold winter night (or day)."Just because we are women, and we are gay, doesn't mean we are not capable of shearing an alpaca."Christina KadingWe met Christina at Rhinebeck where she was selling her rugs, hand-made from the unwanted wool from her shearing. Her designs are wonderfully geometric and coincide with the wood tabletops she makes using pyrography, a technique of inscribing designs with fire. Her fascination with lines and shapes began in her high school math classes (as a way to avoid learning math), but that has blossomed into beautiful art informed by sacred geometry, the sense that we are all connected through universally shared lines, shapes and patterns.We hope you enjoy our conversation with Christina as much as we did--we learned a lot, and it is true that "sheep-shearers are just irresistible. . . we just hypnotize people with our loving, gentle, sheep-shearing skills. I don't know what it is, but it gets them every time." So grab a Jade Gimlet or Espresso Martini and take a break from the holiday chaos to tune in for a great conversation with a fascinating artist and sheep-shearer!Check out the Show Notes at www.bootieandbossy.com
Episode 35: Our country is spatchcocked but there's still Rhinebeck (00:38:32)
We're back--we hope you missed us! And we brought scissors, and we are not afraid to use them in spatchcocking a turkey for Thanksgiving. "Spatchcocking?" You may well ask. It's not just a word for removing the spine of the turkey to make for a wonderfully evenly roasted bird in half the time--say goodbye to over-cooked, dry breasts and under-cooked thighs (the turkey's, that is). But it's more than that as chef, teacher and cookbook author Kim O'Donnel explains in "Spatchocking: A Culinary Term for Our Times." Written in 2022 after the overturning of Roe v. Wade, but perhaps even more resonant today, O'Donnel reflects on her own freedom to make choices that have shaped who she is."The right to decide allowed me to become the woman I am . . . The choices that were mine to make allowed me to forge my own path. They've given me the wisdom to know this: Without safe, legal abortion, this country is spatchcocked."Kim O'Donnel, "Spatchcock: A Culinary Term for Our Times," Lulu Pork Chop, July 3, 2022But what about Rhinebeck?! While other podcasters might broadcast live from the New York State Sheep and Wool Festival, we prefer to wallow in the womb of time and reflect on our experience for a month. What did we conclude? It wasn't just fun, it was joyously inspiring. We met so many designers and knitters we admire--Aimée Gille, Vincent Williams, Patty Lyons, Sarah Schira, Jamie Lomax, Bristol Ivy, Gigi Queen of Orange, the Grocery Girls and Rosann Fleischauer. What about Andrea Mowry? Don't worry, her pattern "Framed" clearly caught the collective fancy this year and was everywhere in all colors and sizes. It was magical to see so many people wearing hand-knit their framed garb on the hill for the meet-up.
Episode 34: Abundance (00:36:54)
Whether you have an abundance of tomatoes in your garden like Bossy, or bought them on sale at the market like Bootie, you will love this super simple and amazingly delicious recipe. It's great for those back to school nights when you need something fast. And if you prep everything in the morning (your future you will thank you for that), your kitchen will smell wonderful all day. The recipe for linguine with tomatoes and basil comes from the Silver Palate cookbook and we've made a few updates, as always.Our knitting in pop culture moment is brought to you by Gilmore Girls Season 7 Episode 9, "Knit, People, Knit." We loved how they really got the philosophy of knitting, (if not the mechanics) and the knitting puns had us in stitches ;-)Bootie and Bossy both have finished objects! Just in time for Rhinebeck!Please check out our show notes at www.bootieandbossy.com
