Bootie and Bossy Eat, Drink, Knit

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.

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."

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!

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!

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!

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.

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!