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Episode 22 The Room of the Thankful Child!
"A cocktail is not meant to be a melange. At its best, a cocktail should be crisp, elegant, sincere--and limited to two ingredients." --Richard from the novel A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
Don't listen to the American in A Gentleman in Moscow who says that a cocktail should be limited to just two ingredients! This delicious cranberry cocktail has many elements which complement each other beautifully. It starts with a cranberry slurry made from your own cranberry sauce leftover from Thanksgiving (and if you ate it all, Bootie has a recipe for you). You can put the cranberry slurry in a quart mason jar which makes it hooch, an excellent host gift! Or keep it for yourself and enjoy it whenever you need a little help to make it through the holidaze. Just add an equal part of ginger beer and the juice of a lime, plus of course magical ice spheres.
Here's a parody of Ina Garten making a cranbery cosmopolitan and who can forget the real Ina making a cocktail during quarantine!
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Bootie is in Gnomeville and loving these whimisical creations, even if her middle-bah-humbug sister is not a fan. She recommends the pattern All Work, Gnome Play by Sarah Schira. There are excellent videos for all the little pieces that go together. Bootie used scrap yarns for her gnomes, named, Gnoma (pictured with her mom circa 1948 in Heidelburg, Germany), Gnuthie, and Gnannie. The group shot is of Bootie and Bossy's mom on the right, their aunt Ruthie in the middle (reading), and their second cousing Johnnie. Below that is a picture of Bootie and Bossy's mom and their Aunt Annie, looking like she's thinking of putting a spider in their mom's mouth when she's sleeping. Of course our mom, looking so sweet and innocent here, was known for telling Annie some tall tales such as the hills in Kentucky were actually beached whales.
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One of the great things about gnomes is that they don't have eyes! If you don't place the eyes just right, your stuffed animals wind up looking like some of these creepy critters we found at awkward.com.
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Bossy created a beautiful hat and fingerless gloves by felting her father-in-law's sweater.
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Bossy felted the sweater by washing it in the washer and then drying it on low heat in the dryer with some dryer sheets and wool dryer balls--she would recommend felting it before you cut out the pieces for the hat and gloves so that they are true to size because different wools felt differently. This was a merino and cashmere blend.
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To make the hat, Bossy used a hat that fit her husband's head as a guide, lining up the base of the hat with the ribbing along the bottom of the sweater. Leave about half an inch around for the seams and cut some darts at the top to make it fit the shape of the head. The pom-pom is from the same felted fabric--use a section that you are not using for something else and cut a thin strip around in circles to maximize the length of the strip. Then use a pom-pom maker as you normally would. The pom-pom was rather robust, and Bossy made additional smaill cuts in the strips making up the pom-pom to make it a little more flexible.
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The fingerless gloves are made with a rectangle of fabric--just measure around your hand as a guide. Then seam up the side and sew in a triangle with a little extra for the thumb part. Or just leave a hole in the side for the thumb and call it a day! Bossy used a section from the neckline of the sweater for the thumb gussets to create the ribbing.
Feeling overwhelmed by all the pressure to buy something that will improve your life or someone else's life? This quote resonated with Bootie and Bossy:
“The world is increasingly designed to depress us. Happiness isn’t very good for the economy. If we were happy with what we had, why would we need more? How do you sell an anti-ageing moisturiser? You make someone worry about ageing. How do you get people to vote for a political party? You make them worry about immigration. How do you get them to buy insurance? By making them worry about everything. How do you get them to have plastic surgery? By highlighting their physical flaws. How do you get them to watch a TV show? By making them worry about missing out. How do you get them to buy a new smartphone? By making them feel like they are being left behind. To be calm becomes a kind of revolutionary act. To be happy with your own non-upgraded existence. To be comfortable with our messy, human selves, would not be good for business.”
― Matt Haig, Reasons to Stay Alive
We hope that you find the time to make something you enjoy making, and spend time with the people you enjoy being with. Happy Holidays!
And whatever you do, don’t knit like my sister!