Episode 23: Comfort
“There’s something about, you know, when your life is sort of falling apart you need to create a purpose in it for yourself. And if that purpose is quite small, it doesn’t matter. It’s important. It’s something tangible.” From Visible Mending by Samantha Moore
It's snowing in colonial Massachusetts and threatening to snow (mostly large drifts of paranoia) out in the Pacific Northwest so we offer Ina's Winter Minestrone to warm the cockles of your soul, and your belly. It meets all of our criteria: one pot, it makes a lot, and uses mostly ingredients from your larder. Bossy keeps a stash of frozen pesto cubes in her freezer larder, along with the turkey stock from Thanksgiving. Bootie reveals that she buys the squash already peeled and cubed, and sometimes the mirepoix which is French for diced onions, celery, and carrots. As usual, we made a few modifications. We also share our recipes for homemade pesto, garlic bread, and croutons.
Bootie and Bossy thought the short animation "Visible Mending" by Samantha Moore was absolutely brilliant. She used knitted mice to animate people talking about how knitting is getting them through some very difficult times and how they use it to help others get through their own losses. We particularly love the idea that as you are healing, you don't need to make your scars or your "mending" invisible. You don't necessarily need or want to forget that it ever happened. The mending can actually be an opportunity for embellishments like embroidered flowers.
The video inspired Bootie to mend a pair of wool socks. Here is the tutorial she used:
We talked about some homemade Xmas gifts. Bootie and her daughter created a grunge/punk gnome for Bossy's son complete with nipple rings (Bootie modified the pattern "All Work, Gnome Play" by leaving out the spiral on the hat and adding yarn hair). Bootie's daughter crocheted the spikes on the hat and added some piercings. Bossy's son is rocking the Annabella hat, also made by Bootie:
The gorgeous shawl that Bootie's daughter made for her. The pattern is Falling Blossoms by Ana D. The yarn is Keith Leonard's Yarn Snob in two different colorways but unfortunately we lost the tag. After making it, her daughter soaked it in some of Olive knits deliciously scented fiber washes:
The hilarious Mom cards that Bootie's son made for her:
A few other things we mentioned: the chicken hat that Bootie made for Bossy's son (unfortunately we couldn't find any pictures of him wearing it) but here's the pattern, this hysterical video of knitters mimicking actors pretending to knit on film (thank you to Bootie's sister in law for sharing that one!), and a dissertation from Carnegie Mellon on computational models of knitting.
And whatever you do, don’t knit like my sister!
