Episode 43: Revolutionary Times
What we discussed:
Debie's "Killer" Sangria is well named. This delicious concoction will keep your book club very happy. It makes a lot and is very adaptable. You can mix it up ahead of time and add the fruit a couple of hours before serving.
We discussed the first couple of chapters of the book, No Idle Hands: the Social History of American Knitting by Anne L. MacDonald.
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 poltical and economic independence. We owe it to them to preserve that. Enough said.
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In terms of knitting, Bootie has found herself stricken with castonitis and has three large sweaters on the needles, plus a MKAL shawl! The sweaters she is working on are : Kleine by Marie Greene using Holst Garn Coast in Putty and Petal, Goldwing by Jennifer Steingass using Juniper Moon Farm BFL in Iron and Junction Fiber Mill Making Tracks in Red Hots, and Winterlandia by Marie Greene using Plied yarn in Snowballs. The Postcard from the Edge shawl is a MKAL with Marie Greene and Bootie is using the amazing Echo Lake Tweed yarn from Debie Frable of Serial Knitters in Drac Snack, Sunny Day in Seattle (OOAK) and Watermelon. Meanwhile, she's resisting the urge to cast on for Professor Fungi, Sarah Schira's latest MKAL.
Bossy is basking in the glory of her finished Eurus!
She's also found a wonderful use for swatches: print making! She found that cotton yarn works best. She will be headed back to Bunnyland soon, making another one of the adorable bunnies by Julie Williams.
About the Recipe:
Debie's "Killer" Sangria is well named. This delicious concoction will keep your book club very happy. It makes a lot and is very adaptable. You can mix it up ahead of time and add the fruit a couple of hours before serving.
Whatever you do, don't knit like my sister!!
