As I write this, it’s been thirteen years since this episode of Cast On was released. I used the Barbara Billingsley clip from the 1980 film, Airplane, to underscore the point that, as knitters, it is our common language that unites us.
The word, “jive”, describes a dance style that originated in the 1930’s, in African American communities. In 2020, I realise that the sentiments portrayed through the use of this word in the film clip are racist. They paint black culture as something “other”. Using the term to “other” black speech belongs to a past that I don’t wish to occupy. I’m ashamed of that past, and am sorry that I included the film clip in this episode. Because black lives matter.
Episode 57 has been removed from the podcast feed, and is no longer available.
This week Today’s Sweater, The Red Edge, and essays by Sacramento writer, Melanie Hamilton, and… me!
Modern Quilt – Victorian Lace Today – Spiral Yoke Sweater
The Minnesota Knitters host a Knit Out. KnitML takes another step forward. (Yes, I do know it’s a language, and not a program.)
Music for the podcast was provided by, and used with the permission of these artists:
- Mathew Ebel – Lost My Way
- Christopher Dallman – Mistake
- Girlyman – Fall Stories
- Maria Daines – Turned October
Hi Brenda,
Great podcast – I had a lovely hour sitting out in the sun, finishing my Mum’s socks and listening to you. Good luck with the dress!
Liz
I love what you did with the sweater bands.
Having never made a wedding dress, I have, however, made a bridesmaid’s dress. It was for my son’s wedding and it was one of those Diana types of the ’80s era–you know, with the big, puffy, ruffled sleeves and miles and miles of pink moire ruffle at the hemline. In true Kay fashion, I procrastinated until I really had to buckle down daily. I know just a tiny bit of your predicament! Best of luck, Brenda!
people still clog! i was on a clogging team for eleven years before i went to college. it’s really popular in the suburbs of southern california, and i think arizona has a lot of cloggers. although, i suppose it’s no longer the traditional form of dance, since now the clothes are flashy, the music is loud, and the competitions are more like cheerleading showdowns than hoedowns in the appalachian mountains.
good luck with the dress (and with marrying off your progeny!) and please come back as soon as you can.
Stay sane over the next month! Sewing supplies ARE still available if you know where to look…. City Road in Cardiff is a mecca of fabric shops…. but I think the demise of the fabric mill due to all the clothing manufacturers moving operations to Asia is a lot to blame. And I read somewhere that putting sloes in the freezer before ginning them does the same job as a frost… Hope the dressmaking goes well…
Hi Brenda,
For corset supplies I get them from vena cava (http://www.venacavadesign.co.uk/). They do a great American corset making video by laughing moon (http://www.venacavadesign.co.uk/Products/Laughing_Moon_How_to_Make_and_Fit_a_Victorian_Corset_VideoDVD.html) you can also buy the patterns (http://www.venacavadesign.co.uk/Products/Laughing_Moon_Corset_Pattern.html) to go with it. Its very comprehensive and step by step. Though not useful for you now Jema Hewitt (http://www.bridal-originals.co.uk/) does fantastic corset making courses (this is where I learnt ,she does other courses to). If you email her she can probably give you some pointers. Or if you get very stuck you can email me I’ve made a few.
As for local sewing supplies (ok localish) try Garems in cross hands they do gardening stuff to (http://www.garems.co.uk/location.asp).
Knitters and sewers world (http://www.knitandsew.co.uk/) park street in Swansea opposite the sex shop 🙂
Also in Swansea on oxford stret is lee mills fabric (http://www.leemillfabrics.co.uk/)
In mumbles (2 woodville road) there is Mrs Macs for yarn and needle craft.
Hope this is of help
Emma
Hi Brenda,
I agree with your observation about sewing. I’m 48 and have been sewing since grade school. My mother was my first teacher who inspired me with her zip-up bell bottom jumpsuits and our mother/daughter dresses she made from cotton or flowy cream crepe that had tiny green polka dots. For a short time when I entered my fashionista stage, I had to make a decision because I was in a place where all the other girls came from families with money and we didn’t. I thought sewing would be a sign of being poor. But I also adored Mary Quant and there was no way I could afford that amazing mod style in the sleepy town where we lived, let alone even find anything that came close to something I wanted to wear. No one else my age seemed to even know who Mary Quant was and it didn’t take long before I was convinced that sewing my own clothes was the choice and I made my first mini on my first electric sewing machine which was given to me as a birthday present from my father. I began to score more fabric to make jackets, hats, halters, wrap-around pants. I continued to make jersey dresses, undies, men’s shirts, a full piece men’s suit from Vogue patterns (I promise to never do a favor like that again), slips, jeans, a contemporary wedding dress and any household item that had to do with fabric (wash cloths, bedspreads, sheets, table cloths, curtains)… My mother had saved my old Betsy Johnson patterns and recently dug them up from an old box in the closet. In 1970 she made me a fully lined, fake fur midi coat on her beautiful 1958 Husqvarna sewing machine. That is a story for another time, but a happy one and the machine still sits lovingly on her kitchen table. I don’t know many other people who sew as much as myself, but I hear sewing is making a comeback. I believe sewing is an expression of a time when we I probably had more imagination to spend than money. Fabric WAS less expensive back then and I was in heaven when my I landed my first real job in a fabric store. I had a friend who also worked at a fabric store and we would spend countless nights trading off pinning and sewing to make all sorts of things to wear. We never thought of it as labor, but it was definitely fun. Sewing is a vital part of who I am and is intwined in my past and present relationships, my home and in my growing up through the years. Maybe it’s the part about an idea and relying on your sensibilities and allowing for whim. These days, I don’t sew everyday, but the machine is always up and waiting for me and another small adventure. And eventhough now I’m able to buy it, I’d still refuse the convenience, because I can sew it.
Brenda, I forgot to mention that been listening to your podcast since the beginning, love it and thank you for the inspiration! Jane
It was so lovely to hear your voice today. Thank you for sharing your sweaters (I actually gasped with joy when I heard the Mr. Rodgers song). Good luck with all the craziness that is coming in the next few weeks, but make sure you let yourself relax enough to enjoy Italy and the wedding.
Brenda, another great podcast. As a member of the MN Knitters Guild, thanks for the Knit Out mention.
I’ve been eavesdropping on your life–because that’s what it feels like–for most of the two years you’ve been podcasting (I did listen to all the back episodes in order when I started). What a pleasure and a privilege it has been. Congratulations to your son and to you on his marriage. The dress sounds fabulous. Thanks for sharing the stories of struggling with the sweaters–it makes me realize that when I have to rip and rework, it’s not because I’m incompetent but because I’m learning, and the learning never stops. Your essay this week was brilliant. Thank you and enjoy the celebration with your family!
Don’t forget to enjoy sewing the wedding dress. What an honor! Many congratulations to the happy couple.
I just love all the music in this episode. I always enjoy it, but these songs are true love!
I just finished listening to all your back episodes. Thank you so much for making such an interesting podcast! My mother-in-law sewed my wedding dress as well. It took a lot of hard work, but the end result was magnificent. Best of luck on the sewing and the wedding!
Brenda, another brilliant and inspiring essay! So good to hear your voice again and I wish you the very best in the next six weeks. Remember to take time during this period of craziness to _enjoy_ the events around you. I hope your tour is sun-filled and full of surprising wonders and I wish the very best that life can offer to both you and the happy couple for the wedding. I’m sure the gown will be wonderful.
Great podcast! Thanks
I too have been with you since the beginning – and I felt compelled to comment on this episode! I listened this morning whilst everyone else in the house was still asleep (I’m an early riser) and I was knitting a shawl that I need to complete to a deadline. What joy! To enjoy your lovely voice on its own is a pleasure, but when I heard the tune announcing Today’s Sweater – I could hardly contain myself! Whilst I appreciate that you have run out of sweaters to feature, it is still my favourite item to listen to.
With regards to the wedding dress – keep up the good work! I made my own dress 21 years ago, and with three teenage daughters I have promised that I will do the same for them when the time comes – but supplies are certainly hard to come by. I will be watching your progress with interest!
Love the show, and loved this weeks music.
Vitamins, 6 hours sleep minimum, coffee/caffeine and large fits of laughing will get you through the wedding dress. Can’t wait to see the finished creation on your blog. Thanks for all you do to create a community, Brenda. We’ll see/hear you when you return to PlanetPodCast.In the meantime, have fun!
Thank you for another great podcast. I really enjoyed the fact that this was mostly you talking and pondering on life and knitting, etc. and found myself singing along gleefully when I heard the Sweater song. Hadn’t realised how much I missed this part of the show. I also mused on the fact that when you were describing the button band (before and after) I actually could visualise it in my head. Thanks for making me feel not so much of a beginner, although I still have lots to learn. thanks for normalising the need to rip stuff out rather than seeing this as failure. Thanks for being you and doing what you do. Looking forward to hearing about the wedding. Enjoy your trip and the wedding and the break from podcasting if you get a break that is!!!!
I too uttered a squee of joyful anticipation and could not stop smiling when the Biddies’ Neighbor song came over my I-pod speakers.
The return of an old friend, how delightful!! Thank you! And thank you for all you do for us! You do make me feel like part of a community, thank you for that!
A knit-sib from (nearly) the begining, the re-runs ( a Cast-On retrospective) will keep me happily engaged until your return.
As for the dress, you are a far braver woman than I shall ever be and I wish you godspeed.
I wish you joy in these upcoming weeks and moments of peace and stillness.
Hugs to all
I’m a long term knitter and my children grew up with hand made and hand sewn clothes. At first it was cheaper, and there were places to get cloth, and cotton, wool, and patterns.
By the mid 1990s I realised I was a dinosaur, a has been, because I still knitted. Shops that sold cloth were shutting, people were buying clothes, they were cheaper to buy than to make. By the year 2000 our local knitting shops had closed too, and I could not find anywhere to buy wool.
For the first time in over 20 years I put the knitting needles away.
It was this time last year when my daughter requested an item of clothing, and I said, “Oh I can knit that easily.”
I went to the only wool shop I knew of, and bought yarn and a pattern, found long unused needles, and cast on.
I’ve found the only way I can purchase yarn of any sort is to get it over the internet or to telephone far off shops. All my yarn, needles, and patterns have been bought this way. Where I live is still a yarn wasteland.
Thank goodness for the internet, for the community on line. I no longer feel like a dinosaur and I’m proud that I knit, and there are already requests coming in for socks for Christmas.
I can only think that we in Britain had just had enough of the make do and mend mentality and those years of necessity during and after the Second World War, rationing was still in place over 10 years after VE day. I think for us that was the beginning of consumerism, when we changed from making and just wanted what we had been deprived of for many years.
And now children of the 1960s who did not learn about wool and cloth, and did not realise that there was an alternative other than to shop have passed this onto their children. And during my school life time sewing was phased out, and formal cookery lessons.
I guess it is little wonder that working with hands is so little in the public domain here.
I am grateful for having had pre war mother, who still made do and mended, who taught me how to sew, knit, and clothed me well as a child.
So nice. I took a podcast break and it was nice to come back and hear your voice.
Thanks
Yeah Brenda! I loved the podcast, it reminded me of the first podcasts….Brenda’s back and I heart you! Keep your energy up and take care of YOU (sounds like your plate is very full right now). Best to you.
Brenda, I saw the Yarn Harlot blog and went and ordered the blog so I could knit the spiral yoke sweater myself. Glad I wasn’t the only one that was inspired to knit this sweater.
Your reworking of your red edge sweater looks absolutely FABULOUS!
I think you are a goddess, Brenda. I LOVE the red edge redux, and I say go, go, girl on making that corseted wedding dress for the future daughter-in-law; there is quite simply not enough pink satin in circulation and YOU are evening up the balance. It’s going to be hard going without any new Cast-Ons for a while (I’m still recovering from my no-longer-catching-up-on-back-issues realization that I can’t listen to three episodes a DAY), but I nobly donate my shattered comfort zone to the Son of Cast On and the Bride of Cast On. Go forth and sew (oh Britannia, your forgotten past!). I’ll miss you, Brenda – love to Tonia and the spaniels (no, don’t tinkle there, Ruby!).
What a great episode. I love that you brought back the “Today’s Sweater”. Listening to you describe that sweater and how you forgot all the details reminded me why I started a knitting journal. I don’t know how many times I’ve forgotten the “details” for a pattern. But now I just jot them down in my journal and can always refer back. So I never have uneven sleeves or different gauges, well unless I’m too lazy to refer to the journal (which trust me, does happen!). : )
So nice to hear from you again.
I had a thought listening to your description of the wedding dress. I had odd aspirations at one point of starting a business making custom corsets so I wanted to share a quick and dirty technique I picked up from that. 🙂
Make your fine tuning mock up of an appropriately heavy fabric (the more cinch she wants in the final product the heftier a fabric you want for this trick) and use that mock up as your interlining in the final corset. This lets you put the boning on a seperate layer from either the fashion fabric (outside) or right next to the skin (lining) which makes things much more comfortable, the final corset is a smooth comfortable sandwich, for instance in yours it would be (from outside in): lace, satin, twill tape over bones stitched to sturdy fabric, lining fabric. There’s no stitching to mar the outside of the corset or itch on the inside of the corset and you can mark the exact placement of the bones while on a body which makes things much better than mathematical placements.
So, you’d make up the single layer, do the fine tuning of fit and mark boning placement on that mock up. Take it apart to adjust your pattern pieces (or just measure the differences you made and leave the mock up together). Then you can stitch twill tape or another layer down to make pockets for the bones, or herringbone stitch the bones in place on the interlining (though that is nowhere near as stable as the pockets). It somewhat depends on the type of boning you’re using. Featherweight plastic usually comes already in a casing, so you just need to stitch that in place well. Spiral and flat steel bones need something to keep them contained and protected, hence the twill tape encasing.
It really saves a lot of time, although it sounds like an extra step.
Feel free to email me if this has just been incoherent babbling and I need to clarify something. 🙂
I am so very glad that you are feeling better Brenda. Best of luck with the dress, my MIL made my wedding dress too, I really cherish it because it was made by someone who cares.
So glad to hear that you are over the tonsillitis. I was pulling an [almost] all-nighter while knitting last night. What kept me going that last hour was listening to your podcast. I will also have an in-law guest come February. A brother and sister in the same family will be getting married 3 weeks apart and my hubby’s aunt from CA will be staying with us so that she can attend both weddings. I am really looking forward to having the company, but I worry about possible tensions mounting as I’ve heard that she likes to take charge of things…. uh oh! Maybe I’ll just let her and take a break!
My mom’s wedding dress was made from an aunt-in-law and, as the story goes, it was a nightmare. The dress was not done in a timely manner and the fitting was the night before the wedding! Sorry if this gets you nervous, but I have the utmost confidence that your outcome will be entirely different. You DIL is very lucky to have someone such as you making her dress… AND exactly as she wants it. I love unconventionality!
Brenda! I’m so glad to hear you are better. The last podcast was wonderful because it just shows what a community we have, but I missed hearing you. 🙂 The dress sounds like a challenge in more than one way, but I’m sure you’ll conquer it. Thank you so much for doing the podcast. The quality is really exceptional.
Dear Brenda,
I love your podcast! It’s like sitting down with a good friend with a cup of coffee and catching up on her day. Thanks for letting us all join in.
There is a school near me called the John C. Campbell Folk School (www.folkschool.org). They are keeping many of the old crafts alive. Clogging, weaving, dyeing with lichens, chair caning, blacksmithing and many, many more. They speak Jive there!
Have a great time with all your family!
Sincerely,
Mary Ann
Folk School! Oh my gosh! I took a knitting class there with Cheryl Oberle in May – yowza! Everyone who can go, SHOULD. My next class? I’m thinking Intro to Blacksmithing (seriously!). It’s Jive Central there.
I haven’t read all the other comments, so forgive me if I’m repeating someone – but have you seen & heard the “mainstream” reaction to Jane Brocket’s new “the gentle art of domesticity” book? I’ve been a fan of her blog http://yarnstorm.blogs.com/knitblog/ for a long time, and am sure that her book is gorgeous and amazing, just like the blog – but the media response has been shocking to me. There seems to be a real nasty “crafting is anti-feminist” thing going on over on your side of the pond, and I can’t help but wonder if that’s got something to do with the lack of supplies available. If sewing, knitting, and crochet are backwards leaning, ludite, not for enlightened and empowered people (and those who do practice it are just out to make their lives out to be more than they are, and cause impressionable women grief), then it’s no wonder that there’s no market for the suppliers. Although how something can be both bondage and too high a standard, I’m not sure.
Not to say that Canada is a whole lot better for finding matching zippers – our chains went a bad way over the 80s and 90s, and are starting to close down too because they’ve misread the market. But at least shipping has to be cheaper for me, and the press is still in the “not just for granny’s!!!” stage.
Brenda, some days when I am listening to you with my ear buds, I start talking out loud. I did it again today. As you went on about all the cleaning and painting and re-planting to get ready for family, I shouted, “STOP”. You sound just like me. Which is why I have so enjoyed listening to you, since finding you with the help of “craft lit” Heather, this summer.
I have been waiting to listen to the “current” casts, thinking that I was not worthy until I caught up to real time, or, like Erin, was too afraid of “running out of Brenda”. Well, I am so glad I did listen today to last Friday’s cast, just to find out you will be gone for a while….Murphy lives; he is a muse/spirit we should talk about.
Plus, to hear that your dear boy is getting married, wow! Bren, have a great time, relax when you can, sew when you must and knit on the loo if you have to, but know that I am sending a bit of Tucson Sunshine your way every day. Kathy in Tucson http://www.knittincacher.blogspot.com/
Hi Brenda It was a great podcast. This episode made me look at knitting differently, and really think about why I knit, Thank you for that.
Hey Brenda, I’m glad you’re feeling better. That was a great episode. I really loved the essays. And I love to listen to you speak “knitting jive.” 😉
I just listened to this episode again as I pictured you working on the wdding dress. It really is a good episode…….hehehe
As the owner of a new Ipod, the first thing I downloaded was your podcast (my first podcast experience). I want to thank you for sharing yourself in this way. The level of creativity, humor and intelligence actually brought me to tears. So good! With great respect and admiration, I look forward to downloading all I have missed, and to your next offering. BRAVO!!
Hi Brenda. I have downloaded all the old episodes and am listening while I knit. Keep up the great work. I love your essays!
Hi Brenda. Loved the show. Sorry to hear you were having difficulty finding sewing notions and fabrics in your neck of the woods. I have sewn many wedding dresses in my past as I worked in a bridal shop after design school and did freelance work afterward. No longer work in the ragg trade, but have quite enjoyed working with some very nice fabrics and wedding dress styles. Still do some finework on occasion.
The dress you are making for your soon-to-be daughter-in-law sounds fantastic. I hope it all turns out well for you and you have a fantastic day. If you need an ‘overseas internet rescue’ during the garment construction phase, let me know and I’ll try to be as helpful as possible.
Remember, procrastination is the thief of time! My dear old Dad would always say that to me. It’s so true! Good luck. Have fun.
Kim
Vancouver, BC
Hi Brenda,
I am right there with you. My 10 year old daughter wanted to be Marie Antoinette for Holloween And I am making the dress. A period thing with a underskrit and everything. I have been sewing since I was a teen but haven’t done much for about ten years. Waht was I thinking. I have a few very late night ahead of me. I also wanted to tell you that I listen to cast on A LOT right now as I am playing catch up. I am inspired by your knitting and all the guest that you have on. Thanks for reminding me how much I love to knit.
Tres
Burlington, VT
Slight correction, humbly submitted: The “Jive Lady” in that funny clip from “Airplane” is Barbara Billingsley, the actress who also played June Cleaver on “Leave it to Beaver.” Knowing she played that (iconic?!) role makes the scene even funnier. She deserves to have her name said correctly. Thanks for the thoughtful essay.
I’ll third the Folkschool recommendation, for when you make it over here for a visit! It’s where I learned to weave and spin, among other things. Truly a gem of a place in the mountains of western North Carolina. Anyone else reading this, GO. NOW.
🙂
Barb
Corning, NY
I love your podcast but I felt I had to comment after your complaints about getting sewing supplies in the UK. I make a lot of my own clothes and in 2006 made my own wedding dress. I had no problems finding supplies locally in my small home town in Devon (including boning for the corset). It really is just about knowing where to shop and if you do dress-making regularly you get to know these things. I just don’t want you to give the wrong impression of this very creative country.
You have a great podcast!! I love your choices in music (I can tell that I’ll be buying many more CD’s after listening!!) I resonated with your lost crafts section of the podcast -I’m a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism http://www.sca.org and most of our members practice some esoteric ancient craft or another (Naalbinding or Sprang, anyone?) The SCA is worldwide and a great place to learn about these ancient traditions. Keep up the good work!
As soon as I saw ‘I speak Jive’, I started laughing because I love Airplane. My laughter turned to sadness as I listened to the essay. It was wonderful and poignant and everything that I’ve been feeling lately. I love the ‘old ways’ like canning, gardening, sewing, knitting because of their low impact on the environment, their thoughtfulness and their skill. Am I laughed at because you can buy jam/mittens/squash at the store? Sure. I keep doing it though. Thank you for talking about it here and much better than I could ever do.
Gosh, I miss you when you are gone.
This was a wonderful episode, Brenda. It reminded me of vintage Cast-on, which I have a real soft spot for. I can’t wait to hear all about the wedding, the dress, and the visits from family. Look forward to hearing from you in the coming weeks – once you’ve properly recovered!
Okay, first I have to say: I save up your podcasts like they’re bars of chocolate and there’s a war going on. So I just listened to your piece on ‘speaking jive.’ I have had this sneaking suspicion that the move into a more electronic world and virtual spaces will cause some people or maybe many to ache for the tactile arts. While knitting may not be growing in popularity as a handicraft in all nations… I think there’s really a lot of hope for it and other handicrafts. The ones that will disappear are the ones that require materials that are unattainable. Also, with the internet we can search for an post knowledge up so easily. More people have access to the art… the ideas and skills are propagated and I hope the younger generations will develop the art even further and reinterpret it from their own eyes and experience.
Brenda…
Please, please, please… create a new podcast episode !!!!! I am having withdrawals….I NEED MY CAST-ON….
Hugs…
Susi
Hi Brenda,
I have only just discovered your amazingly wonderful podcast in the last couple of weeks! Thank you soooooo much!!! Firstly, I listened to the most recent couple of episodes and now I am having the most wonderful time listening to all your old episodes starting from number 1! I have just made it to episode 9 and am loving your sense of humour, philosophy on life, choice of music, the fact that you have a female partner (so do I!) and even that the podcast comes all the way from Wales ( I lived there from age 5-16!) I am now in my mid-thirties (how strangely grown up that sounds!) and for the last 5 years I have been living with my lovely son (now 6) in a beautiful part of New Zealand. Having never been to NZ I moved us and all our belongings to the ends of the earth following a dream. It didn’t quite turn out as expected, but I am still so glad that we did it. New Zealand is a wonderful place to live and I can’t think of anywhere I would rather live than this little bit of paradise at the top oft he South Island! I do sometimes have moments of guilt at having taken my son away from all the rest of our family in the UK though. So you can imagine that your essay in the episode “Pulling a Geographic” which I listened to last night really moved me. I truly had a lump in my throat and a tear in my eye. In another episode I was almost cheering out loud when I heard you raving on about Lakeland Limited’s green bags to keep your fruit and veggies fresh! I am a true devotee of them as well and make sure I stock up in bulk each time I am back in the UK! Some of your song choices have me giggling away (e.g. Monster Hash, Boob Fairy, C’est la fucking vie!) so for me, listening to a podcast of yours involves a journey through a whole range of emotions as well as all the excellent knitting stuff to feed my yarncraft addiction!
Thank you for sharing so much in your podcasts. I hope you have a wonderful break and look forward to more episodes when you are ready.
Kate 🙂
Brenda – I finally caught up with all your podcasts from the beginning. At first I wasn’t so sure about them, but then you hit your groove, or “got your Knit on” and now your podcast is one of my favorites. I even save some of the episodes to shuffle around and listen to later, which I don’t do for very many. They are very review-worthy! I hope you’ll be returning soon to podcasting and got that dress done.
One thing of note – I saw on Knitty’s 2008 calendar, that they featured your Mrs. Beatons on the front! Congrats on that. I’ll make a pair eventually but here in Minnesota, we go from shorts & t-shirts to parkas in a matter of days or hours. The need for very warm mittens beats out wrist warmers especially because the snow has begun.
Keep warm, and keep on podcasting.
Julie
Great episode, Brenda! I sew a bit. I’m still learning. I am very lucky to have an old fashioned fully stocked fabric store here in Oklahoma City. They also do custom wedding gowns there, so all supplies needed are available. Not that I’d ever make a gown of any sort, however.
I also have that book, Traditonal Country Crafts. I found it at a garage sale for a dollar. I love to look through it. I pulled mine off the shelf after your podcast and flipped through it again.
Take care.
Brenda, I can’t tell you enough how much I love your podcasts! Though I’ve been knitting for a few years and have read about you, I only recently acquired broadband. Now, I’m listening to you like crazy, in chronilogical order, because I’m methodical that way. I’m only on #12, so it’ll be a few weeks before I catch up.
Anyway, I just want to thank you for sharing. I look forward to many more hours of great listening. You have a witty gift of gab, and I love evenings when I can pop you onto my mp3 player, while I work on our favorite hobby. You make me laugh, shock me, turn me on to new music, while I knit, knit like the wind….
XOXOXO
Mei
Thanks for an unexpected connection. Got to bond briefly with Franklin over the podcast. And there are still people asking about my grandmother, students doing research. You are a beautiful country that invites the immigration of hearts from all over the world. Thank you for the gift of you and poetry of your attention.
This episode really brought back a lot of memories of my recent graduation gift of a two week trip to England with my native born grandmother. Her father was a cobbler and she remembers chasing the bodgers through the woods. It was wonderful to hear about the crafts that her parents did. Her mother was made to use wooden needles for the garments she knitted for stores. They lived in a small village outside of High Wycombe called Speen.
I enjoy your podcasts. This is my second or third time listening to them end to end. I find that letting several episodes pile up and then listening to hours and hours of you and your wonderful stories great knitting time.
Thank you for all of the time that you’ve spent with all of us.