podcasts

Episode 44: Mother Grain

July 6, 2014 by Sara

This episode includes the following segments: Yarn Lover at Large, A Little Bit of Learning, and Ever-expanding Skill Set.

LISTEN:

Yarn Lover at Large

On the way back from Vermont, I took a slightly different route in order to visit Green Mountain Spinnery. This worker-owned cooperative is a special destination for knitters. Mom and I were given the informal, but highly-informative tour. We gaped at the vintage machinery and inhaled the sheepy fumes. Then, there was a little time for shopping. I selected a skein of Simply Fine, a single-ply mohair/wool fingering weight yarn.

A Little Bit of Learning

The health benefits of quinoa have been making headlines for several years. There’s so much information that it’s all a little overwhelming. Most of the information I share in this episode comes from the Whole Grains Council. I also heard a news story on The Splendid Table about the politics of quinoa. If you think you’ve learned everything there is to know about this amazing pseudo-cereal that grows high in the Andes mountains, you may be interested in Quinoa Quarrel, an interview with journalist Lisa Hamilton, which focuses on the politics of seed sharing. If you are concerned about exploitation of South American growers, and interested in learning more about quinoa grown in the United States, check out this article for more information.

Ever-expanding Skill Set

Inspired by swentea’s post about a quinoa salad with kale and coconut, I set about combining some of my favorite flavors in a recipe of my own.

Southern Belle Quinoa

In a small saucepan, place 2 cups water or stock, 1 tablespoon butter, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon cumin, 1 teaspoon sweet curry powder, and 1 cup tri-color quinoa (rinsed and drained). Bring to a boil and cover. Turn off heat and allow to rest (in a hot kitchen) or simmer (in a cool kitchen) for 15 minutes, until all liquid is absorbed.

Meanwhile, prepare a small bunch of kale by rinsing in cold water, then removing ribs and ripping into bite-sized pieces. In a large bowl, toss kale with grated rind and juice of 1/2 lemon and a dash of salt. It will begin to wilt.

Coarsely chop 1/3 cup dried apricots and 1/3 cup pecans. Add to kale in large bowl. Add cooked quinoa and toss contents with a few tablespoons of honey.

Garnish warm or cold salad with 1/3 cup whole pecans and 1/3 cup unsweetened coconut flakes.

Just when I thought I would turn my back on amaranth for awhile, I came across a recipe for Chai-Spiced Amaranth Pudding. This preparation is an appropriate match for dense, sticky amaranth. I like the chai spices, too. I don’t keep low-fat milk on hand, so I used 3 cups of whole milk and two eggs, omitting the cornstarch and halving the sugar. I only had a few golden raisins, so I added diced ginger. I also replaced the brittle with roasted, salted pistachios. The texture resembles that of tapioca, but it is not as light.

The poem for this episode is “Morning Swim” by Maxine Kumin. You can find this and other poems on Poetry 180.

My bones drank water; water fell
through all my doors. I was the well

that fed the lake that met my sea

Arrows and Doorways

The design for this super-cozy cowl was inspired by textiles in a hotel lobby. Concentric geometric shapes kept playing in my mind until finally I was able to chart the pattern and get it onto my needles. The interplay of this chevron-like patterning has a mesmerizing effect–while you’re knitting and when you wear the finished accessory.

Knit up a cowl with yarn from your stash, adding some magical new mini-skeins from your advent calendar, or exchange leftover yarn with a friend. The design invites frequent color changes, and makes an ideal knit for the advent season. It could be just as striking knit with two high-contrast colors.

While most cowls of this type are seamed within a band of a single color, this pattern incorporates a technique called stranded donut grafting, an incredibly clever and completely seamless graft that allows you to maintain colorwork patterning so that your starting and ending rounds are undetectable. Really! With many possibilities for color play and a new technique to add to your skill set, this cowl pattern is really an opportunity for knitters to level-up!

NEW PATTERN DESIGN!

ONE DARK BLUE NIGHT

This hat is the third in a series of patterns inspired by teachings in Clarissa Pinkola Estés’ Women Who Run with the Wolves. This time, I drew inspiration from Estés’ retelling of a Japanese tale, Tsukina Waguma or “The Crescent Moon Bear,” in which a young woman travels to the cave of an incredibly intimidating and ferocious bear. She makes several journeys to the cave, leaving food and quickly retreating, until “one dark blue night,” she musters the courage to stand her ground and ask for what she seeks--one hair from a moon-shaped patch on the bear’s chest--which she is granted. The young woman returns, triumphant, to the old healer who has sent her on this quest. She believes this single hair is the magic ingredient in solving the problem that plagues her. She holds it forth, but the healer tosses the hair into the flames. The young woman is in despair until she realizes the true lesson of her quest: that using her determination, courage, and patience, as she did with the crescent moon bear, will help her to confront the challenge at hand.

The moon phase motif of this colorwork hat is meant to capture the magic of a dark blue night--when the moon shines brightly overhead, the frosty air sparkles with possibility, and we succeed in summoning accumulated wisdom from deep within ourselves so that we can apply it to our own healing. Choose colors to conjure a wintery night sky, or select a palette of your signature colors.

Available on Ravelry December 20th.

Yarns at Yin Hoo

Episode 44: Mother Grain