Bootie and Bossy Eat, Drink, Knit

Pippa Latour, a Portrait in "Cool and Lonely Courage"

We are back for our second installment on knitting and espionage with Pippa Latour's memoir, The Last Secret Agent: My Life as a Spy Behind Nazi Lines. First a disclaimer: knitting stands out only as the most normal, ordinary thing in the extraordinary life of Pippa Latour, and it plays a critical, albeit small, part in her life as an Special Operations Executive (SOE) agent. Pippa Latour is above all a survivor--when she died in 2023 at the age of 102, she literally was the last surviving secret agent who served during World War II. What's perhaps most surprising is how her life before the war perfectly prepared her for being a spy. With a French father and English mother, she grew up in Africa speaking many languages (Swahili, French and English). She was also used to hardship, loss and violence--her father died when she was four months old, killed in an uprising against Western doctors lead by local healers. Her mother died when she was four. Raised by various relatives and friends of her parents, she was shuttled from one home to another, so she constantly had to adapt to new situations. She was used to living in the bush and sleeping outside in a hammock. She knew how to shoot a gun and pilot a plane before her spy training. Those years playing with monkeys in the trees meant she killed it on the ropes courses too. All this prepared her to parachute behind enemy lines, adopt the cover of a 14-year-old French girl selling goat-milk soap for her "grandparents," while she gathered intelligence and transmitted it by Morse code through radios hidden in 27 locations across her territory in France. Yeah. She did that. Most radio transmitters survived six weeks behind enemy lines. Not Pippa Latour. Major Selwyn Jepson was the British commander who advocated for recruiting women as spies because "Women have a greater capacity for cool and lonely courage than men, who usually want a mate with them. Men don't work alone; their lives tend to be always in company with other men. Women are mostly on their own" (p. 66). We decided a World War II era cocktail would be a great accompaniment to discussing Pippa's story, so try the delicious "Three Dots and a Dash," which is "V" in Morse code for Victory. It is because of the sacrifices of so many and the "cool and lonely courage" of women like Pippa Latour that we enjoy the lives we have today, and we are profoundly inspired and deeply grateful.

The Great Catering Adventure

“Great catering adventure” or act of insanity? It was probably closer to the latter when Bossy offered to cater her son’s film shoot for his senior project on a freezing weekend in February in Philadelphia. Thank God for the help and support of so many people, including sisters-in-law Leslie and Gail and great friends, like Betsy Grenier, who survived the adventure and was willing to talk with us about it in this episode. Talking about trauma always helps. So what was the scope of this catering caper? Five meals for 30 starving college students spread out over two days at the Chamounix Mansion in Fairmont Park. Yep. We did that. And here's the thing about agreeing to do crazy big things: there is a weird sense of triumph that comes at the end because being part of a big creative project is truly amazing. When it was over, it felt like a dream--Betsy said "a bad dream"--but a dream nonetheless. All parents want their kids to find their passion and purpose, and living on the edge and bearing witness to that was, well, every parent's dream. But it definitely takes a village to make dreams happen, and this was more proof of that (as if we needed it). Our village was all the cast and crew members to what Betsy dubbed our "Just Hired Craft Services Company" toiling away in the basement kitchen. The menu featured many Bootie and Bossy recipes from the Pumpkin bread and Granola to homemade marshmallows and garlic aioli, all available on our website and easily found using the oh-so-convenient search bar (ah-hem). Try out the delicious Spinach Mushroom Brunch Bake, which was a big hit for breakfast on the second day—thank you, Gail, for supplying Chris Brez's recipe from The Hawkin School's Best Recipes (2002). Here's what we learned: next time you have the chance to do something big and crazy, do it! You will be glad that you did.

What do Knitting and Espionage have in Common?

Knitting and espionage? What could they possibly share? A lot, as we learned from reading Jenny O’Brien’s new romance novel, The Resistance Knitting Club, which was inspired by the true story of how knitting was used by women working for the British Special Operations (SOE) during World War II. With its two stitches, knit and purl, knitting is a binary system, which makes it a great stand-in for Morse code. Even more, it was knitting’s very ordinariness that made it a great spy cover. This is the sad irony of knitting’s superpower in the espionage war context: as women’s work, it has a long history of being overlooked and ignored, so a woman sitting in a corner, quietly recording conversations in knits and purls, could not possibly be of consequence. So knitting has a new potential in wartime because as women’s work, it’s never been important. Le sigh. O’Brien’s novel made us want to read the biography of Pippa Latour, a real World War II spy, so stay tuned for the second part of what we have now decided is a “series” on knitting and espionage. Oye the weather. We are both tired of it, between the “Spring Tease” or “Fool’s Spring” followed by snow and the “Atmospheric River” in Seattle and the still-18-degree-mornings in Massachusetts. The only consolation is having fabulous sweaters to wear, like Bootie’s birthday Goldwing—doesn’t she look great? And a good meal—check out our adaptation of Ina Garten’s Baked Farro and Butternut Squash with our “Bootie and Bossy Imperatives for Cooking Sanity”: one pot! And use that whole bag of Farro because what are you going to do with the ½ cup that’s left? Now there’s some good advice. You’re welcome!

We Salute the Knitlympians

Breezy Johnson. Maddie Mastro. Deerdra Irwin. Margie Freed. Lucinda Anderson. Maxime Germain. Jaelin Kauf. Jessie Diggins. Julia Kern. Greta Myers. Ben Ogden. Sure, these are all members of the US Olympic Team who competed in the recent games in Cortina, Italy, but did you know that they are also Knitlympians? They belong to an even more elite circle of athletes who are also accomplished knitters--in fact, judging by their Instagram feeds, they are almost as proud of their knitting as they are of their medals and Olympic performances. We love this. From Breezy Johnson designing and knitting a headband the night before each race to Maxime Germain's scratchy sweater with colorwork and crochet along the hem, all have found in knitting the space for cultivating a relaxed, alert focus that enhances their performance on the slopes and the ice. Knitting has long been compared to yoga and meditation, but do you have a beanie or sweater to wear after doing yoga or meditating? You do not. We rest our knitting case. But there are other surprising points of comparison between Olympic sports and knitting: they are both equally important, excellent, time consuming, expensive, and, at times, heartbreaking and frustrating. Snowboarder Maddie Mastro summed it up nicely when she filmed herself knitting in the car on the way to Cortina: "Did not finish the beanie, but DID make it to the Olympics!" Maddie Mastro We like how making it to the Olympics comes second after the status report on the beanie. We know you'll get it done, Maddie. Speaking of getting it done, we are thinking more about the Melt-the-Ice hats we featured in our recent bonus episode and the symbol of the Phrygian hat on the seal of the U.S. Senate. We are thinking some senators need a hat of thanks, and perhaps others need to be reminded of what that red hat on the seal symbolizes. So we invite our listeners to send a hat to your senator, or maybe a red hat broach. We'll put up a template of a letter on our website bootieandbossy.com [http://bootieandbossy.com] that you can send along with it. Maybe Jaelin Kauf, Knitlympian and producer of 50 beanies for her supporters, will help. So whip up some of Keeley Richardson's fabulous King Arthur's Everyday Olive Oil cake with a few drops of Fiori di Sicilia, grab your pointed sticks and join us in sending a message to our senators about what that red hat on their seal actually means.

A Dream Afternoon with Keeley Richardson

What is Keeley Richardson's idea of a "dream afternoon"? The founder of the online blog and magazine Puget Sound Woolpack does not hesitate: "You guys know this: sitting and knitting and eating cake, I mean, that is probably my dream afternoon. And if only I could spend every afternoon doing that, I would be very happy." We say, "Yes, please! Sign us up!" We could also spend all afternoon listening to Keeley's lovely British accent. We loved learning more about Keeley's fiber life, which started when she was about six growing up in Birmingham, the midlands region of the UK, in a fiber family with her mum, nan and aunt teaching her everything from knitting and embroidery to sewing: "Back then, we didn't call it 'the fiber arts'--that's a new phrase--it was just something we all did in our household." Her teddy bears were the first recipients of her efforts as they proudly sported long thin scarves. Crafts were also taught in schools, and when she noticed that her three young sons weren't coming home with the kinds of craft projects she remembered, she started a business teaching kids to knit and sew as a creative lunchtime club in schools. By the time she left the UK, 600 kids were enrolled in the program across three counties. When she and her family relocated to the Seattle area in 2017, she began connecting with people in the local fiber community. Starting the online blog/magazine Puget Sound Woolpack seemed like a natural next step for putting her background in marketing, writing and teaching the fiber arts to work: "The Woolpack isn't just about me . . . it is a platform for local businesses, for local yarn stores, for local wool producers, for dyers--it's a space for them to talk about what they do, their background, what motivates them, and what inspires them. The Woolpack isn't designed to be something that says, 'you should buy this.' It's about the people behind all of the things that we know and love. And I hope that comes across. That would be the intention." The Woolpack's feature "Fiber Heroes" tells those fascinating behind-the-scenes stories of the people behind the things, while "Yarn Adventures" focuses on local events and things to do. "The Yarn Test Kitchen" offers one-skein projects featuring yarn from local indie dyers as well as simple, favorite recipes for a good bake for the dream afternoon. We can't wait to try the "Everyday Olive Oil Cake" she recommended. And we also can't wait to connect with Keeley at Rhinebeck again, and with her guidance--she has tried them all!--try out some of the other fiber events in the area, such as A Woolen Affair, Indie Untangled and CAKEpalooza. So, while Rhinebeck is still months away, it's never too early to start thinking and dreaming about it, and our conversation with Keeley Richardson in this episode is a great place to start!