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Monday, December 05, 2005

Bristow



This is Bristow. Bristow is a cardigan pattern that I designed and knitted for Knitty, the online magazine. This is my first pattern that was published by someone other than me and I am just so excited to see my own design in Knitty! For those of you not familiar with Knitty, it is a free online knitting magazine that is published quarterly, with a special issue during the summer. It is mostly known for its patterns, but also has book and product reviews as well as technical articles that shouldn't be overlooked.

This pattern is named after my maternal grandmother, Bertie Bow Bristow Long. She passed away this September while I was knitting on this design and I just felt that it should be named for her. When I was younger, she had more energy than I did. I remember thinking she could probably walk faster than any plane could fly and never understood why we had to go to the airport to pick her up. I now understand of course that walking from West Texas to Eastern Tennessee (and later Colorado), was a bit too far even for her! She was a teacher and later volunteered at a Texas historical museum there in Lubbock. She raised two daughters, was married to my grandfather for over 50 years before he passed away, and stayed active in the church for as long as her body and mind allowed. Sometimes it seemed like she knew everything there was to know about Texas history but the thing that will always remind me of her are her buttermilk biscuits. Grandmommy made the best biscuits in the entire world. Caleb actually called her Bicca, which was his word for biscuit when he was little bitty, because I told him that she was the one who taught me to make biscuits - something he's been eating and enjoying since he was about a year old. Something about the smell of the buttermilk and the feel of the dough always takes me back to when I was younger, standing in Grandmommy's kitchen in Lubbock, helping her to cut out biscuits. She never knitted, but she had red hair until the day she passed away, at 96 years old, so it felt right to dedicate this pattern to her.

For those of you that are interested, here is her biscuit recipe:

Bertie Bow Bristow Long's Buttermilk Biscuits

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F

  • 3 cups flour
  • 5 1/4 tsp baking powder
  • 1/8 tsp baking soda
  • 1 1/2 tsp salt
  • 6 Tbsp shortening
  • 1 3/4 cups fresh buttermilk

Mix all the dry ingredients together until they are well blended. Cut in the shortening and mix thoroughly. (Its important to get everything as evenly mixed as possible before you add the buttermilk) Add the buttermilk and mix together quickly and GENTLY. If you take too long mixing in the buttermilk or mix it in roughly, you'll have tough biscuits. Turn out the dough on a floured surface and pat (don't roll) it out until its 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick. Cut it out with a round cutter - don't twist the cutter as you cut or you'll seal the edges of the biscuits and they won't rise as well. Place the biscuits on a greased cookie sheet (I actually use a pizza baking stone now and don't grease it) and put into the oven until the biscuits start to turn golden brown on the tops. I think this takes about 15 -20 minutes but I've never really timed it - I always just watch them cook. Serve hot, or once they are cool, they keep in a ziplock bag on the counter just fine (they never last more than 24 hours around here, so I have no clue how long they'll keep). I've found that if you put them in the bag just before they are completely cool, they stay a little bit fluffier or something.

27 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Beautiful sweater - congratulations on being in Knitty. And your story about your grandmother is wonderful. My grandmother passed away a year ago at age 98, and I have such great memories of her.

8:12 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I SO love that you posed in your wonderful new design *spinning*!!! Spinning has made a debut on Knitty! Go, you! :-)

Your alpaca-eating cat would be in heaven at my house. I just bought about eight pounds of the stuff to spin. I am a raving lunatic. But it's so sooooft....

9:48 AM  
Blogger Liz said...

It's beautiful! You are a truly talented designer. What a lovely tribute to your Grandmother.
I hope you have a wonderful holiday!
~Liz

10:33 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Very nice Melanie! The sweater is beautiful and of course, who doesn't love those biscuits?! Mindy

10:35 AM  
Blogger Fran / Blue Gal said...

I think I'm actually gonna cast this one on. Got the perfect buttons, too. Yum.

11:46 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Your pattern is lovely! And what a marvelous way to honor your grandmother. Congratulations. First I wanna try the biscuits ~ despite my Southern upbringing, no one ever taught me to make 'em!

Maggi (another VA blogger)
http://maggi.typepad.com.maggistitches

12:11 PM  
Blogger Knitty Gritty Thoughts said...

Congratulations, Bristow looks fab! You are so talented!

12:13 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I found you because of your pattern on Knitty. I think that sweater is fantastic and congratulations on getting it published!

2:05 PM  
Blogger Gail said...

I also found you via the new issue of Knitty. I love the details of your sweater design, it's absolutely beautiful. Congratulations on being in the winter issue of Knitty!

2:51 PM  
Blogger thegabbyknitter said...

The sweater is so pretty. I'll have to add it to the ever growing list of things I want to knit after Christmas. Congratulations!

Kelly

4:55 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I agree with everyone else - this is a GORGEOUS pattern! When I'm a little braver, it's on my list. Thanks for sharing your wonderful talents, once again. And I love grammie stories, too - very inspiring!

5:25 PM  
Blogger Shannon said...

Beautiful sweater - I wondered if there was a typo though. The gauge called for in the pattern was 19sts/29 rows in st st. I wondered if it was supposed to be 24 rows. 19 seems short for the yarn.

5:42 PM  
Blogger Julia (MindofWinter) said...

Congrats on your first (of many!) publication. It's truly lovely.

5:53 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Your story about your Gram is wonderful. Just think what she has seen in her lifetime...I'm not sure if cars were invented when she was born. Certainly women did not have the right to vote nor many of the things we take for granted nowadays. Even airplanes were a fantasy and medicine bordered on witchdoctors using blood-letting for care!

Thanks for her recipe...I am still struggling to make a good biscuit!

Also, your sweater is beautiful. Congratulations! Kate F./Massachusetts

6:03 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

What a great sweater - congratulations!

11:30 PM  
Blogger Christine said...

As always, your work is fantastic Melanie! You should be so proud of yourself, and I count myself lucky to have such a talented designer for a friend.

You're on your way to the knitting big time!!!

11:38 PM  
Blogger Axelle said...

That is a beautiful, truly elegant sweater! Congratulations and well done on such a lovely pattern.

11:53 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi! Your pattern was definately one of the most interesting in this issue of knitty, very nice. I've printed it and it's on my wish list now.

And yay! to the spinning :)

3:28 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

What beautiful sweater and appropraitely named as well. I will certinly try the biscuts and congrats on knitty!

6:00 AM  
Blogger Stacy said...

Congratulations on your Knitty pattern! I stopped by here to check out your blog because Bristow is probably my favorite sweater Knitty has ever published. I love cabled sweaters, especially cardis. I'm telling myself I can't start until after Christmas but I have a feeling that won't last.

9:46 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Without a doubt, the best pattern in the new issue of Knitty! Congratulations! And what a great tribute to your grandmother.

I have to admit I bought yarn to make Bristow approximately three minutes after Knitty was posted. Hope to see more of your designs in the future!

10:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Just had to stop in to comment on what a beautiful sweater this is! This is honestly the best pattern I have ever seen in Knitty!

7:30 PM  
Blogger Jenni said...

I love it! I am going to knit Bristow in "chocolate" Andean Silk. By the way...my husband's grandma's name was Bristow also.

8:48 PM  
Blogger Lorri said...

I love the sweater and plan on making it in the future. Its such a beautiful classic design that it should last forever. Great job!

9:25 AM  
Blogger Shannon Bow said...

Interesting story.. thanks for posting it. I'm a distant relative (think 2nd cousin, 2x removed to your grandmother)... I wanted to post a note because its interesting how teaching runs in the family.

11:41 PM  
Blogger Shannon Bow said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

11:42 PM  
Anonymous Midsummer said...

Hrmm that was weird, my comment got eaten. Anyway I wanted to say that it's nice to know that someone else also mentioned this as I had trouble finding the same info elsewhere. This was the first place that told me the answer. Thanks. Midsummer Say

1:22 PM  

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