Le Tissier Designs

Of Larks and Linnets and Flying Fingers

Tag: family memories

  • My Grandmothers Pots

    I have a few of my Grandmothers pots. They are Guardian Service Ware. She had bought them from a travelling salesman in the early 40’s. They were very expensive then and very well made. They are very heavy cast aluminum with glass lids. Originally they had heavy metal lids as well but they switched to glass during the second world war.

    I think my Grandmother bought them over a period of a few years. She had the most amazing collection of these pots. From serving ware, trays and coffee pots to every cooking pot and skillet you could think, in every size.

    The Guardian Ware pots and pieces were/are very heavy, made from thick cast aluminum and with pieces that could multitask. For example the big Stock pot, a 12 quart, kettle oven, canner, stock pot. that will take a large turkey and turn it into stock, also came with stacking racks to cook up to two pies and and canning insert! It did it all! My father took it camping once and made biscuits in it on the fire.

    My father bought them off of my Grandmother in the early 1970’s. We grew up with food cooked in those pots. As my father got older and cooked less often he started to pass the pots along – quite a few to me. I have the big stock pot that I am using plus a few other pieces. My two roasters have the metal lids. One is a turkey roaster that will hold up to a 22 lb turkey! It is perfect. The heavy metal lid holds in the moisture and cooks the turkey faster! My brother has a few pieces as well. They are amazing.

    I mostly use the big stock pot for turkey stock. These pots are not recommended for anything tomato based. The acid in the tomatoes leaches aluminum from the pot. Not good for us. (My mum her spagetti sauce in those pots, before we knew about the aluminum! That might explain a few things) The only physical drawback the pots have is the lids. Those glass lids are heavy and can take a little beating but they are glass. They are hard to replace.

    My favourite pots in the set when I was younger were the triangularly shaped pots. They usually only came out when we had company. A big trivet, designed to be used with the pots, was set over the largest burner and then the three pots were set on the trivet and they cooked three vegetable at once! My father still had the set 25 years ago. He used it at Christmas. But we can’t find it now. My brother has looked through all of the boxes. I keep hoping that there still is a box that he hasn’t checked.

    The Guardian Ware pots are over 80 years old and are still used and collected today! Sometimes old is better, great pots can last and be heirloom items. Of all the things our family gave us, to my brothers and I, these pots hold the most memories and are the most coveted!

    You can find pieces on Ebay and Etsy and there is also a collectors site to look for pieces that you may be missing! I recently saw a gravy boat available for sale! it was tempting.

    Happy Cooking!

    Lynette

  • Celebration of Life – Anatomy of Love – Knitting Style

    Celebration of Life – Anatomy of Love – Knitting Style

    Yesterday was my fathers Celebration of Life. A few weeks before that my father passed. Life had suddenly changed, and I have been struggling with what to do with my hands, how to focus on the mundane when a big part of my life was suddenly gone. My Knitting mojo too was gone.

    A week or so ago I started this blog post. I think it still works.

    If you are a knitter (read your favourite craft here) you have most likely made something for someone you love. It is what we do. What can be more personal than a gift made with special someone in mind. Loving thoughts go into every stitch, every small detail and every minute that you spend knitting that gift. Some gifts last longer than others. Some gifts are made better by time.

    Three weeks ago I lost my father. He was ninety. He passed away peacefully in his sleep after four weeks in the hospital. He had lived a good life and had few regrets. We will miss him. We do miss him.

    He had lived with us for the last 6 years of his life and was very much a part of our daily lives. The last 6 months of his life were pretty much lost to dementia as he struggled to find the words to communicate and the everyday actions to look after himself that a few months before had been there. He was stubborn and believed that he did not need the help we wanted to give him.

    I made it to ninety making my own decisions and I will keep on doing so.

    He lived a good life and believed in himself the whole of it.

    Love you Dad.

    We have been cleaning up his space, a suite in the basement, opening drawers, going into the closets and sorting the stuff of dads life that he brought when he moved into the house.

    On a hanger in the back of the closet I found a wool sweater that I had knit for him over 35 years ago. It brought both memories and tears. I didn’t know he still had it. I had not seen him wear it in a long time. He found it too warm. He had never worn it while in the suite.. But he kept it. It was dirty, but intact – no moths.

    When I knit it for him, so long ago – it was quite the job – I had not knit many sweaters yet, certainly not designed any from scratch in this way.

    He was very specific about what he wanted. I think that he was recreating something he had had once. It had to be wool, and not to heavy – no problem – I preferred wool. It had to be red, but just the right shade of red. I went back and forth to the yarn store a few times to find the right “red”! And it had to be wool! It had to be a cardigan, plainly knit – no patterning. (those who know me would know how hard that one detail would be for me) And it had to be wool. Then it had to have pockets and it had to have a V-neck. And it had to be wool. And it had to have silver toned buttons! And it had to be wool. Once I found THE wool, as it had to be wool – not too heavy and just the right shade of red, we struck a bargain.

    I would knit him a Red Wool cardigan with silver toned buttons, pockets and V-neck and it would be plain knit. Except for the button bands and pocket tops, they would have a small pattern. Something that said it was hand-knit just for him by me. And so the bargain was made.

    So I took measurements and went away to knit him his sweater. About 6 months later I gave him his sweater. He was thrilled and put it on right away! It fit! And took it off right away – it was too hot! This was in June! So it was a success, knit with a great deal of love.

    Thirty-five years later I found it in the back of his closet.

    I knew he loved it and I knew he wore it – the food on the sweater said so! But I didn’t know he still had it! That was a gift!

    From me to him and then from him to me.

    So I washed it – soaked it in Eucalan for a number of hours and then rolled it in a towel and reblocked it. So it is now my sweater, a true grandfather sweater!

    I needed to start knitting again. My hands were restless. I had a couple of sweaters on the go for myself, but they weren’t holding me. So I did one of my favourite things. I picked some yarn and found a new stitch to play with and knit a hat, instant gratification and maybe a new pattern. I am going to knit another version and see if it works again.

    The yarn is Mecha by Malabrigo. It is a gorgeous hand dyed Chunky Merino. I chose the Piedras colourway for the background and the Rosalinda colourway for the “feathers”. I think that I will call the pattern Feathers if it works.

    Happy Knitting

    Hug someone you love

    Lynette

  • Mother’s Day Memories

    Mother’s Day Memories

    Mother’s Day is one of those holidays that brings up mixed emotions for most women. We remember and honour (or curse) our Mother if she is gone and celebrate her is she is here; we examine our own successes and failures as a mother and we look ahead to being a Grandmother, able to help (or hinder) the efforts of the mother of said grandchild, be she daughter or daughter in law!

    This is not just a female holiday – it is said that Son’s revere their Mother, or blame them for every wrong in life. I hope that my relationship with my son will have a balance of both!

    It is truly amazing how much influence a Mother, whether good or bad, has in our lives.

    Four generations of my family. I don’t have many pictures of my mother with me and this is the only one of us all together. My Grandmother passed a year later and my mother 2 years after her.

    My mother had issues. I still loved her – but never, ever, understood her. Even as she was dying, over thirty years ago, we still couldn’t communicate. Our points of reference had almost no convergence. There was one love that we shared, the love of working with our hands to create and this was important and grew more important as time passed. It allowed some avenue of communication. We loved hand work and beautiful fibres. Something that my daughter and I share as well.

    I parented by being the opposite of my mother. By asking what she would and then doing the opposite. I made different mistakes – is there ever a life without mistakes? But I did OK, so I guess we communicated better than I thought. We never had the storybook mother/daughter relationship, best friends and confidants, but I have strived to create something close to that with my daughter.

    Beth and i two years ago.

    And I have, I think. Beth and I have a solid loving relationship with boundaries and understanding and support and everything I wanted from my mother. Thank-you Mom for showing me how not to be, I am so sorry that we couldn’t have what we should have had! Perhaps next time around when the wheels of our lives converge again, things will be different.

    Have a wonderful Mothers Day!

    Lynette