Just finally got round to making one of these. And I thought it might be useful for other fans of vintage haberdashery and knitters of old patterns. Many charts available only go down in size to the more useful needle sizes for contemporary knitting – ie: around 3.25mm. Yet many Victorian patterns call for 1mm […]
Category: antique textiles
We’re off to the British Wool Show, at the weekend. We’ll be taking our Jack Greene-made Great Wheel, and finally trying out an experiment we’ve been threatening to do, for years. If you’ve ever seen us demo-ing the Great Wheel, you’ll probably know what it is. Sources mention how much it was possible to spin […]
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Oceans of Needlework
There is such a thing as seeing all beautiful around you – pleasant woods, winding white paths, green lawns and blue sunshiny sky – and not having a free moment or a free thought left to enjoy them in. The children are constantly with me, and more riotous, perverse cubs never grew. .. I said […]
A quick heads-up. I have two pieces out this month. One for the knitters and one for the genealogists. For the knitters, there’s something about reverse engineering knitting from old photographs (‘The Knitter’, Issue 107). Probably something I should go into more depth with here on the blog, some time soon. Over the few […]
“Paracosm ~ a prolonged fantasy world invented by children; can have a definite geography and language and history…” http://www.thefreedictionary.com/ Another glimpse into the life of a wartime child and the unique record of her home-made dolls’ house and its contents. The following comes from a series of charming […]
On one of our regular dog walks, close to home, we pass a flock of Norfolk Horn sheep. They graze on a corner of Cawood Garth, a piece of common ground owned by the folk in the next village. It used to be where Cawood Castle stood (only the Gatehouse remains). This was where Cardinal […]
Like many people who lost a parent in childhood, I don’t have much flotsam and jetsam from childhood. I did stumble on this school book, though. I was 8 and as you can see, utterly lacked literary promise. I also lacked artistic ability. But since when did we let minor details like that get […]
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Bob Jenkinson’s Gansey
Yet again, these blog posts are like buses. Nothing for ages then two come at once. Yesterday, someone contacted me to ask where they could find the pattern for Bob Jenkinson’s gansey. I realised I never got round to figuring it out – other things intervened. So, whilst eating my tea, I did the […]
What do we want from a gansey cast on? We need it to be: Strong – maybe with double or triple yarn Elastic Attractive Historically, the simple Backwards Loop Cast On seemed to be popular. It was certainly a cast on described in some of the earlier knitting manuals of the 1830s-40s. […]
That title’s with apologies to Stevie Smith. Today, an interruption in putting up photos of the gansey patterns in ‘River Ganseys’. Thought I’d put everything I have about swaving here, in one post. This is ongoing research and by no means complete so not the last word on the subject- just the first few […]
PENELOPE HEMINGWAY 