One thing about Yorkshire folk is – we don’t suffer fools gladly. Look away now if you’re squeamish. This is going to get honest. Anyone coming here from Ravelry, pull up a chair and bring the popcorn. You already know where I’m going, with this. I like exploding myths and poking at bullshit with a […]
Category: History
They say “blood will out”, and so it seems to have proved. We broke the last brick wall in my family tree a few months back. Names included: Lister, Smith, Dawson and Crabtree; a long line of wool weavers, clothiers, and mill-owners in Longwood, near Huddersfield, and in Halifax. My surname should have been the […]
We hear from Wingrove, near Aylsbury in Bucks., that a few Days ago, one Susanna Hannockes, an elderly Woman of that Place, was accused by a neighbour of being a Witch, for that she had bewitched her Spinning-Wheel, so that she could not make it go round, and offered to make an Oath of […]
“19 April 1814 Markets all agree are very flatt. Mill as full of wool as it can hold & men as saucy as the Devil.” [Diary of Joseph Rogerson of Bramley, woollen mill-owner]. NB: If scouring raw fleece for the first time – read this right through before starting. Equipment needed: 1 or more large […]
Writing of Leeds’ White and Mixed Cloth Halls, in 1814, Seacroft man George Walker said: “They are both open every Tuesday and Saturday morning for one hour; in which very limited time all the business is transacted. The cloth is arranged on low wooden stands; the manufacturer behind it, and the merchant or buyer passes […]
Just a heads-up for this weekend’s riproaring events. I am doing a talk on Saturday, about wartime knitting. It’s going to be an interesting day as straight after my 1940s’ talk in my Victory rolls and 1938 “Such Flattering Puffed Sleeves” jumper (see pic left – if only I looked as good as these girls!) […]
This past few days I’ve been playing with my “new” spinning wheel; a Timbertops Lonsdale in oak, bought from a fellow Raveller at the weekend. Timbertops are renowed as the Rolls Royces of spinning wheels. That is so true. They are now made by Woodland Turnery in Wales, who have just gone into production with […]
I was really excited last week to get my usual ‘Traditions Today’ email from Interweave, because it was trailing my article and “Mrs Jackson of York“‘s stocking pattern in the forthcoming ‘Knitting Traditions, Spring, 2013’. Available for pre-order now, and should be out at the start of April. I hope those of you who […]
Categories
Her Name is Finger Paper
Just a few textile related items from Selby inventories, from the second half of the 17thC. In amongst this, there are some interesting items. A ‘worsett’ (worsted) wheel would possibly, at these dates, be a sort of intermediate style wheel, somewhere between a great wheel and a smaller wheel. The spinner sat down – instead […]
“If the youngest daughter in a family is married first, the eldest had better unravel one of her garters; knitting the same, mixed with other wool, into something a man can wear. This she must present to the one she has special regard for, and it will most likely incline his heart to her.” [Yorkshire […]
PENELOPE HEMINGWAY 