PENELOPE HEMINGWAY
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 […]
This weekend, I’ll be mostly going on about the history of Dales knitting. So just a reminder to anyone who fancies a day out at the Yorkshire Museum of Farming. It’s Country Crafts weekend, so there will be various living history folk, and craftspeople in costume, around the museum. I will be there in full […]
Ever wanted to know how the writers went about researching and writing ‘The Old Hand Knitters of the Dales’? Or do you want to know more about ‘the terrible knitters of Dent’? How people knitted at commercial speeds in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, in the Yorkshire Dales? And what did they knit? What is […]
Knitting the Old Dales Way. How To Use a Knitting Stick or Shetland Knitting Belt: workshop A rare chance to learn this brilliant, simple but obscure method of knitting. Let’s keep this old Yorkshire craft alive! For its opening weekend, the Yorkshire Museum of Farming is holding a Country Crafts event, and I’ll be doing […]
I prefer to take my information from the horse’s mouth. Other folk go to the opposite end. And some of the misinformation coming out re. ‘swaving’ is, frankly, a load of old pony. Let’s see what Dalesfolk – who saw it – said ‘swaving’ was. Then see if you can find any reliable/accurate demo of […]
… “I was too far out all my life And not waving but drowning.” Stevie Smith, Not Waving But Drowning So, what is “swaving”? In the words of the oft-quoted passage from William Howitt’s ‘The Rural Life of England’ (1838): “…As soon as it becomes dark, and the usual business of the day is over, […]
PENELOPE HEMINGWAY 