PENELOPE HEMINGWAYThen we run our little boat into some quiet nook, and the tent is pitched, and the frugal supper cooked and eaten. Then the big pipes are filled and lighted, and the pleasant chat goes round in musical undertone; while, in the pauses of our talk, the river, playing around the boat, […]
Tomorrow (5th August) and Saturday, we’ll be demonstrating the Great Wheel, at the British Wool Show, Murton, York. If you fancy some ‘Have A Go’ great wheel spinning, come along and try your hand at it. Very few spinners are left who can spin on the Great Wheel – we’re hoping to change that! You […]
This year, I’m Writer/Crafter in Residence at the Yorkshire Museum of Farming. So I’m starting a separate blog – we’ll have old farmhouse recipes from my farming families’ handwritten books (I have a couple of these); fascinating delvings into the archives of the Museum, and the occasional wander round the Museum’s exhibits, reserve collection, the […]
Today I’ll continue putting up some pictures of the patterns from ‘River Ganseys’. And also hopefully give an insight into how a pattern evolves. This design was eventually published as “Parthenope”. I wanted to name the ganseys in the book after actual river vessels. Here’s one I called “Parthenope” (p.175ff). But in an earlier incarnation, […]
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 […]
Crime reports have to be used with caution but often they give valuable context for and insights into, clothing history.
Sadly, due to unforeseen circs, (a race closing off part of the road) the Museum of Farming has cancelled their Harvest event, this coming weekend (10th-11th Oct), so we have decided to re-schedule the workshops for later in the year. Keep your eyes peeled for further info. Hope this hasn’t inconvenienced anyone, as I know […]
When I’m not knitting or genealogy-ing, I like to fix up vintage sewing machines and sew with them. I spent some time, earlier this year, fixing up Victorian/Edwardian hand crank machines; £11 – £15 car-boot bargains; a Singer 28K and a couple of Jones Family C.S machines. Vintage, metal machines have none of the built-in […]
Nothing to do with knitting, and very little to do with genealogy. Whilst I’m busy working on a piece for ‘Ply’ magazine, I thought I’d share with you this rather cool list of 19thC dog names I compiled a while back. These were all found in The York Courant and The Birmingham Daily Post, so […]
Last year, we tried and failed to establish a dye garden at the Yorkshire Museum of Farming. Our main problem was slugs. Big slugs. Lots of slugs. Nuclear bombproof mutant slug pellet-survivor slugs. I’ve been an organic gardener all my gardening life, after stumbling on a dog-eared copy of Laurence D. Hill’s ‘Organic Gardening’ that […]
PENELOPE HEMINGWAY 