Knitting snippets, out and about

Summer seems to have slipped into autumn and time as usual has flown by. Here's an autumnal resume, mainly photos from August through to October with some captions thrown in. 

Spent one Saturday in early October helping these two lovely ladies Barbara and Alex. They were presenting items from the Knitting and Crochet Guild collection at the “Up Country” yarn shop in Holmfirth.

The blanket is a design by Debbie Abrahams, the one featured on the Knitting and Crochet Guild logo. It was a “Mystery Blanket” knit-along in 2011. A kit was available by subscription (but no longer available). You can find details about it on Ravelry but I don’t think you can get the pattern.  

There's been some work done on revamping a Hand Knitted Things pattern, more news on this in early November...

These popular greeting cards with knitted Highland scenes have sold out over at Nanny's Cafe in Sheildaig. More ordered, printed and delivered...

Some walking along the shores of Loch Torridon...

...and sunshine with far reaching views along the loch...

Views from the front door with changing light...

Mobile library visiting...

...well stocked library van with lovely books...

My wise old owl appeared in the September/October edition of Landscape Magazine...

There's been lots of knitting behind the scenes with these shades...

...here's a sneak peak of the finished item which will be revealed here on Wednesday 25th October, part of the Stylecraft Blog Tour 2017...there'll also be a giveaway too. Tune in on Wednesday to participate...

KCG Trunk Show September 2017

From time to time the team at the Knitting and Crochet Guild (KCG) Archive arrange "Trunk Shows", where a selection of items from the collection are made available to view by interested groups and organisations throughout the country.

One such occasion a few weeks ago, I accompanied Barbara Smith (Publications Curator) to a trunk show in Harrogate. Barbara had selected items from the archive and prepared a talk for a group on a knitting tour of Yorkshire, organised by Susan Wolcott of Trips for Knitters. My role on this occasion was easy, helping organise and display items for the presentation.

Barbara presenting the Trunk Show talk 

Here's a list of the items. Followed below by some photos and a brief description of each.

1. Pence jug
2. Knitted lace doily
3. Irish crochet bag
4. Irish lace collar
5. Yorkshire Dales gloves
6. "Welcome Home" tablecloth
7. Crochet and knitted rayon jumper
8. 1930's Childs Fair Isle cardigan
9. Royal Baby's Fishermans sweater
10. Marianne Kinzel knitted tablecloth
11. Steve's jumper
12. Pink disco dress
13. Kaffe Fassett waistcoat
14. Cacti

1. Knitted Pence Jug, a container for pennies from the 19th century.

2. Knitted cotton doily with a triangular pattern insert (see image below) called "Print o' the Wave" in Shetland lace. Doily's were popular and knitted throughout the 19th and 20th centuries.

3. Irish Crochet Lace was introduced in Ireland by nuns to provide an income for girls and women of poor families in rural areas. Motifs are worked separately and then joined together. Fashionable during the early 20th century unto 1914. 

Theatre Bag

Lace Collar

Collar detail

4. Knitted Yorkshire Dales Gloves, similar to the the Sanquhar designs of Dunfries and Galloway The Dales gloves held in the KCG collection are very rare and are featured in the book Old Hand Knitters of the Dales by Hartley and Inglby

5. Crochet "Welcome Home" Tablecloth. Example of patriotic WW1 filet crochet with a military theme.

Image courtesy of Barbara Smith

Image courtesy of Barbara Smith

6. Knitted and crochet rayon jumper typical of knitwear fashion around 1920's. Rayon (usually called art silk) is very slippery to work.

7. Knitted child's Fair Isle cardigan from just before WW2.

8. Royal Baby's Fisherman's jumper knitted in the 1940's with a gansey construction. The pattern was published in the Daily Telegraph, the royal baby probably being Prince Charles.

10. Marianne Kinzel tablecloth. This design is "Rose of England"  knitted in cotton.

11. "Steve's jumper". Knitted around the mid 1950's, the pattern is thought to have come from the Radio Times but has not been found by the archive team yet. 

12. Pink Disco dress probably published by Patons around 1970. This example came to the collection from a charity shop. 

13. Knitted Kaffe Fassett waistcoat. Donated by Kaffe to the collection (and knitted by the man himself) when he became patron of the Knitting and Crochet Guild in 1999. 

14. Cacti, these were designed and knitted by Jan Messant.

Image courtesy of Barbara Smith

Swedish Bohus Knitting KCG Collection

 

If you read the previous post about the Edinburgh Yarn Festival I mentioned the Knitting and Crochet Guild (KCG) display which featured Bohus knitting. This is a style of knitting I had heard of but knew little about. Trish who was volunteering on behalf of the KCG told me a brief history. 

Originating in the Swedish province of Bohuslan, Bohus knitting began as a cottage industry to provide income for poor families. Run as a knitting cooperative it was active from 1939 to 1969. Emma Jacobsson was the founder and leading light who recruited artists and designers to produce designs for the cooperative. During the 1940's the distinctive multi coloured style was developed. Eventually, Bohus became highly fashionable with celebrities of the day among the clients such as Ingrid Bergman, Eartha Kit, Grace Kelly to name a few.

The basic knitting technique is very similar to knitting stranded Fair Isle. Whereas stranded Fair Isle colour work is generally knitted in stocking stitch with a smooth finish on the right side. Bohus has rows of purl stitches on the right side giving a texture of raised stitches. Trish was in the process of knitting a small sample which you can see below. The purl stitches are arranged on the right side of the work, both in rows and waves across the sample.

The main display board shows stitch patterns of garments in the collection. If you look to the lower right hand corner you'll notice a photo of the Swedish actress Ingrid Bergman.

Bohus sweater design worn by Ingrid Bergman.

An example was on display, no less, of that same sweater design Ingrid Bergman is wearing in the photo above (not the actual sweater though).

The sweater was originally designed by Anna-Lisa Mannheimer circa 1940. The pattern is called The Red Edge and is reproduced in "Poems of Color: Knitting the Bohus Tradition" by Wendy Keele.  Published in 1995 this book has 46 patterns, is full of historical information and photographs from the era. Examples of projects and patterns can be found on the book's Ravelry page.

Further items on display include a hat, scarf and gloves in the distinctive pattern and colour combinations. Items were probably purchased in Sweden around the 1950's and were part of the Coats archive.

I found the display to be inspiring and informative. This is a knitting style I'd like to try, just need to find more hours in the day to fit in the knitting projects I have in mind...

 Useful links:

Bohus Stickning Wikipedia

Angora Garnet

Bohuslan Museum

Kate Davies - Brilliant Women 

Edinburgh Yarn Festival 2017

Had a very enjoyable trip to Edinburgh where the fourth Edinburgh Yarn Festival (EYF) was being held on 10th-11th March at the Corn Exchange. I traveled by train from Inverness approaching Edinburgh across the Fourth Rail Bridge with views to the old and new road bridges.

As well as attending the yarn festival  some free time was planned in the schedule to explore the city. A chance to take in some of the sights around Princes Street...

...National Gallery of Scotland...

... Sir Walter Scott Monument...

...checking out places to eat...

...french piano graffiti at "chez jules bistro"...

...Waverley Railway Station (taken with camera phone)...

Onto the knitting yarn part of the trip and some of the highlights. Friday morning at the Corn Exchange, saving a place for me in the queue to buy tickets was the lovely Lucia of Lucia's Fig Tree. We hardly noticed the wait as there was so much to chat about. Both Lucia and I had the same plan, visit the Knitting and Crochet Guild stand to say hello to volunteers. 

The theme of the display was Bohus knitting (a more detailed description about this display is planned in the next blog post).

Then we headed over to see lovely crochet designer Jane Crowfoot. Jane was busy with visitors so we spent a little while admiring her complex and colourful work.

I've been an admirer of Brooklyn Tweed since 2015 when I knitted the "Stranger Cardigan" by michiyo published in Brooklyn Tweed Wool People vol 4. The impressive display from this American designer included the yarn ranges Shelter, Loft and Arbor.

Close up of knit designs by Brooklyn Tweed.

Shetland Wool Week were promoting this years free pattern by designer Gudrun Johnston. The design is a slouchy style hat called Bousta Beanie.

You can pick up a free digital copy of this pattern here.

Another highlight was meeting Kate Davies at her stand where items from her new book were on display. 

And finally, I didn't manage to take any photos of Kate's display due to being so star struck when she kindly signed my copy of "Inspired by Islay"...