Celebrating the world’s first sock knitting book, and its bluestocking author
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All articles filed in textile history
sock of the week no.2
Eighteenth-century stockings in miniature
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sock of the week no.1
Philippe Mercier’s popular portrait of an eighteenth-century stocking knitter
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a chat with Nicole Pohl
Nicole tells us more about her work on the women of the Bluestocking circle
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the bluestocking club
all about the Bluestocking club
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out of the woods
Outi Kater introduces a wonderful design inspired by Finnish childhood winters and restorative woodland spaces
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the fabric of memory
Do you dream in textiles?
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on the uses of handwoven tapes and bands
I really enjoyed reading your comments on my last weaving post – especially hearing about the impressively wide range of new skills you are all currently picking up! I’m continuing to enjoy my weaving, and am finding it very inspiring. It really interests me that one of the first things many people think of when…
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Mood Indigo
(top illustration: William Simpson, An Indigo Factory in Bengal (1863) I am currently completing a design project using yarn that has been dyed with natural indigo by my friends at Shilasdair. As I’ve knitted, I’ve often found myself thinking about the links between Scotland and natural indigo dye. Indigo isn’t, of course, a Scottish plant…
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snoods / psneuds
I am sure, since I have been completely unable to restrain my excitement on all social media channels, that most of you will have already seen the small range of knitted accessories that we’ve made with Lockies. Snoods! Now, I have come to realise the “correct” application of the word snood is a matter for…
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Jenny Jones
Over the years I’ve gathered a small collection of knitting ephemera. This includes a few different styles of the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century sticks, wisps and sheaths (used throughout Britain for supported knitting) and different kinds of representations–largely photographs or prints–of knitting all over Britain. Such representations do not afford some sort of transparent window onto…
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Fair Isle in Whalsay
Are you going to Shetland Wool Week this year? If so, can I strongly suggest you set aside a day in your itinerary for a trip to the wonderful island of Whalsay?. The Whalsay Heritage Centre is currently hosting an exhibition of the island’s fair isle knitting that will, I assure you, really blow your…
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Hapisk
There are so many things I admire about talented Hélène Magnusson, but perhaps most particularly her completely joined-up approach to sheep, wool, yarn production, textile history, and contemporary knitwear design. All these elements are to the fore in the very special hap Hélène has created for our collection, a Hapisk – whose name as well…
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Miss Rachel’s yoke and gauntlets (a closer look!)
As discussed in the previous post, this design is inspired by an early nineteenth-century shawl, collected by Rachel Kay Shuttleworth, and now part of Gawthorpe Textile Collection. The colourful, ribbon-like bands of the shawl immediately reminded me of one of my favourite colourwork motifs, a small, simple pattern which resembles an interlocking vine. The pattern…
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Inspired by Gawthorpe
You may remember that, a couple of years ago, I was involved with a project to create a design inspired by the wonderful textile collections at Gawthorpe Hall. I designed the Richard the Roundhead tam, inspired by a crewel-work coverlet that Rachel Kay Shuttleworth had embroidered over several decades, in memory of her parliamentarian ancestor,…
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at Haworth Scouring
As we have discovered over the past few months, there is an awful lot to think about when designing and manufacturing a new yarn for hand knitting! There are many stages to consider, and many decisions to be made. It occurred to me that one of the processes that’s least visible to hand knitters is…
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