a knitting earworm
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All articles filed in memory
other people’s stories
On time, memory, and what it means to tell someone else’s story.
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the fabric of memory
Do you dream in textiles?
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owliversary
In November it will be ten years since I knitted my owl sweater. A lot can happen in a decade, and that’s particularly so for me. In November 2008 I was an academic lecturer at Newcastle University, researching and teaching literary history. Knitting was one of several hobbies I enjoyed, and I’d begun documenting my…
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are you domesticated?
Without doubt the best thing about this whole blogging thing is the dialogue it enables. Under its first name of “needled”, I started this blog ten years ago, and over the past decade I’ve met some of my best friends and colleagues through this online space. Many of you correspond with me, and though it…
Read Morehandy
Hello, dear friends, here I am, checking in with an update on my progress. I am doing really well, and throwing myself into the physio with gusto, but it is fair to say that what I am now engaged upon is the strangest and most difficult task I have ever undertaken. When I wrote a…
Read Morea local habitation and a name
(A familiar walk between St Annes and Lytham). I have written before about walking in familiar places. As I think about last year’s walking project, I realise just how important the familiar is to the particular pleasures I find in walking. Stomping the same ground is an important way of connecting with a landscape, allowing…
Read Moreunpicking
When thinking about process, there is nothing more instructive than unpicking someone else’s stitches. I found a beautiful hand-embroidered cloth on ebay. I have plans for it. The plans involve deconstructing and transforming it into something else. I began by undoing the slip stitches of its heavy, worn cord edging. Then I started to unpick…
Read Morenostalgic
I am looking forward to the Christmas holiday immensely. It seems to be the only time when both of us actually entirely stop working. This year, part of that lovely non-work time will be spent on Islay. Hurrah! There will be walking! Wild, wintry landscapes! Roaring fires! Last time we had a holiday, we really…
Read Morebelle’s summer quilt
The quilt is finished! To recap: The quilt-top is made out of twelve of Belle’s stripey t-shirts, cut up and pieced together; I used an old blue sheet for the quilt back and one layer of light cotton batting. I tried various methods of hand-quilting the top, but didn’t like the way the stitches interfered…
Read Moresounding out
Me and the quilt have been sounding each other out for some weeks now. I have been trying various things on the quilt top. Various threads. Various directions. None of them felt or looked quite right. Whatever feeling I followed, the stitch lines just seemed wrong. Stitching the quilt top seemed to work against the…
Read Morefrom twelve t-shirts
You may be wondering what has happened to Belle’s quilts. Well, it is taking time. I have to choose the right moments to work on them. They feel and smell of Belle. Making them is not an easy thing. But there has been some progress recently. For the first quilt I chose twelve of Belle’s…
Read MoreAnnie’s room
If you’ll excuse some trumpet-blowin for a moment, I have a piece in the current issue of Selvedge about the doll-art of Tabitha Moses. I find Tabitha’s work incredibly suggestive for many reasons, especially her thoughtful engagement with stitch as both process and mark. I urge anyone who’s interested to have a look at the…
Read Morebelle’s things
I am wary of posting about something so painful and personal, but feel it is important, so here goes. A few weeks ago, my mother-in-law died. Her death was unexpected, very sudden, and very sad indeed. Belle was only 64, was looking forward to retiring, and, in fact, would have done so this week. She…
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KDD & Co 