Visit to Sanquhar

Well, I guess it's a thumbs up for the Hap Shawl then?! Thanks very much for all the compliments on the blog, on Ravelry and in person.
I am really thrilled with it and its snuggerific ways.

To round off our Easter holidays last week we drove home via the scenic route and stopped off in
Sanquhar, to visit its Tolbooth Museum with its exhibits on Sanquhar knitting, particularly the Sanquhar glove tradition. There were a few web-pages about the Tolbooth, but I chose that one because it links to a detailed article about the Sanquhar knitting tradtion.
The exhibit was not that big, but it was well worth it because there were plenty of good examples and the curator Rab (I'm lovin' it) was very knowledgeable and keen to assist. He had plenty of other local stories above and beyond the formal information.
In the first picture you see me standing beside some of the explanations and the following gloves left to right:
Pheasant's Eye; Prince of Wales; Plaid; Duke (THE Sanquhar Pattern); Fleur-de-lys; Un-named; Rose; Rose and Trellis; Drum; Drum and Trellis; Cornet and Drum; Glen.
Pic 2: Closer views of some of the single gloves.


Pic 3: A cabinet with some more glove styles, some old samplers of traditional and made-up designs, knitting needles and sheaths, hand-written and typed notes from various past dignitaries who had commisioned or been gifted some Sanquhar gloves, most notably various Dukes of Buccleuch from the nearby Drumlanrig Castle.




Pic 4: The People's Friend Magazine did some features on Sanquhar designs in the fifties, showing how you can make the gloves or incorporate the motifs into other garments. This series renewed interest in Sanquhar patterns.

I bought the patterns for four styles of glove from the little stall. I may not make any of them but I'll enjoy reading them and having them.

Apparently they were originally knitted from "drugget" but are now made in 3-ply wool. Any definitions I've seen for drugget are a 'course woven fabric' or something you put on your gym hall floor to protect the surface during exams???

Gotta love Sanquhar knitting.

The rest of the wee museum is interesting as well x K

Book give-away # 1

I'm having a clear-out and am about to give these books away to the Oxfam book branch near Glasgow Uni.
I wanted to give you first refusal on them, I know you've been dying to read these books for ages ;-)
This is shelf one.

If you would like any of them free of charge let me know at my email address kedkrafty@hotmail.co.uk (Please note the UK suffix.)
I will take Paypal for postage where appropriate.

I don't imagine there will be a major run on these books (!!) but just in case I'll generally go with the 'first come first served' routine, although being honest if more than one person wants the same book and I see one of you every Tuesday and the other lives in Bangkok.....

Of love and shadows An English translation by Margaret Sayers Peden of
De amor y de sombra Isabel Allende Alden Press; Hardback VGC

The Stories of Eva Luna An English translation by Margaret Sayers Peden of
Las cuentas de Eva Luna Isabel Allende Penguin; Paperback VGC

A Year in Provence Peter Mayle Penguin; Paperback VGC

Torquemada in the Fire An English translation by Nicholas Round of
Torquemada en la hoguera Benito Perez Galdos Glasgow University; Pamphlet GC

The Scarlet Letter Nathaniel Hawthorne Penguin Popular Classics; Paperback VGC

The Divine Comedy An English translation by Mark Musa of
La divina Commedia Dante Alighieri Penguin Classics; Paperback VGC

Junior Su Doku Wayne Gould The Times; Paperback VGC

Poemes Pierre de Ronsard Blackwell; Paperback VGC

Les mains sales Jean Paul Sartre Folio; Paperback GC

La grande muraille Claude Michelet Editions Robert LaFont; Hardback VGC

Candide Voltaire OUP; Paperback VGC

Atonement Ian McEwan Random House; Paperback GC

Andromaque Racine Classiques Larousse; Paperback GC

Horace Corneille Classiques Larousse; Paperback GC

Cinna Corneille Classiques Larousse; Paperback VGC

Le bourgeois gentilhomme Moliere Classiques Larousse; Paperback VGC

L'avare Moliere Classiques Larousse; Paperback GC

Phedre Racine Classiques Larousse; Paperback GC

L'ecole des femmes Moliere Classiques Larousse; Paperback GC

Le Misanthrope Moliere Classiques Larousse; Paperback GC

Paroles Jacques Prevert Folio Edition; Paperback VGC

Hap-py Easter everyone

Happy Hap-py Easter to everyone. xxxxxxx K

Firstly, go and check out if you would, what I was doing exactly two years ago to the day



Blogger is playing me up terribly and eats my pix every time I try to re-order them or adjust the spacing so for now I'll have to leave the photos to do the talking, in a somewhat random order at that.

In brief-
Various views of me wearing my experimental Shetland Hap-like shawl made from Shilasdair Luxury DK yarn from the stash.
Unblocked size: Small village.
Location: Cliffs
Mood: Euphoric "I believe I can fly!"
Photographer: Thank-you Birthday Boy.

xxxxx K

The Four Cees

Circular Crochet Cushion Cover

I'm delighted to have finished this cushion cover which has been my knitting meetup and commuter "knitting" of choice lately.

In February we had a special Crochet night at our stitching group and this is what I chose to start. I knew all along from whenever I bought this Cascade 220 Paints yarn that I wanted to crochet with it because I wanted like colours to cluster together in splodges rather than the general hazy impressionist look I'd get when knitting with the yarn.
I bought this yarn from Eileen at mchattie@happyhills one evening last winter.

I'm happy enough with the way it turned out although I will have to learn that way of looping the yarn round your finger for your crochet start rather than doing a chain of six as I did here. I've been left with a visible tummy button as seen in picture four, but I'm thinking of hiding it with a crocheted button. I'm not taking it all apart again though just to fix on a button!

Now that it's finished it reminds me of those Flying Saucer sherbety sweets you get and it goes nicely with the Blue Monday Patchwork cushion I made a couple of years ago.

I took two attempts at side two because I had miscounted and ended up with a flouncy flary effect which I was trying to convince myself I could live with. In retrospect I am so glad I bit the bullet and frogged because how on earth could I have joined the two sides if one had all these superfluous stitches?

Although the yarn was not the softest to work with, it is absolutely fine for a household item and I must say it softened up a good bit in the wash.