Spinning A Yarn's Tale

This week we are continuing our journey through Europe and we take a pit stop in France! The French have a rich knitting history, just like some of its surrounding countries. The most interesting part is definitely les Tricoteuses; knitters who would watch executions while knitting peacefully on hats. Interesting image? Take a listen to learn more!

Knitting Patterns mentioned:

- Bonnie Cardigan https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/bonnie-27

Our sources:

- Beautiful article about revolutionary knitting in France https://lithub.com/on-the-covert-role-of-knitting-during-the-french-revolution-and-world-war-ii/ 

- Picture of William Lee’s knitting machine can be found here

https://madeupinbritain.uk/Stockings

- Information on natural dyes

https://thebiologist.rsb.org.uk/biologist-features/to-dye-for

- Tricoteuses information https://www.geriwalton.com/tricoteuse-knitting-women-of-the-guillotine/ 

- Tricoteuses informationhttps://timeline.com/tricoteuse-french-revolution-b9887af073f4 

- History of knitting in France (in French) https://textileaddict.me/histoire-du-tricotage-en-france/ 

- Famous picture of les Tricoteuses https://histoire-image.org/etudes/tricoteuses-revolution-francaise 

- Poem about the tricoteuses https://classicalpoets.org/2019/11/09/the-tricoteuses-and-other-poetry-by-frank-l-ludwig/#/ 

- Additional information on the Jacquard loom https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Marie_Jacquard#/media/File:A_la_m%C3%A9moire_de_J.M._Jacquard.jpg 

Spain: 

- http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art306902.asp 

- Pomar, Rosa. Portuguese Knititng. 2013. Specifically the chapter "A History of Knitting", where Spain is mentioned.

Information on sheep breeds (definitely recommend this book for all fiber fanatics!) 

Robson, Deborah & Ekarius, Carol. The Fleece & Fiber Sourcebook. 2011. Over 400 pages of beautiful information! 

An answer to Blair's question about cheviot sheep: Cheviot sheep are actually from England/Scotland! Read more about them here if you're interested: https://breeds.okstate.edu/sheep/cheviot-sheep.html 

This week we are diving into the world of Irish Crochet Lace and Welsh blankets. Two subjects that seem quite unrelated, but can be united by the fact that they are old crafts that were done to stay alive. There are still some ways to support the weavers in Wales, so we added some of those links down below! Definitely worth checking out; hand-crafting used to keep people alive, now we need to keep hand-crafting alive :).

Enjoy!

https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/bonnie-27

Websites for supporting Welsh weavers:

https://www.t-w-m.co.uk

https://museum.wales/wool/ 

https://thewelshgirl.com/ 

REFERENCES:

IRISH LACE: 

McCooey, N. (2017). Life Saving Lace. Selvedge.

Brooks, M. (2012). Supplementary meterial1. Textile History. https://doi.org/10.1179/0040496912z.00000000010.s1

Knitting, Crochet, and Netting, With Twelve Illustrations (London: S. Knights, 1846)

Castles, H. (2011). Hybrid stitched textile art: Contemporary interpretations of mid nineteenth century Irish crochet lace making (thesis). University of Ulster, Belfast.

WELSH BLANKETS: 

Pictures of Welsh Blankets:

⁠https://www.celfadylunio.cymru/home/patterns/welsh-blankets/⁠ 

FelinFach. (n.d.). Welsh sheep and breeds on https://www.felinfach.com/pages/welsh-sheep-and-breeds

Lucas, M. (n.d.). Caernarfon blankets. Museum Wales. https://museum.wales/articles/2111/Caernarfon-blankets-/

Otterburn, K. (2018, February 8). The A to Z of welsh design: B is for - - 'blanket'. https://welshotter.co.uk/blogs/news/a-to-z-of-welsh-design-b-is-for-blanket

Otterburn, K. (2018, November 4). The story of how Wales got its tapestry... https://welshotter.co.uk/blogs/news/the-story-of-how-wales-got-its-tapestry

This week we're going over the brief history and culture surrounding Fair Isle! There's some....... Misconceptions about this supposedly ancient way of knitting. But! I think my favorite part this week is about how fair isle came to the Fair Isles. I know it sounds a little redundant, but trust me, it's a good one! 

https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/bonnie-27

Resources:

https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1427&context=tsaconf

“The art of fair isle knitting history, technique, color, and patterns” Ann Feitelson

https://yarnandknitting.com/know-your-sheep-the-shetland-sheep/

https://www.jamiesonsofshetland.co.uk

https://www.nms.ac.uk/national-museum-of-scotland

Hi and welcome in!  This week we're chatting about ganseys! This adventure takes us through a little bit about the history and stitch pattern of a traditional gansey, as well as the culture behind the fishermen wearing them. Sometimes they were great husbands, sometimes they were.........not. But either way it was interesting to research!  Thanks for watching

https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/bonnie-27

Our sources: 

Ruhe, Stella. 2014. Dutch Traditional Ganseys: Sweaters from 40 Villages.

Gilpin, Di & Greenwell, Shelia. 2021.The Gansey Knitting Sourcebook: 150 stitch patterns and 10 projects for gansey knits. 

Pictures of ganseys

http://www.ganseys.com/gallery/gordons-ganseys/the-netherlands/urk/

A cool article about Ganseys

https://www.selvedge.org/blogs/selvedge/the-hand-knit-gansey

Hi and welcome in!

This is our second episode and that's so weird to think about. Today we chat about the histories of a few different countries, Scotland, England and Ireland to name them. Though there are not as many stocks and socks references in this one, there is a decent amount of banter! MY favorite highlights are the terrible knitters of Dent, tams, and aran sweaters. Thank you for listening again and see you in two weeks! 

https://www.eweandiyarns.com/

Blair & Denise (@spinningayarnstale) • Instagram photos and videos

https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/bonnie-27

References:

Hi and welcome! 

This is our first episode of Spinning a Yarn's Tale, a podcast brought to you by Ewe and I Yarns in Chehalis Washington. This episode is a brief history of knitting, and an even brief-er history of spinning and sheep. We chat about the general history without getting too into the details, and there might be some allusions to wearing socks and sandals. We hope to have many more informative episodes filled with maybe a little too much giggling, so please stick around! 

https://www.eweandiyarns.com/

https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/bonnie-27

Show notes: