Marching In!

In keeping with the theme of a new pillow a month, 

this month we honor the Irish among us!

I have included a bit or orange in the embroidery to address the way the Catholics (green) 

and the Protestants (orange) have decided to work together in the last decade 

because they are all sharing the same island-the Green Isle, in fact.

It's been good for me to have my interest piqued about the history of this country 

first by Victoria on Masterpiece Theater

and secondly from  a recent-to-me episode of Rick Steeves about Ireland.  

I suggest you take some time this month to enlighten or refresh your own education about this beautiful Country, Ireland!

The Latrine Hat

 In the Autumn 2018 issue of SpinOff magazine, there is a very interesting article

 about a hat that was 'discovered' during the reconstruction in the hospital

 of Fort Louisbourg, Cape Breton, Canada.

When they uncovered the early 1700's hospital latrine they also uncovered this hat~

the conditions of the latrine were perfect for preserving this handspun and hand knit hat

 due to the use of lime .  One can only speculate on how the hat got there 

but they did solve the mystery of the pattern for this hat and it was included in the article!  

 Since I had recently dyed and spun wool very similar to the one used in the article, 

I thought it would be an interesting knit to try.

 The construction was unlike any hat I had made;  

the brim was purled in the round and then turned up to the right side of the hat to form the brim

--quite the opposite to how we knit them today!

 I was tempted to chuck all that purling and do it 'right'!  

 Then I remembered why I was knitting it and relaxed 

and allowed myself to be taught something new instead of doing it my usual old way.

Always a good frame of mind!

The hat has a very different shape from our beanies of today but once on, 

it takes the shape of the head very nicely (my DH was a willing guinea pig).

I have enough yarn left to make a hat using today's patterns which will make a good comparison!

Who knows where my creation will end up in 300 years!!!!

St Augustine Spin-In

 Today I went to the annual Spin In with the ST Augustine Textile Guild held in the visitor center.  I went with my friend Elayne and our husbands, both Bills!  We had a wonderful time talking with the hundreds of visitors-this picture was taken near the end of our time when the crowd began to thin out-the rest of the time you couldn't have seen us because of all the people watching and asking questions!  (Elayne to the left of the pic and me in the center, spinning friend and locally famous spinner, Barbara on the right and I am in the middle!

The large open area was filled with clusters of knitters and spinners, what a wonderful group of ladies; we were very glad to be part of their venture today.

I spun a bobbin of Shetland today and used up so many words.......off to the couch and some knitting!