Too many sheep - not enough knitting

The house is full of wool but very little has been stitched of late. Its been a strange Summer and rather sad. My sister Mary was suddenly very ill and in July, not long after my last blog, she died. We had some lovely family times together in her last few weeks. She was such an amazing character, she gave so much to so many and we miss her.

Unscoured Blue Faced Leicester fleece

So blogging about knitting has not been on the agenda for a while. At one point this summer we defied the elements to briefly go camping in the Yorkshire Dales. We met lots of sheep and despite my stated determination not to buy I came back with an unscoured Swaledale fleece, unscoured Blue Faced Leicester fleece and a kilo of beautiful Wensleydale combed tops.

It's now all lurking in different parts of the house in various stages waiting to be washed, dyed, combed, carded or spun. The Blue Faced Leicester was hilariously curly, but I have to say rather whiffy too! Washing it was not something I wanted to do in my kitchen so its been a question of dodging the showers. Its been a bit of a learning curve too - book in one hand, fleece in the other. Something will come of it all eventually I dare say: but will it be wool or worsted?  I will try and keep you posted. I might need some wool combs and a new spinning wheel yet!

Wensleydale combed tops

Rolled up unscoured Swaledale fleece

Fifty years in the making - Aran knit meets Swaledale hand spun

Aran Achill jacket knitted c.1963 meets Swaledale hand spun c.2012

It seems ages ago now; but actually only about twelve months have passed since my big sister promised to re-knit the Achill jacket pattern she had last knitted 50 years ago if I came up with the wool. Back in the early 1960’s she produced several beautiful Aran jackets in wool brought back from holidays near Achill Island off the West Coast of Ireland by our late parents. (earlier post-Out for a spin).

Despite a long time searching, the special quality of the wool proved impossible to match at any affordable price. So it’s been a double challenge for Katharine to convert my wobbly hand spun Swaledale into this fantastic jacket. I am very much the novice at spinning and it took me a good while to spin the yarn. Many other major knitting projects have been and gone through Katharine’s hands while she has been waiting.

The result is superb, I could not be happier. It deserves the greatest care I can give it but I will want to wear it all the time

I wore my earlier jacket to destruction and we were convinced all that remained of the Achill wool was one of Narnie’s hats.  How very odd that the very week the new jacket was finally completed, mother’s original brown Achill jacket was spotted at the bottom of an old trunk.

Here they are together.  My new one complete with its handmade wooden buttons, created from fumed oak by my unique brother in law Derek Martin, who is not only maker of all those knitting pins for my knitting bags but also the craftsman who designed and built my spinning wheel.

At the risk of sounding a bit cheesy ……..and I have just had some for lunch; this is about more than just knitting. It’s special and its wrapped up in wonderful family ties and fifty years of memories, in particular my BMT in 1988 from Katharine which gave me the last 24 years.  We have come by two great husbands, thirteen children and twenty grandchildren between us and countless cousins , uncles and aunts so there is still plenty more knitting to do…...

All I can say for now is “Thanks sis!".

Out for a spin

Achill Jacket knitting pattern c.1963

In the early 1960’s we had the Beatles and, shudder my father’s timbers, The Rolling Stones. About the same time I was at Grammar School and old enough to be left with my older siblings while mother and father went on a jaunt touring Ireland with old family friends.

They went as far as Achill Island just off the west coast of County Mayo. Amongst the trophies they brought back were hanks of hand spun wool and a local pattern for an Aran style garment, the “Achill jacket”.

My sister Katharine was volunteered to do the knitting and she produced two wonderful jackets, one in donkey brown for Mum and one in a lovely slate blue for me.  The wool had quite a unique character and the complex arrangement of traditional stitch patterns had such a timeless quality that I wore the jacket for decades. Fashions came and went, but like Mick Jaggar, the Achill jacket just went on and on. I can not remember exactly when I finally gave in and let it go but there was quite a lot of it missing by then; it was worn to destruction.

Sadly there had not been enough wool for Katharine to have a jacket of her own in this yarn, by the time a return trip to Achill came about the hand spinners had gone and the wool could not be found again.

Now my dear sister has offered to make me another jacket, - a labour of love bar none! She still has the pattern and I have spent weeks trying to find a yarn which might have the feel of the original and that could do justice to the work involved - without breaking the bank.

I rather fancied grey as a colour and nearly tried my hand at natural hand dyeing some Shetland yarn I had got hold of, but it would have been a big quantity to do in one go and I hadn’t got any really big pots to do the job. Finally I came to my senses and realised I could have natural grey wool from a grey sheep which I could hand spin myself!

I settled on grey Swaledale and ordered a kilo of combed tops from R E Dickie Ltd. in Halifax. They have great ranges of British fleece and yarns which you can see and buy at http://www.ephraimson.com/redickieltd.php The eagerly awaited parcel has arrived and I’m very, very happy with the contents. All I have to do now is peddle until its done…watch this space.  Anyhow it beats going to the gym.