Almost a stormy day, with wind howling under the front door
and my rosemary plant, big and heavy, found broken on the pavement and rescued
by a kind neighbour. I haven’t been out, having the Guelphs and Ghibellines to
deal with – at the last moment, as feared.
No knitting, either. I miss Pointless. It’s still nominally
on, but that presumably means repeats. Its usual slot was taken over by the
daily government show. I watched that (and knit) for a while, but it got to be
too boring. I need to face up to getting my CD-player back into use.
Highly recommended: “W1A: Initial Lockdown Meeting” on
Youtube. It’s short. It probably helps if you used to love “W1A” as I did,
about the BBC; and before that “2012”, about the London Olympics. But it’s still
pretty funny on its own.
Queer Joe has posted another episode of “Knitting with Queer
Joe”. He’s a long way behind Andrew and Andrea, but still very endearing.
I have purchased Anne Bardsgard’s “Selbu Mittens” feeling
that it was probably archive-worthy. And it is. So rich and wonderful, indeed,
that I might even be tempted to knit some mittens. Is it interesting that
Norwegian knitting and Shetland seem to have leapt into life at pretty well the
same point in the mid 19th century?
Now I must get back to the Guelphs. I know virtually nothing
about Italian history, and it’s rather wonderful.
I purchased Selbu Mittens for similar reasons, and I am embarrassed to say it is sitting practically unopened on my bookshelf.
ReplyDeleteSelbu Mittens is lovely - and why use it just for mittens? I have other plans for some of the graphs in it.
ReplyDeleteExactly!
Delete-- Gretchen (aka stashdragon)
I was tempted by Selbu Mittens, but had to restrain myself. Hoping someday to be able to borrow it on regional interlibrary loan :)
ReplyDeleteIt was windy and rainy here yesterday, but not to that extent! A few dead twigs fell down.
ReplyDeleteI think both Norwegian and Shetland knitting were strongly affected by the new dyes in the 19th century, but they had antecedents. They just weren't promoted or fashionable (often the same thing). When stockings and even outer garments were inexpensively machine knitted, hand knitting became rare, expensive, and probably some kind of class marker. The rise of instruction books, not to mention upperclass and royal patronage, certainly helped.
If a young person were contemplating a career in the heritage sector - the National Trust for example, there are some things that might help when things get going again. Doing a Masters, either full or part-time, in a relevant discipline, such as conservation of historic objects, would be a good move. Retail experience, such as in a large supermarket, would be relevant. Volunteering at local properties would be invaluable, especially as many regular volunteers are in the over 70 age group and therefore vulnerable. I hope that this is useful.
ReplyDelete