Books and Knitting

October flew by in a bit of a blur, a blur which became even blurrier towards the end of the month when I contracted Covid on my birthday and the family had to spend much of the following fortnight in quarantine. Fortunately my husband didn’t get it this time, so was able to stay on his feet to look after the rest of us.

But it’s has been a good month for books and knitting - both excellent sedentary activities - so here comes a bit of a round-up of some of my favourites…

Knitting Book:

The Art of Landscape Knitting by Anne Le Brocq is a really exciting new publication from David&Charles which, as the title suggests, marries two of my great loves: landscapes and knitting. Anne is a lecturer in Physical Geography from the University of Exeter who has applied her knowledge of the natural world to design knitting motifs which represent the physical realities of places. Rocks, plants, sand, waves, weather, and many other landscape elements are rendered as a series of 50 knitting designs (charted and written) that can be used to make unique patterns for blankets. Knitters are encouraged to combine motifs in the way that best represents their own loved landscapes, though there are also seven complete patterns that can be followed exactly: Sunny Beach, Summer Mountain, Stormy Beach, Bluebell Wood, Deciduous Wood, Snowy Mountain, and Pebbly Beach.

What I really enjoy about this book is that it has me absolutely itching to make some things inspired by my own favourite places - and gave me the tools to do that, in really clear and well-presented formats (I do love a good knitting chart). It also encourages really close observation of the natural world - what type of clouds can we see, what are the individual shapes of pebbles on a shore, what are the shapes of different types of plant leaves. The accompanying photos are gorgeous - and full credit to Anne for capturing the finished items in the environments which inspired them!

You can order a copy from Blackwells, WH Smith or you lovely local yarn shop (mine is the Woolly Brew in Pittenweem).

Other Books

The Farmer’s Wife by Helen Rebanks is a rarity in that it is a book I picked up at a supermarket - Booths in Penrith, to be exact. I was there because it was half-term (Fife schools get a fortnight) and so me, the kids, my friend Sophie and her three-year-old daughter decamped to Cumbria for some family fun. No, not Centre Parcs, but… Sheep School! This was an idea Sophie and I came up with when we went on a peg looming workshop and realised that, if we bought a fleece, a couple of bits of wood and some dowel, we could help the kids make their own looms and weave with them - and that it would probably take the best part of a week. So that is what we did, in a little holiday cottage in the pretty village of Great Strickland. The kids had a great time turning the raw fleece into dolly blankets, me and Sophie spent the evenings knitting over a couple of glasses of wine, and we all ventured out for some foraging and a slightly truncated trip to the pub (where my daughter threw up - she’s only five and hadn’t even touched my beer, I promise!)

The Farmer’s Wife was a very fitting book to read on that trip, not least because its author and her young family (of four children) had lived in the village next door to where we were staying. Helen’s husband is the farmer-author James Rebanks whose books, The Shepherd’s Life and English Pastoral, detail his family history and personal experience of hill farming in the Lake District, and Helen’s debut shows the domestic side of that life: all the cooking, cleaning, child-rearing and administration that go in to creating an extraordinary nature-friendly family farm. I think it would be difficult to get the full picture of that life if you haven’t already read James’ books, but as I have (and loved them) I was keen to see Helen’s perspective on things, as hers is a view hugely under-represented in the literary canon: that of the hardly-seen but hard-working farmer’s wife.

The Farmer’s Wife is a deeply ordinary book - and I don’t mean that as an insult. Helen does not shy away from recording all the graft that not only she but her mother, mother-in-law, and countless other female family members have put in to make life on a hill farm possible. For those of us who are the primary carers and home-makers in our own families, it is deeply relatable - even if all the land and livestock we have are a few window boxes and a pet hamster. The narrative is interspersed with some of Helen’s favourite recipes, and though I haven’t yet tried any I do know her cooking is good, as a decade ago I took a couple of groups of school kids up to the Rebanks’ farm (as part of a project called Land Keepers) and James showed them his beautiful Herdwick sheep whilst Helen cooked up some delicious ‘Herdy burgers’ for them to try.

Behind the Seams

Esme Young’s Behind the Seams is the complete opposite of Helen’s rural domesticity: the tale of a woman who has spent her whole working life in London, co-founding and running an avant-garde clothing business (Swanky Modes) and having a life full of deadlines, parties, friendship, partners and adventure - with very little in the livestock or babies departments! Esme is just as hard-working as Helen, but in the spheres of art, fashion, sewing, pattern-cutting and, in her 70s, television (you’ll no doubt recognise her from The Great British Sewing Bee, which I have to admit to never having seen). I really enjoyed following Esme on her utterly unique path through life - I imagine that she is just like her prose, sparky and full of irreverent humour.

Making

I am continuing to enjoy re-learning to sew: my Mum did teach me the basics when I was younger, but although I’ve reupholstered a sofa and turned out a couple of pairs of (slightly imperfect) curtains, I had never really got into making my own clothes. So armed with How to Sew Clothes by the All Well Workshop I’ve now progressed from the sleeveless box-top to a long-sleeved, double-pocketed cotton version, which I overdyed to get a deep red colour. It’s now in the wash and I haven’t got a good picture of it, but I did wear it when I was out with my family on my birthday - photo below. I also made a simple fabric storage box and have started a cardigan coat, made from an old woollen shawl that I never wore - which is not quite finished, but does only need pockets and a lining.

This has been a month of not finishing knitted things, starting with my good intentions for Socktober. I joined Sofia’s Tales Mystery Sock Knit-A-Long (KAL), hoping that it would inspire me to finish a pair of hand-knitted socks in a month, as I love to wear them but somehow never quite get round to making them for myself. Unfortunately, I didn’t really like the pattern that came with the KAL, so switched to pattern called Togetherness by Little Home Designs - which is beautiful (and free, if you fancy having a go yourself), but my socks are languishing at the heel turns…

I have also been experimenting with combining a strand of silk/mohair lace-weight (from My Mama Knits) with some lovely Coburger Fuchsschaf (the German breed Coburg Fox Sheep) 4-ply, sent to me by the delightful Ericka Eckles. It has begun to be a cropped Romy jumper, but I have only just cast on, so this is likely to be a pretty long Work-in-Progress.

And there have been some Christmas knits too - but I’m not ready to share these with you yet…