RIBBONS

Dear Customers,

I noticed today, I got the price of the ribbons wrong. Louise sells them cheaper than I do. Please accept my apologies. I'll put them down to 50p a meter.

Here is an old song about ribbons. 

"I'll dye my ribbons, love a bonnie true blue,

because the lassie I love she's constant and true;

She's constant and true, and soon shall be my marrow,

And that's the rizzen why I winna dye them yallow."

COLONY STARS WASH HANDS AT LAST.

The Colony Rooms of Soho, now have five roller hand towels, stitched together from bits of old towel, as first shown in their raw state, on this blog, February 15th last. 

To celebrate this momentous feat, Prick Your Finger is giving away  Free Green Face Flannels. All you have to do is answer this simple question;

Q. Who is mopping his brow in ecstasy with the said hand towel?

 

Answers on postcards to, Prick Your Finger, 260 Globe Rd E2 OJD, but for lazy entries, a comment will do.

Thank you to Hilary Penn for whipping her camera out of her handbag to capture these special  moments.  

DAYGLO WOMAN

Best dressed at 'Glow in the Dark Knitting' this Saturday night went to Barley Massey of Fabrications, Broadway Market, who, along with our friend Sue,  sported rather lovely pairs of glowing nipple tassels, in celebration of International Women's Day. 

We were all delighted to join Barley, in being women. And the men thought it was great that we were women too. A good time was had by all.

HACKNEY LIBRARY FULL OF KNITTERS

Louise knitted this cheeky little book worm. We wanted to leave it at the library. However when we got to the library, we discovered there were lots of them already. 

If you get stuck with your knitting, ask your local librarian, they are certain to know what's wrong. 

GRANNY ANNIE'S AMIGURUMI

This week we hosted a party for our ANNIE OBACCHAN, author of a fabulous new book 'Amigurumi'. We drank green tea cocktails and ate  wasabe peas and everyone marveled at the Amigurumi Cosmos in the window. They are not just cute knitted creatures. They have a weighty cultural significance as laid out in the rather heavy forward which I wrote. Amigurumi is a whole other world, and if you are struggling to live in this one, then buy this book. Annie carefully shows you how to create your own knitted family, movie, work force, army or whatever you like.  It's a fast track to something satisfying that fits in your pocket.

 Thanks to Katy Beven our Ed. 

WINDPIPE OF GOOSE WITH PEA

We've been on the search for dried goose windpipes for 6 months, and today they finally arrived, thanks to Mr Richardson, my mother's local butcher in Windermere who has made them especially for Prick Your Finger. 

Up until about 1910, hand knitting was a major industry in the Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales, but due to a lack of electricity, it was worked by candle or gas or fire light.  So, you may ask, what did they do when their yarn unraveled into a dark corner and could not be found?

The answer is simple. 

Take the windpipe of a goose and wash it thoroughly. Thread string through the windpipe, and join both ends, forming a circle. Lay the windpipe down gently in curing salts, making sure that the pipe remains 'open' and not squashed. Allow to dry out, checking every few days that pipes are still 'open'. When dried and stiff, remove string, and stuff it with dried peas. Now use the windpipe as a bobbin, winding the yarn around it.

Your ball of yarn will now gently rattle every time it rolls away, so you will know where to start looking. 

When the national grid fails and we start loosing our wool, you will know where to come.

HATS FROM OVER THE OCEANS

Bit cold and tired this morning so we put hats on. Our hat's came a long way to keep us warm.

Louise's hat was sent by Polly who lives in Natick,  Massachusetts. It was knitted by her grandmother, Daisy, when she lived in England, and it was origionaly a tea cosy. During WW1, Daisy was a secretary for an officer in London, when she fell in love with a Staff Sergeant. He soon moved to Canada, but Daisy was determined and boarded a steamer, with the tea cosy, in 1920, age only 19, and went and found him. She didn't marry him just yet, she spent a year traveling across Canada on a caboose, and they were finally reunited and married shortly afterwards. Daisy found it colder in Canada and stitched up the spout and handle holes to make a cosy hat. Polly, when having a clear out, knew that the tea cosy belonged in England and sent it to us, and we are so glad she did. 

My hat was given to me by Ella's long lost cousin Martin, who came to visit from Chilie. He is an expert in Volcanos and when he came for tea we had scones with jam and cream.