ASSUMPTIONS

Last Tuesday afternoon, a wagon parked up outside PYF, and on the driver's seat, a lovely hand knitted blanket caught my eye. 

I was struck by how homely the seat looked, and how the ice cream colours made the whole vehicle appear rather jolly.  I swiftly made the assumption that the lorry was driven by a man, and the blanket knitted by a lady who loved him, and was cooking up a plate of fish fingers in anticipation of his return...

Not trusting my assumption, and feeling cheeky I thought I'd investigate the matter further. Closing time came, and our driver did not return so I wrote him a letter and left it on the wind screen wiper. It basically said  " You are parked outside a knitting shop and we are interested in your blanket. Who knitted this for you? Why do you like it? Where did it come from and where have you taken it? I like to write about knitters on my blog. If you don't wish to answer, then I apologise and do have a safe journey home..."

And I waited.

Wednesday evening about 8pm, John posted a letter under our door. He thanked me for my saucy letter and said that his work mate's mother in law had made it and he liked it because it helped him pull the ladies. Then he left his number and offered to take me for a drink.

In my naivety, I was surprised.  The knitting mother in law had no name and was not credited. 

Maybe it is unfair of me to turn down John's offer of a drink. The story I wanted was his work mate's and he was the one driving the wagon the day a girly letter landed on his screen .  

I conclude that his assumption's were as wrong as mine, and the way he saw that blanket was again, different to mine.  I fear we might clash as much as the colours. What a thought provoking blanket. I am plucking up courage to find out more.

LISA'S TEAPOT STAND

Thank you Lisa for the lovely photos of your new tea pot stand. Lisa came for a crochet lesson with Louise last Saturday and then went home, practiced a few circles and squares, and then launched into this fabulous creation. Lisa says she can now attempt all the glorious patterns from her 1970's 'Stitch by Stitch' magazine, and there may be a mustard crochet skirt coming soon. 

THE WAY THINGS WERE....

These pictures just surfaced from a forgotten file! Eighteen months ago this is what our shop looked like.

We don't know why we had so many telephone lines, but we like to think they were for a sex line, manned by the ghost that used to smoke behind where the till is now. We just put up some new wood paneling and the smoke seems to have stopped.

One one wall it said,

"Create your own Avant Guarde."

Thank you to all our lovely friends who helped us, and still help us build our shop.

ROSEMARY SPELLS IT OUT

Our Rosemary has been busy! In between the terrible task of making our tea and knitting our new typeface, she made a tea cup warmer from our organic cotton, which of course is washable, and covers up those embarrassing dribbles down the side of the cup.  Any day now, she'll be able to spell it all out.

SHEEP OF THE WEEK

'Prick Your Finger' aims to offer knitters the chance to make ANYTHING, which is why we are learning about sheep breads.  Each sheep grows a different type of yarn. The letters on the front of our shop are knitted in one of the toughest, most weather proof wools, the ROUGH FELL. 

 My Cousins Kit and Alison, farm 70 Rough Fell ewes up in Cumbria. (Fell is another word for mountain, ewe - a female sheep) Like most farms in Britian, it is possible to break even but difficult to make a comfortable living, so they juggle the farm with other jobs. Kit and Alison farm for the love of nature.

Rough Fell roam on the open and bleak fells around south Cumbria. Farmers mark their sheep by painting spots on them, or tagging their ears and although the flock is free to roam, they usually remain together, socializing with other flocks on the mountain side. When it's time to go home, the farmers will go out on the fell and round them up with the help of a sheep dog.  

The 'Rough' was probably descended along with it's cousins the Scottish Blackface and the Swaldale, from a sheep called "Black faced Heath Breed' which was a common sheep around North England and South scotland for 500 years, with black face and legs and big curly horns and white wool. Rough has also been bred from  the toughest of all sheep, the Herdwick, which gives it the hardiness needed to survive the clashy. (Wet windy weather)

Kit gave me a book "Kendal Rough Fell Sheep" and I was delighted to read that Rough Fell farmers come from a long tradition of independent spirited communities, that is reflected in historical clashes with authority. In 1536 the common folk of Sedbergh and Dent (who farm Roughs) took part in one of the earliest up-risings against the church, the aristocracy, the king, and the associated systems of land tenure. These Rough Fell communities have formed unique ways of self government and decision making, and an unusual way of sheep farming which even to day does not fit in with the standard Defra guidelines. Defra forms might ask questions like 'When did the business start?', 'What is the post code?,' "What is the bank account?" or "Who are the legally empowered representatives?.' For farmers in remote parts, these questions, can be impossible to answer. 

Rough wool can also be difficult to sell to hand knitters, but we believe it is a useful yarn, and we never under estimate the imagination of  our hand knitters.... 

IF YOU MUST GO OUT AND GET HAMMERED...

Then your local haberdashery shop is open from midday, Tuesday - Friday and from 11am on Saturdays, but CLOSED Sundays and Mondays when you are welcome to take us to parties.

THANK GOD THAT'S OVER!

Louise found this picture of us on the day we left college. 

We would like to tell you that we are delighted to have grown up. Back then, we hadn't a clue what we were doing, which is apparent by my first push up bra under an extra large Sonic Youth T shirt, and Louise's lovely green tights, which were actually joined to a pair of platform leopard skin flip flops.