Colin Moss will speak on ‘A History of the East Midlands Knitting Industry’ this Thursday, 19th October 2017. Cromford Mills near Matlock, Derbyshire are hosting the talk as part of the Discovery Days Festival, in celebration of the historic Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site. The lecture begins at 7.30pm but cheese and wine will be served from 7.00pm.
Further information and tickets available from the Cromford Mills website.
Another exciting study day for the calendar. ‘Kitchener Stitch’, the seamless method of grafting the toe that is the joy or bane of many a sock-knitter, is said to have been devised or at least inspired by Herbert Kitchener, British Secretary of State for War from 1914 to 1916, in an attempt to prevent chafing. Whatever the truth of the story, this study day explores the relationship between knitting and wartime and highlights how knitting meant much more than the popular image of women on the home front knitting for the troops.
Speakers include Jane Tynan of Central St Martins on ‘Comforting Body and Soul: Knitting in First World War Britain‘ and Maggie Andrews of University of Worcester on ‘”Men went to war and women knitted” : domesticity and crafts on the Home Front in Britain‘. Joyce Meader of The Historic Knit and Barbara Smith of Knitting & Crochet Guild will reprise their papers from the 2014 Knitting History Forum Conference, ‘Knitted Comforts from Crimea to the Modern Day‘ and ‘Useful Work for Anxious Fingers – Knitting & Crochet in the First World War‘ respectively. You can discover more about knitting in wartime from the Crimea to Afghanistan and also browse the Glasgow Women’s Library historical knitting pattern collection. A full programme will posted closer to the event.
The Kitchener Stitch Study Day is on Friday 27 March 2015, from 10am to 4pm at The Lighthouse, Mitchell Lane, Glasgow. See University of Glasgow Knitting and Textile History for details.
A quick reminder that our next event is only four weeks away. The Knitting & Crochet Guild Trunk Show is on Saturday 21 February 2015, from 1pm to 4pm at the Grosvenor Chapel, South Audley Street, London. There’s more information here.
Places cost only £10. Please contact our Membership Secretary and Treasurer, Tricia Basham, to book yours.
Steve Kennett, The Sussex Spinner, will be giving two talks on Tudor knitting and spinning this April. The West Surrey Guild of Spinners Weavers & Dyers are hosting Steve’s talk on Tudor knitting on Tuesday 8 April 2014 at 10:30 AM. The Dorset Guild of Weavers, Spinners & Dyers are hosting Steve’s talk on the history of Tudor hose on Saturday 19 April 2014 at 13:30 PM. Steve researched Tudor knitted hose and spun yarn for the Weald and Downland Open Air Museum, near Chichester in West Sussex. He is also a trustee of the Textile Conservation Centre Foundation.
