A journey through Britain's knitted history

    Out in September, This Golden Fleece by Esther Rutter is "a history of Britain's long love affair with wool, told through a year of knitting garments from around the British Isles."

    Granta Books' catalogue arrived this morning, and of course that book leapt out at me. Here's the blurb:

    "Over the course of a year, Esther Rutter - who grew up on a sheep farm in Suffolk, and learned to spin and knit as a child - travels the length of the British Isles to tell the story of wool's long history here, and its influence on our landscape and culture.

    She unearths fascinating histories of communities whose lives were shaped by wool, from the mill workers of the Border counties to the stocking knitters of Wales, and the fishing villages of Britain's coast from Shetland to the Channel Islands. Along the way, she explores wool's rich culture by knitting and crafting culturally significant garments from our history, reminding us of the value of craft and our intimate relationship with wool."

    And an extract from the text:

    "Inside a paper bag were four balls of wool - white, dove grey, charcoal, peaty black. Banded with paper round the middle, this was Shetland Heritage Yarn from Jamieson & Smith. Printed on the band was a line of tiny symbols: a shepherd's crook, a hand dipped in water, and iron crossed through, and - my favourite - three tiny Shetland sheep with horns and curling fleeces, staring down the crook. Three renegades from Britain's north-east edge, their horns a proud trumpet and a warning.

    I took a sniff. A strong outdoor smell, oiled and fusty, caught my nostrils. It was an unmistakably sheepy funk. Woolly fibres waved and snaked away from the yarn's central strand, black flecked with white, cream specks on brown. My four yarns, fading dark to light, yielded to the pressure in my palm then bounced back, comfortable in their shape. My fingers prickled with the urge to knit them up. What would I make from these strong skeins?"

Comments

[Toffeeapple]

That is very evocative writing. You know what my next move will be, don't you?

[Mary]

Those words are enough to send on to one's stash and pick up your knitting needles. Lovely.

[Fran H-B]

Sounds another one for the shelves.