Category Archives: Downton Abbey

The Sweetest Mysteries of Generosity

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stuffTwo large parcels arrived yesterday evening just as my friend Elizabeth and I were headed to Needlework Night. I wished afterward I’d opened them before we left.

They were from John, a nice man who has a soft spot for cats. He sent me his wife’s crafting collection, as Alzheimer’s had ended her use for it, and he wanted the cats to have its benefits.

john box(Thank you, John!)

Among the oodles of lovely yarn and really nice cross stitches and books were a few items I’d never encountered before. Some looked like they were for knitting, which is great, because my friend Isabel and I have an arrangement; she takes the knitting stuff and brings me lovely character knit dishcloths to sell for the cats.

But amid the stitch counters and holding pins and needle tippers were some items that looked…. diabolical. In his sweet note John had said quite pointedly (ha ha, get it, pointed?) that he didn’t have a clue what some of the items were.

Neither did I.

Enter the fine folk of CROCHET ADDICT, a list of some 70,000 participants on Facebook. I photographed the seven mystery items and put up the photo.

Oh dear…… Who knew there could be such debate about some items?Thankfully, there were no fistfights – and if you’re on a large crafting forum on Facebook, you know exactly what those cyberfights look like. If you’re not, well, think political debate, with yarn, add menopause and PMS, and then factor in that the discussion is exponentially more important to those participating than any rhetoric of politics.

Then run for your life.

thingsHave a look, from top left being number 1 to bottom right being number 7, and see how many you can name. And then scroll down to see what the list came up with. The little photo is a close-up of number four in the picture, because the first time I posted, someone said the black bit was velcro. I’m no great shakes as a photographer.

 

 

DONT PEEK

DON’T PEEK

ARE YOU SURE YOU’RE TIRED OF GUESSING?

 

OKAY – here we go

1 is either a bobbin or a pompom maker, and quite possibly useful as both

2 is a cable knitting needle (think Fair Isle sweaters, because I am!)

3 is bobbins for a graphgan (and I have one in mind so am excited to have these)

4 is something to put over knitting needles to keep them from sliding off a project – except it might be a threader instead, depending on which faction you follow on Crochet Addict.

5 is a very old thread waxer – not even sure they make these anymore. You thread your thread (yes, I know, bad Wendy, verb and noun same word) through it and the beeswax keeps it from tangling and makes it stiffer for getting into the needle and working with on finer projects, like delicate quilting. (WHEE! I’m so happy to have this!!!!!)

6 is another kind of cable knitting needle – yo, Isabel!

7 is a (pick one) darning needle, amigurami needle, setting buttons into upholstery needle, surgical suturing needle. I’m cool with any of these.

December folder 047I’m also grateful to John for sending these and the rest of that big stash for the benefit of the Wise County Cats. Hadley and her friends say “THANKS MR. JOHN!”

And Jack and I continue to hold you and your wife in the light. Thanks!

RIP Davy Lockhart

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heritageJack’s guest blog about a dear friend

Davy first came into my life in the mid 1970s when he was in his early 50s and I was in my 30s. I was at a party in his house when I discovered that he had been a fiddle player as a youngster, but hadn’t kept it up. But he got out his violin and we found we could play a few tunes together.

The very first time I persuaded him to get up and play at the local folk club not long after that first party, he prepared to play the first note and promptly fainted. Half an hour later he got back up played like nothing had happened. A few years later he joined a group of us to create ‘Heritage’.

His favourite place, after Fife, was France. He famously spent 6 months there after Heritage broke up and wound up as guest fiddle player with the Occitan group ‘Los Cotillons de Tonniens’ touring all over the country with them (in costume) playing all the tunes he’d fallen in love with when Heritage had toured there many times.

Heritage spent 15 years playing traditional Celtic music at folk clubs, festivals, concert tours, radio and TV all over Scotland and Europe; Davy was an integral part of the front line for much of that time. By profession he was an internationally recognised artist with work hanging in prestigious collections all over the world, as well as a much loved art teacher in a Fife High School who certainly influenced his pupils very much for the better. But he often said that his musical career saved his sanity from the bureaucracy and politics of the Scottish education system.DSCN2126

During our travels with Heritage the stories about him abounded – from his terrible driving to his ability to fall asleep at the dinner table. He would be the first to admit that he wasn’t a great fiddle player – and yet – he helped establish the sound of the group and that didn’t change much despite various personnel shuffles over the years. The other great stories were the ones that he told – like the time he joined the Home Guard so he could have a rifle to shoot the capitalists when the war was over, and on, and on – –

Davy died peacefully in his sleep on December 28th 2014 at the age of 92 after some health issues over the last year or so.

I consider myself lucky to have known him and to have had him as a friend.