I wanted to take a moment to break up the usual holiday routine and talk about Bulgarian kukeri, a textile-rich tradition going back thousands of years.
Dean William Webster, the long-term spiritual leader of the village of New Pitsligo, noticed the lacemaking activities and suggested to the current laird that the lacemakers’ income could be increased if they were taught to produce finer-quality lace.
They were perfect for each other—he had a title, she had a fortune—and so they wed.
No article about Mabel Urner as a writer was complete without a reference to her passion for collecting needlework samplers and textiles.
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Olga Fedorova designed this Orenburg-style lace shawl in 1991. Her sister, Valentina, has been knitting the pattern from memory since then.
The following is adapted with permission from The Life of Grace Darling, published in 2016 by The Grace Darling Website.
If you’ve ever wondered at the meaning behind the lyrics of “Yankee Doodle,” it might surprise you to learn that the “macaroni” in the song referred not to a noodle, but to a rather odd fashion trend.
The history of knitting has been shrouded in mystery, half-truths, and outright lies! Is this because there is so little material, either textiles or documentation, to enable that history to be fully written?
The Algerian eye and eyelet stitches have a long European history, appearing on some of the earliest samplers and clothing.
