This Golden Fleece: A Journey Through Britain's Knitted History

摘要

The gift of four balls of Shetland Heritage yarn resulted in Esther Rutter ditching the day job and spending a year travelling round Britain researching traditional knitting. She knits the items she researches, starting with Dentdale gloves, using Shetland yarn and a pattern from the Wordsworth Museum in Grasmere. Travelling across Britain from the Channel Islands and Cornwall to Shetland, she knits a traditional gansey for her father, which took all year. Interspersed are other projects including nalbinding - a precursor to knitting - to recreate the Jorvik sock found in York. Using authentic patterns, a range of items were produced from her needles, including a knitted bikini which was bravely sea-tested on the Northumberland coast. Gairloch stockings, a cricket jumper, a Monmouth cap and a Fair Isle scarf were also completed. Spinning is not ignored: her mother is a spinner and the author brushes up her spinning skills with some Cotswold fleece (the 'golden fleece' of the title).