Sunday, February 17, 2013

Brears

The Knitting Sheath
by
Peter C.D. Brears published in Folk Life  A Journal of Ethnological Studies Volume Twenty 1981-82
deserves some careful review.  Therefore over the next few posts, I am going to annotate several aspects of the work.

Several thing jump to mind.  The first is that this is a peer reviewed academic journal that can be found in research libraries and reprints were sold at a nominal cost at various museums in Yorkshire.  (My copy cost  95 p at the Castle Museum.)  The second is his acknowledgement of hand knitting as a profession and industry. The third is his noting that the knitting sheath was used in this industry almost without exception. And, the fourth is his reference to William Howitt's description of knitters in Dentdale.


Anybody that says they could not find Howitt's passage on knitting, just was not looking.  I may make mistakes, but I go look.

1 comment:

Iris said...

Fascinating, as aways. Can't wait for the next installment.

(Your blog is better than Downton Abbey)