Janet's thread

A weblog, mostly about knitting but other topics appear

Performing in the Albert Hall April 16, 2015

Filed under: Folk dancing,Folklore — Janet @ 1:34 pm

Morris Dancing has always fascinated me. I like all folk dancing but Morris dancing especially. Old England an atmosphere of Thomas Hardy in Dorset or Constable in Ipswich.

Locksands Life

Yes, I have been part of a performance in the Albert Hall. It must have been about 1959 and my junior school were invited to have a dance troupe to perform in the interval of an English Folk Dance and Song Society concert.  I was involved in a sword dance which, from our school was an all-male affair. The local press photographer came to the school to take a photo of us.

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Maybe maypole dancing was part of the Albert Hall event as well, but I don’t remember that.

I’m the chap holding the star of swords (OK they were thin laths of wood in our case. I recall that the high spot of the dance was when we grouped in a circle and interlocked them and then danced around in a circle with me holding the assembled swords above my head.

Two of my best friends from junior school…

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Corn Moon September 6, 2009

Filed under: Folklore,Scenery,Seasons,Social history — Janet @ 10:27 pm

Barley Moon    Corn Moon, Sept. 4,Dublin,  10:30 p.m. 

 

 

 

         Corn Moon 1  Barley Moon, Sept. 4, Dublin, 10:30 p.m.

 

 

A couple of nights ago as I was locking up the house, I happened to look out and was practically bowled over by the sight of the full moon.  I have subsequently found out that the full moon at this time of year is called the Corn Moon or the Barley Moon.  The yellowy/orange moon had a large ring around it of white and green and red.  It was absolutely breathtaking.

I checked out the following  link to learn a bit more about the significance of the Corn Moon.

Last night the moon was again in evidence but it was on the wane – still very colourful with a big ring around it but no longer full.

 

Knit a stitch, take a bite December 27, 2007

Filed under: Cats,Christmas,Folklore,History,Knitting,Nordic countries — Janet @ 5:40 am

Today I visited the Nordic Heritage Museum here in Seattle.  It’s a wonderful museum with special exhibits for each of the Nordic countries.  I was particularly pleased to see so many spinning wheels and examples of knitting.  And one of the visitors was wearing a very nice Lopi sweater – perfect in that setting. 

In the Iceland room there was a long poem about the tradition of the Christmas cat – evidently a black cat who can be extremely mean to children at Christmas time.  I felt that there is a dark side to human nature to develop and perpetrate belief in such things.  As you know, I have a black cat named Slinky Malinki after the Slinky Malinki in Lynley Dodd’s books.    slinky-malinki21.gif   My Slinky Malinki is a lovely cat and I miss her – and I suspect she is missing lying on my knitting, as pictured here. 

What I particularly want to call attention to here though is a knitting workshop which was held in the Museum in early October.  I was talking with one of the attendants about it, and she said it was one of the most popular events ever held at the museum.  They had over 200 knitters from all over the world.  And she was particularly amazed to see such a large group of women knitting while they queued for their meals and even when they were at the dining tables.  I told my sister about this and her quip was “oh, knit a stitch, take a bite”, hence the title of this entry.  It is hoped that the event will be staged again in another year or two – sounds good to me.  There is a booklet for sale with some of the patterns developed during the workshop – I might go back to the shop there to buy it – and while I’m there I just might succumb to buying one or even both of the Norwegian knitting books by Annemor Sundbo – Setesdal sweaters: the history of the Norwegian lice pattern and Invisible Threads in Knitting. 

A book I did buy today though is a little book called The Literary Cat – here is a quote from it:  “There are people who reshape the world by force or argument, but the cat just lies there, dozing, and the world quietly reshapes itself to suit his comfort and convenience.”  (Allen and Ivy Dodd, American writers)