Happy St Withburga's Day

My apologies, St W's Day was actually yesterday, July 8th. But I only discovered that at 5.30 in the afternoon. This saint is not particularly well known outside of East Anglia - but she came to our town 1350 years ago and founded a nunnery. And she is commemorated on our town sign, which spans the road leading into the Market Place.

Her story goes like this ...Anna, king of the Angles had four daughters. He died in 654, and one daughter, Withburga came to Dereham. Here she founded a nunnery. The women cared for the community and built a small church. They had little money or food. One night the Virgin Mary appeared to Withburga, saying ‘Send two of your women down to the stream every morning, where two does will stand to be milked’. This they did, and so there was milk, butter and cheese for all. The news spread, many came to ask for help. The Reeve became jealous and set off with his hounds to kill, or drive away the deer, but his horse stumbled and threw him, and his neck was broken.

The years passed, Withburga died, and was buried in the churchyard until a suitable shrine could be built. When the time came to move her to her final resting place, the coffin was opened, and her body was found to be whole and uncorrupted as on the day she died. One story tells how one of the men reached and touched her cheek with his finger – whereupon the maiden saint blushed at the sacrilege! Then came the Danish invasion. The nuns were scattered, the nunnery destroyed. But the church and shrine escaped, and when peace returned, became the parish church. Many pilgrims came to pray at the Saint’s Tomb

In 870 King Edgar gave all the monasteries destroyed by the Danes, and the cathedral at Ely., into the care of the Bishop of Winchester. The bishop suggested that Withburga, should lie at Ely with her three royal sisters, but Dereham folk did not wish to lose their saint. So Ely monks gave a great feast to the men of Dereham and when they were all drunk, they stole the Saint’s coffin. Next morning, they found the grave desecrated, the coffin gone. They chased after the monks, but it was too late. Returning to Dereham, they found the empty tomb had filled with a spring of clear water. Pilgrims continued to come to pray, and drink the holy water, which to this day has never run dry.

Years later, at the end of the eighteenth century, a Bath-house was built over the spring, in the hope that the town would become as famous as Buxton nor Bath. Described as ‘a hideous building of brick and plaster’, it was never popular and in about 1880 it was removed and replaced with iron railings and for years was smothered in ivy and ferns, the water green with duck-weed. 

Since 1950 it has been cleared, the ivy replaced with climbing roses and rock plants, and the water kept clean. Every year on a Sunday near St Withburga’s Day, a special service is held. In a few week's time, Katie is organising an event at the museum, and wanted a Withburga Mouse to head up her display. So I have been busy today creating the Saintly Mouse. 

So now you know!
Does your town have a special Saint?

A Blind Cat, A Found Cat, And Six Headless Mice

 Rosie adores the Studio Ghibli Cat purse which her dad brought back from a trip abroad. It has suffered of late- it is rather grubby, and sadly the pupils have come away from the eyes. "Grandma, please do you have any black felt?" She emptied the purse and left it with me  I climbed up into the loft.
🥵It is absolutely swullocking up there🥵

I took my phone with me, as one of my tasks was to photograph the electric socket for Bob. And as I got it out, I spotted a message from Katie regarding another Mouse for the Museum. So I grabbed black and yellow felt, the whiskers wire, and a few other bits. I was just about to come down when I spotted a long thin yellow fabric bag - It was my missing Hockney posters! I've found the cat!

Mr & Mrs Clark [& Oscar] are on the spare bed, looking up very suspiciously. The only space I could find for my Bigger Splash print is on the wardrobe door. It just fits above the handle! It can stay there for a few weeks in honour of Mr Hockney

I hope that Julian, George, Jacob and other overnight guests this summer will appreciate it! Right now I would quite enjoy a pool in the garden. But I am content to have my raised beds and two fruit trees there - much more useful!

A box of half a dozen half-completed mice. Fortunately Katie only needs one new one this summer. I should be able to sort that for her quite easily. The colours are wrong in this photo, mice #4 and #5 are not really Trump Orange!

PS I know nothing about football, but I am very, very pleased that Belgium won their match! 

A Woman's Work Is Never Done...

Be warned, there may be a number of posts here about the Bayeux Tapestry this summer! Some important facts

• It is not a tapestry [woven] but rather an embroidery [stitched]
• Although this 70 metre masterpiece lives in Bayeux, France, it was probably stitched by a team of women in Kent, England. Probably commissioned by Bishop Odo, half brother of William The Conqueror, who was Earl of Kent, and Regent in England when WtC was away
• It is a a wonderful example of the style of embroidery known as Opus Anglicanum [English Work]
• In 1872, a photographer from "South Kensington Museum" [now called the V&A ] travelled to France to photograph the work. Joseph Cundall's photographs were coloured by hand by a team of men back in London. These men also 'tidied up' the pictures, painting over things which may offend Victorian ladies - any exposed male parts on horses or soldiers - including adding underpants to any naked men
• There are 620 men, 120 horses/mules, 55 dogs, 37 ships, many birds and animals - and six women! The good ladies who worked the piece do not have their names recorded

A piece of work this significant must have been copied, surely? Well yes. A woman called Elizabeth Wardle, whose husband was a silk dyer in Leek, Staffordshire decided we needed a copy here in England. She went to France and made drawings, she borrowed the Museum photographs, and amassed a team of 35 women to recreate the Tapestry. 

They faithfully reproduced the stitching [including the Victorian Underpants] and each woman stitched her name on the piece. It travelled round the country, and is now in the possession of Reading Museum.

Six copies of the Museum photos were printed and coloured, and made into scrolls in the 1870s.One ended up in the possession of Charlie Watts, the Rolling Stones drummer. [How? Why?] After his death, the Bayeux Museum bought it at auction for £16,000. It will be going on display sometime next year...

A man in Norfolk carved a half size replica, in wood, in memory of his late son. Jason finished his project in 2014.[video here]

Finally, here is Mia Hannson, a Swedish woman, living in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire. She has been working on a full size replica since 13th July 2016 - and hopes to have it finished by 2027 [at which point, the British Museum will have an empty custom built Tapestry case because the original will have gone back to France] Watch her video here or check out her interesting website

Apart from Mr Cundall and Mr Welch, the original and the reproductions have all been made by women, and these were not speedy projects. The Norwich Friends Tapestry, which is in many respects a sequel to the original story, was seven years in the making [watch that story here]
I am in awe of their commitment to the task, like that virtuous woman in Proverbs 31:13, they "Seek wool and linen and work with eager hands"

Busy With The Ewoks

No, not this sort of Ewok, I mean the Egyptian Walking Onions from Kirsten. They have been quite splendid this year, rampant across the garden, escaping from the trough in the back garden into an adjacent corner, and marching across my second raised bed. Some of the Shedmen and another friend have requested bulbils so that they can try and grow them in their plots. I love their freaky triffid like appearance.

I haven't actually done  much with my ewoks except admire them, and occasionally trim some of the young green shoots to use in place of chives or spring onion tops in a salad.

There is a wonderful article here about their uses, so I decided to harvest all the ones which are taking over Raised Bed #2

I ended up with a bowlful of roots and stems, and a smaller bowl into which I trimmed all the bulbils. The bigger onions have been trimmed and gone into the fridge, and I decided to pickle the bulbils. I found a recipe online.

The whole process was very fiddly and time consuming. I picked through my bowl of bulbils, taking the largest, trimming and peeling them. It took nearly an hour to get to 6oz. The tub of 'debris' was large. As well as salt for the soaking brine, I needed sugar and white vinegar for the pickling solution, along with strips of lemon zest and lightly crushed juniper berries.

I ended up with one small jar of onions. These need to sit in the fridge for a week to allow the flavours to infuse. They should keep for some months.

Allegedly you can use these sweet/sour pickles in sandwiches and salads, as a topping for grilled meats, garnishing a cheeseboard or as cocktail onions [If you prefer your Martini with an onion, not an olive, it is called a Gibson. But I never drink Martinis...]
I will let you know how they taste

🧅🧅🧅🧅🧅

The leftover bulbils which were about the size of my thumbnail were replanted back into RB#2. And all the rest of the trimmings went into the compost bin.

One Step At A Time

This month's calendar picture seems good advice in this very hot weather.  It reminded me of the reworking of Psalm 23, published back in the 1960s and written by the Japanese poet Toki Miyashina...

The Lord is my pacesetter, I shall not rush.
he makes me stop and rest for quiet intervals.
He provides me with images of stillness
which restore my serenity.
He leads me in ways of efficiency,
through calmness of mind, and his guidance is peace.
Even though I have a great many things to
accomplish this day,
I will not fret, for his presence is here.
His timelessness, His all-importance,
Will keep me in balance.
He prepares refreshment and renewal
in the midst of my activity
by anointing my head with the oil of tranquility.
My cup of joyous energy overflows.
Surely harmony and effectiveness
shall be the fruits of my hours,
for I shall walk in the pace of my Lord,
and dwell in His house forever.

Slipping Into A Pattern

Kirsten and I are constantly amazed at the synchronicity between us when we are crafting. She too decided that she wanted to do a slip stitch pattern for her latest square. One of these days we are going to both settle on the same pattern, and exchange identical squares! Her choice involved a 2 row stripe [mine was 4] and slipping alternate pairs of stitches. This resulted in a much denser pattern, and a beautifully thick square. She did one with A= cream B=blue, and then reversed that for the second square. Here is the back view

Ignoring the start/finish rows, these look very similar.  But when you turn them over...
It is amazing how different they look

I think this would make a beautiful pattern for a winter jumper for my beloved, as it would trap pockets of air and be remarkably warm. It is also a very easy stitch pattern to remember so relatively fast to knit up. One of these days I will knit Bob a new winter jumper. In 47 years of marriage, I have only knitted him one jumper  and that was eleven years ago! 

This is #24, Ridged Blocks, from our book of squares. Mine is the cream one on the left. K's package came with a postcard showing a picture of Baobob Trees in Madagascar [looking very hot] and a lovely pen pouch for my handbag, made from recycled leather.

HAPPY 4TH JULY 
TO ALL MY FRIENDS
IN THE USA
GOD BLESS AMERICA

There's Many A Slip

Slip is a word with many uses, some with quite negative connotations. 

You slipped up there, didn't you?

The pavement is icy, be careful not to slip and fall!

The burglar was able to slip in unnoticed through an open door

If you slip me a tenner, I'll sort out the problem

It has slipped my mind for the minute
    And then there are other definitions of the word

A slip is an undergarment aka petticoat 

A small piece of paper is a slip [eg payslip]
A young woman [slip of a girl]

Clay and water slip mixture is used by potters

"The slips" are the collars worn by greyhounds as they wait to run
"The slips" is a specific fielding position in cricket

Slips are men's briefs

And in knitting there is a technique known as 'slip stitch' where you slip a stitch from left to right needle without actually knitting it. [often you wind wool round needle twice in previous row, to give a looser loop]

I can’t remember when I last did a slip-stitch pattern. Here is my latest pair of squares for our collaboration. In the book it is pattern 201, "V-stripes"

This is simply a regular 4-row stripe in stocking stitch, with slip stitches used to create contrasting V-patterns I used maroon and pink. First square I began with the pink, second I began with the maroon.

Whilst this is OK for a decorative item, I would never use this on a child’s jumper, too many loops for them to catch on things! The colour not in use for each stripe is carried up the right hand side. I don’t think I did this very neatly. I must work on that!