Solar melters and knitters!!

[enrico]

I doubt most of you knit but if anyone you know does and buys from this company then the bag that they send the wool in is brilliant. It just takes a national brood frame nicely and pop it in the solar melter. It keeps all the crap in the bag and let's the wax out. The bag lasts for several frames and then just pick it up and throw it away with all the flotsam and getsum! It is call an organza bag and can be bought seperately off the internet but comes free with the wool!!

 

[The Poot]

Hi Enrico,
My good lady says “love crafts” send wool in the same bags - she has one from each company “AND YOU CAN KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF MY BAGS”

Oh well it was a nice thought...

 

[Amari]

I doubt most of you knit but if anyone you know does and buys from this company then the bag that they send the wool in is brilliant. It just takes a national brood frame nicely and pop it in the solar melter. It keeps all the crap in the bag and let's the wax out. The bag lasts for several frames and then just pick it up and throw it away with all the flotsam and getsum! It is call an organza bag and can be bought seperately off the internet but comes free with the wool!! View attachment 22844

Are you an enthusiastic knitter Enrico?
My mother was hoping for a girl but got me. Accordingly I was taught to knit, cast off, cast on and even pearl. I drove her mad by clammering for help every time I dropped a stitch. Embroidery, darning, cooking and ironing too. It's at least 70 years now since I've done any of these...

 

[enrico]

Are you an enthusiastic knitter Enrico?
My mother was hoping for a girl but got me. Accordingly I was taught to knit, cast off, cast on and even pearl. I drove her mad by clammering for help every time I dropped a stitch. Embroidery, darning, cooking and ironing too. It's at least 70 years now since I've done any of these...

I can't honestly say that I am! My wife is though! Can do most things but knitting isn't one of them! Used to knit one of those string things through a cotton reel!!!!! Boy that brings back memories. A cotton reel with four nails in the end! Sigh!

 

[pargyle]

I can't honestly say that I am! My wife is though! Can do most things but knitting isn't one of them! Used to knit one of those string things through a cotton reel!!!!! Boy that brings back memories. A cotton reel with four nails in the end! Sigh!

Ha ha ... a knitting nancy ... that was what the stringy things through a cotton reel with four nails was called ... I used to do it as well ... yards of it - served no useful purpose but to keep me quiet in the days before TV and me discovering girls and motorbikes !

 

[Swarm]

When you make a mile of it, you sew it into a scarf by folding the wool rope. Hours of fun.

 

[pargyle]

When you make a mile of it, you sew it into a scarf by folding the wool rope. Hours of fun.

I will have to see if I can find a wooden bobbin then, when I'm in my dotage and can no longer lift supers, I can knit myself a scarf with it ....

 

[Amari]

Ha ha ... a knitting nancy ... that was what the stringy things through a cotton reel with four nails was called ... I used to do it as well ... yards of it - served no useful purpose but to keep me quiet in the days before TV and me discovering girls and motorbikes !

Is 'tatting' the name of the process?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Is 'tatting' the name of the process?

I thought tatting was a kind of lace work

 

[pargyle]

I thought tatting was a kind of lace work

Tatting is like lace but it's made with a series of knots and loops - not dissimilar to crochet but more robust and not done with crochet needles and hooks - my grandma was a great and accomplished crochet and embroidery person and she often used tatting as the edges to some of her work as it tended to hold things together...

 

[pargyle]

This is a knitting Nancy Albeit a very posh one compared to the cotton reel and nails that I had !

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Tatting is like lace but it's made with a series of knots and loops - not dissimilar to crochet but more robust

My grandmother would use tatting to decorate dresses she made for my little sister and others. It was my aunty Eirwen and Dilys and my uncle Ossie (but we don't talk much about him ) who were the crochet experts, still got some of their work kept in the family now - aunty Dil's work was exceptionally fine and could easily be mistaken for lacework. My Uncle Ossie, when he was Schoolmaster of Bethlehem school (there was only one teacher way back then) used to teach all the girls how to knit and crochet.

 

[pargyle]

My grandmother would use tatting to decorate dresses she made for my little sister and others. It was my aunty Eirwen and Dilys and my uncle Ossie (but we don't talk much about him ) who were the crochet experts, still got some of their work kept in the family now - aunty Dil's work was exceptionally fine and could easily be mistaken for lacework. My Uncle Ossie, when he was Schoolmaster of Bethlehem school (there was only one teacher way back then) used to teach all the girls how to knit and crochet.

Yes I have some of both my grandmas and great grandmas crochet work ... just kept in a drawer as they are not very fashionable these days but the intricacies and workmanship have to be appreciated... to a greater degree it's a craft - along with lace making and embroidery that are really becoming a rarity ... we used to make peg rugs as well from scraps of wool, material and even old stockings ... nothing much was wasted if it could be repurposed or recycled... the wool for my knitting Nancy usually came from knitted woollens that had been pulled out and re-knitted to the point where the wool was worn out -- jumpers became scarves scarves became socks and the scraps left went into multi coloured knitting Nancy snakes ! We could learn a lot from these past generations... your uncle ossie sounds like a very versatile character !

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

your uncle ossie sounds like a very versatile character !

He was - first rate darts player as well but he moved to Gloucester (before the war I think). Not much fun being the only gay in the village in those days. I always looked forward to him coming home for a holiday. He was my step Grandfather's brother and when their mother died he signed over his share of the house to uncle Percy without payment as long as they always kept the spare room for him. He died in 1982, but even after my mother married my stepfather and moved into the Leonard home (they had 'adopted' me as their grandson when I was born and my parents lived next door for a few years before taking over my grandfather's shop) my sister's room was still refered to as Ossie's room, and when my mother downsized in 2018 and sold out, the last words I heard before handing the keys over to the new owners were 'make sure you bring that last bag down from Ossie's bedroom!'

 

[Amari]

He was - first rate darts player as well but he moved to Gloucester (before the war I think). Not much fun being the only gay in the village in those days. I always looked forward to him coming home for a holiday. He was my step Grandfather's brother and when their mother died he signed over his share of the house to uncle Percy without payment as long as they always kept the spare room for him. He died in 1982, but even after my mother married my stepfather and moved into the Leonard home (they had 'adopted' me as their grandson when I was born and my parents lived next door for a few years before taking over my grandfather's shop) my sister's room was still refered to as Ossie's room, and when my mother downsized in 2018 and sold out, the last words I heard before handing the keys over to the new owners were 'make sure you bring that last bag down from Ossie's bedroom!'

Gosh, complicated. Maybe you could upload a detailed family tree so that we can all follow future episodes of the saga more easily...

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Gosh, complicated. Maybe you could upload a detailed family tree so that we can all follow future episodes of the saga more easily...

It's freely available on Ancestry - it's rather large though, one branch goes back to about 800 AD but most of the rest to between Elizabeth I and 1750.
My Stepfather's tree is interesting though, the Leonards came from Alverstoke near Gosport, naval connections back to the RN formation in the 1660's his Great Great grandfather was a naval cooper - took the whole family out with him as a contracted civilian member of a naval expedition to the Ascension islands, died of scarlet fever so his widow brought the whole family back to Gosport, married again to a Thomas Collier then they all upped sticks and moved to my valley where all the men became.........colliers!
SWMBO's family tree is a bit concerning, some of it has a bit too much English in it really (That's why she decided no Kids!!) but her grandmother's side is good - apart from a small dash of Irish (Cuttle, early 1800's) and Scottish (Lakes in the 16/1700's) that side was easy to research as it transpires her Grandmother is also my third cousin once removed

 

[Apple]

In our family ( the Welsh side) we had an uncle Shink, who was definitely gay*, lived in Gloucester and had a friend called Ossie, they came to stay with my grandparents and I remember they were great fun, splashing around with me catching stlcklebacks in the river Wandle that ran at the back of my grandparents house!
(* something that my grandmother was particularly ashamed about... illegal then and was not discussed... how times have changed!)
OMG we could be related!

Chons da

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

In our family ( the Welsh side) we had an uncle Shink, who was definitely gay*, lived in Gloucester and had a friend called Ossie, they came to stay with my grandparents and I remember they were great fun, splashing around with me catching stlcklebacks in the river Wandle that ran at the back of my grandparents house!
(* something that my grandmother was particularly ashamed about... illegal then and was not discussed... how times have changed!)
OMG we could be related!

Chons da

Uncle Osssie 1903 - 1982
he always wore nice 'scent'

 

[Amari]

It's freely available on Ancestry - it's rather large though, one branch goes back to about 800 AD but most of the rest to between Elizabeth I and 1750.
My Stepfather's tree is interesting though, the Leonards came from Alverstoke near Gosport, naval connections back to the RN formation in the 1660's his Great Great grandfather was a naval cooper - took the whole family out with him as a contracted civilian member of a naval expedition to the Ascension islands, died of scarlet fever so his widow brought the whole family back to Gosport, married again to a Thomas Collier then they all upped sticks and moved to my valley where all the men became.........colliers!
SWMBO's family tree is a bit concerning, some of it has a bit too much English in it really (That's why she decided no Kids!!) but her grandmother's side is good - apart from a small dash of Irish (Cuttle, early 1800's) and Scottish (Lakes in the 16/1700's) that side was easy to research as it transpires her Grandmother is also my third cousin once removed

That's hugely impressive going back that far. My tree is also on Ancestry but I've only managed to get back to a marriage in 1697. I can claim a little Welsh blood - my grandfather Morgan b.1878 was a Unitarian minister but I've failed to trace his father.
20 years ago SWMBO invited an eccentric bachelor colleague round to dinner. He regaled us with his detailed family tree going back in the direct line to Pericles. Took him half an hour, it did...

 

[pargyle]

Well... if we are looking for ancestor bragging rights ... My ancestors were loyal followers of Bonnie Prince Charlie and we came down with him in the '45 as far as Derby .. we then stuck with him until he was in the boat on the way to Skye when he asked who his most loyal followers were .. of course, we stuck our hand up and he said 'well you won't mind staying behind then and watching my back' at which point we told him to go forth and multiply and headed back to Derby because it was a bloody sight warmer than Scotland and the natives down there were a pretty soft touch ... and we became ... highwaymen ! A nice little earner as our ancestral home was Heage Hall near Belper which was conveniently situated alongside the Derby Turnpike !