Some news, some pictures and some plans ….
I finished the music themed gloves for my friend Nick apart from darning in the ends – which is quite a big apart from … but if I sit down with a good radio programme on it should only take about an hour so I need to get a grip and get on with it, mostly so that I can start the next pair.
Here they are with the ends not darned in:
Nick’s gloves, not quite finished, palms
Nick’s gloves, not quite finished, backs
I went on holiday to France and Spain, mainly in the Pyrenees, as usual, but we started with friends in the Corbieres region. I’d seen the name on wine bottles but never visited so it was lovely to be there.Here’s some pictures of a house in the small town of Fabrezan with the most lovely art nouveau decorations in ceramics:
We started and ended in Toulouse and also had a short stay in Albi at the end of the trip. Both were centres of the pastel industry in the Middle Ages, to the extent that the motorway connecting the two places is called the Autoroute de Pastel. Pastel was a blue dye, extracted from the same plant as woad, and was used before indigo became available from India. It’s interesting as the activity has been used to generate new businesses making cosmetics like Graine de Pastel. Another one in Albi is Terre de Pastel which has a shop right by the cathedral in Albi with rather lovely blue scarves and lots of other things. Vanessa France’s blog has more on the history of the pastel trade.
A further textile interest was found in Albi, not just in the clothes shops (several rather nice ones) but in the form of a producer of local textiles, Les Toiles de la Montagne Noire. These are locally produced cottons, plain, striped or checked and sold as yardage or made-up into household textiles including tea towels, tablecloths, aprons and so on. Naturally some had to be bought as presents – there’s a bit of a tradition building up in the family of giving tea towels, hardly original but useful. This production is similar to some of that found in Wales and Ireland where locally made textiles add to what’s on offer for both local and visitor markets. I would have bought the whole shop had I not had to carry it all back on the night train from Toulouse to Paris and then onto Eurostar and so home to Huddersfield.
Knitting wise I took socks with me as my partner had said that he would like some. He doesn’t often make requests so I thought that this was a Good Idea as a change from knitting gloves. I fully expected to finish the pair in a fortnight, long train journeys, easy evenings on the terrace etc. I’m just above the rib on them both so lots to do still.
Knitting gloves 