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In American yarn, few names evoke as much history as "Germantown." While there hasn't been a Germantown yarn in years,
If there's one thing I love more than a delicate, crunchy woolen-spun wool, it's the idea of a delicate, crunchy
While searching for an ancient Ute Indian trail in the White River National Forest 25+ years ago, Andrew Gulliford stumbled
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"Textures are the new speckles." With those words, Malia Mae Joseph and Stephen West, of the Amsterdam yarn store Stephen &
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This panel had me stumped. Why did my great grandmother hand-stitch the word “JOKA” on this quilt? The answer came in a photo from my mom. Apparently my great grandparents spent their winters in Florida on a leaky little boat they named Joka. No idea where the name came from, but she passed her time by making pretty things with her hands. The third photo is of the woman herself, dressed head to toe in black, wearing sensible shoes, and making me very proud to carry her name.
We’ve hit the motherlode.
This was made by my great grandmother. Like many women of her generation, she did quite a bit of mending. Even after she surrendered the scraps to the rag pile, she kept some for safekeeping. It turns out she kept the labels too.
I vaguely remember discussion of “the label quilt” in hushed tones when I was growing up, but I never actually saw it.
Until today, when I opened a box from my mother. I am now really looking at this for the first time, and my mind is blown.
Not just by the skill and artistry and SIZE of this thing, but by the notion that I’m finally seeing my great grandparents’ world in full color. I love that she saw beauty in those old labels, too.
Oh! I haven’t told you the best part. Guess what her name was?
Clara.
When your blanket label photos started pouring in, and as I read the stories behind them, my brain went into overdrive. Fortunately, Kay over at @mason.dixon.knitting picked up on my brain pings and asked if I’d like to write a piece about this for them. So I did! (Link in bio.) Nowhere near all the labels made it into the article. But hopefully it’ll make you look at wool blankets in a slightly new light.
yarn reviews
In American yarn, few names evoke as much history as "Germantown." While there hasn't been a Germantown yarn in years,
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If there's one thing I love more than a delicate, crunchy woolen-spun wool, it's the idea of a delicate, crunchy
Already the driest continent on earth, Australia is in the grips of a severe drought that many farmers claim is
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