WW1 Memorial Quilt - Charlie

This piece of my WW1 memorial quilt represents the occupation of a butcher.

It has turned out quite well – just as I envisioned it in my head.  I am not sure that butchers wore blue striped aprons in the early part of the twentieth century  –  the stripes may have been red.  I have looked at lots of old photographs but of course – they are in black and white. 

When I was thinking about what to knit for a butcher – I thought of lots of gruesome things which seemed inappropriate.  A clean apron seemed a bit odd – but I resisted the temptation to add blood stains and included a poppy instead!

This particular poppy is similar to one that adorns the front cover of a book I own called Banbury During the Great War by Kevin Northover.  Normally my knitted poppies are one shade of red and have a black centre but the one on this book cover has a green centre and the petals appear to be different colours due to the reflection of the light.

For this piece of knitting I cast on 95sts and worked 66 rows.  It is exactly the same size a the piece I did for the postmen.  I mainly used Shade 178 of Rowan Felted Tweed. 

Although many members of my family were butchers – at the moment – I only know of one soldier who died during World War 1 who was a butcher and that is my second cousin twice removed: Charles Richard Carswell who was a private in the 17^th Welsh battalion.  He died on 31 December 1916 aged 25.  He is remembered on the war memorial of his home village of Elham in Kent and on the Thiepval memorial.

I am now trying to fix “Bob” - my piece of knitting which represents tailors and drapers.  I have checked and it needs to be the same size as Tom – the piece for glass fitters – so I have unravelled some of it and am reknitting it shorter.