Knitting for Remembrance

Today is Remembrance Sunday although the original name was Armistice Day and this seems more appropriate this year on the centenary of the end of World War 1.

Normally I knit poppies or something including poppies to remember my great granddad Thomas Wade who was killed in 1917, but this year as many of you will know – I knitted a Memorial Quilt to remember him and the other now 77 known men lost by my family.  I am including below the best photo I have seen of the quilt which was taken by Karen Draisey of Oxford Yarn Store.

The quilt was hard to photograph because it was so big (note to self: make something smaller next time).  In the photo the quilt is being held up by 2 men standing on chairs.

If anyone wants to see the quilt “in person” – it is on display in Oxford Yarn Store until the end of the month.

I have started thinking about my next eccentric project but I have nothing coherent to write down yet.  Several people have asked me about how I come up with designs – so I will try to put down my workings rather than just the end results.  I could just mention that I am thinking about a project which I will not start until January at the earliest. 

WW1 Memorial Quilt – Finished Version

I spent more than a week finishing this quilt. I decided to pick up a dark brown edge on each piece and so each piece has a border around it rather than being directly joined to the next piece.  I had thought of just doing mattress stitch joins but because the pieces are not all the same size I would have had to make some of them wider somehow.  I could have been more efficient and knitted a border on them as I went along and I could have included a seam allowance on the pieces which needed one.  However, my method of adding edges afterwards seems to have worked.  It has used quite a lot of wool – more than another whole ball of the Treacle shade of Rowan Felted Tweed DK.

I sewed the quilt together by sewing a few pieces to each other.   I was a bit worried that they wouldn’t fit together but they have.  I sewed all the top pieces to each other and sewed the bottom pieces together into 2 large pieces -  a left side and a right side. I then sewed the 2 bottom pieces together.  When I had finished I decided that they didn’t line up very well – so I had to take out my stitches and redo it.  Lastly I sewed the top to the bottom.

When the quilt was in one piece I picked up stitches along each edge – about 350 of them.  I did not count them exactly.  I worked 5 rows of garter stitch in Treacle and then cast of loosely.  I then pick up stitches along the top and the bottom including across the ends of the side edges.  I picked up what looked right and then decreased on the first row by working garter stitch as K1, K2tog.  I then worked 4 more rows of garter stitch and cast off. 

I am now blocking the quilt again in sections.  I have done all the corners and I am now doing the edges.  It is so large I can only do a bit at a time.

The only way I can photograph the whole quilt is by putting it on my bed. As you can see I have taken some photos of it – but the sun is too bright for them to be very good and you can’t see the whole quilt.  On Saturday I took the quilt to Oxford to talk about it at the Knitting and Crochet Guild meeting.  We laid it out on the floor so that everyone could see it.   I should have taken my camera!

I now have several other projects that I have planned it my head – much simpler than this one.  But first I decided to get back to a Noro jumper that I had started knitting – it is far to hot to wear it but when it is finished I can put it in a drawer ready for next winter.

I may do another quilt with meaning.  I do quite like designing from ideas rather than copying something visual.  Perhaps I should start on one for World War 2 but not this year!

WW1 Memorial Quilt – Walter - Gardener

I have finished the last piece of my Memorial Quilt – the piece which represents the gardeners.

This design ought to have been the easiest.  There are so many things I could have knitted to represent gardeners.  I had thought of doing a large cauliflower or a row of carrots.  I considered doing rows of flowers in a Fair-isle pattern.  This design has taken me at least 6 months to think of – but I think I am happy with the end result.  It is the largest piece of the quilt with 134sts and 132 rows.  I have used small amounts of a lot of different shades of Rowan Felted Tweed DK yarn.  I had lots of odd bits left over from knitting other pieces and I have used up as many of them as I could.

The structure for the design is a formal garden – 4 beds divided by paths and a central feature.  The feature could be a statue or a sundial. Each bed represents a season.  Winter which is a bit sparse – berries, twigs and pine leaves, Spring which is a daffodil and a few buds, Summer which is a rose and Autumn which is a nasturtium. 

On another level the piece is a cross with flowers – to remember the men who died. It is named after Walter James Deal who was my third cousin, 3 times removed.  He was a gardener and a private in the 2^nd battalion of the Oxfordshire and Berkshire Light Infantry who died on 12 May 1918 aged 32.

It is also to remember the following men:

George Walter Thomas Shaxted who was my second cousin, 3 times removed.  He was a gardener and a private in the 6^th battalion of the Buffs (East Kent) Regiment who died on 20 October 1915 aged 20.

Charles Waite who was the husband of my fourth cousin, 4 times removed.  He was a gardener and a guardsman in the 3^rd battalion of the Grenadier Guards who died on 9 October 1917 aged 31.

Walter James Cole who was the husband of my second cousin, 3 times removed who I think was a gardener and a corporal in the Royal Garrison Artillery who died on 27 October 1917 aged 27.

John Norwood Berry who was my fourth cousin, twice removed.  He was a gardener and a private in the 6^th battalion of the Buffs (East Kent) Regiment who died on 4 August 1916 aged 30.

One last confession about this piece – I have done quite a lot of swiss darning.  I decided that it would be better to do that than keep taking it out because one stitch was in the wrong place.

I am now working on sewing the 21 pieces together.  I have arranged them on my bed and I think I am happy that they will look OK.  There are some pieces which are the same size and could have been swopped but I am going to stick to the original arrangement.  I hope to be able to show you the finished quilt later in the week.

WW1 Memorial Quilt – Albert – Railway Worker

This is my finished piece for my railway workers.

I hope the middle section looks like a railway engine.  Either side are trunks and a vague impression of a station building or a covered platform.

The piece has 121sts and 132 rows. 

I thought about this design for months.  I wanted to do a train in some form and I considered knitting just a carriage – or a train from the side.  In the end I decided to do a design similar to the Road Transport piece – even using red and black in a similar way.  For the engine I deliberately knitted black surrounded by red – so that it looked a bit like a poppy.  

This piece is to remember my third cousin, 3 times removed: Albert John Boyce who was a railway guard and a corporal in the Royal Fusiliers who died on 24 May 1915 aged 35.

It is also to remember the other men who worked on the railway including Wilfred Algernon Burfield who was my third cousin, twice removed.  He was a railway engineer who died from disease on 13 February 1916 aged 21.  He had served in the Royal Navy on HMS Vivid.

I am now working on the last piece – the one for the gardeners in my family.

WW1 Memorial Quilt – Cecil – General Labourer

This is the finished version of my piece for general labourers – that is labourers who were not agricultural labourers as far as I know.  Some of the men did describe themselves as dock labourer or brewer’s labourer but others are just labourers.

I thought of lots of ideas for this piece but in the end decided on words which described the sort of things they did.  The point is that they would do anything they were capable of doing.  These skills were useful in war time as well.

Because the design consists of words – it is an echo of the piece I did for the Printers and Compositors.  It is 134sts and 99 rows.  I have changed my mind a lot during the production of this piece and I managed to end up with a stitch in the wrong place in one of the “ands” – instead of taking it out again – I swiss darned the stitch to change it from blue to brown.  When knitting letters – the crucial thing is to get the spacing right – that can’t be fixed with swiss darning.  I know because I had to take out some of the phrases several times until I had got the letters in the right place.

This piece is called Cecil after my fourth cousin, twice removed: Cecil Edward Augustus Martin.  He was a General Labourer and a private in the 2^nd battalion of the Queen’s Royal West Surrey Regiment who died on 2^nd April 1917 aged 34.

It is also for all of the following men:

William Arthur Baker – my 1^st cousin, 4 times removed who was a labourer and a gunner in the Royal Horse and Royal Field Artillery who died on 20 July 1916 aged 32.

Frank Hamlyn – my 3^rd cousin, 3 times removed who was a dock labourer and a rifleman in the 1^st battalion of the Royal Irish Rifles who died on 14 October 1918 aged 33.

Holroyd Edward Hamlyn – my 4^th cousin, twice removed who was a mason’s labourer and a private in the 11^th battalion of the Somerset Light Infantry who died on 16 September 1917 aged 22.

Charles Edward Carswell – my 1^st cousin, twice removed who was a labourer and a private in the Canadian Expeditionary Force who died on 17 November 1917 aged 21.

Weston Berry – my 4^th cousin, twice removed who was a general labourer and a private in the 1^st battalion of the London Regiment who died on 31 July 1917 aged 26.

Herbert Clarence Shaxted – my 2^nd cousin, 3 times removed who was a labourer and a private in the 1^st battalion of the Buffs (East Kent Regiment) who died on 23 June 1915 aged 24.

Ernest Verlander – the husband of my great great aunt who was a brewer’s labourer and a private in the 2^nd battalion of the Dorsetshire Regiment who died on 31 December 1916 aged 23.

And lastly – although he was not exactly a labourer – this is to remember Arthur Edward Birkett, my second cousin, 3 times removed who was an insurance collector (walking from door to door) and a rifleman in the 8^th battalion of the Rifle Brigade who died on 3 May 1917 aged 34.

I am now working on the piece for the men who worked on the railway.

WW1 Memorial Quilt – Frank – Engine Fitter

I have finished the piece for the Engine Fitters in my family.

I have a bit of a confession – I still don’t know what an engine fitter did nor whether a fitter is the same or something different.  I decided to knit what I wanted to – which is an artistic impression of a combustion engine – in case you wondered!  The piece has 80sts and 132 rows. 

This piece is named after my second cousin, 3 times removed: Francis James (Frank) Templeman who was an engine fitter.  He was a sergeant in the 5^th battalion of the Lincolnshire Regiment who died on 30 July 1915 aged 33. 

It is also to remember my great great uncle Percy Carswell who was a fitter.  He was a private in the Royal West Kent Regiment who died on 29 June 1916 aged 40.

WW1 Memorial Quilt – Alexander – Cab Driver

As with the previous piece, this piece of my memorial quilt  was designed to remember 2 men whose jobs were not the same – one was a cab driver – which I assume means he drove any early car – and the other was a conductor on the trams.  However both vehicles operated on the streets.

For this design I decided to produce an artistic representation of the vehicles – a car and 2 trams.   I am not sure they are accurate colours – but that does not matter as I have used all sorts of unlikely colours for things in other pieces.  I don’t want to be too accurate.

The piece is 111 sts wide and 66 rows high.  I intend it to be placed immediately above the previous piece.

It is named after cab driver Alexander William John Bridger who was my second cousin, three times removed.  He was a private in the 15^th battalion of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment who died on 26 October 1917 aged 35.

It is also to remember Arthur Frederick Tarry who was the husband of my third cousin three times removed.  He was a conductor on the trams and a gunner in the Royal Horse and Royal Field Artillery who died on 6 April 1918 aged 39.

I should stop working on my family history until this project is complete – but I haven’t and so unfortunately the other day I found I am related to another soldier who died in World War 1.  I don’t know his occupation – so he should be included with the piece called Jack, but I have decided to mention him now as his name was Alec.  He was my fourth cousin, twice removed Alec William Quested.  He was a private in the 7^th Battalion of the Royal Sussex Regiment who died on 24 September 1918 aged 20.

I now only have 4 pieces left to knit.  I think I know roughly what they are going to look like – but I might change my mind.    The World Snooker tournament starts on Saturday and while that is on I hope to finish the next piece but I am mainly going to be concentrating on knitting a throw for Oxford Yarn Store.

WW1 Memorial Quilt – Bill – Milkman

This piece only took 2 days to knit.  I always knew that I wanted to knit a design which included milk churns.  Originally I had intended to include a bit of black and white cow as well – but in the end I decided to keep it simple.

The design is an echo of the design for an office worker.   For those men I knitted a beige filing cabinet outlined in darker brown with red and green.  For this design I used the same shade of beige and used a different colour for each milk churn.

The piece consists of 161 stitches – it is the widest piece of the quilt – which is suitable for rows of milk churns.  I knitted 66 rows.

This piece is named after my third cousin, twice removed: William Carswell who was actually a cowman.  He may not have had anything to do with milk but I don’t know.  He was a private in the 15^th battalion of the Sherwood Foresters who died on 28 March 1918 aged 20.  It is also to remember my third cousin, three times removed: Frederick Henry Clark who was a milkman.  He was a private in the 8^th battalion of the East Surrey Regiment who died on 1 March 1917 aged 32.

WW1 Memorial Quilt – Herbert – Fireman

For the last couple of weeks – I have been struggling with this piece, but it is finally finished.

It looks fairly simple now – but this is my second attempt. I decided that for a fireman I wanted to use orange and a design which included ladders and hoses.  I cast on and started knitting but I couldn’t work up any enthusiasm for the design.  It seemed too big and I kept putting off doing it.  I realised this was because it wasn’t right.  So I swopped it with another piece – in fact I have swopped several pieces around – so that the size of the piece better reflects the complexity of the design.  

I unravelled and started again, this time casting on 50 sts and knitting 132 rows.  A long thin piece seems to fit the ladder better.

This piece is called Herbert to remember my third cousin, three times removed: Herbert Tom Sedlen.  He was a sailor in the Mercantile Marine on the SS Royal Edward.  He died on 13 Aug 1915 aged 33.  In civilian life in Dorset, he was a fireman.

I now have 6 pieces left to knit but most of them are quite large and I intend to knit complicated designs.

WW1 Memorial Quilt – Reggie - Sailor

Just like with the soldiers, some of my relatives who died in WW1 were in the navy before the start of the war.  Like the army it provided a chance for poor working class lads to travel and see the world.  It also provided bed and board for those who were very poor.

For this piece I have used a different colour knitting technique.  It is sort of striped but there was no plan – I made it up as I went along.  I hope you know what it is meant to be – it is the sea – what else could I knit for a sailor?  I considered boats and other maritime symbols, but I decided on the sea.

I picked out 5 different green and blue shades of Rowan Felted Tweed and just changed colour when I felt like it.  I blended the stripes together by knitting alternate stitches on the joins.  I also added a few random bits – to break the stripes up further and to suggest waves.

For this piece, I cast on 67sts and knit 99 rows.

This piece is named after my third cousin, twice removed: Reginald Henry Hobbs.  He was a newsboy in 1911 but joined the navy in 1914.  He died on 8 May 1915 aged 19.  It is also to remember Arthur Richard Mummery who was also my third cousin, twice removed.  He joined the navy in 1912 and died on HMS Vanguard on 9 July 1917 aged 25.   Thirdly – this piece is to remember William Paul Stuttle who was my second cousin, three times removed.  He was a cabin boy in the Mercantile Marines and very sadly died on 9 September 1918 aged 14.  I am not sure why 14 is worse than 19, but it is.  Lastly this is for all the sailors who died in WW1.

WW1 Memorial Quilt – Percy - Bottle-washer

It is the supposedly the first day of spring but it is very cold.  We haven’t got much snow but there is a very bitter wind blowing the snow around.  It is a good day to stay inside and get some knitting done.

I have finished another piece of my quilt – this is Percy named after my 4^th cousin, twice removed Percy James East.  He was a Private in the 6^th battalion of the East Kent Regiment (known as the Buffs) and he died on 18 March 1916 aged 24.  His occupation is listed as a bottle-washer.  I admit I am not sure what one was – I assume he washed bottles!  A lot more bottles were reused in the past whereas now they would be broken up and used for something else.

This piece is also to remember Oswald Thresher who was the husband of my 3^rd cousin, twice removed.  He was the manager of a wine and spirits depot and I wondered if he was connected with the off-licence Threshers.  I don’t know.  He was a Lieutenant in the Royal Engineers who died on 2 Oct 1918 aged 36. 

I hope it is obvious that the design is a small group of bottles.  It was inspired by a Kaffe Fassett design of a large group of bottles.   The piece has 67sts and 132 rows.  I used quite a lot of the dark brown Rowan Felted Tweed.  This piece is intended for the opposite side of the quilt to that for the Tea Packer which also used quite a lot of this shade.

I have a few ideas for the next pieces but I am not sure yet which one I will do next.

WW1 Memorial Quilt – Jim - Polisher

After I had finished knitting the piece of my quilt for the soldiers, I immediately started a small piece which I intend to be in the top right-hand corner.

This piece is to remember the polishers and French polishers in my family who died in World War 1.   It is called Jim after my second cousin, twice removed: James Henry Wade who was a polisher in civilian life and a Lance corporal in the 16^th battalion of the Rifle Brigade who died on 7 August 1917 aged 20.

This piece is also dedicated to my first cousin, 4 times removed: Henry Carr who was a French polisher and a private in the 20^th battalion of the Duke of Cambridge’s Own (Middlesex) Regiment.  He died on 28 Aug 1916 aged 46. 

For this piece I cast on 50sts and worked 66 rows.  I think it looks like a flower!  However, it is supposed to be a screwed up cloth on a piece of wood.  That was the idea anyway!

I am on a roll again at the moment and I am just about to start my next piece dedicated to those who worked with bottles – both full and empty!

WW1 Memorial Quilt – Edward - Soldier

This week I have completed the piece of my quilt which is dedicated to the professional soldiers.  Some of them died during the war – and some of them fought throughout – and came home injured mentally and/or physically.

 When I first thought about designing a piece for the men who were soldiers before the war started – I first thought about doing interlocking crosses.  Then I thought about doing a “toy soldier” but I didn’t want to belittle their efforts.  When I think of soldiers I tend to think of shiny buttons and polished boots and being killed.  Then I remembered the songs that the soldiers use to sing.  I considered them but then settled on using the song - Where Have All the Flowers Gone? as inspiration.

This design consists of 4 rows of 5 regular blocks of colour, but each row of blocks means something to me.  The first row of blue blocks represents blue collar workers or ordinary working class men.  The next row – is a row of soldiers.  The third row represents gravestones, and the last row – flowers.  I know it is a bit morbid – but then the whole quilt is a bit morbid.  I am sure when you looked at this piece of knitting for the first time – you thought “that is attractive” rather than “that is morbid”!

For this piece I cast on 67sts and knit 165 rows.  Each block is 7sts wide and 30 rows high – 15 rows of each shade.  There are 6sts between blocks, 4sts each side, 10 rows between blocks – with 8 at the beginning and 7 at the end.  It was quite easy to knit because I wound the colours onto bobbins – so I didn’t get as tangled up as usual.

To come back to the title for the piece – it is called Edward to remember my great great uncle Edward Benn.  He was not a blood relative but married to my great great aunt Elizabeth Longhurst.  He was a private in 23^rd battalion of the London Regiment who was killed on 13 November 1916 aged 26.  My grandma told me about his small son Teddy – who she used to find tucked in at the bottom of her bed when her aunt had turned to her sister for support.  Very sadly Elizabeth lost Teddy in the World War 2.

This piece is also to remember my third cousin, twice removed: Herbert Victor Jones who was a corporal in the 1^st battalion of the Duke of Cornwall’s Light infantry who died on 8 May 1917 aged 25 and my fourth cousin, four times removed: William Edward Morrish who was a soldier in India before the war and who died on 24 July 1915 aged 30, a CQMS in the 2^nd battalion of the Queens Own Royal West Kent Regiment.

This piece is also dedicated to my fourth cousin, twice removed: Henry Thomas (Harry) Hamlyn who was a soldier as early as 1911 – he was a private in the 2^nd battalion of the Devonshire Regiment who died on 1 July 1916 – the first day of the battle of the Somme – aged 23.  He was one of three brothers who were all killed in the war.

I would also like to mention my great grandfather Frank Henry Taylor and his brother-in-law Sam Drew who both came from a military background, fought throughout the war and returned home.  Frank was invalided out of the army and Sam went on to join the Merchant Navy – I don’t think civilian life suited Sam.  I should also remember all those other soldiers who fought and returned home deeply affected by their experiences.

WW1 Memorial Quilt – Harold – Farm Labourer

This week I have been working on my WW1 Memorial Quilt again and have completed Harold – a piece to remember the farm labourers in my family who died in World War 1. 

This piece is named after Harold Sedlen Miller who was my 3^rd cousin, 3 times removed.  He was a Private in the Household Cavalry who died on 10 Oct 1918 aged 22.  He was from Charlton Musgrove in Somerset and had presumably gained experience with horses from working on his family’s farm.   It is also to remember my 3^rd cousin, twice removed Horace Edwin Deal who was also the son of a farmer.  He was a Private in the 1^st Battalion of the East Kent Regiment and he died on 10 May 1918 aged 20 and a farm labourer, my 4^th cousin, twice removed Herbert Stephen Upton who as a Private in the 1^st Battalion of the Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Regiment who died on 18 April 1915 aged 21.  Several other men were described as labourers  -  and some of these may have worked on a farm but I am going to do another square for all my “General labourers”.

In case you are not sure – this piece is supposed to be fields.  I had originally thought of doing them with fewer straight  borders – but that would have been much harder to knit.

I used several shades of Rowan Felted Tweed in brown, green, mauve and yellow.  I cast on 111sts in my main dark brown colour and then knitted 9 squares – some plain, some striped and some spotted.  The piece in total is 132 rows long.

This has been one of the easier pieces to knit. It was easy to think of and easy to knit.  I am now working on the next piece which is to represent my dead soldiers who were soldiers before the war started.

WW1 Memorial Quilt – Bob

I have sorted out my piece of knitting which represents the tailors and drapers in my family who died in World War 1.

In the end I had to make it 24 rows shorter.  This seems a lot but it is now roughly the right size.

This piece is for Robert Henry Chant who was the husband of my third cousin twice removed.  He was a gunner in the Royal Garrison Artillery who died in Salonika on 19 Dec 1917 – exactly 100 years ago today.  It is also for my fourth cousin, twice removed Harold Farley Carver who was a private in the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry and who died on 3 Mar 1916 aged 26.  Harold was a tailor in civilian life and Robert was a Drapery warehouseman.

Originally I had thought about doing a design which showed some “fans” of fabric – like those you used to see in shop windows, but I couldn’t make them look right – so I thought about actually knitting some fabric – and decided on dogs-tooth check.  The red bits are supposed to represent stitches.

I cast on 79sts and repeated the 4 row pattern 12 times.  I then knit 12 rows including the red “stitches”, and then repeated the 4 row pattern a further 12 times.  I used Rowan Felted Tweed DK Shade 153 (A) and  Shade 157 (B).  The red is Shade 150.

The 4 Row pattern is:

Row 1:* K1A, K1B, K2A; repeat from *  to last 3 sts, K1A, K1B, K1A.
Row 2:* P2B, P1A, P1B; repeat from *  to last 3 sts, P2B, P1A.
Row 3:* K3B, K1A; repeat from *  to last 3 sts, K3B.
Row 4:* P1B, P3A; repeat from *  to last 3 sts, P1B, P2A.

I hope that is right – basically on each row you knit or purl one stitch in one colour and then 3 in the other.

I am now going to make a cardigan with a cat on for the niece/grand-daughter of some friends of mine, but I have an idea for the next piece of the memorial quilt and I will get back to it in the new year.

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.

WW1 Memorial Quilt

As I said at the end of my last post – I have started knitting a piece to remember the tailors and other textile workers in my family. 

When I say I have started it – I had hoped I had finished it – but something has gone wrong and it is too long – so I will probably need to unravel some of it and make some adjustments.

When I started this project and drew out a plan of how many pieces I was going to knit and how many rows and stitches each one needed.  I was a bit worried that this piece would be too narrow if I pulled the threads too tight across the back – but the width is OK – it is the length.  This piece which will be known as Bob should be the same size as Tom and it isn’t!  Never mind – I can fix it!

Before I make adjustments to this piece – I am going to knit the next piece.  Because that will confirm how long it needs to be.  So I will come back to Bob.  I have made a start on Charlie – the piece for a butcher.

On Saturday I went to Oxford for the monthly Knitting and Crochet Guild meeting.  It was a Show and Tell session – so I took the pieces of quilt that I have done so far.  I have told several people about the project but I don’t think they understood it until they actually saw what I was doing.  I am now going to do a talk about it in June next year.  As a member of the Birmingham group was present – I am also going to talk about it in Birmingham next August. 

Before I went to the meeting, I visited Oxford Yarn Store to buy some more yarn – and everyone there seemed to like the pieces of quilt and were interested in the idea behind it.  With all this interest I had better get on with it.  However, I think I may have to fit in a last minute Christmas present before I can concentrate all my attention on it.

WW1 Memorial Quilt – George

I am on a roll at the moment.  I think I was inspired by Armistice Day to put more effort into this project.

This piece is called George and I hope it is obvious what the occupation is – it is a letter to represent a postman.

This piece was named after George Skeer who was the husband of my 4^th cousin twice removed.  George was a postman but he became a sergeant in the Royal Garrison Artillery and died on 21 March 1918 aged 37.   This piece is also for my 2^nd cousin, three times removed - Francis Reginald Wade who was a rifleman in the 8^th battalion of the London Regiment (the Post Office Rifles).  He died on 24 July 1915 aged 24.

When I was thinking about what to knit for a postman – I did consider a pillar box, but I like the simplicity of a letter.  It is a bit of an odd shape – but at least it is not tall and narrow.  I chose the most “letter-like” shape for the postmen.  It is the second time this year that I have knitted words as blocks of colour – or in this case – blocks of grey.  I may embroider on some franking across the stamp.

This piece is 95sts wide and 66 rows high.  I mainly used Rowan Felted Tweed Shade: 177.

I am now working on a piece for a tailor and draper.