The latest episode of Mrs M’s Curiosity Cabinet is now live.

The podcasts will also be available on iTunes, PlayerFM and other podcast catchers within the next 24 hours.

As always, I can be found on Instagram and Ravelry. There is also a Ravelry Group for the Mrs M’s Curiosity Cabinet podcast.

A pesky RSI problem has put my sock experiment on hold for a bit but I share a couple of snippets of nylon-free sock news I picked up over the last month. Retrosaria, the independent yarn shop in Lisbon, stocks a nylon-free non-Superwash wool called Mondim made of 100% Portuguese wool.

Also, Making Stories, the knitting publishing company founded by Verena Cohrs (aka thewoolclub on Ravelry and Instagram) and Hanna Lisa Haferkamp (aka Hannoontheroad on Instagram) is planning an issue devoted to no-nylon non-Superwash socks, which will be published next year. To get a feel for how Making Stories‘ uses restrained designs to showcase European wools, check out its first publication Woods.

In this episode I talk about slow knitting and savouring yarn courtesy of a couple of wool-shawl combinations, in particular my Ronaes shawl (from Karie Westermann’s Doggerland Collection), which I knit in Blacker Yarns’ St Kilda Laceweight blend and my Tales of Purbeck shawl by Annie Rowden, for which I used Uist Wool’s Breathach DK. In this segment I also refer to the Fleece and Fiber Sourcebook and Episode 89 of the Knit British podcast.

Prompted by talk in recent months of our feelings about our ‘stash’ and the publication of A Stash of One’s Own – Knitters on Loving, Living with and Letting Go of Yarn (edited by Clara Parkes), I talk about the psychology and content of my wool pantry. Some of the yarns mentioned in the context of my wool pantry are: West Yorkshire Spinners Jacob DK and Signature 4-ply, Laxtons BFL/Masham blends, Jamieson & Smith, Blacker’s Classic range, Jamieson Spindrift, The Little Grey Sheep’s Gotland and The Knitting Goddess’ One Farm Yarn.

I also draw the winner of the Daughter of a Shepherd giveaway.

Finally, in Notes from the Kitchen, I talk about some of the preserves I have been making in recent weeks. In this section I reference two classics from my recipe book library: Marguerite Patten’s Jams, Preserves and Chutneys Handbook and Delia Smith’s Complete Cookery Course. The particular recipe I mentioned is also available free online.

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Music: Springish by Gillicuddy on FreeMusicArchive and shared under Creative Commons Attribution license.

 

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Tagged as: Blacker’s Yarn, Home-made chutney, Mincemeat, Preserves, Soulful stash, Uist Wool, Wool, Wool pantry

• Sam October 16, 2017, 8:40 pm

  A great listen, as always – thank you for more thought provoking content.

  As makers, we do naturally gather resources for our craft, but I have been thinking about stash and stash guilt lately. Your thoughts of a ‘wool pantry’ struck a chord with me. I agree with you that the linguistic connotations of ‘stash’ are not particularly pleasant, whereas ‘wool pantry’ is much more akin to how I see my yarn and its potential.

  I must say, I may soon be adding to the stash – I fell in love with your description of the Uist Wool Breathach. I might also be tempted to knit the same pattern, it sounds like it was a joyous knitting experience.

  Reply
  • Meg and Gosia October 18, 2017, 9:50 am

    Thank you for your kind words, Sam. I certainly don’t mean to encourage unnecessary wool pantry stocking but hope my wool reviews will be useful if folk are considering this type of yarn/wool from such independent mills.

    Reply
• Pam Freeburn October 17, 2017, 10:14 pm

  i enjoyed your podcast so much that I listened twice. The idea of savoring a knit and allowing only a few repeats at a time is interesting to me. I do something along those lines when I’m reading a really good book and just don’t want it to end! Thank you, Meg

  Reply
  • Meg and Gosia October 18, 2017, 9:47 am

    Thank you for your kind feedback. I do that with reading too. I did that even as a young girl, when I had to eke out my pocket money and library trips to keep me in reading matter.

    Reply
• mary October 21, 2017, 4:13 pm

  I like renaming stash something else… and I’m tending towards wool library… if you ever visit The Doocot in Edinburgh = a tapestry studio and look over down the the weaving area … i just nearly died of envy when I saw the large cones of colours. I like the idea of slow creating but for various reasons am tied into deadlines for things. So I’m desperately doubling up yarn to finish things quicker!

  Reply
  • Meg and Gosia November 16, 2017, 5:40 pm

    I did toy with wool library too but decided the food analogy worked better for me. Thank you for recommending the tapestry studio as an inspirational space.

    Reply
• Jane from Dorset November 22, 2017, 12:34 pm

  Just listened to this episode again. I do so agree with you regarding that word ‘stash’ and ‘pantry is so much more apt.
  On the subject of mincemeat have you tried substituting butter for suet? It makes a truly luxurious version of any recipe. Warm the mix in the oven and then stir as it cools to distribute the butter.
  I also highly recommend making your own candied peel for another take on recycling a waste product and adding flavour to mincemeat.
  I do look forward to your podcasts, which keep me company on cold dark nights as I drive across the empty tracts of Salisbury Plain, thank you for sharing your thoughts.

  Reply
• Jane E. Hazen July 31, 2018, 9:21 pm

  Please advise:
  I absolutely adore lace weight yarns, lace knitting, and lace shawl knitting. However, my socioeconomic status and practical lifeway makes drawers full of lacey handknit shawls a tragedy. Please don’t advise gifting. So few friends or family appreciate or care for the much simpler projects I’ve gifted them. I so want to knit all the new lace shawl patterns including every pattern in Westergrenn’s collections. I even have plenty of lace blended yarns waiting and rovings Im willing to learn to spin. The only solutions I’ve come up with is to adapt lace patterns to the crone’s cottage wardrobe or miniaturize patterns for story doll and marionette size. ???? I haven’t knit any lace shawls in over 3 years and feel like a part of my creative brain has been lobotomized. Barbara G. Walker’s encyclopedia of lace my first true bibliophilic treasure curated to my library. I get desperate looking at new designers lace shawl patterns.

  Reply
  • Mrs M July 31, 2018, 9:32 pm

    I love lace pattern knitting too. Have you thought of using lace weight yarn to make garments, e.g. tops with a little lace that can be worn under “sensible cardigans”? Would that be a practical way to satisfy the brain and aesthetic but still produce something functional? I really wish I could knit garments in lace weight yarn. I don’t mind that it takes longer; it’s just that my hands struggle with small needles due to chronic pain. I’m glad to see a few more wool companies are producing what is know in the UK as a 3-ply (light fingering). This is the weight what was typically used in British/Australian patterns of the Interwar years.

    Reply

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