![]() They have had a very hard time since 2008, and cynical people such as Nigel Farage gave them something upon which to vent their frustrations. I don’t necessarily blame the leave voters for this. There must have been leave voters who had valid reasons for voting as they did, but it is also true that there was a strong theme of anti-immigration, with people voting their fear, without first establishing the facts (especially given that the most googled phrase in the UK the day after the referendum was ‘what is the EU’). I see her presenting a bar chart, which looks to be based on a poll. I don’t think I have ever felt so distant from the English north, the place where I was born. Like the vast majority in Scotland, I voted to remain. There are many things that concern me about the EU (such as its dubious and unaccountable TTIP plans), but I felt there was a bigger picture to consider. And no one can have missed the singularly depressing tone and tenor of recent political debate in the UK, culminating with the result of the referendum. I have been unwell, and because of this was unable to go to Woolfest this past weekend – an event I had been looking forward to for some time. These jolly, fishy mittens make me very happy – and have been a high point in what has proved a rather difficult couple of weeks. Mel kindly acted as model – with mittens making an interesting midsummer style choice.īut in Scotland, just like Alaska, mitten season will of, course, return sooner than we think. ![]() I’ll put the pattern up on Ravelry and some kits in my shop for the rest of you next week. I’ve posted a few Buachaille kits over to Dotty to give away as prizes to her customers, and the Pink Fish mitten pattern will also be made available to those attending events at the Net Loft in Cordova over the coming days. The motif has quite strong lines, and, when I charted it out over the thumb, it developed an interesting fishbone-like appearance, which seemed entirely appropriate! This is a motif I’ve always loved, and I think it looks great worked in two soft, contrasting shades (Buachaille “hedder” and “haar”). They are pink, just like their fishy namesake, and are decorated with a scale-y motif that the eagle-eyed among you may recognise from my Caller Herrin hat. I thought it would be fun to honour the Alaskan salmon with a Scottish maritime reference, so I devised these mittens. (Dotty’s daughter Nelly Hand, of the Drifters Fish Company, with a huge Copper River salmon). I personally harbour no such superstitions about the Atlantic salmon, which has always seemed to me to be a remarkably resourceful as well as a very tasty fish, and I have the very greatest of respect for the Alaskan fishermen and women who sustainably manage their annual salmon harvest. On board herring vessels, “salmon” would be replaced with “pink fish”, “pig” with “grunter” and “rabbit” with “moppie.” Around the east coast of Scotland, during the nineteenth-century heyday of the herring industry, several words were thought to be harbingers of bad luck, and were referred to with coded substitutes in much the same manner that actors still occasionally replace Macbeth with The Scottish Play. Fishing was (and still is, of course), a dangerous occupation, and because of this many regional superstitions developed around the language used by those engaged in it. “Pink fish” is the name that Scottish herring fisherman once used in place of the word “salmon”. ![]() ![]() These are the Pink Fish mittens, which I’ve designed for Dotty. I was sad to be unable to go to Alaska in person, but I felt I’d still like to contribute to Dotty’s project in some way. The mix of cultural, social and textile history behind Dotty’s project, and the events she had planned, were right up my street, but sadly my post-stroke health issues meant that the lengthy series of flights from Scotland to Alaska in themselves posed impediments to my attending. Like Scotland, Alaska is one of those places where the activities of fishing and knitting are interestingly intertwined, and Dotty’s Cordova Gansey Project provided occasion for exploring those important connections. Last year, energetic and inspiring Dorothy Widmann kindly invited me to attend a wonderful event she’d organised in her home town of Cordova, Alaska. ![]()
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