How did it get so late so soon.......?
Combine election uncertainties with continuing social isolation and it takes an effort of will to stay optimistic. However, I’m hoping with this newsletter you may find something to direct your turbulent thoughts towards calmer waters and a positive view of the year ahead. We have now opened our bookings for confirmed 2021 workshops - a registration fee of 50€ is required but will be refunded if an event needs to be cancelled - with a reduced maximum number of participants, in line with health recommendations. For more information:
MAY - Laughter Lab III with InstantWit
Moving Memories with Anne Kelly
Stitching a Sense of Space with Ekta Kaul
Knitting with Confidence with Sue Rutherford
We’re also hoping to host one more textile workshop as well as another Blues & Boogie Weekend in July; we’ll keep you posted …….
In my twenties I was delighted to discover that a friend of mine was the grandson of one of my graphic design heroes, Edward Bawden. British born Bawden was a water-colour painter, illustrator, and designer of posters, wallpaper, tapestries, and theatre decor and his works are admired for their simplification to the essence of the subject, their directness and humour.. Born at Braintree, Essex in 1903 he studied art at the Cambridge School of Art, and from 1922 to 1925 at the *Royal College of Art, where his teachers included Paul Nash, and he was a close friend of Eric Ravilious. He was an “Official War Artist” during the Second World War (in France and the Middle East) and painted numerous murals but he is best remembered for his glorious book illustrations. His commissions produced for Curwen Press also included posters and murals for the London Underground.
“When we have learned how to listen to trees, then the brevity and the quickness and the childlike hastiness of our thoughts achieve an incomparable joy.”
Hermann Hesse
If, like me you are a long time lover of Provençal kitchenware, you may be interested in a company producing stylish variations in gorgeous colours, Manufacture de Digoin. Not sure what their delivery costs and terms are, but the wonderful photographs on their website are worth looking at, even if you aren’t buying.
There was an enthusiastic response when last we posted a book review, so I have asked Soeur Susu (a voracious reader whose recommendations are always hugely enjoyable!) to give us a regular rundown of her favourite recent reads. Here is her November offering:
To reveal my credentials regarding my choice, I was a lover of Len Deighton’s work in the 60s, a fan of John Le Carré in the 70s and onwards; was given as a Christmas present on my 10th birthday, Live and Let Die, and have been an admirer of Eric Ambler, Alan Furst and many more. These writers have explored the hidden spheres of influence lurking in the political landscape with a great deal of style and intelligence. If you’re familiar with these writers you’ll know of what genre I speak!
Therefore, rather than concentrating on one “novel”, I’ve bunched together a series I’ve read this year on “spooks”. I became addicted from the get go on Mick Herron’s clever, amusing and fast paced books about Slough House (Slow Horses being the first in the series). They put me in mind of Yes Minister (a TV political comedy - for those too young to remember it): a dig at those government “departments” to which the general public seldom has access. The storylines are humorous, devious (as they should be) and smart. To wit – they are full of extraordinary, ordinary characters, whose idiosyncrasies make you wish they were real people. The sarcasm of the main protagonist (hero?), Jackson Lamb, made me laugh out loud, as did others and the machinations of the various plots and subplots, were beguiling. If, like Yes Minister, they are based (however loosely) on real people and the backgrounds and situations come from insider information, it makes them doubly intriguing and enjoyable.
I read all of them in a couple of weeks. Like a true addict, I had to have my fix each day. If you are already a fan, I send you a ‘high five’ and, if you do read them on my recommendation, I hope you find them equally entertaining.
Time on your hands (silly question)? Like me, you may from time to time pop over to Alabama Chanin’s uncluttered, sophisticated website for some inspiration; it’s so full of figure-hugging, hand-finished garments in subtle, appliquéd, organic cotton, it makes one think “if only….” Currently, I’m very tempted by her corset pattern, which would make an equally elegant waistcoat methinks, and whilst the kits make things look ridiculously attractive, I think I shall be re-using some jersey fabric I already have in my collection.
Over the 12 years we have been organising workshops at Les Soeurs Anglaises, we have been fortunate to host several events by two iconic knitters, Patricia Roberts and Marion Foale. Both ladies, whose styles could not have been more different, are retired now and no longer lead events, but for 2021 we are delighted to have on board for our annual Knitting Workshop Sue Rutherford, designer and owner of the classic online shop, The Knitter’s Yarn. A major catalyst for Sue to create the Knitter’s Yarn came with the closure of Patricia Robert’s bijou London shop in 2016. They had met at Patricia’s workshop here, bonding quickly over their mutual love of knitting, design and Leonard Cohen, and Sue quickly became an aficionado of Patricia’s techniques. With this in mind we are very much looking forward to welcoming Sue back here next September, this time as the leader of a 6 day/7 night event, Knitting with Confidence.
Bet you didn’t know about……….
The Feminist History of the Cardigan
There may be much to be worried about at this time, but there’s also plenty to care passionately about. Choose a slogan or design a logo, have a one-off printed on Rapanui’s wide choice of organic cotton T-shirts and at the same time encourage a younger person with concerns, to connect and get involved! I can thoroughly recommend the quality and service of this environmentally concerned company. Great quality, great service!
We had fun making out Advent Calendar earlier in the month; and I’m delighted to say that every single one of our very limited edition sold out quickly, so a big thank you to all those who got in early to buy one. Sadly, they take too long to make to be able to offer more this year but we’ll be working on our Mark 2 version for next Christmas and never fear, we will be starting production a little earlier so hopefully we won’t have to disappoint anyone again.
Meanwhile, we still have a few of our RECIPE BOXES and vintage face masks available; and there is still time to order a VERY SPECIAL BOTTLE from our vintage cellar for a wine lover!
Musical taste, like most taste is very personal, but if you would like to listen to some of my favourites you never know, there might be few that are new to you and you enjoy……. In the mix there are two or three by the amazing musicians who have performed at the Blues & Boogie Weekends we host here every summer, including Paddy Milner, Luca Sestak and Sylvan Zingg!
November is the month of Remembrance and one of my very favourite Great War poets is Charles Hamilton Sorley. Sorley was born in Aberdeen, Scotland in 1895, and educated, like Siegfried Sassoon, at Marlborough College. Before taking up a scholarship to study at University College, Oxford, Sorley spent six months in Germany, but was ordered to leave the country at the outbreak of war. He returned to England and volunteered for military service, joining the Suffolk Regiment. He arrived at the Western Front in France as a lieutenant in May 1915, and quickly rose to the rank of captain at the age of 20. Tragically, he survived less than six months and was killed in action near Hulluch, shot in the head by a sniper at the Battle of Loos on 13 October 1915.
The Song of the Ungirt Runners
We swing ungirded hips,
And lightened are our eyes,
The rain is on our lips,
We do not run for prize.
We know not whom we trust
Nor whitherward we fare,
But we run because we must
Through the great wide air.
The waters of the seas
Are troubled as by storm.
The tempest strips the trees
And does not leave them warm.
Does the tearing tempest pause?
Do the tree-tops ask it why?
So we run without a cause
'Neath the big bare sky.
The rain is on our lips,
We do not run for prize.
But the storm the water whips
And the wave howls to the skies.
The winds arise and strike it
And scatter it like sand,
And we run because we like it
Through the broad bright land.
