Mothers Are Celebrated!

Mother's Day in the United States is annually held on the second Sunday of May. It celebrates motherhood and it is a time to appreciate mothers and mother figures. Many people give gifts, cards, flowers, candy, a meal in a restaurant or other treats to their mother and mother figures, including grandmothers, great-grandmothers, stepmothers, and foster mothers.

Flowers and other gifts are given to mothers on Mother's Day.

©iStockphoto.com/Creativeye99

What Do People Do?

Many people send cards or gifts to their mother or mother figure or make a special effort to visit her. Common Mother's Day gifts are flowers, chocolate, candy, clothing, jewelry and treats, such as a beauty treatment or trip to a spa. Some families organize an outing for all of their members or hold a special meal at home or in a restaurant. In the days and weeks before Mother's Day, many schools help their pupils to prepare a handmade card or small gift for their mothers.

Public Life

Mother's Day is not a federal holiday. Organizations, businesses and stores are open or closed, just as they are on any other Sunday in the year. Public transit systems run to their normal Sunday schedules. Restaurants may be busier than usual, as some people take their mothers out for a treat.

Background

The origins of Mother's Day are attributed to different people. Many believe that two women, Julia Ward Howe and Anna Jarvis were important in establishing the tradition of Mother's Day in the United States. Other sources say that Juliet Calhoun Blakely initiated Mother’s Day in Albion, Michigan, in the late 1800s. Her sons paid tribute to her each year and urged others to honor their mothers.

Around 1870, Julia Ward Howe called for Mother's Day to be celebrated each year to encourage pacifism and disarmament amongst women. It continued to be held in Boston for about ten years under her sponsorship, but died out after that.

In 1907, Anna Jarvis held a private Mother's Day celebration in memory of her mother, Ann Jarvis, in Grafton, West Virginia. Ann Jarvis had organized "Mother's Day Work Clubs" to improve health and cleanliness in the area where she lived. Anna Jarvis launched a quest for Mother's Day to be more widely recognized. Her campaign was later financially supported by John Wanamaker, a clothing merchant from Philadelphia.

In 1908, she was instrumental in arranging a service in the Andrew's Methodist Episcopal Church in Grafton, West Virginia, which was attended by 407 children and their mothers. The church has now become the International Mother's Day Shrine. It is a tribute to all mothers and has been designated as a National Historic Landmark.

Mother's Day has become a day that focuses on generally recognizing mothers' and mother figures' roles. Mother's Day has also become an increasingly important event for businesses in recent years. This is particularly true of restaurants and businesses manufacturing and selling cards and gift items.

Fustian Cloth

Every day I learn something new--and I'm glad I do!  Take Fustian Cloth and Cutting--I didn't know what that term meant until I came upon an article and video about Fustian.  I'm very familiar with velvet, corduroy and other welted fabrics, I did not know about Fustian cutting.

Video is worth watching to understand about this technique.

Early in the 16th century, towns in South Lancashire had a reputation for making cotton goods, in reality these good were made mainly of wool with a small mixture of linen, both constituents being home grown, whilst cotton had to be imported. Large numbers of Flemish weavers had settled in Manchester and surrounding areas to escape persecution in their own land. They were the first to use cotton imported from India and Asia Minor. To evade laws passed to protect the woollen manufacturers, the Flemish weavers mixed linen in with cotton and this material was the starting point for fustian that was used in the district up until the beginning of the 20th century, Cadishead is best known for fustian cutting, by the 1870’s it would have been well nigh impossible to find a house without a cutting frame or a family unconnected with cutting. Fustian cutting is an operation in the manufacture of velvet and involves cutting by hand of loops woven into the cloth to create the pile. The basic requirements were a frame on which to spread the cloth to drum tightness, and a knife to cut the loops of the cloth. The frame was about 6ft by 2ft6ins wide and 3ft high. The knife was around 18inches long it had a wooden handle and the tip was drawn out to a sharp point which was ground to a sharp edge at the top. The cloth was brought by horse and cart from warehouses in Salford and Manchester it was woven to give continuous tunnels along the length of the material. The pile was created by the cutter passing a knife through the tunnels cutting the threads at the centre of the arch. There were between thirty to forty of these tunnels per inch so one can imagine the skill and concentration required. Most of the family would take part in the operation with the women working the frames in spring and summer whilst the men were working on the farms. The men would take over in the winter months when there was not a lot of work elsewhere. Around 1770, fustian cutting was carried out mainly in farm workers cottages. By 1840 terraced houses were being built with cutting shops built on the end. This followed on from farm houses that had stables attached to them which had been modified for fustian cutting By 1860 two storey terraced houses were being built with the attic built to house the cutting frame. The attic in Academy Row, Cadishead is set at the back of the terrace, giving a lop-sided appearance to the gable end. The higher part of the gable end would face towards the south to get the most light. The attic would run the whole length of the terrace, but could only be accessed from the end house. By the end of the nineteenth century mill- type structures of three stories were being built. These buildings showed the change from cottage craftsmen to factory tradesmen. A good example of one of these buildings is the building opposite the Ship Hotel in Irlam. Along with these factory type buildings a new longer frame was developed. These frames could be up to 12 yards long and the operator would walk along the length of the frame. The worker would be walking around twenty miles a day. As the fustian could only be cut in one direction the cutter would have two frames and would walk up one and down the other, totalling around twenty miles a day - twenty miles of precision cutting. In the 1870’s and 80’s fustian cutting was at it’s peak, the master cutters with an eye to business would convert a portion of their cutting shops into grocers, green grocers and shops of other trades, paying wages one day and then taking it back the next. New industry was brought into the district through the building of the Manchester Ship Canal at the end of the 19th century and young workers were attracted to these industries with the lure of better pay and better working conditions. The industry of hand –cutting was finally doomed by the invention of machinery to do the job. The machines could cut fustian ten times quicker than a hand cutter. These machines were introduced just before the First World War even though hand cutting went on in Cadishead until 1928. For more information on Fustian cutting, Irlam and Cadishead Local History Society

Lunch With Mother

 Today we are having lunch with Mother to celebrate Mother's Day.  This 95 year old lady is still chugging along with her BMW walker (purple no less!) at the assisted living facility.

She does have a little dementia but she gets her way no matter what--the gals at The Bridges know

how to keep her happy and the staff in good moods.

You go Mother! 

Summer Accessory

Robert Kaufman has a free pattern for you to make

this wonderful crossover bag.

Just think of the endless fabrics you can choose from!

One for each outfit in a different color!

I have some Indigo dyed fabric I think that will be just perfect.

Wednesday Yarn Along

Have you been busy with your yarn along--doesn't matter if you work it on Monday-Friday or weekends, I hope you are doing something with fiber.

This is the beginning of cuffs for Craftsy sock knitting class with Lucy Neatby.  It is a free class with three sock patterns and lessons to go along with the patterns.  I finally got out my sock yarn and begin.  I enjoy doing two socks at one time with two circular needles.

Problem--I worked part of the pattern and since this yarn was so "lively" for the want of a better word, I couldn't see the pattern emerge, so off to find a solid sock yarn that would work!

Why work for days on a pattern that you can't see?!  Nope! 

I switched to this yarn!  Hurray, easy to see the pattern!  I used the tapestry needle as 

suggested by Lucy in the lesson--works great.

onto knitting up this pair of socks to the heel and then see what we thing I can

learn about turning a heel.

Avonlea KAL

Welcome to the Avonlea MKAL!

Themed around L.M. Montgomery’s heartwarming ‘Anne Shirley’ series, Avonlea is a delicate lace shawl that’s perfect for evening countryside strolls and late summer weddings.

It features 5 repeating patterns, each uniquely linked to a part of Anne’s story, and a knitted on edging that will have you dreaming of the sea….

The shawl is triangular and knitted flat. There is a small crocheted provisional cast-on, but an ordinary cast on can be used if necessary. There are also single cables, nupps and different laces. Beads are optional, but will add an extra touch of glamour.

Avonlea is suitable for intermediate knitters.

The MKAL consists of 6 clues, each released weekly starting with clue one on 10th May. It will be free to download up until this date, when it will increase to £2.50. When the MKAL finishes at the end of June, the price will rise to £4.20.

For those who sign up to join the MKAL before May 10th, the clues will automatically be added to your Ravelry Library. Happy stitching!

Forums available athttp://www.ravelry.com/discuss/sweetnstitchy/3418670/26-5...

Have You Seen This?

How great is this?!  Knitting reference books are stored in the vault of University of Southampton Library

You could spend hours upon hours browsing through this collection of works

 All at the touch of a finger, you can turn pages without taking the trip to the library or

wearing white gloves.

This is technology at its best!