The Book of Deer Community Textile Banner Project - Taking Part

Scotland's oldest surviving book returned home this summer.   On loan from Cambridge University, and with lottery funding, the 10th Century Book of Deer was proudly displayed in Aberdeen Art Gallery for three months.  I'd the pleasure of seeing it for myself in August.  Thought to be designed for personal use, it's a wee book of great import.  Whilst the monks scribed in Latin, they notated the margins in Scots Gaelic making this the earliest evidence of written Gaelic in Scotland.   The monks also doodled mythical beasties around the edges of these precious pages.

Aberdeenshire Council's cultural arm, Live Life Aberdeenshire, along with partner agencies,  developed a programme of events to generate interest in the return of the Book of Deer to Scotland for the first time in 1000 years.  The community textile project, From Book to Banner, sought crafters from across the shire to join groups at their local libraries to stitch a series of panels.  Rachael Forbes, the artist commissioned to design the textile banners, drew inspiration from the illuminated illustrations in the book as well as incorporating some of the fantastical creatures doodles by the monks.  She also dyed threads and fabrics using natural dyes the monks would have had access to in the 10th century.

Red (madder root) Blue (woad) Yellow (alder buckthorn) Grey/purple (alconet) Grey/brown (dried elderberries)

Inverurie Library hosted my nearest group.  During our inaugural get-together last May, I joined the eight other aspiring banner makers to chose which section each wanted to make.  Rachael had cleverly translated each of her banner artwork prototypes into detailed sectional drawings.

As I'm not an expert at embroidery, I was happy the more experienced stitchers in the group chose the apostle figures whilst I selected a background to a figure.  Each section comprised donated fabric, aged with tea by Rachael, on which she'd drawn the design with a dissolvable pen.  We each also received an envelope of matching applique pieces, complete with Bondaweb adhesive.  I couldn't wait to get all mine ironed on to the backing fabric so I could start stitching.

To help guide our hands, Rachael recorded a short YouTube video for each section of each panel.  I'm in awe of the amount of preparation work Rachael did to ensure that no matter the level of experience, the craft group volunteers would be comfortable recreating her designs in stitch.

Tentatively, I started outlining all these wee coloured pieces in black whipstitch as required.  I didn't rush and gently stitched away over five weeks, in between other craft projects, to complete all the black lines.  By this time I'd gained confidence and managed to complete the colourful embroidery stitches in just five days!

Hilary, who I knew but hadn't met before this project, was stitching the apostle which fitted into my background.  When she had completed her section, we married up the two pieces in early June over a companionable coffee and lots of chat.

Meanwhile, the group was meeting regularly at Inverurie Library and I joined them when I could to enjoy the company of the other ladies. It was exciting seeing the design emerge as sections were completed.  Any head scratching over how the pieces should be joined together was definitely made easier as a group!

You'll see there are crochet motifs along the upper and lower edges of the banner.  Rachael incorporated repeat patterns from the Book of Deer into all her designs and left each group to make them depending on the craft skills of the group members.  I crocheted a few prototypes from a book I own called Crocheted Granny Squares (20 to make) by Val Pierce until I got the size right for the space. 

Margaret then made eight more but there was space for ten so we used my matching sample and I unravelled one that was too big and re-made it in the same undyed Shetland wool.  

Once all the sections had been attached to the backing panel, strips of coloured fabric had to be attached to frame them.  Tiny self coloured stitches secured the strips then they all needed to be outlined with black thread.  Most of the group took it in turn to complete this work over several days, taking the banner home to do so.  I was one of the last to stitch the outlining so I got to proudly hold it up - finished! 

Now you can see the four apostles made by Fran, Hilary, Collette and Janet and the surrounding sections complementing them made by Lesley, Margaret, Glynis, Jane and me.

The next step was to sew on a fabric border and quilt the top piece, work beautifully undertaken by Fran.

All banners then returned to Rachael for finishing, including the attachment of hanging loops.  

It was always the intention to display the banners back to back on three free-standing easels with a grand unveiling to take place on 2nd October 2022 to mark the end of the visit of the Book of Deer to the North East of Scotland at Aberdeenshire Farming Museum at Aden Country Park, Mintlaw.  The chosen venue as it's close to the site of Deer Abbey, where it's thought the Book was written, and has a permanent display about the Book.

Here are the banners on display at the opening event.  

Firstly, Inverurie Group banner -

Inverurie Group Banner

Such a lot of stitches.  

Artist Rachael Forbes with the Inverurie Banner

Such a great achievement.  Friendships forged and skills cherished.

Banchory, Inverurie and Banff Group Banners

Peterhead, Mintlaw and the Home Group Banners

Peterhead Group Banner

Mintlaw Group Banner

Home Group Banner

Banchory Group Banner

Banff Group Banner

I feel very grateful to have taken part in this wonderful community effort.

...

The Banners will be on display at Aberdeenshire Farming Museum at Aden Country Park until the end of October 2022 and over the winter they will tour the libraries where the craft groups met to create them.

If you're in the area you can see the banners here:

Peterhead Library 4th to 16th November 2022

Banff Library 23rd November to 12th December 2022

Inverurie Library 11th January to 23rd January 2023

Banchory Library 28th January to 9th February 2023

Stonehaven Library 14th February to 5th March 2023

Mintlaw Library 9th to21 St March 2023

Neeps! A celebration of the Doric dialect

Fit's a neep?  You might well ask.  In my part of North East Scotland, those born and bred here speak a particular dialect known as Doric.  I am not native to Aberdeenshire, hailing originally from Ayr on the other side of the country, but my husband was born and brought up a few miles from where we live now.  Even after spending the last 37 years together, he can still surprise me by using Doric words I've never heard uttered before.  Skittery hippit vratch being one such phrase describing an unruly (young cow) with questionable hygiene in its hind quarters!  How could I not know that?

When I spied this request on Facebook to contribute to Kate Wilson's degree show piece by crafting something incorporating Doric heritage, I knew at once just what I wanted to make.  Drawing on my family's delight in story telling, and their lapse into Doric when they're all together, I focused on a tale told my father-in-law, Bill, involving his Dad, a German prisoner of war called Walter and some turnips (or neeps in Doric).

Bill was brought up on a farm in Banffshire during World War II.  Walter, who was billeted nearby, was assigned to help out with farm labour over the many months of war.  Bill's dad never moderated his native dialect for Walter and one day Bill heard his dad telling Walter to pu' neeps in twa rows.  Bill was sure Walter, who spoke Polish, would be bamboozled with this instruction but, a while later, found that the turnips had indeed been pulled up and laid out in two neat rows.  Doric, it would appear, is a universal language, if you're around Doric speakers long enough that is!

So I began my contribution to Kate's project by crocheting  my first neep following a free pattern I found on the Hobbycraft  website for a spring wreath.  To be honest, the pattern is for a radish and it turned out a bit big so I located some finer fibres in my yarn stash and used a smaller hook to create a rather daintier turnip lookalike.

Kate, the student who'd requested the textile samples for her final year art project, provided clear specifications whilst encouraging her contributor's personal creativity.  3D elements, such as my wee neeps, could be included so I needed a flat panel on which to display them.

When I was a student I had a penchant for knitting picture jumpers.  I didn't know the technique was called intarsia or even how to do it properly.  As a nod to my own student days, I decide to knit an intarsia background for my panel.  That required creating a pattern for my pastoral scene - time to crack out the coloured pencils and graph paper.

Never throwing away any wool from past projects has its advantages.  I used mostly Scottish yarns (as that is what I like to knit with nowadays) including Shetland's Jamieson and Smith for the peaty brown earth, Balnahard natural dyed yarn from Colonsay for land and hills and hand dyed sky blues from Assynt-based Ripples Crafts.  Further embroidery embellishment included a flock of  fluffy sheep, a post and wire fence and some additional green shrubbery, all in wool and threads I've already used in my own personal crafting life.   

Finally I stitched on the Doric words which inspired me in the first place in a giant sunny circle attached using tiny appliqué stitches.

Once I'd attached the neeps, in two neat rows of course, my piece was ready to post to Kate in Dundee in time for the 24th March deadline. 

Then it was up to Kate, an Art and Philosophy graduand at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, to weave her magic - quite literally.  

Unveiled online on Friday 11th June at the 2021 Graduate Showcase, her artwork is entitled "Wyvin' Wyes" (or Weaving Ways) and is described by Kate herself as 'a beautiful big lampshade'!

Here's Kate with 'Wyvin' Wyes'

The craft contributions received from me, and many others throughout Aberdeenshire, have been intricately woven by Kate into a veritable sound and light show.  Recordings of Doric voices place the dialect at the heart of her creation.  It celebrates Doric now, as well as in the past, and nods to the future evolution of language. 

To learn more, Aberdeen's Press and Journal newspaper published an online article all about Kate's work here.

I'm so pleased to have been part of this project and I'm fair tricket for Kate - and that means I'm just delighted!

The SWI Tapestry at Castle Fraser

I'm no stranger to a make-along, especially it seems when it comes to crochet.

Back in 2015, I made the Spice of Life Crochet Along Blanket as a way to learn new stitches and keep to a schedule as the pattern was released in six weekly instalments.  It was being made by hundreds of crocheters at the same time around the world, supporting each other, sharing progress pictures and cheering each other on.  A real motivator!

Last summer I took on the challenge of my first mystery crochet along run by The Crochet Project and made The Skimming Stones Shawl for similar reasons : a desire to further my skills in a supportive crafting environment but this time with the added fun challenge that I didn't know what the finished design would look like!   I subsequently gifted my shawl to my friend Helen of Ripples Crafts (above) as a booth sample as it's crocheted entirely from her hand dyed yarns.

So when I heard that a collaborative craft project by local branches of the Scottish Women's Institute for the National Trust for Scotland was looking for volunteers, I put my hand up straight away.  I couldn't attend the inaugural meeting at Castle Fraser last May but I popped along soon afterwards to pick up my supplies.

I was given a picture of the bell tower at Castle Fraser, a printed canvas and some tapestry wool.  I didn't see any of the other designs, meet any of the people behind the concept or any of the other participants or even  know what the finished piece was going to look like.  This was a going to be a make-along for one!

The castle itself is an impressive tower house, situated near Kemnay in Aberdeenshire only a dozen or so miles from where I live.  It's a wonderful place to visit, both inside and out, as there are beautiful gardens and woodland walks, as well as a wonderful tearoom.  Parts of the castle date back to the 1450's and I've highlighted the bell tower above.

Anyway - back to the tapestry canvas and wool -  maybe I should mention I've never done this before?

I made a long stitch picture from a kit of Lake Hayes as my husband and I travelled round New Zealand - but that was in 1992 (and he was still my boyfriend).

Undaunted by my rookie level ability, and bolstered by tips from experienced tapestry makers at my local weekly knit group, I worked steadily away and gradually filled the canvas with colour, managing to complete it by the September deadline.  I've turned my progress photos into a wee movie - do listen with the sound on as the accompanying track I randomly chose speeds up towards the end, rather like my stitching itself!  (you might have to click the play icon twice)

If the movie won't play for you for any reason, I've included a progress collage below.



Tah dah!  Here's my finished panel, just before I sent it back to Castle Fraser last autumn.

Asking how the project arose, I learned that the SWI was invited to make a wall hanging for the National Trust after a successful exhibition to mark the SWI centenary in 2017 was staged at Castle Fraser.  There are already two other community tapestries at the castle, the concept of Catriona Skene.  The first was completed by National Trust colleagues and local friends and depicts points of interest from the gardens, the estate and the castle over a series of four panels, two of which are pictured below.  The following year, local schools participated in the stained glass window design (shown on the right) featuring flora and fauna on the estate.  It's hoped these might be displayed permanently in The Gatehouse in future.

Earlier this month I received an invitation to Castle Fraser to see the finished SWI tapestry along with others from the Aberdeenshire Federation of SWI who'd been involved with the project.  Ladies from the following Aberdeenshire Scottish Women's Institutes took part : Logie Durno, Balgownie, Esslemont,  Auchnagatt, Glass, Daviot, Monymusk and  Kildrummy as well as myself from Oldmeldrum SWI.  Other groups expressed an interest too including Tullynessle & Forbes SWI.

Designed for the National Trust by Katy Gordon, and put together by seamstress Jane Balme, the SWI panel celebrates the completion of exterior works to the castle 400 years ago.

Here I am, all smiles, as I get to see the finished design for the first time.

Two similar panels of each of the four corner designs had been made by SWI ladies, one for the wall hanging and one framed and placed on a window ledge in the room.   Here's my piece in its frame.

I'm pleased that my contribution fits into its new home and can be enjoyed there for years to come.

And as far as make-alongs go, I'm sure it won't be long til I'm embarking on another - though I might try to find out what I'm letting myself in for first next time!

Lovely Leftovers

Keeping my 2017 word 'purpose' in mind, I decided at the start of the year to knit with some of the beautiful wool I have leftover.

I wanted to give the wool a purpose, rather than have it languishing in storage.  I remembered the previous projects, and their recipients, and all the joy I had making these gifts for them.

Three hats - one for Sophie, one for Eilidh and one for Mae - all made from Ripples Crafts Na Dannsairean Aran which is a squishy mix of merino and Donegal nep in gorgeous colours.

Two pairs of mitts - a pair for Frances in Rowan Colourscape and a pair for me in Noro Kochoran, now both sadly discontinued yarns.

A cowl for Sophie in Manos Silk Blend and a jumper for me in Rowan Renew.  

There's also wool leftover from a neck-warmer in some pale blue Rowan Tapestry knitted before I started documenting everything I make!

I really liked the pattern for the Baa-ble-hat by Shetland designer Donna Smith which features cute sheep in a snowy landscape.  As I've blogged about here, I knitted this hat for my sister-in-law, Fiona, for Christmas.  The baa-ble hat is really popular with knitters and was the official pattern for Shetland Wool Week 2015 - to date nearly 7000 have been created in a variety of colours and textures. Look!!!

But I didn't want to make myself a hat - instead I decided I'd use the sheep design and incorporate it into a cushion and use all the lovely soft and colourful leftovers for the background.

I added the sheep to the cushion front.

I kept the same stripes of colour for the back but didn't add the sheep this time.

After the back and front were finished, there were lots of ends to be sewn in.

To make the knitted fabric a bit more sturdy, I decided to felt it lightly by washing my knitting in the machine at 60 degrees. This is a bit of a leap of faith as pure wool and the washing machine are not usually best friends!

I measured the fabric first as I expected some shrinkage and I wasn't sure if all the woolly stripes would react the same way to being felted.  Pinning out the damp fabric afterwards allowed me to stretch it back into the desired rectangular shape.

I embroidered a tree onto the front, thought about adding a second smaller one, realised I didn't like it and ended up taking it off!

Lastly, I stitched on some small details like rocks and copses of trees in the background.

I attached the zip to the base following this useful tutorial by Purl Soho, sewed up the other three sides, popped in the cushion pad and, voila, one finished cushion!

It looks right at home in the lounge.