My daughter and I started to re-read Anne of Green Gables tonight (having finished Charlotte's Web last night). We love Anne's scope of imagination and delight in naming things the "perfect" name. It always makes us giggle and inspires many new names of common items around our house.
In the first chapter Mrs. Rachel Lynde displays her knitting prowess by claiming she has knit 16 Cotton Warp Quilts. It goes on to say that housekeepers on the island spoke of this accomplishment with awed voices. The bar has been set.
After bedtime songs I checked on Ravelry to see what a Cotton Warp quilt was and why it hushed knitters into awed silence. They linked me to an incredible, beautiful post by Yarn Harlot about her trip to Newfoundland earlier this year. It seems that Cape Spear has a working lighthouse equipped with a keeper and all his knitted goods. Beautiful photos. There is a renowned cotton warp quilt on the bed that true knitters climb the stairs to behold. (photo above) Here is what Yarn Harlot says about it:
It must have been knit on needles no larger than 2.5mm - maybe 3mm if you wanted to be generous, out of cotton thread that must have been really dear at the time. The dude there to answer questions said that each little shell would have taken at least 45 minutes, and I think he's about right. I don't feel like guessing how many of them are there. It's a testament to the length of the Newfoundland winters... right there.
Beautiful. Should think of a name worthy of "Anne with an E". Any suggestions? Lady Cordelia's Coverlett? The Bed of Sleeping Shells?
2 comments:
what a lovely story, I too was rereading Anne of Green Gables with my daughter and was intrigued by the idea of a cotton warp quilt. This is indeed a very beautiful specimen, thank you for sharing!
I am up to re-reading Rainbow Valley, where cotton warp quilts are once again mentioned as Mrs. Lynde is busy spending her retirement knitting them against the day that Anne’s daughters need “setting out.” I couldn’t get out of my head last night trying to picture what a cotton warp quilt would be and how a quilt gets knitted! It was so delightful to find this post when I googled cotton warp quilts just now. I wasn’t sure the internet would even know of them 😆. Thank you so much for sharing!
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