Awesome Things: Y is for Yarn; Fantastic x 2

I'm beyond thrilled with two things that have come my way recently.

The first is a write up about me and my second book in the Spring/Summer 2013 issue of Vogue Knitting.

 I blush... "followed her fantastic first book... with an equally fantastic second"... Wow.

The second is a postcard sent by my brother T. from the Manchester Art Gallery.

"Y is for Yarn"
To business men in Manchester
The Yarn is daily bread,
They talk of hanks and mules and counts,
And throstle-frames and thread,
As did their grandsires long ago
Who now, of course, are dead.

It's from "Manchester Alphabet", 1906, by Roger Oldham. This book of comic drawings and verse was ostensibly created as a child's alphabet, but clearly was designed for the fun of the adults. The book contained drawings of the then very gritty and industrial city, delicately drawn and coloured, with dry verse to accompany. 

I was born in the environs of Manchester, and my mother's family goes back a long way in the area. My Mum remembers well this industrial past, and the phrase "trouble at' mill" is not just a Monty Python punchline.

More detail on the publication here.