Knitting Patterns
Selvedge Guest Blog
The Hand in Glove exhibition shows Angharad Thomas's gloves, made since 2011, alongside her design work and historical examples and tools from the Knitting & Crochet Guild collection. Inspired by Scottish and Yorkshire sources, the gloves are intricately patterned and have a complex structure. Angharad chooses to knit for friends and family using vintage yarns on fine needles. Each pair reflects the colour choice of the intended owner, the date, their initials, and uses patterns that connect to their lives. For Angharad, who has a Master’s degree in knitwear design, the process of designing within these limits is hugely enjoyable and recorded in her blog, Knittinggloves.
This interest in patterned gloves began in the mid 1980s, when she was given a pair which had belonged to the donor’s aunt, who lived in the Yorkshire Dales. Angharad knew that hand knitted gloves were once made in the remote Dales village of Dent and she then discovered Sanquhar gloves, still knitted in the small town in southern Scotland to the present day.
Fast forward to around 2010: “I was writing up my PhD, about design and sustainability in Welsh textiles, and I wanted to do something practical, as a change, so I thought of glove knitting” says Angharad. The first she tackled were the four Sanquhar patterns, followed by a Yorkshire pair. As well as designing her own patterns, Angharad has researched historic gloves. Her writing and designs have been published in The Knitter magazine in the UK and Knitting Traditions in the USA. What began as a diversion has become a way of life!
Angharad Thomas, a life long lover of all things textile has a special affection for knitting. The latest manifestation of this is her knitted gloves, the focus of an exhibition at the Bankfield Hall Museum in Halifax Yorkshire.
Hand in Glove
Opens 12 November and runs until 14 January 2017
Bankfield Museum, Halifax
For further information and collections:
Glovers Company collection, as well as museums in Yorkshire, Cumbria and Scotland.
Victoria & Albert Museum Collection
This interest in patterned gloves began in the mid 1980s, when she was given a pair which had belonged to the donor’s aunt, who lived in the Yorkshire Dales. Angharad knew that hand knitted gloves were once made in the remote Dales village of Dent and she then discovered Sanquhar gloves, still knitted in the small town in southern Scotland to the present day.
Fast forward to around 2010: “I was writing up my PhD, about design and sustainability in Welsh textiles, and I wanted to do something practical, as a change, so I thought of glove knitting” says Angharad. The first she tackled were the four Sanquhar patterns, followed by a Yorkshire pair. As well as designing her own patterns, Angharad has researched historic gloves. Her writing and designs have been published in The Knitter magazine in the UK and Knitting Traditions in the USA. What began as a diversion has become a way of life!
Angharad Thomas, a life long lover of all things textile has a special affection for knitting. The latest manifestation of this is her knitted gloves, the focus of an exhibition at the Bankfield Hall Museum in Halifax Yorkshire.
Hand in Glove
Opens 12 November and runs until 14 January 2017
Bankfield Museum, Halifax
For further information and collections:
Glovers Company collection, as well as museums in Yorkshire, Cumbria and Scotland.
Victoria & Albert Museum Collection