Notes from the Season: The Selvedge Team – Katerina Knight, Assistant to the Editor
Recommended Reads for the New Year
The days between Christmas and New Year are always my favourite. When the pressures of hosting, parties, cooking, and socialising quieten, and work is still on pause, you can enjoy a few days of calm. Long, crisp countryside walks followed by returning home to cosy up by the fire, slipping into the new pyjamas you were gifted for Christmas, enjoying a hot cup of chocolate, and indulging in the final slice of Christmas cake, taking a moment for yourself and losing yourself in a good book.
Here are my top recommendations for new textile books I have enjoyed this year, perfect for a cosy Christmas read.
The Place of Tides, James Rebanks
The Place of Tides, by James Rebanks
When I started this book, having enjoyed Rebanks’ previous titles on farming and the British countryside, The Shepherd’s Life and English Pastoral, I was expecting a nature book. However, what I discovered was that Rebanks had captured a precious tale of textiles. The Place of Tides is about the lifelong endeavour of one determined woman, Anna Masoy, also known as the “Duck Woman”, to gather eiderdown on an uninhabited island in the Vega archipelago of Norway and continue her family’s legacy.
This tradition dates back to the Viking era, but today the eiderduck population has dropped from 1,300 in 1900 to only 120. The ducks lay eggs for just 26 days, hatch their ducklings, and then take to the sea. It is the role of the “Duck Woman” to protect the vulnerable eiderducks from predators, building huts from stone and wooden planks. When the ducks return to the sea, Masoy gathers the eiderdown feathers they leave behind.
The structure of Eiderdown. Photo credit: The Eiderdown
Today, eiderdown is one of the most luxurious stuffings for cushions and bed duvets, and due to its rarity, the price of an eiderdown duvet can be anywhere upwards of £3,000.
The Lost Flock: : Rare Wool, Wild Isles and One Woman's Journey to Save Scotland's Original Sheep, Jane Cooper
The book is an inspiring journey of finding a deep connection to land and natural fibres, and how this can shape your identity and new found destiny when one finds themself in a new place. . Cooper’s resilience, relocating from suburban Newcastle without a farming background is to be admired. She resists over romanticising island life, and too addresses the physical labour, and extreme weather that present challenges to shepherding in Orkney.
Photo credit: Jane Cooper
Central to the narrative is the Boreray sheep, one of the UK’s rarest primitive breeds. Descendent from North Atlantic short-tailed sheep introduced to Europe by Neolithic farmers, the Boraray is a small, hardy sheep with a cream fleece and black or grey facial markings, both rams and ewes carry horns. In response to critically low numbers, Cooper founded the Orkney Boreray flock in 2017 to establish a dedicated breeding programme on the Orkney Isles. Through sustained community involvement and careful conservation work, the breed’s status has improved. By 2024, approximately 50 ewes were recorded on Orkney, with several hundred Boreray sheep now living across the UK.
Photo credit: Jane Cooper
Cooper offers clear and thoughtful explanations of hand-processing and spinning wool, from forming rolags to understanding the difference between woollen and worsted yarns, making the technical aspects of fibre craft accessible to readers with little prior experience. These passages are enriched by a broader historical framework that traces the cultural significance of wool from Neolithic farming through Viking maritime economies.
Home, India Knight,
This lighthearted and joyful read is the latest book by journalist and author India Knight and brings together the interior wisdom her Substack newsletters have become so popular for, in one complete book. It guides you through each room of the home, celebrating every intricate detail that contributes to making a house feel like a home.
Detail from "Suffolk Kitchen" by Eleanor Crow
The book is an easy page-turner that will have you smiling, laughing, and nodding in agreement. Knight balances witty charm with practical advice, and even throws in a recipe or two along the way.
Written by Katerina Knight
-
Image Credits:
Lead: Katerina Knight
All further images as credited in photo captions.