Our Millennium Project

During the year 2000 it was decided to undertake this project to mark the Millennium, group members were asked

to contribute 10 inch squares of their own design thus demonstrating their individual skills and personalities. The finished article will be displayed in the Gothic Wharf at Cromford Mill.

Key for text

1   Snowflake - Linda Smith

 The square is knitted in garter stitch from hand spun Jacob fleece.  The motif is crocheted in hand spun Merino and then stitched onto the background.

 2. Yachts – David Smith

 The square is felted from commercially dyed merino fleece.  The background colours were selected to show the reflections of evening colours in the water.  The yachts were cut from coloured felt made from commercially dyed merino and felted onto the background.

 3.  Hairpin Crochet   - by Eileen and Keith Walton

 The square is made in double and treble crochet from natural brown hand spun fleece, and the hairpin crochet sampler is done in hand spun white Texel ram’s fleece.

 4.  Black Jacks - by David Smith

 Black jacks were a traditional leather drinking vessel.  This square is felted from commercially dyed merino fleece.  The colours were selected to suggest a warm convivial atmosphere. The black jacks were cut from a black merino felted onto a red merino to give depth, they were then felted onto the background, together with the white merino felt foam.

 5. Rose -by Joan Bingham.

 The square is knitted from a hand-spun mixture of Jacob fleece and synthetic fibre.  The rose is crocheted from Dorset sheep’s fleece, handspun straight from the fleece.

 6.  Spinning Wheel   - by Eileen and Keith Walton

 The square is made in double crochet from hand-spun white Texel ram’s fleece, and the spinning wheel, a traditional Saxony Wheel, is embroidered  in hand-spun natural brown fleece

 7.  Traditional Fairisle  - by Chan Brown and Linda Smith

 Derbyshire sheep’s fleece dyed using the natural vegetable dyes, turmeric, madder, logwood and onion skins with an alum mordant by Linda, then hand-spun and knitted by Chan using traditional patterns.

8. Arkwright Spinsters - by Joy Stearn

 Inspired by her cats, the design for this centrepiece was worked out using a computer.  It is a double cloth with a counted warp on 4 shafts, 2 shafts of black and 2 shafts of white, hand-woven in a commercially spun yarn.  The black is brought up through the white and the white is brought up through the black to produce the design.

 9.  Waves - by Christine Mapp

 This drop-stitch crocheted square is made from a wide variety of hand spun yarns.  Some of the fibre is natural colour whilst the remainder is synthetic fibre with synthetic dyes

 10. Drop Spindle - by Christine Mapp

 The square is knitted from hand spun commercially prepared fibre.  The drop spindle is embroidered from a commercially prepared and dyed yarn.

 11.  Snake - by Audrey Snowdon

 This piece was inspired by the grass snakes seen swimming in the Cromford Canal,

The square is crocheted from hand spun Jacob fleece.  The snake is made from bobbin lace and then appliquéd to the square.

 12. Broomstick Crochet - by Eileen Walton

 The square is made from a commercial brown yarn in a combination of treble crochet between rows of broomstick crochet using a 20mm broomstick and a 3mm crochet hook.

 13.  Tartan - by Joy Stearn

 Hand-woven from commercially prepared and spun cotton.  This idea was inspired by a piper asking her if she could weave him a new cover for his bagpipes.  The sequence and number of warp and weft threads are identical.

 14. Silk Moth - by Chan Brown and Gladys Shawcross

 The background square is knitted in double moss stitch by Chan from yarn spun by Gladys from llama hair and silk carded together. The silk moth design is crocheted from pure silk and hand spun by Chan.  The silk cocoons are real and complete.

 15.  Lace Bobbins - Audrey Snowdon

 The square is crocheted from hand spun Jacob fleece.  The motif features examples of bobbin lace with two lace bobbins.

 16. The Great Wheel - by David and Linda Smith

 The Great Wheel, sometimes called the walking wheel, was the wheel most commonly used for spinning cotton.  (It was also the wheel on which Sleeping Beauty could have pricked her finger as the spindle on this wheel has a very sharp point.) The background of the square is felted from a mix of commercially dyed merino and silk. The design is cut from pieces of coloured felt made from commercially dyed merino and then felted into place on the background.

 17. Knitting Needles - by Mavis Tagg

 The square is made in Tunisian crochet from hand spun Jacob fleece. The design is a mix of skeins of black and white Jacob fleece, Herdwick and mohair, commercial green yarn, commercial green yarn combined with botany and botany with pure silk, pierced by a pair of knitting needles.

 18. Cotton Doily - Chan Brown

 The square is made from hair brushed from a Newfoundland Dog, carded and felted.  The doily is made from hand spun Turkish cotton using a traditional Irish crochet design.

 Hand spun sheep’s fleece from the Chatsworth Estate.  The square shows 5 examples of fisherman’s gansey patterns from the north east coast of England. (A gansey is a local name for a type of sweater.)   Reading the patterns from left to right….

1.  Ensign.

2.  Marriage lines.

3.  Anchors.

4.  Fish bones.

5.  Waves.

Designs varied from village to village, family to family etc.  No two ganseys were identical. The marriage lines were only incorporated into the ganseys of married men.  The body of a fisherman lost at sea could be identified from his gansey.

 20. Sheep - by Linda Smith

The square is made from acid dyed merino sheep fleece felted together.  The sheep is made by felting locks of Wensleydale sheep fleece onto a felted merino fleece body .