Visit to New Lanark & Knitting Plans

A couple of weeks ago I had a Monday off work so took the opportunity to visit New Lanark. New Lanark is an 18th century mill village in the Clyde Valley and is a World Heritage Site. It's about 45 minutes drive from Glasgow through the Clyde Valley, which was traditionally the area for growing soft fruits - you can see lots of abandoned greenhouses on the drive through from Glasgow.

The mill village was managed by Robert Owen (1771-1858), who is regarded as a social pioneer who took good care of his workforce and supported a fairer society. He provided a creche for working mothers, free medical care and education for adults and children. You can read some of his views here and there is a good web page here. He would be horrified at some of the working practises which still continue in factories today, and that we, as an educated society, allow them to continue.

The village includes a visitor centre and accommodation and is a short walk from the lovely Falls of Clyde.

Now I have to confess that although I have walked in this area previously, my sole reason for visiting this time was BUYING WOOL. They produce wool on site, which you can read about here. I love that I am able to buy a locally made product but their prices are also very reasonable. I previously used New Lanark wool to knit my Very Scottish Cardigan (Kate Davies' Manu).

I took a few photos of the village and shop to share with you:

View over the village from path from car park

In the shop you can see the machines at work processing and producing yarn:

And also admire the beautiful wool produced on site:

So what did I buy?:

Some gorgeous cherry red DK to make the Kate Davies Deco cardigan:

Image from Ravelry here

Eeep!I have wanted to knit this cardigan for so long, I love the classic and slightly vintage-influenced style. The pattern was inspired by Art Deco skyscrapers. The cardigan was recently completed by Joanne of Sew Little Time:

Isn't her version lovely? I felt extra inspired to begin my version and I have been wanting a red cardigan for so long too. Joanne noted that she needed to make the cardigan longer in the body and arms, which I also had to do on my Manu. In my gauge swatch I also found that I couldn't get the right gauge with the recommended 3mm needles, just as with the Manu. Instead of dropping down a needle size I opted to make a smaller size, so I will need to keep a close eye on the size it is knitting up as.

I'm sure Robert Owen would approve of my using a local yarn to make my own garments, in fact I think he'd be right into the community of people who knit and sew their own garments!

K x