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Runner-up: Sleeping Beauty's Stash Busting Stole
By Catherine Procter
Chapter 1
“Beautiful, isn't it? That's the finest quality merino fibre.”
“It is, it really is beautiful,” replied Rosamond, gently fingering the yarn.
“There really is nothing like the character of handspun yarn,” said the old woman, showing a handful of coloured skeins to the princess. “Look at this heather-coloured one, that's lacewight, it would make a lovely scarf. And this one is even lighter. Cobweb weight - you would hardly feel you were wearing it, it weighs almost nothing.”
Rosamond admired the yarn, then walked over to the bags of fibre, and gently touched them. They were so deliciously soft, she didn't want to stop touching them.
“That one's baby camel... that one is tussah silk,” said the woman. “The bag of browns and creams is wool, I'm going to spin them next, into a gorgeous variegated yarn. Watch.” She picked up the fibre, sat down next to the wheel and started to spin. Princess Rosamond watched, fascinated.
“I wish I could do that. Is it very difficult?”
“It takes a little practice, but I'm sure you could learn, my dear. Have you ever tried?”
“No. I've never even seen a wheel like that.”
“Would you like me to show you?”
Rosamond sat down at the wheel, and started to spin. Then she pricked her finger on the spindle....
Rosamond, and everyone in the castle fell asleep.
She slept for one hundred years,
images_path(/CGIVAR)/site/spacer.gif) and for one hundred years,
she dreamed
of yarn.
Chapter 2
A few days after waking up, Rosamond was walking around the castle, watching the servants who were cleaning away one hundred years of dust, and preparing for the forthcoming Royal Wedding. She climbed up a back staircase, and came across Anna, an old servant, much loved by Rosamond, who was busy in an untidy and chaotic room filled with fabric and yarns in every colour imaginable.
“Anna. What is this? Look at all these beautiful fabrics! This lavender silk... this turquoise satin... and what about this misty grey organza? What are you doing with them? There are so many lovely things. And look over here... yarn! So much of it, and so many colours! What is it all for?”
“Well, your highness, this is all the stuff that had to be put away. Locked away. To keep you safe, you see.”
“I thought it was just spinning wheels, that's what Mother told me. She said they burned every spinning wheel in the land. When I saw one that day I didn't know what it was. It was a beautiful thing, though. And the yarn, I'd never seen such a thing as those gorgeous skeins of yarn, and look here, we had all this, here in the castle, and I never knew of it. It's just delicious.”
“No, of course you didn't know. It all had to be hidden.”
Rosamond picked up a skein of soft yellow wool, and held it to her cheek. “How do you use it? The yarn. It is what jumpers and socks are made from, isn't it. But how?”
Anna passed her a pair of wooden sticks. Hanging off one was a piece of a soft pink jumper, joined on to a ball of pink fluffy yarn. “This was the project I was working on when it was all put away. This is knitting, and these are knitting needles. But it was too much of a risk, having things like these knitting needles around.”
Rosamond experimentally pushed the empty one of the needles into the palm of her hand and laughed. “I could never have pricked my finger on one of these!”
Anna sat down and told the Princess the story. At first, after the fateful Christening, the order had gone out that every spinning wheel in the land would be destroyed. But when the Princess was two years old, her mother had found her one day rummaging through her Nurse's work basket. The Queen saw the little girl holding a fine metal crochet hook, and took fright. She ordered that all sewing needles, knitting needles, and crochet hooks were to be locked away. All fabrics and yarns were taken too, as no-one could use them, and the Queen was afraid that someone who was left with a particularly special yarn would be tempted to just do a little knitting, with some borrowed needles, and then maybe find a sharp needle to stitch pieces together.
The Queen knew that she couldn't ban sewing altogether in the kingdom, as she had with spinning, but within the castle walls, no sewing, knitting, crochet, tatting, bobbin lace, weaving, or tapestry was ever permitted. Even when the dressmakers brought in dresses for fitting, they had to make their alterations without the use of pins.
And so, locked away in this almost forgotten room, was every craft item that had been owned by every woman living in the palace. Servants, duchesses, baronesses, countesses - even the Queen herself - had carried their stashes sadly up the back staircase, to be locked away. Luxurious fabrics, hand-dyed yarns, half-finished projects, cases of exquisite rosewood needles, silver darning needles, and so many other beautiful things had been piled in hastily, and the door locked. And now, 114 years later, Anna was here to sort it all out.
“Not that any one will remember who it all belongs to,” she sighed, shaking her head. “And I don't suppose people will want to pick up projects after all these years, there will be new patterns, new fabrics, new yarns. I don't know what to do with it all. Look here, there's only one skein of this green aran silk. Not enough to make anything. And never mind matching dye lots, they probably don't even make this yarn any more. And see this needle case, it's gorgeous, and beautiful ebony knitting needles. That belonged to Lady Elizabeth; you won't remember her, you were very young when she died. Still, I'm sure someone will make use of it.”
“I will make use of it!!!” declared Rosamond. “I so want to learn to knit, and use some of this wonderful yarn.”
By the end of the following afternoon, the Princess had managed to make a garter stitch square, and was listening to Anna's suggestion that she take some of the oddments of acrylic yarn in colours that “no-one could possibly want” and make a “blanket for the poor” as it would be a good way to practice, “until you improve your tension,” and also that “you could use up some of this eyelash yarn. I can't imagine that fashion has lasted for a century!”
“Then, you highness, once you know what you are doing, you can have some better quality yarn, and make something nice to wear for yourself.”
Rosamond had been watching Anna sort the room as she knitted. She had admired some gorgeous, almost complete projects such as a delicate lace shawl, a thick entrelac scarf and an intricately cabled sock. She had handled a small mountain of odd balls of yarn, and found some of the best yarns that had been available the previous century. Despite having only learnt what knitting was a few hours ago, the Princess already had very clear ideas about what she wanted to knit and what she wanted to knit with. But she didn't want to upset the kind old lady, especially when she had been so patient as Rosamond struggled through her first swatch. So she listened quietly to Anna's suggestions, before retiring to her room for the evening with a pile of knitting books, hoping to find a good way of using up some of the loveliest yarns in the stash.
Princess Rosamond read the books, and then sat sleepily on her window seat, watching the sun set over the fields to the west of the castle. The beginnings of a design idea started to form in her mind.
The following morning, Rosamond got up early, and went to select her yarn before Anna started work. She took
Greens:
Sublime: Cashmere Merino Silk Aran - sage
Debbie Bliss Cashmere Merino Aran -
003 Lamb's Pride Worsted & M113 Oregano
Cascade 220 - 2445 Forest Green
Rowan Little Big wool - 509 Topaz
Blues and greys:
Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport - Periwinkle
Sublime: Extra fine merino wool DK - smoke blue
RY Baby alpaca DK - southdown and chambray
Hipknits fingering weight cashmere - sky
and a skein of:
Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport - Flames
Princess Rosamond sketched out a design for a beautiful stole to use the odd balls of yarn up, while learning new patterns. And, blissfully happy, she began to knit.
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