Blow that nose...
... for Knots in the String.
Sometimes it’s nice to see beautiful things – things that resonate, that chime, that make one feel good. Not just in nature where beautiful things abound, but close by, perhaps in one’s garden, in one’s house, maybe even in one’s drawers. Today for me, it’s the kerchief. The reason? It’s inspired by Rebecca’s wedding hankie.
Not everyone would find something beautiful in what we blow our noses upon, but in truth the kerchief is lovely. Handkerchiefs surely have memories woven into their warp and weft, symbolising exceptional things to the person in whose pocket or sleeve they reside. Right back to ancient times, that little cloth square has been important in daily life, culminating in a secret language between lovers being invented, with the square as the medium. They even became status symbols. And why not?
As a child, aged aunties would give me a boxed set of three embroidered cotton hankies for Christmas each year and I never minded, particularly if they were ‘pretty’, because then I was like my mum. Mum had a collection in her drawer – plain or patterned for every day, and exquisite embroidered and appliqued organdy or fine linen for ‘best’.
My wedding ‘something blue’ was a pale blue linen kerchief that belonged to Mum, and which was embroidered with tiny white daisies in bullion stitch and French knots. I still have it pressed and folded and it drapes itself from the corner of my hankie box. The box was made for me by Dad when I went through my art-phase and was used to store tubes of watercolour. Now it stores my loved collection of kerchiefs.
(Isn’t kerchief the most perfectly proper word? Surely redolent of all that is Jane Austen.)
When Mum passed away, I inherited the best of hers – truly lovely squares that she collected in Hong Kong and in China. Always made with the finest cottons, organdies and linens, and lest you think they’re just for show, I use them daily. The washing of such things is like the washing of nappies – hot water, soap powder and even a dollop of antibacterial in the washing machine if you must. No problem, no rubbish, reusable. Dried in the sun or in the hot cycle of the drier, freshly ironed and Bob’s Your Uncle!
My most favourite daily handkerchiefs are Liberty squares, my first-ever given to me by a friend who purchased it in London almost forty years ago. It’s black floral and it’s the one I always tuck in my evening clutch bag when I’m off to trip the light fantastic.
Since then, I’ve found the odd one or two (or more) whose patterns catch my eye and I actually do match the hankie to whatever colour I’m wearing on any day. Yes, I’m a strange beast, I know…
I wonder how many folk still use hankies? Is it old-fashioned, do you think? Ah well, I never claimed to be a fashionista.
*
Doing:
Continued medical milestones. I’m getting a touch bored which could be a good sign. Or not…
I’ve just purchased Giles Kristian’s new book, Arthur, in audio and read by my dual Number One favourite narrator, Philip Stevens (Jonathan Keeble is the other). I’ve always been a fan of the Arthurian Saga and have read Kristian’s Lancelot and Camelot, also Cornwell’s The Warlord Trilogy and many others. It’s such a superb legend on so many levels – love, war, treachery, revenge, even magic, or what was perceived as magic by Arthur’s people.
I find Kristian a consummate writer, was thoroughly chilled (edge-of-seat enjoyment) by his contemporary thriller When Blood Runs Cold. I always feeling vindicated when writers step out of their most familiar genres to write something else entirely, because it’s exactly what I’ve done (across three genres). I personally believe it gives a huge freshness to an author’s writing. In any case, I’m looking forward to this latest audio.
Particularly as I have to return to hospital on Monday for more surgery. Bummer, I know! And thus this week, I look at things that are beautiful, things that resonate.
Things like fine hankies and this pretty little French sewing box from Sajou, sequestered in the glass-fronted and locked display cabinet at A Stitch in Time. I crave the petite box. I’ve been a lover of Sajou for many years since a good friend, world renowned embroiderer Jane Nicholas, gave me a Sajou notebook, pin tin, thread-winders and needlecards and my husband gave me a pair of Sajou embroidery ciseaux (scissors).
As an aside, it was Jane’s chinoiserie gifts from Sajou that inspired the writing of The Shifu Cloth (let alone her own embroidery which inspired The Stumpwork Robe and The Last Stitch). We sat talking after dinner one night about fibre arts and we glanced across the subject of obscure cloths. I found detail of shifu cloth, and the rest was a writer’s dream.
But back to the Sajou box in the picture: maybe if I write to the Easter Bunny?
(I apologise to everyone if my columns are lacking in cerebral content or philosophical depth currently. Goodness, maybe they will forever be a skip across the shiny surface of things, rather than anything in depth. A bit like a few people I’m sure we all know…
Blame it on this medical month!)
Music? One for the hankie lovers!
This:
I wish you well for your upcoming surgery. I love your writings on beautiful, everyday things. They are valued.
Loved your musings on kerchiefs…they reminded me of my collection of my beloved grandma’s fancy hankies, and how I treasure each and every one.
Your lovely posts on “everyday” topics are every bit as meaningful as the philosophical ones, if not more! I am in awe that you haven’t missed a week during your medical ordeal, and grateful too, that you’ve checked in with your progress.
Speaking of, I hope the surgery goes well on Monday, and your healing is speeded up as predicted!