Interlude 1: Week 1 – 16 December

I know of two anniversaries that take place on 16 December.  One is well-known – the Boston Tea Party in 1773.  One less well-known is the birthday of Beethoven.  And thinking about this I wondered, what other notable events occurred on 16 December?  Of course, in this day and age we need only log on to the internet to find out, which is precisely what I did. Here are some of my findings:

1965:  Jingle Bells was the one of the first songs played in space. Astronauts Tom Stafford and Wally Schirra smuggled sleigh bells and a harmonica on board Gemini 6 and played it to mission control.  Jingle Bells was first published in 1857 in Boston, MA as One Horse Open Sleigh but the song wasn’t associated with Christmas until decades later. 

Drizzle drops on a spiderweb

1775:  Jane Austen was born in Hampshire, England.  Richard Arkwright receives a patent for a cotton carding machine. He is also credited with developing the modern factory system.

1653: Oliver Cromwell is appointed Lord Protector of England, Scotland and Ireland.  As we know, the Puritans cancelled Christmas in Britain in 1647.  Christmas was outlawed in 1649 in Boston, MA, and the law repealed in 1681.  And in Scotland it was banned in 1640 and didn’t become a public holiday until 1958.  In all these instances, the ruling was largely ignored.

In 1620, Myles Standish, military leader of the Plymouth Colony, and a group of settlers had a ‘first encounter’ with 30 native Americans. The Mayflower Pilgrims first came ashore at Plymouth on 11 or 21 December (sources vary).

Winter sunset

In 1497, Vasco da Gama sailed from Portugal down the western coast of Africa, rounded the Cape, and after six months arrived at the Eastern Cape of South Africa.  He named the area ‘Natal’ (Christmas in Portuguese).  When he sailed on, he entered waters previously unknown to Europeans. 

And the best for last – if you are in the US, it’s National Chocolate Covered Anything Day.  (But isn’t that every day?)

This past week the gansey was taken off its wires, folded, photographed some more, and taken to its recipient.  She was speechless.  I made it for the wonderful woman at the funeral directors’ who made a trying time less stressful.  She said she’s received many gifts over the years – flowers, chocolate, even jewellery – but she’s never received something like this. 

Hem detail

In non-gansey news, you can see the crumpled heap of the lace jacket above.  All lace looks like this until it’s blocked within an inch of its life.  The pattern is an adaptation by Doilyhead of Lyra by Herbert Niebling.  I took most of the week to figure out where I was, knitting a few rows then unpicking them multiple times because it didn’t seem right.  Finally I took a good long look at the other sleeve, where the stitches are still on a holder, and noted down the stitches.  From this I was able to definitively determine which row to start with.