Lucetting Workshop

On Saturday I went to the October meeting of the Sheffield KCG group - the topic was lucetting.  I had barely heard of it, though it is a very old craft, dating back to the Vikings, I'm told.  You need a gadget called a lucet and some yarn, and you make a braid. 

It is slightly reminiscent of French knitting (or i-cord) but the braid is square in cross-section. I found it tricky to get an even braid - whenever I stopped for a while, the next few stitches were noticeably  irregular. But after a while you get into a rhythm and then the braid grows quite fast.  Interesting - not sure when I'll find a use for a square braid, but it's nice to learn such an old craft.  

Before the meeting I went to the Steel and Light exhibition at Sheffield Institute of Arts Gallery (running until  November 3rd).  The exhibition is about the work of David Mellor who grew up in Sheffield and designed cutlery, metalwork, traffic lights, street furniture, etc.  I am especially interested in the cutlery designs, because I have had a set of David Mellor cutlery since before we were married (and before that it belonged to my sister).   We eat with it every day - it is really good to use, very simple and functional.  

Minim or Thrift?

I have always thought that the design was called Minim, but it is extremely similar to Thrift cutlery, designed by David Mellor in 1965 for the Ministry of Public Building and Works.  Not quite identical, I don't think.  (And our cutlery wasn't filched from a hospital canteen, in case you're wondering - my sister bought it from Walker & Hall, a Sheffield cutlery firm that David Mellor designed for.)   So maybe they are the same and I've got the name wrong, or maybe they are subtly different, to distinguish the commercial Walker & Hall design from the government design.  Our cutlery has lasted extremely well, but then I suppose stainless steel cutlery should.  I have noticed lately that we are short of a knife, though -  it must have got lost somehow.