Patriotic Crafting

These days it’s not very cool to be British, especially not English. Nobody complains when the Scots or Welsh wave their flags with pride, but the English are being told to take theirs down from buildings as it is offensive. It seems that the Union flag has been snatched by racists and the Cross of St George has been nabbed by football fans. With a bad reputation for football hooliganism in Europe, neither flags are welcome

on the continent nor so it seems on our very own shores.

With Remembrance Sunday only yesterday, it was humbling to see the Servicemen and women laying tribute to their fallen comrades. Those brave men and women fought under the Union Flag, fought for the freedom we take for granted. That flag symbolises everything they fought for and it’s about time we claimed that back. I’m proud to be British, and I’ll be waving my flag with pride.

I crocheted this bag in January; I made it up as I went along. It probably wasn’t the easiest way to come up with the flag (and I’ve seen better charts since), but I wanted it to be correct with the crosses of St Andrew and St Patrick in the right place. I worked in dc and made the cross of St George first and then worked diagonally for the others. The flag forms the flap that comes over the bag. The flag and inner are in DK weight and the back and sides are in Aran weight, both acrylic. The very kind lady in the haberdashery stall on the market managed to find the twisted cords for me. I haven’t lined it yet as I’m not sure what I want to do with it. I think I’d like to strengthen the base and sides to make them more rigid, but it’s not a priority right now.

I have several friends of other nationalities and they are super
proud of where they come from. Two friends in particular Jenny and Nick were married last year and are currently incubating a Canadian/Welsh bean. Knowing how proud each of them is of their heritage I knitted two jumpers for the baby when it arrives so he or she can celebrate each half of their heritage.

Both charts were knitted onto an existing jumper patter that I had. For round neck jumpers I prefer to put an opening on each side to make it neater looking than with just one, and it makes it easier for Mum. Unfortunately the photos were taken before the buttons were put on. I used red/white/green for the Welsh one and red/white/red for the Canadian one. These were some of my first attempts at colour work and I found it awkward to do the twisting and stranding without pulling it too tight. I decided to make it a design feature *cough* I screwed up *cough* and say it was to make the dragon look textured and scaly. The Welsh chart I made myself using a dragon picture I found on the internet and Knitting Graph Paper.

The Canadian flag chart can be found here, there is also a crochet chart for it here.

Wherever you are, wave your flag with pride!