Tuesday, November 05, 2013

Around the Interwebs

* Alice Munro—a fabulous short story writer from Canada—won the Nobel Prize a few weeks  ago. Someone stitched her face, of course!
* Women’s voting in the last election represented in feminine craft at Jezebel, so it must be feminist:
* More awkward reporting about cross-stitch, “In counted cross-stitch, the artist copies a pattern freehand, creating a design with X-shaped stitches on clean, unmarked fabric,” and awe that a man did it. 
* Meant to give you a head’s up on summer reading


Fortunately, young Chinese girls don’t need to have embroidery skills to find a husband any more. But the backward folk in Central China still do it:
Hunan Provence
Ethnic peoples, such as the Tujia, the Miao, the Dong and the Yao, have dwelled in the west and south of Hunan for many generations. They have created several renowned textile crafts that are regarded as treasures of traditional Chinese culture.
 For instance, there is a branch of the Yao ethnic group called Huayao - or "Flowery Yao" -because they are known for their special and colorful clothes as well as outstanding cross-stitch embroidery.
 The women always carry their needles and embroidery work with them so that they can make cross-stitch whenever they have time.
And even in China, you can’t escape the “country” patterns:
“Images of flowers, Mandarin ducks, golden sunsets, and rainbows transform plain cloth into something extraordinary.” (That joke would work better if it were Mandarin geese.)

Unsurprisingly the article laments the kids today who won’t learn embroidery and begs people to take it up.

3 comments:

Margaret said...

Very interesting review of what's out there right now. That Alice Munro cross stitch isn't very flattering!

Chris said...

Interesting stuff

Jo who can't think of a clever nickname said...

Thanks for the reviews and links. I Love the headline - "Here Is the Loveliest Cross-Stitch of Nobel Prize Winner Alice Munro You Are Likely to See All Day."
I have to admit it is totally true. I may, of course, see a lovelier one tomorrow but for today that one wins LOL.