25th January is an important day in the calendar to Scots both home and abroad. It’s when we celebrate our National Bard – Robert Burns – pioneer of the Romantic Movement and Lover of the Lassies.
Many will mark the occasion with a Burns Supper, a tradition that dates back to 1801, at which haggis, neeps, tatties, and whisky are typically served, and a great many of Burn’s works are performed and speeches given. The list of these are substantial but once the Selkirk Grace has been made they include Address to a Haggis, The Immortal Memory, Address to the Lassies, and Reply to the Laddies. For more detail on the programme of a Burns Supper we’d recommend visiting here: Burns_supper
So, the logical next step would be to look for Burns inspired craft patterns, right?
First up we found this incredible portrait cross stitch chart on etsy from TinyHouseStitchery:
The we took a trip over to LoveCrafts where we discovered this tea cosy by Susan Cowper:
Ruth Bailey and Jackie Holt have taken it one step further with their Knit Your Own Scotland book which contains this pattern of the Bard. I think I’m going to have to make him:
for more about the patterns
For the chart by TinyHouseStitcher: robbie-burns-portrait-cross-stitch
For the Robert Burns Tea Cosy pattern: robert-burns-tea-cosy
Knit Your Own Scotland may be found in your local yarn shop or independent book shop. If all else fails you can get a copy here: Knit-Your-Scotland
