Burns Night

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