Advent Calendar 2023 Day 10

The Tradition

Day 10 is called Red Candle and the tradition comes from Ireland and dates back to the 17th century. During the 17th and 18th centuries there were oppressive laws put in place by the British Government to try to restrict the practice of Catholicism in Ireland and churches were not allowed, forcing Catholic priests into hiding.  During the night, Priests would sneak back into towns to say mass in people's homes.  A lit candle in the window would signify that it was a safe place for the priest to go but it also drew the attention of British Soldiers who wanted to know what the reason for all the candles were so the innocent story that they were placing candles in the window to light the way for the safe passage of Mary & Joseph began. On Christmas Eve large red candles are lit and put in windows to mark the arrival of Christmas and also to welcome home friends and family.  Many also use the candles in the window to remember departed loved ones or to pray for the safe return of a loved one who was away from the home at that time.

The Fibre

The actual fibre content is 55% Merino (Crimson), 30% Bamboo (Harrietta), 10% Flax (Carmine), 5% Stellina (Gold).   We have blended Merino, Bamboo, Flax and Stellina for this blend, you've got to have a bit of glitter when you're talking about candles. The Merino is what holds all of this together, this is 23 micron Merino so is soft but not super soft and the flax adds a bit of texture. The bamboo in it will just give a very very light sheen and we've balanced the Stellina with a little bit of white as well so its not too heavy in the red department.  This is a really really versatile blend. In terms of spinning and weaving this will do that all day long if you draft out and pull it into sections you can make sure you get a bit of sparkle in every single bit of yarn.

My Thoughts

I love this one, it's red and sparkly and I love me some sparkles! The phone on my camera didn't do too bad this time.  This should make a soft yarn and it shouldn't be too difficult to spin as the flax and Stellina will give a bit of grip to the other fibres. My immediate thought is to put this with the other red that we've already had this year on Day 3, the KFC related tradition. We will see in the future.

The information that has been printed on the bags is not always correct and there are no fibre content percentages, these have been provided on the chat boards.  The percentages that they gave on the chat boards seem to be correct.  

What I have done with my bags is to write the actual fibre content on the bag using a gold gel pen in the gap immediately below the printed details, pretty much the only thing that will show up on black are the metallic gel pens.  This is why I have not taken "new" photos of the bags.