HEREFORDSHIRE Council’s Archive Service has been working with local knitters to bring one of the most unusual items in its collections to life.

A small notebook kept by Ursula Frances Bund, a 19th century vicar’s wife with eight children, has been found to contain a number of intricate knitting patterns offering a rare insight into the crafts practised by a Victorian lady.

With the guidance of Anne Shoring of Artisan Yarns, participants in a series of workshops have drawn inspiration from Ursula’s detailed instructions to make their own accessories for babies.

Workshop participants met at the Record Office in Harold Street, where they viewed antique knitting patterns from as early as 1800, many of them for a wide variety of edgings, including narrow, point and Brussels lace, which have been used to decorate babies’ hats. The hats will be on display at Hereford Museum until November 26, after which most of the items will be donated to the charity Knit for Peace.

Other items in the exhibition are based on more practical and sombre knitting patterns in the archives. They include a First World War waistcoat to ‘fit a man of almost any measurement’ from the collection of Miss Mabel Chave, some Second World War gunner’s gloves with a separate trigger finger, and a warm support for an injured knee cap.