The top edge is finished with a cabled button band. The cable pattern is identical on the front and back of the pillow, while broken rib stripes define each side. This beautifully cabled pillow is knit in the round. Perhaps this lively reel is the result of a farmer accidentally being caught by its vicious thorns, inventing some fancy footwork? The blackthorn shrub has large thorns and was traditionally used in Europe to make animal proof hedges. For a wider view of this location see > Link.The Old Blackthorn is a sprightly traditional reel that is a session favorite but whose origins are lost in the mists of time. The sharp thorns of the plant were used for centuries as awls and blackthorn is the traditional wood used in wands and to make the traditional Irish shillelagh (cudgel) used in fighting sports. Ancient folk used to bury the sloes in straw-lined pits for a few months to ripen them and make them sweeter - one such pit was found at a neolithic lake village in Glastonbury. The berries taste better and not so bitter if harvested after a few frosts. The berries are used in wine, gin and vodka as flavouring and they can be made into a paste for whitening teeth and removing tartar. The flowers and fruit are considered a good tonic for diarrhoea and other bowel problems and sloe syrup has anti-rheumatic properties and can help fight flu. The dried juice of the berries is used for making gum acacia. The blackthorn flowers provide food for bumblebees and early-flying Small Tortoiseshell butterflies and its leaves feed the larvae of Black and Brown Hairstreak butterflies. Fairy tribes, called Lunantishees, are said to guard Blackthorn trees and to cut branches off it on 11 November or 11 May is considered to be unlucky.

In Irish folklore it was believed that the 'little people' lived in Blackthorn bushes. Blackthorn in bloom is considered an emblem of life and death together because the flowers appear when the tree has no leaves. These berries will sustain birds during the winter. Sloes are the fruit of the blackthorn tree.

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