New Lanark: Robert Owen’s Great Social Experiment (PieceWork, Fall 2021)

Woman in a green dress wearing a blue hand knit shawl.

Although it’s still summer, the Fall issue of Piecework is arriving! This issue follows stories of how textiles have acted as “Threads of Change.” My article follows the history of the New Lanark textile mill which eagle eyed readers may recognize in my banner photograph! I explain how the nineteenth century social reformer Robert Owen used the textile mills to test out his ideas on how to improve society. Although the commercial mill closed in 1968, the site is now a nature preserve and a museum about the historical importance of Robert Owen’s social experiment.

The Clyde River powered the spinning equipment of the New Lanark mills and inspired a shawl pattern that accompanies the article. Named after the tallest fall on the Clyde, the Corra Linn Shawl is a sontag style perfect for keeping you warm while enabling movement. The shawl is knit in garter stitch with a lace wave edging and tabs that can be tied around the waist. The best part is that the Corra Linn Shawl is knit in wool yarn manufactured at the New Lanark mills!

Woman in a green dress wearing a blue hand knit shawl with a lace edging.
It’s never too hot for wool! The Corra Linn Shawl. ©Spinster Conservation.

If you would like to read more about Robert Owen and the New Lanark Mills as well as to knit the Corra Linn Shawl, you can purchase PieceWork online or at your local craft store!

Magazine cover of PieceWork Fall 2021 with image of embroidered purse
The cover of the latest issue of PieceWork.