Do you ever hear a phrase and it sticks with you? Last year I was watching Victorian Farm; which I loved BTW and remember in passing Ruth mentioning the Rag and Bone man in reference to leaving the out the bones. I went to the notes section of my phone and wrote "research rag and bone man". I remember her talking about cooking down an animal and utilizing everything down to the last bit of bones and leaving it out for the rag and bone man to pick up. 

Truth be told I did not do too much research but the phrase caught my eye again when I saw a knitter feature a scarf she made inspired by Rag and Bone. I think she was actually referencing and expensive clothing line but it sparked my interest again around Halloween and decided to go stash diving and pulled out a couple skeins on the undyed Fibra Natura wool yarn and make a winter scarf. Something about the name rag and bone lent itself to a good cast on for Halloween!

Knitting time was not as often as I wanted it to be in November through mid-December thanks to some well appreciated loving support of the toymaking, so I really did not pick the scarf back up in ernest until mid-December when I shut the shop down for the season. And if you know me I am a huge Christmas Carol- Dickens fan and each holiday season I envelope myself in the book and movies. It kind of wears out my crew so I often end up watching it for the umpteenth time by myself. 

If you watch the movies; often the knit scarves stand out, so I felt that this scarf captured that feel in the rustic wool; simple 1x1 rib pattern ending with fringe. Also I was reminded that the rag and bone man show up in the Christmas Carol; usually at the end when the maid tries to sell items from Scrooges bedchamber to the rag and bone man. In a very dark version; the FX version of The Christmas Carol the rag and bone man is in the beginning and counted by Scrooge with an much different element of Scrooge brought in of studying human behavior.

If it peaks your interest like mine let me know. So far I am just browsing the ethers for the historical traces of rag and bone men. This is all in the context of living in such a wasteful and disposable culture we currently live in. In all honesty; I think I live across from a modern rag and bone man. Not quite hoarding; but someone who seems to pick up discarded items to try and re-purpose. Somewhat intriguing and somewhat frustrating at the same time; but I am going to continuing down the rabbit hole of researching rags and bones!