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TRACK 1
INTRODUCTION
NARRATOR: Welcome to the Emperor Gregor Vorbarra special exhibit of the Vorbarr Sultana Fibrecraft Institute. We hope you enjoy this guided audio tour. Special thanks go to Her Imperial Highness Princess Olivia Vorbarra, without whom this exhibit would not exist. The Institute also extends our thanks to the Imperial Residence Archives, the Imperial History Museum, and the private families who loaned many of the items on display.
NARRATOR: This first-of-its-kind collection provides a unique insight into the inner life of a notoriously private man. This audio tour combines physical artifacts, historical records, and Princess Olivia’s personal memories to trace the Imperial Hobby, as it came to be known, from Emperor Gregor’s very earliest attempts as a young man through to some truly astonishing later work from the end of his reign. Many of the surviving pieces were gifted to the Emperor’s family and closest friends.
NARRATOR: No record survives of precisely when or how Emperor Gregor first picked up knitting. The first public acknowledgement of the Imperial Hobby was in the thirty-eighth year of his reign, when the Emperor was forty-three. However, it is abundantly clear that the Emperor had been knitting for some years before this. Throughout this audio tour, alongside clips and reenactments, you’ll be hearing reminisces from Princess Olivia herself. Here’s one now:
P. OLIVIA: My father knit almost constantly inside the private Residence. I remember him reading me and my brothers to sleep as children: he would balance the handreader on his knee or the arm of his chair, and go on knitting over top of it. Never dropped a stitch, never skipped a line. And his character voices were legendary.
TRACK 2
NARRATOR: One of the earliest known works by Emperor Gregor is a scarf he gifted to his foster mother Countess Cordelia Vorkosigan in 21 GVB, which she is widely reported to have worn frequently and with great fondness. The scarf is unusually long, nearly four meters, and displays many common features of novice knitting, including dropped stitches and inconsistent tension. The scarf was donated by the Countess’s descendants to the Imperial History Museum, where it is occasionally displayed. The IHM generously agreed to loan the scarf to the VSFI for the duration of this exhibit.
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NARRATOR: In another early attempt, the Emperor's foster brother Imperial Auditor Count Miles Vorkosigan, then a mere ensign, received at least one pair of socks, which are not extant. They can be dated to 23 GVB, as shortly after receiving them he mentioned them in a letter to his cousin, Lord Ivan Vorpatril, who was stationed off-word at the time. He wrote:
VORKOSIGAN (reenactment): They itch like crazy, but of course I can't tell him that. He's so earnest about the whole thing, you know. I just have to grin and bear it. God knows I've sat through worse than wooly socks.
NARRATOR: On display is a single sock known to have been worn by Emperor Gregor himself around the middle of his reign. The sock shows signs of significant wear. The other sock in the set is believed to have ultimately been a victim to one of the many cats belonging to the Imperial family during this period.
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NARRATOR: Even before the Imperial Hobby was publicly announced, Emperor Gregor would on occasion bring his knitting projects to small, private meetings with trusted participants. Appointments in which Emperor Gregor could knit were given a special mark on the Emperor's official calendar. One story, likely apocryphal, goes that at one of these very early meetings, an attendee made a nervous joke about the activity. Emperor Gregor is reported to have responded:
E. GREGOR (reenactment): I find it helps me focus on the task at hand. Perhaps you should try it.
TRACK 5
NARRATOR: This pair of mittens was donated to the Institute by Paul Perkins, the grandson of Phillip Perkins, who served as an Armsman in the Emperor’s inner household for some thirty years. Paul was nine when he received these mittens as a Winterfair gift from the Residence. He says he wasn’t aware of the mittens’ Imperial provenance until many years later, when the Emperor’s hobby became public knowledge.
PERKINS: I was just so amazed that I still had the darn things kicking around in my attic. The Residence held a little Winterfair party for the kids and grandkids of staff every year, and of course there were gifts from Father Frost—mainly toys and dolls and what have you, it was always a little haphazard—but there were always a few handmade gifts thrown in, hats and scarves and mittens. Well of course we didn’t know who made them, they were just the boring gifts that you tried to trade away to the other kids if you could. Boy, am I glad none of my friends wanted a pair of mittens that year!
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NARRATOR: In this interactive portion of the exhibit, we've provided swatches of some of the wide variety of natural fibres Emperor Gregor worked with. Go ahead and touch them; think about the textures, strength, flexibility. The majority of the artifacts in this exhibit were made from Earth-matter fibres such as sheep wool, alpaca, flax, and even silk—all produced here on Barrayar, of course. Emperor Gregor experimented briefly with native Barrayaran fibres such as chokeweed and rusty heartvine, but quickly gave them up as unwearable.
NARRATOR: Sergyaran fibres proved a little more workable; the last two swatches on the right are Sergyaran sheepsback bush and fool’s palm. They're rather coarser than many Earth-matter fibres, and required significant processing before they could be spun into the Emperor's yarn. Also in this part of the exhibit is a brief holo of the many steps required to produce Sergyaran palm yarn.
NARRATOR: Most of Emperor Gregor’s yarn was purchased from independent, small-batch spinners and dyers located all over Barrayar. One Residence staffer, Petra Alders, recalls being sent on frequent errands out to regional yarn fairs with oddly specific requests.
ALDERS: I had a pretty good idea what was going on, eventually. The job used to bounce around the low-level staff until someone finally figured out I knew what I was doing with yarn and sent me instead. Once they realized I knew what fingering weight meant and I wasn’t going to come back with alpaca instead of angora, it suddenly turned into half my job overnight. [laughs] I was living the dream for a while there!
NARRATOR: Also on display are just a few of the Emperor’s many, many sets of needles. He had a strong preference for wooden needles—made from Barrayaran-grown wood, of course—but owned a number of metal sets as well.
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P. OLIVIA: My mother, brothers, and I all received something knitted for every Winterfair and birthday. The Vorkosigans, too, and the Vorpatrils, and Tante Drou—
NARRATOR: That's Ludmilla Droushnakovi Koudelka, who was bodyguard to young Emperor Gregor in his childhood and remained a lifelong confidant.
P. OLIVIA: —I can't imagine how he ever kept up, especially once the grandchildren started coming along. The Residence basements have boxes and boxes of the stuff, all neatly packed and stored. I'm glad some of it can be put to better use here, where people can admire it.
NARRATOR: And alongside the clothes and baby blankets, you can see a small selection of the plush animals Emperor Gregor knitted for his children. Some show the wear and tear of many years of love. Others…
P. OLIVIA: When I was about three I got very angry with my father—I’m sure it was over something silly, like not being allowed another sweet—but I was so overcome I actually threw this toy turtle he had made for me into the fireplace. I regretted it immediately, of course, and someone put it out right away, but poor Shelley was never the same. I was so surprised when we were sorting through old things for this exhibit and I discovered he was still around. [laughs] That’s the Residence for you. Nothing ever gets thrown away.
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NARRATOR: This incredibly delicate and intricate lace shawl belonged to Lady Alys Vorpatril. Lady Alys was the Emperor’s senior hostess from the start of his reign up until his marriage, more than thirty years, and continued to work in the Residence as Social Secretary for some years after that. Among her many accomplishments, Lady Alys was known for her unimpeachable sense of fashion, and was seen wearing this shawl in public not infrequently beginning in 35 GVB. After Lady Alys’s death in 62 GVB, she willed the shawl to Princess Olivia, who chose to place it here at the Institute for preservation.
P. OLIVIA: Really, this shawl is the reason this exhibit exists. I would never have thought of showing my father’s knitting if I hadn’t approached Anya Temerson here at VSFI to ask how to care for the shawl. The thought has been rattling around the back of my mind for years and years, and—well, here we are!
NARRATOR: Like many of Emperor Gregor's later works, this shawl appears to have been based on a pattern of his own design. Symbols significant to Lady Alys's life and family are present throughout the piece. The border is patterned with dahlias, representing steadfastness.
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NARRATOR: This little knitted square is a blanket, if you can believe it. It was used to swaddle young Jane Galkin when she was a premature infant in intensive care at Vorbarr Sultana Public Hospital. Over the course of his life, Emperor Gregor anonymously donated thousands of hats and blankets for ill, orphaned, and impoverished children across Barrayar. Of course, even where these items survive, the owners are largely unaware of their Imperial origins. The provenance of Jane’s blanket was confirmed through careful forensic testing of the yarn fibres and dye, as well as comparing the stitches to the Emperor’s known work from that period.
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NARRATOR: On display are two of the four surviving pieces of a set of wine cozies, presented to Lord Ivan and Lady Tejaswini Vorpatril on the first anniversary of their marriage. If you take a closer look at the impressive colorwork along the borders, you might just notice some familiar shapes. You may be surprised to find phallic imagery in a collection of Emperor Gregor's knitting, of all things.
P. OLIVIA: I really had to fight to get these wine cozies on display. Some members of the board thought it was inappropriate, or unbefitting of Imperial dignity, or some such nonsense. Well, who's the better judge of Imperial dignity, them or me?
P. OLIVIA: I wanted this exhibit to display the complete range of my father's works. I learned very early on that to most of the Imperium, my family were symbols, not people. My purpose here was to show the public that my father was a person, even the kind of person who made gag gifts for his cousin. Gag gifts that were used at every private dinner Uncle Ivan ever hosted in my childhood, no less!
P. OLIVIA: So if you walk away from the exhibit having learned nothing else, please remember that Emperor Gregor, in addition to being emperor, was a father, husband, cousin, and friend.
TRACK 11
NARRATOR: Later in life, Emperor Gregor gave an interview in which he was asked at what point he knew himself to have fallen in love with soon-to-be Empress Laisa. Emperor Gregor, who rarely answered personal questions, surprised interviewer and public alike with his response.
E. GREGOR (recording): I knew she was the one when I found myself scrolling knitting patterns and daydreaming about what I would make for her.
NARRATOR: Indeed, a significant portion of Emperor Gregor’s extant work consists of items made for the Empress over the course of their long marriage. Three pieces have been chosen for display in this exhibition. First, a brioche sweater, given as a wedding gift, which the Empress favored in private and informal settings.
P. OLIVIA: My mother wore that sweater at home through most of my childhood. He must have darned the elbows half a dozen times before she finally gave it up as too delicate to wear. He made her others from the same pattern, but she always liked that one best.
NARRATOR: Second, a lace hair net which the Empress wore to a formal Residence ball in 35 GVB. That was the year she began to wear a few select Imperial gifts in public, kicking off a brief fad for knitted goods in the High Vor scene. The fad was revived, of course, when the Imperial Hobby was publicly announced a few years later in 38 GVB. The third object here is the shawl discussed in the clip you’re about to hear.
E. LAISA (recording): Actually, it was made by my husband.
INTERVIEWER (recording): Your husband the Emperor?
E. LAISA (recording): [laughs] Yes, unless I have a second husband I wasn't informed about! He’s a very skilled knitter.
INTERVIEWER (recording): Emperor Gregor knits?
E. LAISA (recording): For years now, since long before we met. He makes all kinds of lovely things – he can whip out a burp cloth in about five minutes flat!
INTERVIEWER (recording): Well, I can't speak for everyone, but I will say that I, for one, never saw this coming. When did he pick it up, do you know? And why?
E. LAISA (recording): When I don't know, you'll have to ask him. As for why – everybody needs a hobby!