Cretan Textiles and Stitch

 A visit to 'Roka' at 61 Zambeliou where traditional rugs and sakouli (sort of woven rucksack) are handmade on a 17th century loom. Lovely old examples and an evocative smell of wool

 Then in the Folklore museum examples of costumes, lace, weaving and embroidery as well as domestic and agricultural collections in an idiosyncratic setting. In the workshop 2 venerable electric sewing machines were set up - reproducing old embroidery for sale (above) and showing embroidered pictures by Asposia Bitaki in different stages of progress. There were no completed pieces on show but a book has been published - delightful 'naive' designs of local customs and village life depicted in very dense free machine embroidery.

A different type of stitch - a sample of how wooden planks and rods were tied together with rope in the life size scientific reconstruction of a an ancient Minoan boat  at the Maritime Museum . Not just a model - it was sailed  from Chania to Pireus and took part in the 2004 Olympics.