After all of my blethering about being distracted by shiny things in my last post, I still gave into temptation and bought a spinning wheel. Yes, as a friend put it on twitter "old world technology". So now, I can sit and spin.
There is something meditative about this treadle powered machine. Unlike pedaling a bicycle, this takes very little effort and must be done somewhat slowly. I like that it forces me to concentrate on slowing down. Slowing down has become a lost art in today's society. Everything must be done faster and we are compelled to cram more into every waking hour.
Then there is the magical process of taking fluff, called roving, and making it into yarn. Have you ever taking a clump of pet hair and twisted it between you fingers? That's spinning in it's most basic form, and people have been spinning for thousands of years. I love the idea of having a skill so elemental.
For me, spinning is a fun and relaxing activity. It's even a social activity. This afternoon six friends got together to spin. One young lady entertained us with her excitement when the whole process came together, and she made yarn. Something that was considered work in the past is now a leisure activity.
Before the industrial revolution, spinning was something whole families did as a cottage industry. It was work and a source of income. Prior to the American Revolution, Great Britain heavily taxed spinning wheels and looms exported to the colonies to discourage colonial cloth manufacturing. As colonial desires for independence increased, so did the price of cloth.
"As the desire for independence grew so did the price of imported European cloth. It soon became not only practical, but a sign of patriotism as well, to spin and weave one's own cloth. The first sound of revolution was the rhythmic "thwack" of the beater against the web of colonial looms.
Cloth production in colonial America eventually became necessary as ties were severed with Great Britain. Cabinet makers began turning out spinning wheels, looms and other textile tools. Most families began growing flax in their gardens and raising sheep (that would often graze on town commons) to provide fiber for spinning yarn." http://www.handsonhistoryinc.org/HOH-Page12.html
In my family, there is the story that a particular coffee table was made from either a loom or a spinning wheel of a great or great-great grandmother. I'm leaning toward spinning wheel because the turned wood legs. Somehow I never liked that table. Maybe I sensed its purpose was not to hold a candle holder and a candy dish but something greater.
I got my interest in the fiber arts from my mother. However, it wasn't until her health was failing that my interest was peaked. I'm saddened that her and I could not have had the fun of attending fiber festivals, qulit shows, retreats, or knitting group together. What fun she would have had learning new crafts, techniques, spinning and weaving. I just recently discovered a beautiful lace stole that my grandmother knitted probably in the late 1950's or early 1960's. It's a precious link to my grandmother who I never met.
Here in my mid-forties, the hope of having children has faded. Who will I pass my legacy on to? My mother's side of the family has become very small. I am an only child, and I have only two cousins on my mother's side. Only my cousin, James, has children. Over the weekend, I resolved to write down family stories down for them. Some of the stories include:
- Knitting socks for soldiers during WWII
- My mother making toys from orange crates
- My grandmother, grandfather and mother making doll dresses for extra income by adding a motor to the Singer treadle sewing machine. My grandfather would run a ruffle attachment to the sewing machine after working all day.
- My mother learning to sew and making doll clothes
- Collecting and trading flour sacks to make dresses, other garments and quilts.
- My great grandmother making braided throw rugs from bread wrappers.
- My mother's enjoyment of arts and craft classes in high school including rug hooking and leatherwork.
I think it's time to spin a yarn. I mean write a book.
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