Spinster is a problematic word. The first meaning to brings to mind today is old maid. Not a description any woman aspires to. So having knitted and crocheted for years perhaps it’s no wonder that it took so long to get involved in spinning. It is, after all, at the start of the process of producing yarn.…
This will be the year of the spinning wheel. Here’s how it’s come about…. Just before Christmas there was a spinning wheel at the local auction. It appeared to be in good condition, if a little dusty. The fact that 2 bobbins were tied onto the frame with string (plus the one with a little…
Bagels are delicious and not as hard to make as you might think. Bread making has been going on around here for a few years now, not a single loaf comes from the shops. Plain everyday loaves are baked regularly and but every now and then it’s good to ring the changes and a challenge…
Using a drop spindle to turn fibre into yarn is the most ancient form of spinning. What began as pulling, twisting and winding stuff around a stick evolved, adding a weight (in the form of a whorl) and a hook or notch greatly increased efficiency in yarn production up until the invention of the spinning…
Eccles cakes aren’t really cakes, they are small currant filled pastries naked after Eccles, the town in Greater Manchester. Like all regional dishes their origins are unknown but were sold commercially in the town as Eccles cakes from the end of the 18th century. They are sweet and comforting, perfect for fresher autumnal days and…
A Shepherd’s Hut is a wonderful thing. “The image as a whole was that of a small Noah’s Ark…the hut stood on little wheels about a foot from the ground.” Thomas Hardy, ‘Far from the Madding Crowd’. Once a place of work, a mobile refuge, somewhere to bunk down and store your tools. Nowadays it’s more…
Around here we a very much fans of the provincial museum. There’s a little museum in just about every town and have been featured in previous posts like here, here and here. Chard Museum has, for some reason, missed a visit up until now. Chard is close by, just over the border into Somerset. But…
It’s been all about yellow around here. The colour of Spring – even when the sun refuses to shine. Time to bring some it indoors. Primroses from the garden – and abundant in the hedgerows of Dorset. They last no time at all once picked, but bringing a few into the cottage on a gloomy…
Vintage Patchwork, there’s nothing quite like it and once in a blue moon something really exciting turns up. The shabby cardboard box didn’t look that promising but you can just make out the writing ‘Quilt – to be finished’. It was lying unceremoniously underneath a table of quite ordinary ‘collectable’ gubbins. And here’s the thing.…
A vintage education. How things have changed. Time was when we learnt, not with white boards, tablets and access to the internet. Once upon a time all we had were books – books with pictures. Oh, but what pictures they were – here’s to all the jobbing illustrators of educational books, not just the ubiquitous…