Distaff Day, also called St Distaff’s Day although there’s no actual saint involved, falls on the 7th January, The day after Epiphany and the end of the twelve days of Christmas celebrations.. Traditionally it was the day when women went back to their household duties and once again took up their distaffs and spindles to…
The Great Wheel, or Walking Wheel, was the first spinning wheel used in Europe. It is a spindle wheel, working on the same principles as wheels already known in the East for cotton spinning and adapted for wool spinning. This lady, depicted in the Luttrell Psalter, is spinning on a great wheel whilst her friend…
This is the second part of the weaving and spinning Project. (Part One is here). It’s time for the weaving. First of all there was the matter of winding and wrestling over 7m of warp onto the loom. This is a vintage Weavemaster table loom with a 14 dent reed 21″ wide. Using…
In Norway and Sweden Saffron Buns – or Lussekatter are traditionally baked to celebrate the St Lucia’s or St Lucy’s Day on 13th December. The Scandinavians have appropriated this Italian saint for a festival of lights at this darkest (especially up in Scandinavia) time of year. Processions of girls dress in white with a red…
Last weekend there was a little Fibre Fest at All Saint’s Church in Castle Cary. It was a chance to take along the sock knitting machine and some socks to sell, plus the spindle wheel to demonstrate. And it was a really sweet and lovely event. There was a real mixed bag of textile…
Spindle spinning is fascinating, Using a wheel may be much faster when comes to actually producing yarn. But using a spindle is a great way to start. It’s portable. And it’s cheap. It can be so cheap! It’s basically just a stick with a weight attached. This was an exercise in 2 things Make a…
Spinning, dyeing and weaving has taken over the cottage! Part of this take over, as mentioned in another recent spinning, dyeing and weaving post, is what came to be known as the ‘Project’. The aim was to take raw fleece through all the processes, to end up with a finished textile item – a scarf.…
Lanhydrock is a late Victorian Gothic pile deep, deep down in the West Country, near Bodmin in Cornwall. But turns out it’s an easy drive from West Dorset along the A30 (at least it is out of season), skirting the top of Dartmoor and going across Bodmin Moor. The main reason for visiting Lanhydrock is…
Spinning, dyeing and weaving are taking over. Looking back, it’s only been a little over a year since the first spinning wheel came into the cottage and a less than a year when it comes to looms. But looking around the other day and there was fleece and yarn at various stages of processing everywhere.…
Christmas Stockings – well they have to be red don’t they! And when it comes to natural dyeing nothing does red like cochineal. Cochineal is expensive, it always has been. Highly prized for centuries as producing the best reds for textile dyeing. When it arrived in Europe following the Spanish conquest of Mexico it was…