the basics

bringing the light

I've been waking up before dawn, so I can watch the sunrise...bringing the light.

It is the best part of the day for me. A few moments with my coffee, the quiet, and the sun streaming in the window...shining through the flowers on my windowsill...

The light captures the flax on the distaff, and invites me to sit at the wheel. My mother's little flax wheel came home for Christmas. Fred Hatton spent some time with her, getting her back in shape to make many more miles of linen thread.

Spinning flax when I wake up is delightful...it is very much like I am still asleep..and just dreaming of spinning flax. And yes, I do sometimes dream that I am spinning flax. It is a good place for my mind to be at rest. How do I describe the hypnotic trance it seems to put me under? And the feeling of well being it gives me...

Did you notice my flyer hooks? Fred fulfilled a special request of mine...to have my flyer hooks on the upper right arm, the better for spinning S twist...widdershins...withershins or whidderschynnes.. ..perhaps that is why it seems as if time is standing still...and

it isn't long before my coffee cup is empty, and so the distaff is empty of flax...but the bobbin is half full.

For such a delicate little wheel, she sure likes to work hard and get a lot spun. Thank you Fred, for fix'in her up ...she is a keeper!

PA Endless Mountains Fiber Festival

Dear Texas,
It rained all night long...and most of today. Down river, at the convergence...the muddy waters flow over the ice breakers.
Everything feels wet. And Damp.
I wish I could send this weather to you.
your friend, Pennsylvania

Keeping my fingers crossed for better weather this weekend, at the Pennsylvania Fiber Festival in the Endless Mountains.
I've been working on this year's offerings:

Sterling Silver Orifice Hooks for your spinning wheel.

and Diz and Threadhooks for your fiber preparation....

Stitch-markers for your knitting projects...because everyone knows your yarn has to match your stitch-markers...

and don't forget something for your spindle!
These wrist distaffs are made from my handspun linen and hemp, embellished with polished stones.

I will be located in booth 27&28 (same as last year)with Fred and Grace Hatton's Antique Spinning Wheels.... you may find me demonstrating on the Great Wheel, or demonstrating Supported Spindle Spinning, or just spinning on one of the Antique Wheels that will be for sale. If you have the chance, come on out to the festival and be sure to stop by and say hello!

make more and make it faster

It is so hot here. Too hot to spin because the wool sticks to my sweaty fingers.

Better to spend the day cooling off in the river, which btw, was still cold and too high and swift for me to actually get some "real swimming" accomplished, but it was very refreshing!

Cooled off and back at the cabin, my Tour de Fleece Challenge of spinning the 3 lbs. of Shetland Samples mocked me. What I need, I thought to myself, is a good old antique Double Flyer Spinning Wheel. Those machines can spin twice as much yarn at one time.

I don't own an good old DFW...but I do have more than one wheel.....hummm....call me crazy..or maybe I was out in the hot sun too long...but..it can be done! Just push two wheels together and add a distaff! This one is dressed with nice fluffy wool from Punkin's Patch.

I'm thinking of running away to join the circus when it comes to town. Maybe I can take this act on the road... ;-)

making thyme

The cooler weather has been moving in, and it is time to cut the thyme and other herbs for drying. The pumpkins and squash are in from the garden too. We didn't have a very big harvest this year, but what did grow was larger than years past.

After hanging them for a few weeks, the herbs are ready to be stripped and bottled up. Stripping thyme can be a tedious job, but it really smells nice while you are doing it. I will save the stems to throw in the wood fire, or for simmering on the stove top.

As I prepare this Lemon Thyme, my fingers tire from the stems constantly running over my fingertips as they peel off the dry leaves. I glance down at my hands, and think about all the work they do. I am grateful for my hands!

A Double-Flyer Wheel has been living here for the past few weeks! I have been spending my spare time with it! I will transport it down to the National Museum of the American Coverlet where I will be doing a workshop about how to spin on it. I think there is still time to sign up~ so if you find yourself in Bedford, Pennsylvania this weekend...come into the Museum!

My hands will be happy to show you how to spin twice as much yarn in half the time!

honing

Last weekend was the Endless Mountains Fiber Festival. Due to a camera glitch, I don't have any photos of the event. I'll have to link you over to the Antique Spinning Wheels blog. I had a very nice time doing demonstrations, and meeting new people, and visiting with old friends. After all the preparation for the festival, it seems to be over with so fast! I'm still getting caught up with putting things away and catching up on paperwork and house and garden chores...

Today, I wanted to take some time out for myself. Spinning flax is at the top of my list, I need to hone my skills for the upcoming event at the National Museum of the American Coverlet. I will be presenting the Double Flyer Spinning Wheel, and I'm very excited to be a part of this educational workshop.

Under a gorgeous September sky, I decide to work outside, on my mother's little saxony flax wheel. I gave the wheel a nice rub down before I got started. When you polish a wheel, it gives you time to pause and admire its finer points...like the wonderful turnings....

or the makers marks...

or the detail to the treadle...which sorta looks like a cross section of one of the maidens...

Once the wheel was cleaned up, I worked on dressing the distaff. Then, I decided to make myself a little water pot.

Several years ago, at a workshop about spinning in the old way, I heard a story about a little flax water pot that was made out of a gourd. So I grew the gourds, but life gets busy and I never had time to make the water pot. Today was the day.

First, I drilled a hole in the neck, and dumped out all the seeds. I'll set those aside and plant some more gourds next spring. IIRC, these were mini bottle gourds and I don't remember where I got them. Should have written it down!

Next I drilled some holes, and braided some flax for the handles. I knotted the end before threading it though, so I would have a wick. Then I filled the pot with water. Fabulous! It works like a charm! Every so often I simply pinch the wick on the bottom of the pot, and my fingers catch the drip of water from the wick. I like it so much better than a regular water dish! When I use a water dish, the water drips all over the place from my fingertips. The wick provides just the right amount of water, moistening the fingertip and thumb. When I get a chance, I will buy some flax seed and make a proper flax mucilage made from pouring boiling water over about a tbsp. of flax seeds.

I practice first with one hand, then the other. Warming up for double flyer spinning, letting my fingers know the flax and remember the movements...I spent a few hours spinning the flax and just soaking up the sun, listening to the river flow by and the occasional crow of the rooster. It was enchanting. Flax knows its power over me, and I am mesmerized...

Next thing you know, the light is fading and its time to start supper. I didn't fill the bobbin, I will have to work on that during the spare moments I find in the coming week.

fusul

There are so many things we can learn just from looking at pictures. Visual Language. Pictures can speak to us. ...you know....that expression about them being worth a thousand words.....

A minute into this video, note the dual purpose of the spinning wheel. It appears that the spinner is winding off the cop onto a winder that has been mounted on top of the wheel. She is turning the crank on the wheel to turn the winder. At closer examination of the winder -- it looks to me as if inverted hand spindles have been inserted into the holes of the arms on the winder...again, another dual purpose.

I find myself watching, looking, learning.

woodland wheels and wares

On Saturday last, The Woodland Weavers and Spinners Guild had a meeting in Damascus. They invited Fred and Grace Hatton to speak about Antique Spinning Wheels...I was invited to do a demonstration on the Walking Wheel.

The guild members brought some of their own antique wheels to display and inquire after repairs etc. They also brought covered dishes and cookies.

There were two signed wheels in attendance. This first one is a Farnham...

it was decided that the distaff was not original to the wheel. Fred talked about how one could spot the differences between original pieces and those that have been reproduced.

This signed GW was made by a local wheelmaker, who was related by marriage to one of the guild members. It was in wonderful condition.

The head attached to the barrel tension is not original to the wheel. There is another wheel that lives in the Greene-Dreher Historical Society building and was signed by the same maker..I saw it when I did a demonstration over there- summer before last.

We were also invited to sell our wares after the meeting, so I made some thread hooks to go with the double hole tape looms that Fred makes.

I also made some of my Spindletree Spindles to sell for ornaments or package decorations. They are about as big as my middle finger. These are the prototypes for the larger versions I am working on.

I carved the shaft on the spindles from Spindletree wood. I spun some silk from mine, chain plyed it, and hung it around my neck, as a necklace. In the language of flowers, Spindletree means, "your charms are engraven upon my heart".

I plan to update the etsy shop with these items, but if you see something you like, feel free to email me to request a reserve.

The Woodland Weavers and Spinners are a great group of people, and I would like to thank them for their hospitality and an excellent Saturday afternoon!

Note: the spindle tree spindles are now sold out!! thanks everyone!

quantity vs quality

The Fiber Festival at Fort Delaware was so busy, that I didn't have time to take any photographs. My good friend Judy was kind enough to email these photos that she took of me while I was demonstrating double-flyer flax spinning. Thanks, Judy!

Looking at the photos gave me pause.

The idea behind the double-flyer wheel-was obviously all about production...and it is by far, the most challenging wheel that I have ever met.

Getting a steady rhythm, and producing two equally consistent threads at one time, with one hand on each thread, is a demanding task.

I have yet to be satisfied with any of the linen I have produced on this wheel. Many hours of practice remain before I would be able to achieve a fine thread...if ever! So it makes me wonder. Just how many spinners were able to make fine thread on this type of wheel? And yes, perhaps they were able to produce twice as much linen, but did the quality of product they produced, deteriorate in the process? Quantity is not always better than quality.

Quantity..according to merriam webster: is the aspect in which a thing is measurable in terms of greater, less, or equal or of increasing or decreasing magnitude...

Quality is defined as a degree of excellence ...merchandise of quality.

I think about other areas in my life where quality is sometimes forfeited due to quantity. I remind myself, it is good to strive for quantity, but not at the expense of diminished quality. Funny, the things that spinning can teach me.

wheels in my path

Over the past few weeks, I have met some interesting spinning wheels in my travels. It is of no coincidence that all of these wheels are made to spin flax. I am lately fixated with flax and flax wheels... This first one (above) was made by Enoch Slossen Williams, sometime between 1820 and 1830. It lives at the Old Mill Village Museum.

It was repaired by the late Bill Ralph, in 1996. It is an identical copy of a Farnham wheel...of Owego, NY. "From Bill Ralph's memory--The Farnham and Williams families joined when a Farnham maried E.S. Williams and he learned from Farnham how to make wheels".

I love how the water pot is tied to the mother of all.

This little flax wheel lives at the Mannings Handweaving School in East Berlin PA.

Notice the cut out shape in the bench....

This Double Flyer wheel lives above the other wheel. It is on a shelf that is up high, so I could not see it very well to examine the way it was set up. I imagine it is out of reach for a reason.

It is interesting to me because I have never seen a double flyer wheel in a saxony style. I wish I knew more about this wheel.

I tried to look under the bench for a signature but could not see anything. It appears that the top portion of the distaff is missing.

This little flax wheel is sweet and lovely..she lives at my mother's house. This wheel was also missing the top portion of the distaff, but Fred Hatton made a new one for it. You cannot see it pictured here because the flax is covering it. He made a beautiful line distaff that I managed (somehow) to dress properly.

The bobbin/flyer will eventually need to be replaced as well. Those nails have got to go! I did manage to spin some linen thread on her. I fed her some oil, tied up her treadle and cleaned off the shaft (which was really gunked up). As I was spinning, I wondered about the last time she saw flax on her bobbin...

I don't know much about the history of this wheel or the maker, if anyone has any ideas about it, please feel free to email me!

a day with PA WAgN

little finnsheep lambs greeting the women...

The visit from the PA WAgN, (or Pennsylvania Women's Agricultural Network) went very well. We had beautiful weather, and a terrific group of people that travelled a good distance across the state of PA to come to the Hatton Farm. After the sheep presentation, it was my pleasure to introduce some of them to spinning on a Great Wheel. I was feeling very good about 2 women who never tried spinning on a Great Wheel before, but were spinning yarn on one just minutes after a quick lesson!

recently restored by Fred Hatton, this Great Wheel is easy to use- very smooth and effortless turning....

After spinning on this Great Wheel, and then trying out one of the treadle wheels, Linda remarked that the Great Wheel seemed to "spin the yarn by itself!" Well, almost....

Grace's new wheel...

In addition to the Great Wheel, there were spindles and other antique wheels that were available to test drive...

The afternoon passed too quickly, and I didn't have time to try out this beautiful distaff that Fred made--maybe another time!

Thanks to Fred and Grace Hatton, for welcoming us to the farm and sharing their knowledge and talents (and the coffee and cookies were GREAT!)

Beardsley Sanford double flyer spinning

A long time ago, Beardsley Sanford (1790-1868) made this spinning wheel, and signed it. This past weekend at the PA Endless Mountains Fiber Festival, I had a chance to spin flax on it. What a challenge! What fun!

Fred Hatton restored this wheel to working condition, and did a beautiful job. The wheel is gorgeous. The first time I tried spinning on it, I was having trouble drawing the flax down.

Another spinner and friend of mine, Freda, had come by to see if we could get it going. I told her that I was having trouble dressing the distaff, and just at that moment, Pam Mawhiney from the Home Textile Tool Museum had stopped by Grace and Fred's Antique Spinning Wheel Booth to drop off some brochures. Freda asked her if she would help us out. Within a few moments she had the flax dressed on the distaff. Freda gave it go first.

These are Freda's hands....

Freda gave me some good pointers. She has spun more flax that I have...and she showed me how to spin it wet. Grace gave us a little water cup that she quickly made out of the bottom portion of a water bottle. It is shown sitting in the middle of the table on the wheel. I think it looks like a little crystal bowl!

Freda and I spun for a little while, side by side, "Gossip Wheel" style. We spun our flax wet, dipping our hands in the water from time to time to smooth down the loose ends of the flax before we wound onto the bobbins. We both agreed that it was fun, but most likely, not what the wheel was truly made for.

This wheel was made to spin flax with both hands at the same time- by one person. One hand for each flyer. Oh my!

These are my hands...

Thanks to Grace and Fred, and Pam and Freda...I was able to get it going, but I spun the flax dry.

I admit it took some concentration, no "zoning out" for this wheel. It is a mystery to me how one would be able to spin and wet the flax on this wheel. Any suggestions? Any documentation? Oh, if only they could talk!

As a post script to this entry.. Grace made a video of me spinning on the wheel. You can see that there is very little time for hands to dip into a water pot!