One of my favourite spinning/yarn facts.
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@tuban_muzuru @CleoQc theres about 30,000 years between that scrap of yarn and these spindle whorls.
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@dar @FanCityKnits it’s a shame we are losing all these skills. As someone who can and does make textiles by hand, the quality of many commercial textiles makes me sad. Another reason I try to share what I know.
@dar @FanCityKnits since we are on the subject, what sorts of textiles do you make?
Today I met someone wearing a clearly handwoven scarf. I said “i love your scarf, did you weave it?” They replied “Yes!” and so rarely does that happen.
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@CleoQc The thing that gets me is the level of knowledge passed down before it was made.
Which tree species is best. How to recognise it. Where on the tree to harvest the good bits without killing it. How to process tree bark for its bast. And that's BEFORE you even think about the level of skill needed to make a laceweight 3 ply with only a sick and a stone. It's humbling, in a really good way.
@dar
I know, right??? So much knowledge required to make a 3 ply lace. Generations of trying things out, failing, and then figuring out better ways. -
I learned to process raw fleeces into yarn because about 20 or so years ago I started to feel that everything is going to go tits up. That feeling has only ever got stronger.
I have a few small skills as insurance against catastrophe... At least I can keep people warm and clothed.
Thanks for following me. :))
Spinning from raw fleece, I love that, just hard to get material here in central Germany, nobody shearing anymore..
Years ago I was the one on the spinning wheel, collected natural coloring agents and dyed the yarn.Still have a recipe collection for that.
I no longer have the spinning wheel but maybe I will make one again.
Often carry a self made spindle which I like using.In that long ago time my girlfriend was the weaver and knitter, sadly she moved on.
Pls. keep in touch
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One of my favourite spinning/yarn facts.
Almost all of your ancestors could spin.
There was a tiny fragment of Neanderthal yarn/twine found in France. It's made from the bast from tree bark......
It's at least 40,000 years old....
It's bloody three ply lace weight yarn. I doubt ANY modern spinner could pull that off, even with all our gadgets and knowledge.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/04/neanderthals-made-the-worlds-oldest-thread/
Ruth Goodman talks a bit about how fast and steady her daughter is at the hand skills she learned really early (because she was with her mother doing experimental archaeology).
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One of my favourite spinning/yarn facts.
Almost all of your ancestors could spin.
There was a tiny fragment of Neanderthal yarn/twine found in France. It's made from the bast from tree bark......
It's at least 40,000 years old....
It's bloody three ply lace weight yarn. I doubt ANY modern spinner could pull that off, even with all our gadgets and knowledge.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/04/neanderthals-made-the-worlds-oldest-thread/
@dar
Ah the arrogance of Modern humans -
J jwcph@helvede.net shared this topic
