Medieval Spinning
I took a Class in Medieval spinning with a distaff last Thursday. I originally signed up for the class before the COVID-19 lockdown. So I have been waiting a while to do this class. This was a 2-hour evening class. We were learning 2 things at once. How to spin in hand and how to use a distaff. Our teacher Judy said it’s like patting your head and rubbing your tummy at the same time.
First, we got some distaffs to dress. This means we had to tie the fiberbatts to a stick. Judy had a couple of nice wooden ones, but mostly we had forked branches she had taken the bark off.
Judy brought several spindles with different whorls. The whorl is the disk that adds weight, so the spindle spins better. The whorls are removable. Once you have some yarn built up on your spindle, you can remove the whorl.
First, we practised twirling the spindle with the leader. You have to make a half hitch on the end of the spindle and then twirl it.
Lucie is seeing if it is easier standing up.
Then we practised the drafting and the twirling at the same time. milking cow motion on the right and twirling on the right. This is the patting your head and rubbing your tummy part. The only thing we had to bring to class was a belt to stick the distaff in. I do not own a belt, so I got some bailer twine and braided myself a belt for the night. You can see this great fashion piece below.
Then we started spinning. It’s hard to know where to look, at the hand that’s trying to twirl correctly or at the hand trying to draft the fibre down from the distaff.
Here I am winding on. The idea is to make a football (rugby ball) shaped cob on the spindle.
Here’s a close-up of twirling and short suspension. You can let it drop a bit on the last twerl before winding on. Usually, you need to keep it in-hand so you can twirl it again.
Here is what I managed to make by the end of the class. It’s lumpy and thick and thin just like the yarn I made when I first started spinning. I was just starting to wind off when I remembered to take a picture. I haven’t decided if I will ply it or not. First, I have to find my spindles. I’ve seen them recently in their little case. Of course, I couldn’t find them before the class. I will find them again when I am looking for something else. I hope I will be smart enough to grab them and not think I will remember where they are.
12 thoughts on “Medieval Spinning”
Don’t you ever wonder how someone thought of doing this in the first place? There have been some very imaginative people in the past for sure.
Love your belt – you never know – it might catch on and you’ll see it on a catwalk 🙂
Why doesn’t the string on the batt on the distaff prevent the wool from leaving the batt at times?
It looks like a difficult process but you managed to achieve yarn so hats off to you!
I do wonder at how smart they were. the sting is tight enough to hold it but not tight enough to prevent pulling the wool. It is a skill for sure. We watch an old video about some women in a little village in Poland(I think) they were spinning up a storm without even thinking about it.
That was [a] good yarn 🤭. It looked like an interesting workshop, though possibly frustrating? At least you knew how to use a drop spindle so I’m sure that helped. All you need to do now is find your spindles.
I hate tidying up my workshop because I can never find anything afterwards. Perhaps you could write down where you see things when you’re looking for something else. It’s something I should do, if I could only find a suitable piece of paper and writing implement, but where do I put the paper? 🤔 Maybe I’ll just leave the workshop untidy.
Ann
Well it’s not bad yarn for a first try. I was starting to get the hang of it by the end. drafting was tricky I am not used to batts and it was a down breed and I don’t usually have those around. I like spinning rollags.
I agree I am always putting things some place “logical” and then not being able to find them. And also saying to myself; I will remember where I saw that.
I agree, that is some pretty even yarn… compared to what I make. I have never seen the spinning with a distaff before. Those people in Medieval times had to spin it thin enough and plentiful enough to make it into clothing. Bless them and the industrial revolution!
If you look paintings of medieval times with groups in them, you will often see someone spinning with one in the back ground. The did spin thing but they didn’t often ply the yarn. They did most of their weaving with singles. Oh yes, I am glad I don’t have to depend on myself to be clothed.
That looks like an interesting class. I agree with others that it is amazing how people came up with these ideas to start with. I think your yarn looks great and since you usally aren’t making loads of yarn at a time, the thick thin is more interesting for felting purposes.
It was an interesting class. yes uneven yarn works great for felting. They were a pretty savvy bunch back then.
This looks like a mystery to me, I have no understanding of how you get from a large fibre batt to yarn on a spindle. It all looks fabulously mysterious.
I have huge admiration for Judy’s straight back/posture in your photos Ann.
It is a bit tricky but I think with some practice it will not be to hard. Judy does have great posture, I s is amazing and can turn her hand to anything.
Barb does exactly what I do when I’m concentrating (stick the tongue out – one of my earliest childhood memories when I was learning cursive writing).
Thank goodness for the plasticity of our neurons – new challenging skills can be learned – you look like you are well on the way to mastering it Ann. I have passed by reenactment groups at our festivals Ann – thank you for this post – I will look closer next time I see a spinner in action.
Helene x
We were all had a laugh about barb sticking her tongue out. My dad used to do it . if things didn’t go to plan he was say he mustn’t have holding his tongue right. Renascence, medieval and reenactment festivals are so much fun. So may talented people having fun practising so many “old” skills.