Re: MR: Huswifery

["Terry L. Neill" <Neilltl@ptsc.slg.eds.com>]

Poster: "Terry L. Neill" <Neilltl@ptsc.slg.eds.com>


>Since spinning wool into yarn is traditionally a distaff activity,
>one might think that it was mostly girls who showed an interest
>in Anarra and Ana Ilevna's demos.  OTOH, maybe the tradition of
>discouraging boys from this activity has died out, so maybe boys
>showed just as much interest.  OTGH, maybe the traditional gender
>difference is not cultural but innate.  So I wonder...


I posit, from the sheer NUMBER of spindle whorls found ALL OVER certain Viking
farmsteads, that, in the Viking age at least, *everyone* spun.  Since it takes
~13.5 hours of combing and spinning to produce enough yarn to make a yard of
fabric, I would think that a lot of time was spent on this activity - boys and
girls, men and women.

Another re-enactor postits that men out watching the sheep 'thigh-spun' a hand
span of yarn at a time to nalbind socks or repair them.

I ask all the kids who show interest if they want to spin.  The boys seem as
fascinated as the girls.

There was a lord at 12th night who displayed his hand-spun wool and a very nice
cap modeled after a cardwoven/sprang cap.  He spins on a submarine - it's his
small portable hobby.

I invite all the lords in Atlantia to come to the string day the Sunday after
Coronation to play with textiles.  It's at Tangwystl and Robear's house at
11ish.

        - Anarra
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