Hi Netters It is almost Summer and the Fibernet is getting quiet so I thought this might be a good time to throw out some questions to you all. I know we have a
huge amount of education and experience in the fiber fields here - quite a resource to tap into - so I hope to stir up some good historical fiber commentary. My husband and I do Rev./ War reenactments which includes my demoing spinning as it was done with the period tools in that time. Among the many questions people ask me are some that I have had difficulty finding FACTUAL answers to. It's easy to hedge and suppose but I really haven't come up with definitive answers to some of the questions. If any of you have the answers to these or know of books that touch on these topics I would greatly appreciate your direction and input. Even some of the museums I have visited are very vague/contradictory in this area. The questions are mainly about the uses and differences between the great wheel and the flax wheel in the East Coast American Colonies mid 1700's - 1. "was wool spun on the flax wheel?" I have seen "flax" wheels in museums with old wool on them....so we can guess wool was spun on the smaller wheels? 2. "did spinners ply flax and wool or did they use singles mostly? " I use the great wheel a bit and find the concept of plying from cops tricky. The answer probably will be found by examining colonial textiles - any of you textile people know about this one? 3. "Did every household have a great wheel as well as a flax wheel?" Laurel Thatcher Ulrich's Homespun book indicates the answer was mostly "no". 4. "Did everyone spin their own fiber ?" I think this is a hard one to answer because there was not one "everyone" - people were in very different situations based on their income and circumstances. Some surely bought fabric from England and some probably spun and wove at least some of their own. And wouldn't it make sense that in a village there might be someone whose spinning/weaving talents surpassed those of the neighbors and a barter system might quickly come into place? ....I hate to spin and I love to cook so I'll swap you my dried fruit for your yarn....type of thing? 5. "Was knitting a common skill in Colonial period?" I have seen patterns for hats and gloves but not for larger items like sweaters. I have read that sheep were not very common at first in the colonies and were kept more for meat than wool. As I understand it, the English wanted us to buy all finished materials from them hence the act of spinning homespun became a very patriotic American activity for those who favored independence. But how much homespun we really wore, I am not too sure...any thoughts? Thanks! Julie (in boot sucking muddy NJ - weeks of rain, muddy sheep, can't make hay, yikes!) To stop mail temporarily mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: set nomail To restore send: set mail
