My new/old obsession
I've always had obsessions. It's how I learn best, so I've never discouraged it. Throughout my life I have suddenly found myself fascinated with a subject and then proceeded to find out as much about it as possible. Some of these interests were sated by that knowledge; others were not. I've studied everything from the Roman empire, horses, the Gaelic languages, and weddings to names, chickens, interior decorating, old-fashioned cooking, Irish cottages, goats, gifted education, home education, and handwork.
Lately, I'm back on handwork. I've tatted since I was seven, crocheted since I was nine, and been thoroughly interested in all parts of the fabric-making process since I read the Little House books with my family when I was young. For some reason, the rhythms of treadled spinning wheel and loom relax me, just as crocheting and sewing do. I'm a very old-fashioned person in some ways, I suppose. I like my meals homemade, my days slow and similarly patterned, my family close, and my tea freshly steeped in a pot so that the scent of tea fills the room. The small changes in everyday life make it even lovelier, as I see it. I'm a homebody. New things are wonderful, but if there is nothing familiar to go back to, I feel rootless. As I am a very rooted person, that depresses me.
So this return of mine to the subject of handwork--spinning and weaving in particular--is no great surprise to me, as it has sat dormant in my mind for years. Well, not always dormant, as the box of cotton and a spool of thread that I attempted to spin by hand without any form of spindle proves. But I finally realized a couple days ago that I could use technology to help me learn more, and I pulled up my internet.
It's amazing how much can be learned on a 21st century machine about things that have been around as long as civilization, isn't it? So I'm planning my next trip home to recover that box of cotton from my closet, and to find the materials for a drop spindle, most of which are probably also at my house. Who knows where I'll go from there?
Lately, I'm back on handwork. I've tatted since I was seven, crocheted since I was nine, and been thoroughly interested in all parts of the fabric-making process since I read the Little House books with my family when I was young. For some reason, the rhythms of treadled spinning wheel and loom relax me, just as crocheting and sewing do. I'm a very old-fashioned person in some ways, I suppose. I like my meals homemade, my days slow and similarly patterned, my family close, and my tea freshly steeped in a pot so that the scent of tea fills the room. The small changes in everyday life make it even lovelier, as I see it. I'm a homebody. New things are wonderful, but if there is nothing familiar to go back to, I feel rootless. As I am a very rooted person, that depresses me.
So this return of mine to the subject of handwork--spinning and weaving in particular--is no great surprise to me, as it has sat dormant in my mind for years. Well, not always dormant, as the box of cotton and a spool of thread that I attempted to spin by hand without any form of spindle proves. But I finally realized a couple days ago that I could use technology to help me learn more, and I pulled up my internet.
It's amazing how much can be learned on a 21st century machine about things that have been around as long as civilization, isn't it? So I'm planning my next trip home to recover that box of cotton from my closet, and to find the materials for a drop spindle, most of which are probably also at my house. Who knows where I'll go from there?