A proud member of the reality-based community
This site is a member of WebRing. To browse visit here. Sunday, January 06, 2008 St. Distaff, the patron saint of -- huh?? Yesterday my knitting buddy and I brought our spinning wheels to the coffee shop and spun instead of knitting. It brought us a lot of attention, everything from "What are you doing?" to "Wow, I never saw anyone making yarn before!" Only one woman asked, "Why?" when we said we were spinning fiber into yarn, and the conversation moved on before I could find out whether she thought it made more sense to buy yarn than to spin it, or she just couldn't figure out why anyone would want to do it at all.I replied to every comment with, "This is the closest Saturday to St. Distaff's Day. You know, the patron saint of spinning?" Not a single person challenged me.It's a JOKE. There is no St. Distaff. A distaff is a spinning tool, not a person. The practice of giving this name to the seventh day after Twelfth Night (or the seventh day of the new year) apparently came from the fact that it was the end of holidaying in many European traditions--the day when everyone returned to their work, including the women to their spinning. It was also called Rock Dag, or Rock Day, which is interpreted by many online sources as referring to the distaff. I think 'rock' is more likely to refer to the use of a rock as a whorl, something not uncommon in early cultures. (And making a whorl of 'found objects' is not unheard of now, either--I read not long ago of a pair of American women, who, faced with a long wait for their ferry, brought out their knitting needles, their just-purchased sack of potatoes, and a new bag of fiber, and whiled away the time with made-on-the-spot spindles.)It was fun, anyway. I spun up the rest of my Candy Cane top, and it's now hanging in the bathroom drying after I set the twist. Next step, plying, and then on to socks!Today, I went up the mountain to Greenberry House, a little shop that sells fleece, fiber, and hand-spun yarn and bought 2-1/2 pounds of Shetland fleece from a Tazewell County farm. I'm not sure when I'll have time to wash and spin it, but I hope it won't be long. I haven't spun Shetland before, so this will be a new experience.And I've been knitting. I frogged the hot water bottle cover after deciding it really was too small, and used the yarn to make Clarence these mittens instead.One mitten is made with a standard thumb, and the other is just a pouch, to cover the hand he doesn't use. He says they are very warm (and they should be--they're wool!).And then I started the hot water bottle cover over again with some lovely soft Paton's Soy Wool Stripes in the Naturally Plum colorway. This isn't a great picture of it--I'll post another one when it's finished. But I love these colors! posted by Liz @ 7:44 PM | The template is set to display 10 posts. To see all the posts for this month, click on the month name in the Archive section RSS Feed PERSONAL Send email toliz at life-as-a-spectator-sport.com Home I'm a mother, grandmother, a computer professional, Democrat, Christian. I welcome politely worded comments and email, my spam filter throws the rest away, so don't bother to flame me WHY 'LIFE AS A SPECTATOR SPORT' "If you're lucky not to live in the gutters of a slum, but still can't afford to take vacations in the Alps, you're part of that enormous middle class who lives life through the medium of the television, further separated from "real" life by air conditioner, by automobile, by dishwasher, microwave and ice-in-the-door refrigerator, by automatic washer and dryer, and all the other appliances and conveniences that make it possible for America to live life at second hand. I'm not sure why Americans decided that televised drama was better than the real thing, that cardboard microwave food containers were an adequate substitute for real dishes, and their contents for real food, or that cooking, dishwashing and face-to-face conversation wasn't worth the effort and time it required. Someone fed this nation a plastic crate of out-of-season tomatoes and told us it was life and we took them at their word, and we're so much the poorer for it that it's hard to know where to start to list the shortcomings." I wrote this a couple of years ago, but I have to admit it's much less amusing than I thought it would be to see the artifical construct falling apart. THE NON-ELECTRIC HOME Cleaning, 1 Cleaning, 2 Cleaning, 3 KNITTING BLOGS Extravayarnza Knitting Heretic Mind of Winter Pie Knits Persistent Illusion See Eunny Knit The Keyboard Biologist Taleweaver's Ramblings TECHnitting Wendy Knits FINISHED PROJECTS -------FINISHED IN 2006------- Peruvian Cap Tutti-Frutti Socks Shelley's Socks Carol's Socks -------FINISHED IN 2007------- Chain Link Socks Baby Surprise Jacket Valerie & Friend Baby Bonnet Rainbow Baby Socks Girls Pixie Hood Mitred Square Heart Red & White Socks Coffee Cup Pot Holder Nubbins Dishcloth Garterlac Dishcloth Suede Booties Kate's Socks Norwegian Sweet Baby Cap Half Thumbless Mittens Red Mittens for Akkol -------FINISHED IN 2008------- SELF-RELIANCE AND THE FUTURE -- Blogs and websites -- Causubon's Book Club Orlov Food Storage Made Easy From the Wilderness In the Wake Listening to Katrina Survival Topics The Modern Homestead The Oil Drum Notes from a Hillside Farm -- Mailing Lists -- 12vdc Power Living on the Land Rainwater Refrigeration Alternatives Old Ways of Living POLITICAL BLOGS and SITES The political sites have moved BOOKS I'M READING How to Grow More Vegetables, etc. Small Scale Grain Raising ARCHIVES February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 August 2008 July 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 August 2002 July 2002 June 2002 May 2002 April 2002 March 2002 February 2002 Feedjit Live Blog Stats
Yesterday my knitting buddy and I brought our spinning wheels to the coffee shop and spun instead of knitting. It brought us a lot of attention, everything from "What are you doing?" to "Wow, I never saw anyone making yarn before!" Only one woman asked, "Why?" when we said we were spinning fiber into yarn, and the conversation moved on before I could find out whether she thought it made more sense to buy yarn than to spin it, or she just couldn't figure out why anyone would want to do it at all.I replied to every comment with, "This is the closest Saturday to St. Distaff's Day. You know, the patron saint of spinning?" Not a single person challenged me.It's a JOKE. There is no St. Distaff. A distaff is a spinning tool, not a person. The practice of giving this name to the seventh day after Twelfth Night (or the seventh day of the new year) apparently came from the fact that it was the end of holidaying in many European traditions--the day when everyone returned to their work, including the women to their spinning. It was also called Rock Dag, or Rock Day, which is interpreted by many online sources as referring to the distaff. I think 'rock' is more likely to refer to the use of a rock as a whorl, something not uncommon in early cultures. (And making a whorl of 'found objects' is not unheard of now, either--I read not long ago of a pair of American women, who, faced with a long wait for their ferry, brought out their knitting needles, their just-purchased sack of potatoes, and a new bag of fiber, and whiled away the time with made-on-the-spot spindles.)It was fun, anyway. I spun up the rest of my Candy Cane top, and it's now hanging in the bathroom drying after I set the twist. Next step, plying, and then on to socks!Today, I went up the mountain to Greenberry House, a little shop that sells fleece, fiber, and hand-spun yarn and bought 2-1/2 pounds of Shetland fleece from a Tazewell County farm. I'm not sure when I'll have time to wash and spin it, but I hope it won't be long. I haven't spun Shetland before, so this will be a new experience.And I've been knitting. I frogged the hot water bottle cover after deciding it really was too small, and used the yarn to make Clarence these mittens instead.One mitten is made with a standard thumb, and the other is just a pouch, to cover the hand he doesn't use. He says they are very warm (and they should be--they're wool!).And then I started the hot water bottle cover over again with some lovely soft Paton's Soy Wool Stripes in the Naturally Plum colorway. This isn't a great picture of it--I'll post another one when it's finished. But I love these colors!
The template is set to display 10 posts. To see all the posts for this month, click on the month name in the Archive section
RSS Feed
PERSONAL
WHY 'LIFE AS A SPECTATOR SPORT'
"If you're lucky not to live in the gutters of a slum, but still can't afford to take vacations in the Alps, you're part of that enormous middle class who lives life through the medium of the television, further separated from "real" life by air conditioner, by automobile, by dishwasher, microwave and ice-in-the-door refrigerator, by automatic washer and dryer, and all the other appliances and conveniences that make it possible for America to live life at second hand. I'm not sure why Americans decided that televised drama was better than the real thing, that cardboard microwave food containers were an adequate substitute for real dishes, and their contents for real food, or that cooking, dishwashing and face-to-face conversation wasn't worth the effort and time it required. Someone fed this nation a plastic crate of out-of-season tomatoes and told us it was life and we took them at their word, and we're so much the poorer for it that it's hard to know where to start to list the shortcomings." I wrote this a couple of years ago, but I have to admit it's much less amusing than I thought it would be to see the artifical construct falling apart.
THE NON-ELECTRIC HOME
Cleaning, 1 Cleaning, 2 Cleaning, 3
KNITTING BLOGS
Extravayarnza Knitting Heretic Mind of Winter Pie Knits Persistent Illusion See Eunny Knit The Keyboard Biologist Taleweaver's Ramblings TECHnitting Wendy Knits
FINISHED PROJECTS
SELF-RELIANCE AND THE FUTURE
POLITICAL BLOGS and SITES
BOOKS I'M READING
How to Grow More Vegetables, etc. Small Scale Grain Raising
ARCHIVES
February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 August 2008 July 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 August 2002 July 2002 June 2002 May 2002 April 2002 March 2002 February 2002
Powered by BLOGGER Template made possible by BLOGSKINS.
