Hiyah…. Well as of this minute the weather is glorious. Just the kind of autumn day I love, with
trees ablaze with colour a cool breeze and sunshine. Though I am not fooled. I know that pretty soon it’s going to be grey
days, wet pavements and of course longer periods of darkness. Winter is coming
my friends.
However, I have a plan. Or rather my darling friend Tina and I have a
plan. We have fleeces and we are going
to teach our little community how to card, spin, weave and felt wool straight
from the back of the animal. We even
know the names of some of the sheep the wool came from! How’s that for starters? Between us we can rustle up three spinning
wheels, two large looms, a number of small ones and a few felting tools. 
My wheels are both traditional Ashford’s like the one
above. However mine is darker as it has
been used a lot. Tina’s though comes
from the 17th or 18th century and looks more like this…
when one pauses to consider the necessary hours spent at the wheel to provide
cloth for the family it’s rather awesome. I love that sense of continuity and
tradition. I also feel it is of great importance to keep our old crafts and
traditions alive – hence our winter project.
I can’t wait. If you have never
spun for a length of time, you can’t quite realise just how relaxing it can
be. You just treadle away and feed the
rolog through your hands, feeling the thread form between your fingers, treadle and feed, treadle and feed,and
on it goes and your mind drifts, and drifts and dreams……..
Well I guess you get the picture. Don’t knock the drifting and dreaming, many
things sort themselves out or manifest during those valuable times and winter
is by far the best time for dreams and stories.
Winter -it is a strange season isn't it? In our hemisphere (Northern European) the
weather gets colder, the days get darker and shorter and it can seem quite gruelling
to get through. We have the usual highlights of winter
solstice/Christmas/Diwali/Hanukkah but then it gets darker and colder. Or worse!
Working indoors in over warm buildings can insulate one from what is
real and a process that is valuable to us all.
When we go out in and experience the reality of winter we connect with the
land and its cycle. We find our thoughts
turning inward, become more reflective.
We want to create a nest, make a store cupboard, have time to plan for
the next year.
Now don’t get me wrong.
I like to be warm and dry; but, in over heated homes it is a real treat
to go outside and breathe in the cold air and feel it cleansing your whole
system. Taking a walk in the winter
weather can really connect you to the land and its cycles, and give you an
insight in to the ways of the old ones upon whose shoulders we build our modern
lives. No easy comforts for them. All
their summer was geared towards stocking up for a winter that could be harsh,
unforgiving and brutal. Although some work had to stop in winter due to the
weather, other work, put aside during the pace of summer was taken up again,
such as spinning and weaving, making and crafting, and of course story telling
around the fire. Let’s face it, your
hands may be busy but it shouldn't stop you talking.
Story telling too is an important skill we should not lose. I love to tell stories and the fortunes earned
and spent in the film industry tells us that this is a common trait across the
world. At the college I work at, one of the
loveliest sessions I do is traditional story telling. It is an opportunity for the group to share
their stories, retell old favourites, including fairy tales and of course to
listen. Some of my shyest students can shine when telling fairy tales. The familiarity gives confidence and a
receptive audience encourages a bravery that often they would not experience
elsewhere.
So long winters – pshaw who cares? I will have my fire, my wheel and my stories
to keep me going. What about you?
