Presenter passions - Jane Markham

 

Jane Markham writes:

One of my favourite things in the world is spinning. Not the exercise bike sort of spinning but the ‘spinster of this parish’ sort of spinning – turning raw wool into yarn. It’s where the term spinster originated. Young girls would have been taught to spin from a very young age back in the day. It is not something I’ve talked about much over the years as it has always been a bit of a niche hobby but I was hooked at first sight.

That first sight was in a shop called Global Village Crafts in South Petherton in Somerset when I was in my early twenties. Lurking on its shelves I found a kit. It was a smallish plastic bag  containing a clump of lumpy (and a little smelly) yaks wool, a wooden drop spindle and an A4 piece of paper with not overly helpful typed instructions on it. I still have that spindle and somehow I managed to achieve something akin to yarn from the yak….enough to make me want to go further.

As luck would have it my mother had a friend who was a spinner and weaver and she allowed me to have a go on her spinning wheel and showed me how to use hand carders to make raw wool spinnable. In those days spinning ‘in the grease’ with unwashed wool was common place and the lanolin in the wool was better than any hand cream. Most spinners nowadays spin with washed wool for health and safety reasons and I too now spin washed wool but I was smitten. I then found that one of my London friends was also interested and on a winter holiday in Ireland we spent many hours – both with our drop spindles – learning to spin while we chatted in front of the fire. 

Spinning is one of the most sociable crafts - its meditative rhythmic repetitions take up just enough concentration to allow for conversation with fellow spinners to flow and, although it may seem fanciful, spinning a yarn (in more ways than one) makes you feel a deep connection with the past. I’m sure that medieval spinners would spin in groups and put the world to rights. The difference being that we do it for fun and they would have done it to put the clothes on their backs.

A few years ago when I was living in Oxford I joined the Oxford Guild of  Weavers Spinners and Dyers after seeing an exhibition a shop window. One of the goals of the Guilds – and there are many around the UK - is to pass on the skills of these ancient crafts and I soon added natural dyeing to my craft portfolio. Oh yes - I’m afraid that the drop spindle was the entry drug and I currently own several drop spindles, two spinning wheels, numerous pots and pans and potions for the dyeing and more recently a small loom.

Last year I was given an old table loom which I plan to renovate – I am afraid there is no hope for me. In the words of Blood Sweat and Tears - what goes up must come down – spinning wheel gotta go round!

 

Jane

 

PHOTO Jane spinning with Pippa the cat

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