Spinning with Arabella

Arabella came round this morning to watch Mum spin, so Mum got out some Alpaca fleece she'd brought from the farm on a visit to Tasmania last year. The first spinning wheel didn't want to play, so Mum had to get out her trusty Swiss spinning wheel. Arabella was very patient and then had a go herself. All went well even if the feet were forgotten between attempts at getting the bobbin working. But Arabella said she'd like to come back for another lesson.

Spinning again!

Mum's spinning again and it's going fine. She's using the handmade Swiss spinning wheel that she's had for ages. The jacket she's wearing is made from her own hand-spun wool which she hand-dyed using local plants.

She's also been asked to share some pix of her work using recycled plastic bags in the Trashion Nation group at Flickr. She's on a roll.

Spinning - then and now

When did you start spinning, Mum?

"I must have been about 8 or 9. I was at school. Back then in the twenties skirts were getting shorter and I wanted really long stockings. The ones my mother made only went over the knees. They were knitted from handspun wool. She said if I wanted them longer I'd just have to spin my own wool and knit them myself. She let me use one of her spinning wheels. I finished the stockings but they almost stood up all by themselves. I'd spun the wool much too thickly.

"I started again in the early eighties. It was becoming a bit of a fashion in Sydney. But that wasn't why I took it up. I was starting to get a bit of arthritis and keeping my hands and feet moving helped a lot to keep the joints supple."

Here's a pic of Mum's first spinning wheel which was hand made by Albert Gerber in Berne, Switzerland. It still works. (Albert Gerber made his last spinning wheel in 2005.)