Spinning

With slightly depleted numbers due to members being on holiday, Yoxall WI enjoyed a talk by Pat Clee on 'Spinning'. Pat is a smallholder with Dexter cattle, sheep and chickens. She also grows all her own fruit and vegetables. When Pat was at school the girls learned to spin and this is an activity that she has continued all her life.

Pat removes the fleece from her sheep herself, not with shears, but the more natural method of peeling away the wool from the animal’s skin. She only spins natural colours, so her wool is white and shades of brown and grey. The wool is teased first by loosening the fibres so that it is no longer lumpy and has most of the dirt removed. The next process is carding, which is a mechanical process that disentangles and intermixes the fibres to get them ready for spinning. Finally, Pat demonstrated the spinning action which seemed a very relaxing action, drawing the fibres out with the hands and operating the treadle with the foot. Pat was able to chat effortlessly while operating the spinning machine.

Spinning is quite an active hobby and it is relatively easy to learn. In medieval times, poor families had such a need for yarn to make their own cloth and clothes that practically all girls and unmarried women would keep busy spinning, and "spinster" became synonymous with an unmarried woman.

In the Winter, when there is less to do in the garden and greenhouse, Pat knits up the spun yarn. She showed us small knitted toys , shawls and sweaters. Apart from the wool spinning, Pat leads a very active life. As well as the gardening and looking after the farm animals, she swims twice a week, belongs to an art class, a knit and natter group, makes her own jam and chutney and many more activities! We all felt quite exhausted listening to her life story, Pat had kept us all enthralled.

One of our members reported back from a trip to Bletchley Park, which had been very interesting and informative.

Our next meeting is on Wednesday 12th August when we will have our Summer  picnic. This year we are going to Renishaw Hall and Gardens, and travelling by coach. Visitors are very welcome at our September meeting on Wednesday 9th September. Our speaker will be John Colley on '16mm, Film Show Experience.' We meet in the Parish Hall at 7.30 pm. For further details please contact Penny Bailey through the link below.