Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Celtic spinning

See Celtic Clothing (with Greek and Roman Influence) form the Iron Age - a Realistic View Based on What We Know by Heather Smith  ( https://www.academia.edu/1488040/Celtic_Clothing_During_the_Iron_Age-_A_Very_Broad_and_Generic_Approach )

They were spinning fine, and weaving at 18 to 25 threads per cm.

Not what we think of when we think of the  European barbarians (before and after the Roman Empire) from the Middle Danube to the Atlantic (including the British Isles).

When the Romans left, the Brits and the folks in Flanders were already spinning very fine - much finer than the Victorians could believe. And, MUCH, MUCH, MUCH FINER THAN MODERN SPINNERS BELIEVE!!

Oh my oh my! I do want a picture of a one-beam, vertical, weighted loom weaving useful quantities of cloth from hand-spun yarn at 20 threads per cm!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FDTDIVUmk4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PD-FASC6ZQ

Not quite! This technology is never going to weave 50 ends per inch. 

One point is that if you read broadly, and deeply, there is lots of material out there, saying that the tradition of spinning fine is broad and deep --  Very deep.  We should not discard it without fully understanding it. 

The first truth from 5,000 years of spinning is is that fine singles make fine fabrics, and most people prefer fine fabrics.  The second truth is that if you are going to make fine fabrics, you are going to need a lot of yarn -  as a practical matter, you must spin fast, or you will never finish.

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