I continued to spin and spin and spin today. Once I finish about a half-pound more, I’ll begin the work of scouring—a thorough cleaning of the skeins to remove any remaining oils and dirt and prepare the yarn for mordanting and dying. I am a skilled spinner and I love the process, but I’m not a purist. I’ll likely use a commercially spun cotton warp because of the amount of loom waste (extra yarn) required for my big loom. My spinning mentor used to say “find a way to use it all—don’t waste an inch of that precious handspun.” She advocated for knitting projects that would use up a few yards here, an extra bit there in colorwork. I’m not much of a knitter, so I try to plan my weaving projects to get as maximum bang for my buck out of these handmade materials, while not being too strident about it and making unnecessary work for myself. A local weaver once shook her head when describing a project using handspun from her own sheep in both her weft and warp—“never again,” she laughed, “never again.”
The amount of labor that goes into a completely handwoven, handspun blanket is immense—particularly if you’re the kind of weaver who starts with lambs and ends up with blankets. This model of mutually beneficial human-animal networks are described by some textile enthusiasts as “climate beneficial” closed loop systems and have existed for thousands of years. Norwegian textile archaeologist Lise Bender Jørgensen has noted that the Vikings—most commonly described as expert navigators or warriors, should probably first be regarded as expert shepherds, spinners and weavers, given the sheer volume of wool and magnitude of spinning and weaving skill needed to generate one sail. Wool was crucial not only for clothing, but for propelling and navigating the ships themselves. In one of the ancient Icelandic sagas the kiddo and I listened to last year during our homeschooling Myths and Legends bender, an adventurous prince endures all types of misfortunes with icy resolve, but weeps when he returns to his ship and finds his sail stolen. The excellent Norwegian Textile Letter has a chronicle of one woman’s project to weave and sew herself a sail. Bless her heart, I don’t think I’ll be trying this any time soon.
