My grandparents on my father's side had a very large family. All the older
children were boys, so they had to learn how to work around the house helping
their mother.
My father tells me that when he was a little boy, perhaps
twelve years old, he and his older brothers had to learn to spin on an old
spinning-wheel they had. It was very difficult for him to learn how at first,
but he said after he got used to it it was nothing at all. He spun mostly wool,
which their mother used in knitting their stockings for them. Sometimes they,
themselves, would have to knit them.
He tells of how they used to color
or dye the wool many times when they wanted it for stockings because white got
dirty so soon. They would dip the wool first into blue dye, then into gray dye
or maybe brown dye, thus making the stockings gray and blue or brown and blue.
Many people preferred making the stockings plain blue, gray or brown. In many
cases they would use just the virgin wool, that is, wool just as it is when it
is taken off the sheep, without even cleaning it. They would spin this into yarn
and use it in knitting stockings. The stockings would last four or five years
with daily use.
The spinning-wheel, which was used in the olden times
for the spinning of cotton, wool and flax fibers into yarns, or thread, is a
very odd machine. In spinning there are many sizes of yarn, and different forms
of twists, which are made by the different speeds on the different machines. The
fineness of the thread depends upon the rapidity with which it is drawn out
while spinning. For the different kinds of material, such as woolen, cotton, and
flax, it was necessary to operate the machine differently.
The base of
the spinning-wheel is a board about three inches wide and perhaps a yard long,
that is, on some of them. At one end of the base there is a post on which the
wheel is fastened. This wheel is about one and one-half inches wide, and about
as large as a bicycle wheel. At the other end there is another post to which the
head of the machine is attached. The head consists of the needle, which is
called the spindle, and is from eight to ten inches long; two horseshoe-shaped
things on which little hooks are fastened all the way around; and the peg where
the ball is placed. The wheel and the spindle are joined together by a belt.
On the small spinning-wheel there is a treadle, similar to that on the
sewing machine, except that it is much smaller. It is just wide enough for one
foot. In later years a spinning wheel was invented that was almost twice as
large as the small ones. This resembled the smaller ones in all respects except
instead of sitting down while spinning you had to stand up, and it had no
treadle. In place of the treadle there were three spokes on the wheel by means
of which the spinner would turn it. He had a stick, perhaps eighteen inches
long, that was worn smooth by the hard wear, and with this he would make the
wheel go around. Sometimes he would just use his hand to make it go. The stick
was held in the right hand and the yarn in the left. The workers would walk back
and forth while spinning. When using the small spinning-wheel and spinning
virgin wool they would usually have a large bunch of wool in their laps and just
pull it out as they needed it. When using the larger ones they would hold the
wool between the thumb and the first finger so that the amount used was always
about the same.
Since they had to have a way to wind the yarn up in
order that it would not get tangled, they would stop every now and then when
they had spun sufficient yarn and remove the spindle. In its place they would
put another wheel on, which the yarn would be wound.
Extracted 08 Nov 2018 by Norma Hass from Stories of Pioneer Days in La Salle County, Illinois, by Grammar Grade Pupils, published in 1932, page 22.
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