Jenny Wren Lindenwood spins flax from the distaff. The distaff was made several years ago by my doll Amelia, fashioned from the branches of pussy willows. Jenny Wren moistens the linen thread as she spins it with her saliva.
St. Distaff's Day, January 7th, was traditionally the time when the spinners returned to their spinning wheels after the Christmas festivities.
The U-shaped device is the flyer that has hooks on it to guide the thread. The flyer is mounted to the maidens (the two posts holding the flyer) with leathers, and the maidens make their home on what is called the mother-of-all. The mother-of-all is attached to the tensioning knob. Jenny Wren's spinning wheel is an accurate, working wheel.
Elizabeth Howe was my 7th great grandmother. According to "The History of Leominster" by David Wilder and the Howe Genealogy, whilst Elizabeth Howe was visiting her sister, her sister's house was attacked by Indians who killed several of the inhabitants. At the time Elizabeth had been spinning flax and singing. "The History of Leominster" says she "probably was spared on account of the sweet melody she was making with her voice. The Indians used to make her sing to them in her captivity." Elizabeth was taken captive and eventually redeemed and able to come home to the man who before her captivity she had planned to marry, Thomas Keyes.
Some of my handspun linen thread which has multiple uses at Corgyncombe Cottage.
My daughter Sarah and I descend from generations of spinners and shepherds. My 5th great grandmother was Martha Lyon May, wife of Eliakim May. Sarah and I have inherited a natural ability for turning fiber into thread. "The Lyon Memorial, Massachusetts Families" says: "The Hartford Courant, Jan. 6, 1766, had this item: Miss Levina Lyon, daughter of Capt. Nehemiah Lyon of Woodstock, and Miss Molly Ledoit carded and spun in one day 22 skeins of good tow yarn and a few days after, Martha Lyon, sister of Levina, spun 194 knots of good linen yarn in one day."
Many of my ancestors have listed in their old New England inventories spinning wheels, sheep, flax, hatchels, looms, and other fiber related equipment.
Ethlyn Corgi beside Jenny Wren.
A welcome cup of tea is kept warm on the footman by the fire.
A welcome cup of tea is kept warm on the footman by the fire.
Some of the photographs and some of the writings on this post are from previous Corgyncombe Courant posts that can be found here on the Corgyncombe Courant and from our web site and our previous postings elsewhere on the internet.
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atthecottagegate@yahoo.com
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Photographs, images, and text copyright © 2000-2019 Diane Shepard Johnson and Sarah E. Johnson. All rights reserved. Photographs, images, and/or text may not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from Diane Shepard Johnson and Sarah E. Johnson.
http://corgyncombecourant.blogspot.com/2019/03/jenny-wren-spins-flax-from-distaff.html
Please do not "Pin" our photographs.
Please do not post our photographs on facebook.
Our email:
atthecottagegate@yahoo.com
If you receive an email you think is from me from this email, please make sure it is atthecottagegate@yahoo.com, and not just something that sounds similar.
Photographs, images, and text copyright © 2000-2019 Diane Shepard Johnson and Sarah E. Johnson. All rights reserved. Photographs, images, and/or text may not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from Diane Shepard Johnson and Sarah E. Johnson.
http://corgyncombecourant.blogspot.com/2019/03/jenny-wren-spins-flax-from-distaff.html
copyright © 2019 Diane Shepard Johnson and Sarah E. Johnson
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