This Week's theme for the Saturday PhotoHunt is Wooden. I love wood. I love good wooden furniture. I love the smell of newly worked wood. I love wooden ornaments, wooden bowls, wooden toys, even wooden jewellery. Choosing from everything was hard. I finally decided to go with this.
My spinning-wheel.
There is - naturally! - a story behind this. I am Welsh. I was born near the end of the Second World War. My father was a meteorologist with the Royal Air Force and stationed in England, and my mother was with him. So almost by accident I was born in England.
When I was old enough to go to school I was told I talked "funny" (Welsh accent picked up from my parents.)
Fast-forward a bit, and we were back in Wales with my grandfather. In school I talked with a "twang".
It's possible that the above left me with a desire to be recognised as Welsh. I know I was interested in Welsh history and culture. There was a decorative brass plate on the wall featuring a lady in Welsh costume standing by a spinning wheel. I wanted one, and I wanted to spin.
Fast-forward quite a long way. 1990 saw us, as a family, living on an Irish island. We rented our cottage from a local man. His wife was from Wales - and she was a spinster.
Brief digression - spinster now means an unmarried woman. It used to mean the eldest daughter of the house who had the duty of spinning the yarn for the clothing - she was the spinster until she married and went to her husband's home.
Anyhow, this lady could spin, and she taught me.
Yes, the Welsh woman had to come to Ireland to learn spinning from another Welsh woman. Life can be strange.
This spinning-wheel is of Irish design. The main difference between this and the Welsh design is the footman which joins the crank to the treadle. This is is made of cord. In the Welsh wheel this is a wooden rod, which makes for slightly easier use.
You can see the cord footman here (click to enlarge!) although the photo's fuzzy again I'm afraid.
Well that's my wooden post . If you fancy joining in the PhotoHunt fun, visit tnchick who started it all.
Fast-forward a bit, and we were back in Wales with my grandfather. In school I talked with a "twang".
It's possible that the above left me with a desire to be recognised as Welsh. I know I was interested in Welsh history and culture. There was a decorative brass plate on the wall featuring a lady in Welsh costume standing by a spinning wheel. I wanted one, and I wanted to spin.
Fast-forward quite a long way. 1990 saw us, as a family, living on an Irish island. We rented our cottage from a local man. His wife was from Wales - and she was a spinster.
Brief digression - spinster now means an unmarried woman. It used to mean the eldest daughter of the house who had the duty of spinning the yarn for the clothing - she was the spinster until she married and went to her husband's home.
Anyhow, this lady could spin, and she taught me.
Yes, the Welsh woman had to come to Ireland to learn spinning from another Welsh woman. Life can be strange.
This spinning-wheel is of Irish design. The main difference between this and the Welsh design is the footman which joins the crank to the treadle. This is is made of cord. In the Welsh wheel this is a wooden rod, which makes for slightly easier use.
You can see the cord footman here (click to enlarge!) although the photo's fuzzy again I'm afraid.Well that's my wooden post . If you fancy joining in the PhotoHunt fun, visit tnchick who started it all.
HAPPY HUNTING!
66 comments:
That's a beautiful piece! So cool that you actually know how to use it too!
Thanks for explaining! Very nice entry too:) TFS!
great post! wow, i learned something today-another meaning of spinster. :)
thanks for sharing this. i love the spinning wheel!
happy weekend! :)
What a great post - educational and with very fine shots too.
Have a great weekend!
At one time everyone in the cottage was working on supplying this wheel. Now it is famous.
I've never seen a spinning wheel before. Thanks for being so informative on the difference.
Have a good weekend!! :)
Thanks for so interesting story behind your spinning wheel!I love it.
Happy weekend!
Thank you all. I'm glad you enjoyed my wheel.
What a great story! I love learning the history behind objects. My mom would LOVE this - she adores antiques.
Write From Karen
an actual wooden spinning wheel! very vintage! very sleeping beauty! great wooden entry!
I enjoyed your story as much as the photos.
It goes nicely with your old-fashioned sewing machine. Do you do much spinning? I have a couple of friends who spin. One raises her own sheep, and the other has a sheep at the frined's place. And years ago when I worked on the local paper, I interviewed a spinner who, in additional to wool, spun with the fur of her Old English Sheepdog, whose name was Christopher. I interviewed, Christopher, too.
Learn something new every day!! Thanks for the history lesson! Spinster Good post!!
Oh, what a beautiful spinning wheel! I enjoyed reading your 'history'. . .I still am mezmerized by those miners singing in Welsh in How Green Was My Valley.
And now I know where spinster came from. Thanks so much for sharing!
Your spinning wheel is beautiful. i imagine that not many people know how to use one.
Sara from farmingfriends
mijhWhat an interesting story/piece of history. I loved finding out the origins of "spinster." I LOVE IT! No longer is t a dreaded word for me although I am not in that category.
Very interesting bit of history. I've recently found out that I'm Welsh. I never knew the origin of the word spinster! Thank you. I love anything wooden, as well, and loved the spinning wheel. I don't think Ihave the patience to learn to actually use one though! lol
Wow that a pretty spinning wheel! That must be very memorable for you. I don't blame you if you treasure that kind of special thing. Happy weekend!
MY LIFE MY WORLD
SWEET PARADISE
I had never really thought of the meaning of spinster but of course it now makes perfect sense. I remember (and this REALLY dates me) seeing Julie Felix making a joke about the difference between a spinster and a bachelor girl. It swould fall on stony ground these days.
Great entry!
What a terrific post for the wooden theme! Thank you for sharing the background too! I love your spinning wheel. I have my grandmother's foot pedal sewing machine which I really love.
Lovely wooden spinning wheel. Great entry for the wooden theme.
I always wanted an old wooden spinning wheel. Good photo of the theme.
Dragonstar, that is a wonderful spinning wheel and thanks for sharing the story with us. I too love wood and think I should have been a carpenter, making fine furniture.
Have a great weekend.
What a marvelous story! And now you're a Welsh spinster too!
WillThink4Wine
What a great photo and a very cool story to go along with it. Fantastic.
i've never seen a real life one...
Very cool. Just watch out for that spindle. Wouldn't want you pulling a Sleeping Beauty by falling asleep and missing out on any Photo Hunt posts! ;o)
Hello Mereid,
How are you doing? You are going strong with your photography.
You take some interesting photos ;)
You may or may not know that I pursue genealogy. And I just LOVE family stories.
That spinning wheel is fascinating also. Not every family owns one!
Have a good Sunday my friend.
Wow I never knew the original meaning of spinster. Thanks for sharing. Happy weekend
What a wonderful old spinning wheel! :) Thank you for sharing. :)
That spinning wheel looks like something from a fairytale! (I know that comment is completely unrelated from your explanation but... ) ;b
whoa! what a great entry for this week's hunt! the interesting story behind complements the interesting spinning wheel =] so... by any chance, can you spin gold out of it? hehe
that is so fascinating. I have often wondered where spinster came from and now I am saying to myself DUH because it makes sense and I shouldve figured it out. It is not a derogatory term after all, but an honorable position!
I also have a spinning wheel but it is very very old and an antique there is something missing so I don't think it would work. I think it must be fun to spin !
I read that sentence about his wife being a spinster 5 times before I caried on reading and it made sense!
I have become more interested in my Welsh heritage and prouder of being Welsh as I have aged.
I enjoyed reading all about your Spinning Wheel, and I didn't know the origin of the word spinster. Good choice.
Very cool Photos!
Thank you all very much, I'm glad you enjoyed learning about spinsters!
My mother-in-law has a spinning wheel that I have always admired. They are very beautiful and interesting.
what a beautiful spinning wheel! That is something to treasure!
That's a beautiful spinning wheel and I loved your story to go with the photograph. I hope you have a pleasant week.
Beautiful shot because it's part silhouette and partly has light playing across it.
Love that photo. Very interesting story too. Thanks so much for sharing.
I love this entry, and the story that goes with it! The meaning of spinster, I always thought it was a nasty name for an woman who could not get a husband! I knew how to quite a long time ago, wonder if i could still do it?
What a nice spinning wheel and the history you shared behind it was wonderful. On another photo hunt maybe you could show us something you've spun. And, I enjoyed learning there's two meanings for spinster. Thanks for sharing. Have a nice night. Happy Photo Hunt~
If you'd like to check out the Friday 5 it can be found at http://poefusion.blogspot.com.
Wow...seeing the spinning wheel reminds me of the Rumpelstiltskin story. :-)
You have an informative post here. I didn't know there were differences on spinning wheels. I have never seen one before in my life though. Only in books.
Perfect! Reminds me of a fairy tale story. :-)
wowwwww... remind me to sleeping beauty!!!
wow, that's really interesting and certainly a wonderful story to go with it. does it still work n are u still using it?
ur site is insightful one...i learned more really...have a geat week ahead
find time to come back to view my weekend snapshot entry!
awww... i never thought to look for an actual picture but here it is :)
Ah, now I know where the term spinster came from! This is a very informative post. Like the pictures very much. Thanks for sharing.
beautiful!!! :) I've learned quite a bit here too :)
How marvelous! Thank you for sharing about the spinning wheel. I am of Irish descent born here in the US at the end of WWII. :)
Definitely a nice post! That is one gorgeous piece of wood work! Gorgeous Spinning Wheel. Thank you for sharing the history behind it as well.
I too have a passion for antiques but even more so the smell of freshly worked on wood. For some time I use to create my own wooden items, so when my son gave me my Wooden chair, he was tugging at my heart strings more than usual.
Wow, I never thought such traditional spinning wheel still exist...reminds me of that Rumplesltiskin(can't remember the spelling) fairy tail story.
Good picture. Thanks for droppin by!!
Pearl
For years now my goal has been to learn to spin. But that spinning wheel is so beautiful (I love all things wooden also) that I would just love to have it sit in my house!
What a fascinating story about how you learned to spin.
What a lovely Wooden post. I wish I'd visited sooner, as it makes great reading. Apologies for taking so long to visit. I've been feeling a bit 'blaaah' about blogging lately, for want of a better word. Having a temperamental laptop doesn't help!
Gorgeous! I love the warm, cozy feeling that a spinning wheel evokes. I find it all fascinating, so I really enjoyed your post. Especially learning the true meaning of the word "spinster." I had never heard that before!
Thanks so much for stopping by, and for your kind comment. ;o)
A very lovely piece and post. Thanks for sharing...and thanks for visiting Spatter. I always marvel at those of you who have 50+ comments. I think my top number has been 18.
I can't get over all these very kind comments. June, I've never had this many before either!
Thank you all very, very much!
Very cool story to go with your wooden piece....what a skill to have. have you taught anyone to spin?
thanks for visiting my Photohunt!
This is truly a useful tool. Wooden things can really long lasting. I never know what it is if this is a wordless week post.
Great shoot!
Hi Dragonstar.
I love your wooden entry - this is the first time I've seen a spinning wheel! Thanks for explaining, enjoyed the story behind it. THanks for visiting my blog as well.
that's so cool - i love it
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