Frolics and Frenzies

Spinning The Yarn

Although cloth production was mechanized by the eighteenth century, for those Canadians living in rural areas, the spinning of flax and wool was essential to keep families from going bare. By the 1870's there were twenty-seven unique spinning wheels, patented in Canada, and only a very few country homes were not equipped with at least one of them. Many Scottish and Irish immigrants were familiar with the art, and though it looks tedious at best, they often turned the activity into a social event; another excuse for holding a 'bee'.

For the Scottish, these were known as 'Spinning Frolics', when all of the ladies in a community gathered together, often on someone's lawn, to share the burden of making blankets and wool for winter clothing. They would labour from about mid-morning until well into the evening, 'spinning yarns', while spinning yarn.  There would usually be a tea or lunch provided, and the chore would become a social event, rather than a dreaded task. Whether to 'bee' or not to 'bee'; the production of textiles ran the gamut from carding to spinning, knitting, weaving and sewing; and every home would be turned into a small factory as the womanfolk became members of the garment industry.

Most of the flax would be cultivated at home, and a quantity of sheep was kept for shearing. The wool and linen would be soaked, bleached and pounded, until fit to put on the wheel, and sometimes the fibres would be combined to create a Canadian favourite "linsey-woolsey", used in women's skirts and children's clothing. Most coloring came from nature, though packaged dyes could be purchased by the 1870's.

Wool Winder

Carding Combs

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