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The Distaff Gospels

The Distaff Gospels (Les Évangiles des Quenouilles), is a 15th century French collection of more than 250 popular beliefs, forming a sort of gospel of late medieval women’s wisdom. A writer and tale-teller (trouvere) named Jean d’Arras attended the daily winter spinning sessions of a group of local neighbourhood women over a period of six days. His task was to record their discussions of beliefs, recipes, remedies, and advice so that they might be preserved for future generations. The result is a rich repository of folk wisdom and lore, often buried under a gloss of the pervasive Christianity of the time period.

Here are some yarn-related excerpts:

“If a woman leaves flax unspun on her distaff on Saturday, the thread that will be spun from it the following Monday will never be any good and the cloth made with it will never be really white.”

“To get rid of warts, you must take a thread that a woman has spun after her lying-in [recovery period after giving birth] and tie it around the warts: they will all fall off instantly without difficulty.”

“A young woman who wishes to know the name of her future husband should stretch out the first thread which she has spun that day at her door and then find out the name of the first man to pass by – she can be certain that this will be the name of her husband.”

Translation I used: The Distaff Gospels. Eds and Trans. Madeleine Jeay and Kathleen Garay. New York: Broadview Editions, 2006. Print.

The Witch of Forest Grove has a great article on the Distaff Gospels on her blog, with some more quotes and pictures, here.

The Wikipedia article on weaving and mythology also provides some facinating historical context.

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Wonder Woman Costume, by Dad

Father Sews Wonder Woman Costume for Daughter | The Mary Sue.

Words cannot explain my love for this. A crafting father makes a Wonder Woman hero/princess costume for his daughter because she didn’t like the idea of having to be a princess for a birthday party whose theme required that the boys dress as superheroes and the girls as princesses.

Take that kiddy princess culture AND “crafting is for women” mentality!

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Krochet Kids

Found an amazing initiative today that I can’t believe I didn’t know existed! Krochet Kids international is a non-profit started by three college guys who loved to crochet (guys! crocheting!).

Over 100 people go to their compound in Northern Uganda everyday to work crocheting hats (and other projects) sold around the world. The collaboration of the staff in America and artists in Northern Uganda has created a sustainable cycle of employment and empowerment. The goal is “to create sustainable economic development programs that support holistic growth of individuals and communities within developing nations.”

LOVE IT!

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Lost traditional fibre arts

Though the blogger admittedly doesn’t get around to updating very often, this blog is a treasure trove of various traditional techniques such as Bosnian crochet, Tunisian crochet, shepherd’s knitting and crochet, Dutch knitting, and Turkish socks.

I’m always wanting to learn new methods and yarn-related skills, and the pieces are gorgeous to boot.

But ultimately, I was most excited to find this site because the librarian in me loves the idea that someone is preserving this knowledge for future generations.

The blogger also posts a link to this hook-making tutorial. Definitely itching to try it now.

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A yarn related comic book character?

YES! Was SO excited to find this.

I don’t even care that she’s sort of evil. Seems more like a catwoman type of evil than evil evil anyways.

Plus, I always sort of liked villains anyway 😉

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Because Size Matters: Foot Size Survey

Because Size Matters: Foot Size Survey | knittyBlog.

Every knitter should do this. It’s a brilliant idea!

From knittyBlog:

“Since foot length is remarkably unrelated to foot circumference – small feet can be wide, long feet can be narrow – telling me your shoe size tells me very little about how big your socks should be. A lot of the time, when designers are creating socks, we’re guessing about how they should be sized.

With help from our friends and collaborators at Sock Summit and Cooperative Press, we’re trying to change this. We’re launching a foot size survey, and we’re hoping you can help us out.”

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Here goes! + some epic amigurumis

I’ve been meaning to do this for sooo long. Excited to finally start this blog!

I’ve always been a knitter and crafter, but school was kind of cramping my style. But since finally getting my masters degree and starting as a librarian (several interviews and several thousand applications later) I’ve actually had something called “free time.”

I’m hoping to share my passion with other knitters out there. Or maybe I should say passionS. I’m also pretty nerdy, so it will sneak into my posts I’m sure. For example, I just discovered LucyRavenscar, and I think I’m in love.

I can be found on Ravelry, Goodreads, and Twitter. However my pride and joy is my Delicious account where, in true librarian form, I have over 600 fully tagged bookmarks. Highlights can be found on my links page.