While writing a presentation on spinning I was working on a section on Myths about the European Medieval Spinning technique. I though it would be fun to share some, so for the next few Monday’s keep an eye out for them here 🙂
Myth:
Distaffs are only used for flax.
Or
Distaffs are only used for long fibres such as long haired sheep and flax.
Fact:
Distaffs are used for short fibres like cotton. While for some spinning techniques such as drop spindle spinning a distaff does not take an active role in the spinning process and thus tends only to be used for longer fibres to help organise them, in many European styles the distaff is needed for the drafting and spinning technique regardless of the fibre length.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zC0_g77m-jc
15thcenturyspinning 