Wool has been used by humans since the Stone Age about 10,000 years ago. Primitive man used sheep for three basic human needs: food, clothing and shelter. Evidence of humans spinning wool exist from over 4000 years ago. From this they were able to weave which created yarn and fibres for more advanced clothes and products such as blankets and carpets. The first woven fabrics are dated from approximately 2400 years ago.
Yarn would have originally been created by hand by pulling and tugging the fibres. This then was replaced by drop spindles, the earliest record of these in Ireland was in the Bronze Age.
Drop spindles are simple, ancient tools used for hand-spinning fibres into yarn. They have a long history that dates back thousands of years and have been used by various cultures across the world.
Drop spindles use gravity and the weight of the whorl to create tension in the fibre and spin it into yarn.
It was often the young girls in the house given the job of spinning the yarn and this could have been a social activity as they could leave the house and meet friends while doing this as the ‘drop spindle’ was a mobile device.
The term ‘spinster’ was given to the person spinning the yarn but this was later used as a negative term for an unmarried woman, often older in age.
When drop spindles were replaced by spinning wheels this activity had to be done at home and became less of a social activity.
Before chemical dyes where available, vegetables and hedgerow plants were used to dye wool and other items. It is still a great way to create beautiful and eco-friendly colours for your yarn or fabric. There are many plants, flowers, fruits, vegetables, and spices that can be used as natural dyes, and each one can produce different shades depending on the type of wool, the amount of dye and other factors.
Some of the natural materials from the farm that can be used are:
These flowers produce a bright yellow colour that can be modified with different ‘fixers’ which are chemicals such as vinegar that the wool is soaked in first. For example, adding vinegar can make the colour more orange, while adding washing soda can make it more green.
These are a readily available source of natural dye that can produce amber, brown, or gold colours depending on the amount of skins and the type of onion. Red onion skins tend to produce darker colours than yellow onion skins.
These flowers were also used to dye eggs at Easter by boiling them in the with eggs. They were also used to make hair dye to create a ‘blonde’ colour. They should give wool a light yellow colour.
This climbing plant can give many different shades of green.
Many different types of berries can be used including blackberries, bilberries, hawthorn and rowan, all giving different shades of red to purple.
Nettles have many uses and dying is one of them. They give a soft grey-green hue but as with other plants the shade can change depending on your recipe.
Heather is the main plant in the Sperrin Uplands over the blanket bog. There are different types of heather and they come in various colours, including pinks, purples, and greens, so the colour of the heather you use will affect the dye outcome.
Anti-clockwise: Moving in the opposite direction that a clock’s hands would move in so to the left in a circular fashion.
Clockwise: Moving in the same direction that a clock’s hands would move in so to the right in a circular fashion
Fleece: The whole wool coat that comes off the sheep at shearing. It tends to stay together not like when we get our hair cut.
Plying: Twisting one or more strands of yarn together to create a stronger yarn.
Whorl: A spindle whorl is a disc or spherical object fitted onto the spindle to increase and maintain the speed of the spin.
Yarn: Yarn is a long continuous length of interlocked fibres, used in sewing, crocheting, knitting, weaving, embroidery, ropemaking, and the production of textiles.
