Good morning! Just a quick note to express thanks for your comments on this short series and when something I post brightens your day. I will soon be returning to the Revolutionary War soldiers etc. and just learned that someone on the list just found their ancestor as a soldier! Wishing you a good remaining week and I'll see you Tuesday. Here is the URL again for the past 163 posts I've made: http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/USA/Ky/Tips TIP #164 - GRANDMA WAS A WEAVER AND A CHANDLER I thought it was about time to show that Grandma had some talents too! When it came to weaving, there were few that could outshine Grandma. If a pioneer raised sheep, he also sheared them and then strolled into the cabin with a present for Grandma! He always sheared in the spring and the pelts had to be thoroughly washed. Grandma took the wool and carded it into "slivers". This was done by pulling it between paddles which had studs on them with wire hooks. After doing this, she had a year long task of working with these slivers. She twisted the slivers together on the old spinning wheel. Grandpa also harvested his flax. He pulled up the plants in the middle of summer and then let them rot in water. This was called "retting" them. They were broken into pieces or fragments in sheath and a core on a wooden flax brake, then he used a processing called "scrutching" or "swingling" to cut out the larger chips. Grandma then took over and worked with the fibers. She dragged them through iron combs which were called hatchels. This removed the remaining splinters. Then, back to the wheel which she turned by use of a treadle. She spun the lines into yarn - another process lasting all year. There were male weavers; some were travelers who visited on horseback during the year. If there was no lady of the house, or for some reason she was unable to weave, the visiting weaver would stop by and assist. He would work at Grandma's loom for weeks on ends. Linen woven by Grandma created most of the clothes needed by the early pioneers; shirts, napkins, towels, smocks and many other articles. The wool she wove turned into blankets and outer wearing apparel. If the wool and the flax were combined, the result would be what was called linsey-woolsey and made a very durable and comfortable garment. Ladies who were good weavers were a "catch" for the settler. Many of these ladies became quite professional in working in patterns into the material. A brief description of the process would be: 1. The warp threads were fed from the warp beam (a roller) and guided forward to a smooth timber which was called the breast beam. 2. A crank, located on one side, turned the cloth beam occasionally and rolled up the finished work. There were ratchets on the cloth beam and the warp beam which were adjustable by the weaver and could set the tension. 3. A high backed bench was used by the weaver which hung in front of the loom. Between the bench and the warp beam, she ran the warp threads through a harness. The harness was no more than two sticks - one above the warp and one below it, these connected by "heddles" made of string. Each heddle had a eye tied in the middle through which the warp thread passed. These warps lay between the heddles of the rear harness and vice versa. There was a short rope hitched in the middle of the lower stick and fastened to the treadles near the weaver's feet. Like the old time treadle sewing machine; Grandma beat out a constant rhythm with the treadles. 4. The tramping on the treadles caused the harness to pull downward; the ropes over the roller pulled the other one upward simultaneously. Each carried warp threads. Tabby weaving, which was the term for every other thread, a shed was opened. Grandma threw the shuttle through the shed, pushed down on the other treadle to bring the odds down and the evens up and enclosed the new "weft". The shuttle was made of dogwood or holly normally if these were available. A narrow hole in the shuttle held the weft, wound around a "quill", and it turned on a wire sprung between the ends of the hole. 5. As the shuttle passed, the weaver pulled the material, called batten, toward her. This made an unusual "whomping" sound which could be heard from cabin to cabin. This is a very brief and non-technical look at the workings of a loom. Every woman was proud to say that she was a weaver, and you will not this occupation listed on many of the census records. It was not until many years later than professional weavers opened up shops and could mass produce clothing. But, could it be as special as that made by Grandma? If Grandma was called a CHANDLER, this meant that she never threw away any fat! She rendered the fat and stored it in pottery crocks. During the early pioneer days, the house was illuminated from the grease lamps. Effective perhaps, but it produced a lot of smoke and it didn't smell the best in the world! Candles were much nicer. Grandma would make what was known as "taller dips" in a process of constantly dipping wicks in hot tallow - then cooling them between each dip. If the family had the means, they owned molds made out of tin that could make as many as a dozen candles at a time. If Grandma didn't have the supplies, there were traveling chandlers who came equipped with his own molds and normally made six candles at a time. They were strung on tow-linen candlewick which Grandma had to provide. He melted down some of the stored fat and made a year's supply of candles. There was a well-known superstition that as the mixture boiled he had to turn it with his wooden paddle in only one direction or it would fail. © Copyright 16 July 1998, Sandra K. Gorin, All rights reserved, sgorin@glasgow-ky.com Sandi Gorin - A Proud Kentucky Colonel PUBLISHING: http://members.tripod.com/~GorinS/index.html BARREN CO WEBSITE: http://ww4.choice.net/~jimphp/barrenco/ PRAYER&PRAISE: http://www.listbot.com/subscribe/prayerandpraise