Tool
Spindle and distaff
Picture to come.
The basic tools for spinning. The distaff was a stick holding a mass of prepared fibre; the spindle was a short tapered rod weighted with a whorl of stone, bone, lead or fired clay, set spinning to twist the fibre into thread, which was then wound onto it. In 12th-century England all yarn was spun this way, mostly by women; the spinning wheel came later.
Caveats (confidence: high)
The spinning wheel is generally dated to 13th-century Europe; its date of arrival in England is not stated precisely here.
Sources: spinoffmagazine.com
Made by
- Whittle a spindle
A tool for
- Card and spin
- Ret and spin flax