Spun from the distaff

Proverbs 31:19 - In her hands she holds a distaff and grasps the spindle with her fingers.

A depiction of Saint Gertrude of the 7th century using a spindle and a free standing distaff.

So I have very expensive hobbies, they seem inexpensive when you start, then you get into it and oops. You have $5,000 in materials. At first I thought spinning would be the cheapest. (Tatting is so far). But a five dollar spindle turned into a two hundred dollar spinning wheel and then my mom bought me the raw wool of an entire sheep. And I spent money on combs and card to process said sheep. Now I am on the hunt for a distaff for my wool but also so I can spin flax.

A Distaff is used mostly in flax spinning, and holds your fibers as you spin. They vary in shape and size depending on the fiber, culture and spinners preferences and sit under the spinners arm, stand on the floor or attach to the spinning wheel itself. I have even seen paintings of them attached to the walls. The purpose is to help keep the fibers from knotting and to hold your fiber as to free another hand. Most useful in flax spinning because the fibers can be very long, but also you need one hand free to wet the fibers as you spin. This gives you a softer, finer and more polished linen. Of course you can do it without wetting the fibers but you get a rough material.

A woman with an attached distaff, and two examples of hand held ones. Note the different positions.

To dress a distaff you flatten out the material and wrap it around the distaff. One wrapped you tie a ribbon or string around it to hold it in place. Wool can be placed in or on the distaff. Wool distaffs appear to be more pronged or hook shaped where flax distaffs are more rounded or squared better for wrapping. As for how long they have been in use, since they are mentioned in the bible and helpful in spinning probably nearly as old as spinning.

1. A distaff in a rounded shape.
2. A Puritan girl multitasking like a pro.
3. Women spinning flax by wetting it with their mouth.

So off I go in search of a distaff or maybe I will make one. Maybe not an adventure but at least it is useful.

Queen Victoria spinning, your argument that it is a hipsters hobby is invalid.