According to House of Scotland.org “Fulling, milling, or waulking of home-made cloth for household use was carried out in Gaelic Scotland by pounding the material against a board or trampling it with the feet. The techniques are of great antiquity and were also used elsewhere, but they happened to survive in the Hebrides into the twentieth century. The process of waulking is called luadh (“loo-ugh”) in Gaelic, and the songs of waulking are known as orain luaidh (“or-ine loo-ie”).” (see more about waulking at House Of Scotland )
Apparently there are many songs, but the “beat” remains nearly identical for the best result, a fabric fulled, allowing for the drape needed in a Tartan, so not felted but with a fabric provide warmth by keeping out the wind and provide protection from wet weather.
Below is a clip of the wonderful teacher of weaving and weaving traditions Norman Kennedy leading a Waulking at the John C Campbell Folk School several years ago. I was lucky enough to observe when he led a group at Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival in the past.
Have you ever seen that kids game – the one where the moles pop up out of the hole and the player is supposed to smack it back into its hole?
There are a lot of days when that is exactly what running a small business feels like – except somehow our customers have the hammer and we are moles.
Earlier this week I was sent a copy of a message from a Retailer. After two days of thinking, I agree that other retailers “need to know” about a potential “situation” but do not believe it can even remotely be applied to any single yarn. And BETTER YET, yarn buyers might need to know too
So here’s the situation as I understand it:
The Retailer apparently has a wonderful customer who is an avid sewist as well as a knitter. Many who sew are in the habit of pre-washing fabrics – so she also pre-washes her yarn.
As a spinner, I am not unfamiliar with the idea of fulling a yarn and other techniques for setting twist and yes, I do use the soak and spin cycles of my washer to do this sort of thing. And a gentle SOAK, rolling in a towel or even a spin cycle in one of Dawn Stone’s Fiber Washing Bags has been known to happen in this house especially with hand dyes where I am concerned about dye bleeding.
NOT THE CASE HERE: It seems this person actually follows the label instructions, instructions until now I always thought were tested and intended to be used on “finished garments” so am really not all that surprised when a yarn “in the skein” felted into a tangled mess.
I don;t yet have all the details, but my first thought was how unreliable “temperature settings” on a washing machine can be-I have a bunch of others, but that is what topped the list.
Then I thought about it ‘some more’ and realized it certainly an opportunity for a LYS to use their unique position to educate the consumer and like Marcy Simms says, an educated consumer is our best customer
I honestly do not see how any manufacturer or distributor could have foreseen this one
Who would have thought yarn sellers would need to explain that the care instructions “assume”
“finished garment” or at the very least a swatch to test the “fabric” .
See you in San Diego, where I hope to get a first hand look at the result of this “interesting” experiment and find out the details.
And for the curious – here are product contact details for the Fiber Washings Bags
Suggested Retail $19.95 plus Priority Flat Rate $4.10 postage
Check or Money order.
House of Scotland.org “Fulling, milling, or waulking of home-made cloth for household use was carried out in Gaelic Scotland by pounding the material against a board or trampling it with the feet. The techniques are of great antiquity and were also used elsewhere, but they happened to survive in the Hebrides into the twentieth century. The process of waulking is called luadh (“loo-ugh”) in Gaelic, and the songs of waulking are known as orain luaidh (“or-ine loo-ie”).” (see more about waulking at House Of Scotland )
Apparently there are many songs, but the “beat” remains nearly identical for the best result, a fabric fulled, allowing for the drape needed in a Tartan, so not felted but with a fabric provide warmth by keeping out the wind and provide protection from wet weather.