Spinning Wheel in the Corner

 My late mother-in-law, Elaine, was a weaver. A room in my in-laws’ four-bedroom house was set aside as her “loom room.” Inside were shelves to hold boxes and boxes of a wide variety of yarns and a large loom that was probably five feet wide and about as tall.

I never saw her working that big loom where she made area rugs, but my husband remembers falling asleep to the sound of the foot pedals and the clank of the heddle frames as she worked after the children were in bed. What she worked on when I joined the family was a table loom that was always set up for making placemats. A set of eight in brown, rust, and gold yarn was our wedding present.

Also involved with weaving was spinning the yarn. Elaine often said this process was her favorite part because she often bought raw wool (they lived in Anaheim, CA, so I’m not sure where she found it) and dyed it herself. She found the process of using a spinning wheel to stretch and twist the wool into yarn soothing. I remember seeing wall hangings she’d made where the yarn was the shape we all know but it also contained small sections where it puffed out. The picture below is her wheel that sits in a corner of our upstairs room. My sister-in-law has her tabletop loom.

Spinning and weaving wasn’t part of my childhood, but I remember my mom talking about a grandmother back in Missouri who spun wool. From the History Myths Debunked blog, the practice of spinning and weaving and these implements being in every household stopped being true after the early years in Colonial America. Importing fabric from England proved cheaper…unless you raised your own sheep or had access to raw wool and lived on the frontier, where shipping costs would make the yardage less of a bargain.

How many of you have memories of seeing a loom or spinning wheel in a grandparent’s house?

A story in my backlist featured a sheep rancher who also a weaver.

A Vow for Christmas, part of the Spinster Mail-Order Brides series

In the three years since his beloved wife died, rancher Chad Rutherford has done the best for his family. But with his sister leaving the family ranch to get married, he needs to find someone to keep house and tend his kids so he places an ad for a mail-order bride.

Left on her own by her brother’s murder, spinster Vika Carmichael must find a way to life. An ad for a mail-order bride from a widower with small children seems like the perfect fit. Until she arrives in Gunnison, Colorado Territory, and wonders if room for her exists in their hearts.

Will two proud individuals find a way to work together, or will their marriage vow be broken before Christmas?

Amazon link and in KU