Went to the MD Sheep & Wool Festival

I had fun at the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival yesterday. I missed it last year so I was in withdrawal and finally got my "fix" for this year.





Love those alpacas! If I come back in another life, want to be an alpaca farmer.


And some indulgences I purchased this year. I did not go too overboard, especially since I was making up for missing last year. Pictured are Solmate Socks from Delly's Delights Farm, a MD Sheep & Wool Festival bag, a small yarn bowl from Jennie the Potter of Minneapolis, Silk yarn from Oak Grove of Summit Hill PA, and Eastern European spindle and Tree-of-Life distaff from Willow Brook Farm of Ft.Washington PA. The crochet hook bag is a former, Etsy- Solveig's shop (Solveeeig), purchase, which I carried to the Festival. The redwork runner, a former eBay purchase.

Rock Sluicing

On 10 & 11 April I went to Emerald Hollow Mine in Hiddenite, NC. I admit to having cheated. I did not dig in the dirt or in the creek but instead just sluiced. After sluicing a couple native buckets and finding nothing, I really cheated sluicing their Super, Killer Beryl, and Star Ruby/Sapphire buckets. I gave some of my finds to the lapadarist to be made into cabochons, but will have to wait at least 6 weeks to see the finished product. Here are some of my other finds in their raw form. I hope to make some of these into jewelry some time in the future. Shown here are agate, amethyst, apatite, aquamarine, bloodstone, emerald, flourite, moonstone, quartz crystal, rose quartz, ruby, rutile quartz, sapphire, serpentine, smoky quartz, topaz, and black tourmaline.

Vienna Remembers -- again

More Pictures related to the Vienna WWII exhibit mentioned in my last post:

Historic Vienna VA WWII Homefront Exhibit

Easter/Passover Greetings,

Yesterday I visited the Historic Freeman Store, Vienna VA to take pictures of my homefront items on display there. Here I am next to a box of my homefront (mostly workbasket-related) items. Vienna Remembers WWII will be on display until the end of April. See Historic Vienna for more details about the exhibit.


Here is a closer picture of the contents of the box containing: sheet music, a Life magazine with knitter on cover, Hitler statuette with pincushion rump, a victory hanky, Bundles for Britain knitting bag, Bundles for America knitting patterns "for Fighting Forces", bracelet of military & victory charms, r/w/b knitting tools, comic post card, sweater knit for American Red Cross to distribute to a soldier, and scattered "war pack" hand sewing needles.

It has been a long time since my last posting. I have been working on my new website:   http://threadwinder.info/ . The website is currently very skeletal and not very athetically pleasing, but you can get an idea of what will be out there by checking it out.

Avery Butterfly Needlebook Holder Anniversary Gift

Valentines' Day was my husband's and my 40th wedding anniversary. Look what he got me! An Avery Butterfly Needlepack Holder 1880s, photographed with a quarter in Northern Virginia's recent record-breaking snow:

Sewing Machine Stitchery Samples --- Actual & Facsimile

I am searching for sewing machine stitchery samples, actual or facsimile, and information on them. So far I have found actual stitch samples on miniature (2.5" - almost 5") aprons (which are marked that they were made on the advertised sewing machine), trade cards with actual embroidery on the card done on the advertised sewing machine, and trade cards and advertising flyers with copies/facsimiles of the sewing machine's stitchery. for some examples see Iantiqueonline Sewing Machine Stitchery Samples
If you know anything about these or have any to sell I would be very interested in hearing from you.

Aprons Worn While Sewing, Mending, Darning, & Knitting

Here is a link to pictures of another favorite collectible of mine:
Sewing, Knitting, & Mending Aprons

Bundles For Britain

More goodies on desplay. Bundles for Britain was an American campaign started when Winston Churchill petitioned the American people to provide warm cloths for the British Military. Eleanore Roosevelt supported it and contributed her own knitting to the cause. Mrs. Natalie Wales Latham of New York organized Bundles for Britain which grew to provide clothing and other articles to British military, wounded, and displaced people.
Pictured here is the cover of the sheet music, "Pick Up Your Knitting." Bundles for Britain continued as a popular charity until the US entered the war when most knitting/sewing was diverted to our own military. See the following pictures of additional Bundles for Britain knitting campaign items:
iAntiqueOnline Bundles For Britain

On the IAntiqueOnline site are shown Pick Up Your Knitting, The Bundles for Britain Song sheet music, next the address by Winston Churchill within the front cover of the sheet music. Then Vivien Leigh knitting for Britain on the front cover of December 17, 1940 Look magazine, followed by a Bundles for Britain knitting bag with relief agency pins. Lastly are 2 images for the Dionne Quints knitting for Britain, 1 on the October 4, 1941 Liberty magazine and another on a postcard depicting a photo taken in 1938.

Threadwinders

Someone asked me the meaning of my pseudonym, threadwinder.

Being a collector of textile tools it seemed like a natural name to me. After all, before thread was put on spools it was spun into hanks (and sold in hanks). Seamstresses had to wind their thread onto threadwinders before they did their sewing, very much like winding hanks of yarn into balls for knitting or crocheting. Threadwinders are little knobbed disks, usually made of bone, ivory, or mother-of-pearl; but occasionally of horn, wood, or other materials (pictures to be posted later). With the advent of practical sewing machines in the 1850's thread had to be on spools, and the use of threadwinders diminished.

I also see myself as one who winds literal threads, whether it be for crocheting, knitting, sewing, lace-making, weaving, spinning, or bead working. I also love winding histories of textiles and textile tools.

Figural Crochet Hooks and Knit your Bit

I have not set up a website yet, so threadwinder.info does not work yet, but it is under construction.


Here is a selection of figural crochet hooks, mostly made of bone or ivory (one silver-plated metal) from the late 1800s through the early 1900s. My first Crochet Guild of America (CGOA) Chain Link Newsletter blurb will be in the May 2010 issue. It is about collecting figural crochet hooks. For additional information not included in the Chain Link article see the following article. It includes some more details on the shown hooks and provides information on identifying ivory and bone,as well as the legalities of buying ivory.
iAntiqueOnline Figural Crochet Hooks


During WWI and WWII it was considered patriotic to knit for the military, wounded, and refugees. Popular culture, including magazines, posters, postcards, and songs encouraged the activity. Pictured is a selection of WWII knitting songs. During July 2008, I displayed most of my WWI and WWII knitting/sewing collectibles at the Bull Run Regional Library in Manassas, VA. Here are some pictures of the display:
iAntiqueOnline WWI&II Workbasket Campaigns

Until next time......

Just Getting Started...

Hello anyone who may be interested. I just bit the bullet and got a domain name: threadwinder.info and started a blog. I plan to post articles about textile tools and textile history here.