In which we learn about a woman called Christian Shaw, who as a child of 11, 'rid' her Scottish County of 7 witches, and then went on to singlehandedly improve the quality of Scottish Linen! There may have been some espionage involved, definitely a curse, and the famous linen 'bleaching fields' in the Netherlands. What a tale!

References & Further Reading:

1. Levack, Brian P. The Witch-Hunt in Early Modern Europe – A broader look at the social and political climate that led to cases like the Bargarran Witch Trials.

2. Beveridge, Craig. Scottish Industrial History: A Study of Textiles and Innovation – Examines the development of the Scottish textile industry, including early industrial espionage.

3. Wikipedia: Christian Shaw – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Shaw

https://www.paisley.org.uk/famous-people/christian-shaw/

JOURNAL ARTICLE

The Genesis of the Linen Thread Trade

H. C. Lawlor

Ulster Journal of Archaeology, Third Series, Vol. 6 (1943), pp. 24-34 (11 pages)

https://www.jstor.org/stable/20566424

Arlene and Suzy travel back in time to discover the role of the Fates, the three women more powerful than the gods, who spun the fate of all.

In this episode we delve into the murky world of wool smuggling! We meet some interesting characters and discover just some of the tales and legends they created. It is amazing to think of wool as such a valuable commodity that its trade was protected and limited, and contraband wool bales clandestinely shipped to other countries!

(You can also watch the video version of this episode on the Fiberygoodness YouTube Channel: https://youtu.be/-gRgl48AqAk )

If you are interested in following up these stories with some more reading, here are some great links to get you started:

Rattenbury wrote a complete dairy which became his memoirs (published 1837) can be read here: https://archive.org/details/memoirsasmuggle00rattgoog/page/n2/mode/1up

Wadhurst History Society — Wadhurst History Society | The History of Smuggling in Sussex and Kent
wadhursthistorysociety.org

Mysterious Britain — Brede Place – Mysterious Britain & Ireland mysteriousbritain.co.uk

Clare Flynn — Smugglers of Sussex | Clare Flynn
clareflynn.co.uk

In this Episode, Arlene shares the dark tale of Frau Perchta, a legendary figure who would observe the work of spinners through the year, and bring punishments to those who did not spin enough for the warping of the looms on the 6th of January.

Further reading: Arlene recommends the book "The Old Magic of Christmas" by Linda Raedisch

Transcript: https://share.descript.com/view/iRGexvhAcY2

In this episode Arlene and Suzy talk about how trends come and go, a bit of history of yarn crafting, and figure out if Suzy is anti-trend or on-trend!

Arlene and Suzy talk about the gift of handmade! All the things to think about when you are planning projects as gifts, some ideas on things to make, when to start, and how to plan your projects to avoid a last minute rush!

This episode is all about how Arlene and Suzy treat their handspun yarn and knit or woven items to 'finish' them, aka set the twist and 'full'. There is also a video to go with this episode in which Suzy demonstrates a method for removing the twist energy from a single to permanently stabilise it and improve its durability: https://youtu.be/ItevBWY6maQ

We talk about the history of some of our most used fiber preparation tools, and compare old to new!