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    Lowcountry Sun - February 2009

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    lcs-feb-09

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    Lowcountry Sun - February 2009

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
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    4 views24 pages

    Lcs Feb 09

    Uploaded by

    lowcountrysunononly
    Lowcountry Sun - February 2009

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    of 24
    leston, South Carolina Lowcountry Sun Serving Berkeley, Dorchester and Charleston Counties Michaela Mcintosh: A Very Different Kind of “Spin Doctor” By Bill Farley Night Writer Service ‘Stop a passerby any where in the Lowcountry and ask what he or she knows about “spinning. The answers you get will likely range from “a way to get a good workout at the health club” to 470s hit tune by Blood Sweat and Tears” to "a fairy tale about a dwarf named Rumplestiltskin to... blank stare Not so if that random stranger you query happens to he Michaela McIntosh, petite blue-eyed dynamo whose cozy home West of the Ashley is jam-packed with all manner of spinning wheels, Jooms, spindles, spools, bags of natural and dy ed luff including wool from merino, alpaca, sheep and more and innumerable examples of the fabric, garments, rugs and other Woven treasures that hhave gone from the rawest of raw materials to elegant finished products by passing through her hands, back to the early 1800s and are works of art in their own Fight rafted machines that are still fully functional nearly two centuries after their She owns collapsible looms and tabletop looms as well but the piece of equipment Michaela’s passionate journey of weaving and that dominates one entire room in her home is a ereation of such size and complexity that to a spinning has included asin’ asa colonial weaver. neophyte its workings are almost incomprehensible Operating this gargantuan loom seems akin to playing a pipe organ while flying a helicopter all the while fol lowing a meticulously designed pattern of the warp and woof of hundreds of threads. McIntosh sells some of her ‘work, hut is content to give away much ofthe rest to family and friends. For her, spinning and weaving is not so much a matter of commerce as away of life T fell into this den of That, of course, marks her as an anachronism in the 21st century : No one is certain whi but many experts, spinners and weavers date its inception as at least 7000 years ago, around 5000 B.C. Their who were just wonder- development became a necessity when the human population had grown ful, sharing people. I to such an extent that it was no longer feasible to simply Kill and skin ir individual animals and drape people with their skins, ea The ancient Egyptians and the Chinese are credited with many of t refinements that made wide-spread spinning and weaving practical, But, until the Industrial Revolution, the pro ‘cess Was slow, solitary and painstaking, Tt was also considered almost universally t0 be “women’s work,” hence Michaela’ collection of ooms and the term “spinster” denoting a female who remained unmarried and devoted her life and energies to creating fabric vlheels include some from the ISOs After factories and machinery took over the labor-intensive work of spinning and weaving, the art and craft of both declined precipitously until today. when neither is practiced extensively except as a hobby And, why should it not be so? It's surely mt

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