Monday, 7 January 2013

What I will be doing on Saint Distaff's Day



 St. Distaff's Day




Robert Herrick (1591-1674)       
    Partly work, and partly play,
  Ye must on St Distaff's day:
  From the plough soone free your teame,
  Then come home and fother them.
  If the maides a spinning goe,
  Burne the flax, and fire the tow.

  Bring in pailes of water then,
   Let the maides bewash the men:
  Give St. Distaff all the right
  Then bid Christmas sport good-night.
  And next morrow, every one
  To his own vocation.



Today , January 7th, is Saint Distaffs Day. The first day after Epiphany. The Yule feast period has come to an end and work  resumes. Women returned to their spinning.
  A distaff is a staff with a cleft for holding wool, flax, etc. from which thread is drawn while being spun by hand.
So, now that the festivities are over, the decorations are all packed away and the  last piece of Christmas cake eaten  it is the time that I resume my 'spinning' . Well not spinning myself although I have in the past and do have a distaff and carding paddles. I am going to pick up my knitting needles and knit knit knit. I have chosen my yarn. Hooray, what fun I had in the shop , away from the sales and looking at yarns and patterns.

I have also been sorting through my photos and I have chosen one from each month to remember 2012. Here they are:
                                Dr Who Experience London on board the Tardis. January
                                              Bulrushes at Pegwell Bay Kent February
                                                   Snowdrops in the garden March
                                                     Tulips in the garden April

                                            Chartwell Kent May

                                        The balcony on Jubilee  Day June

                                                            Sissinghurst Kent July
                                                    The garden in August

                                   1940's Day Chatham Dockyards September

                                   Crochet hook roll made for my daughter October
                                                         Frosty garden November

                                                       Wreath December










1 comment:

  1. I enjoyed the poem and the photos. I must leave this laptop and get on with my own "spinning". Perhaps you'll share your knitting; mine has been woefully neglected.
    -Karen

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