Thanks, I figured you guys would see the benefits and self reliance in this and its associated skills. Along with starting a fire just about anywhere with just about anything I can pretty much do the same thing with fiber arts. With my understanding of the process and characteristics of fibers with little more that a good pocket knife and raw materials I could make a hammock, net, bow strings, snare lines or a sweater, a shade hat or given enough time and ambition sails. Ive made primitive spinning tools like the drop spindle and simple tabby weave looms. There are plenty of strong fibers in the wild from bark to weeds to palm and sinew.
People cherish and adore Viking ships and Caravels among other ancient sailing ships but can you imagine that in those days all the threads where spun on a drop spindle, They could mill the trees and lay up a hull faster and with much less labor than it took to weave the sails, all of this is forgotten because of the advent of the spinning wheel and the mechanizing of its technology.
Its my opinion that women rights began in America during the American Revolution with out these women sheering, carding, spinning, knitting, weaving and darning wool for Washingtons men all would have been lost, and they knew it. It was in part because of Englands prohibition of fiber crafts and self-reliance in these skills and trades along with taxes and cost of material that could readily be made in the colonies that brought about the war.
Sorry, Im going off on a tangent here but as it was said above once the machine breaks we will find we have drifted very far away from fundamental (primitive?) technologies.
I just snapped this, the washcloth is jute and doubles as fire tender if need be, the spindle is moose antler and I quickly spun a bit of two ply and a small spool of single thread from a demonstration I did a few years back.
