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Icelandic Sheep Breeders of North America |
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Volume 5, Number 4 Fall 2001 Icelandic Spinning Wheel “Rokkur”
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IntroductionFrom the settlement of Iceland until the end of the 19th century, most clothing was produced at home. Until about 1800, most people lived on farms and agriculture and fishing were the main occupations of the nation. The most important part of the agriculture was sheep farming. The wool of the sheep was the main - for some people the only - source of fiber for clothing. As a result of that, almost every person was involved in the processing of woolen products. Up to the later part of the 17th century, no raw wool was exported. Everything was worked in country, and exported as a final product. Introduction of the Spinning Wheel in IcelandFrom the settlement of Iceland until the 18th century, all wool was spun on a drop spindle, a type of spindle that was brought to Iceland with the Viking settlers. A few references are made to spinning wheels in the early 18th century but most people spun on a spindle. In the middle of the 18th century, an attempt was made at getting the Industrial Revolution to Iceland and a few factories were established, among those, a textile factory. Spinning wheels were among things imported then. |
These attempts at
industrialization failed and the spread of spinning wheels was still very slow in the last
part of that century. Most of the wheels that were imported were of the
“horizontal” type, i.e. with the driving wheel and flyer assembly side by side.
It was not until the beginning of the 19th century that spinning wheels started to spread
and very quickly thereafter, they were in every home. Probably one of the reasons for the
slow spread to begin with was the type of wheel available in the beginning. The first
wheels to be imported were the horizontal wheels. Later, the upright wheels became, by a
long shot, the most popular wheels in the country. those fit much better into the small
space in the houses in Iceland. In the winter months, the whole household gathered in the
“baostofa” (or common room) to work on the wool and space was at a premium. With
several spinners side by side the compact nature of the upright fit much better.
Not many wheels were imported compared with those made in the country. Most were made
by talented woodworkers or by some not so talented! Every home had several wheels (likely
some owned by the spinners, some by the farm owners) and most were for single spinning. On
many farms there was one wheel, usually bigger than others, that was used for plying. Many
people also plied on the spindle. A story is told of a woman who lived in the north of
Iceland and in 1940 went fora winter long visit to her daughter in Reykjavik. She wrote to
her friend at home that she was well and enjoying herself, but boy, did she miss her
spinning wheel. And she reminded her friend to remember to take her spinning wheel if she
ever visited the capital. This late, the spinning wheel was still an important part of
people’s lives.
My Icelandic Spinning Wheel
This wheel has had three owners for the last 100 years. I am the last owner and I have
only spun about one bobbin full on it. My mother gave me this wheel sometime in the 1960s
when I lived in Iceland. There I used it as a decorative piece in my living room, as was
“in” then. That is all it wa used for. Not until I came to Canada, did I do a
little spinning on it. As you can see, it’s condition does not invite vigorous
spinning. Before me, my mother owned it for a few years. She never touched it for
spinning. She had to learn to spin when she was a little girl and hated it! She could
never understand why I enjoyed spinning. The wheel was given to my mother by a very dear
friend, born in 1865, who had owned it most of her life. However, this friend did not use
it much, since she lived in Reykjavik and since the beginning of the 20th century, both
yarn and cloth was available in stores. This woman also ran her own business and likely
had her hands full and little time for spinning. So I know for sure that this wheel is at
least 100 years old.
My wheel is a typical upright wheel. It is obviously hand made and is well worn. The
orifice pipe is worn a lot and the flyer has grooves made by the yarn passing over it. It
has a double band drive with the tension controlled by the tension screw at the top of the
wheel. The screw moves the flyer assembly up and down. Unfortunately that piece is broken,
so it is stuck on one tension. This is a flyer wheel and the bobbin has a groove where one
part of the drive band goes. Behind the bobbin, on the flyer assembly pin, a wheel is
screwed tight to the flyer and that wheel also has a groove where the other loop of the
drive band goes. The difference in size of these two wheels creates the difference in the
speed of the flyer and the bobbin. Instead of having several hooks on the flyer to move
the yearn, this wheel has holes and only one hook that is moved from hole to hole as the
bobbin fills. Possibly an economy measure, but could also be for convenience. The front
maiden, where the orifice pipe lies, is lined with a leather patch (as are all grooves
where moving parts fit) and when i got it, a shoe lace was used to keep the pipe in place.
The maiden can also move up and down to correspond to the high ring and lowering of the
tension screw to keep the flyer assembly level. the drive wheel is removable by removing
two pins that keep the axle in grooves in the upright sticks. One in is lost and has been
replaced with a cuticle pin. unfortunately, when I moved this wheel from iceland to
Canada, the footman got lost in the move. I remember well what it looked like and hope to
have another one made that will fit the wheel better than the glued together molding I am
using now.
As previously said, I have not done a lot of spinning on this wheel because of its
frail condition. In doing the included sample skein, I greased it up and was surprised by
how much relatively smoothly it ran. It is not in a shape to be used much, but judging
from how worn it is, it must have been a good tool in its time. It was probably used to
spin fine grist and not likely to be used for plying.
I suspect from the looks of the wheel and knowing of its usage for at least the last 75
years that it is well over 100 years old. I find it likely that it is closer to 150
years old. That means it was made when spinning wheels were very important implements in
people’s lives. The spinning wheel has been known in Iceland for less than 300 years
and that means that this particular one has lived for half that time. What stories it
might give us, if only it could!
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