Lazy Wenches Like to Learn Odd Things

Lazy Wenches are constantly learning new things. The important things that are related to needlework we actively seek out. The less important things, like how much it costs to replace a heat pump are forced upon us. This Wench has spent her life acquiring odd bits of trivia and storing them away for later use. Take for example wool. The Lazy Wench never sheared a sheep. But she dyed and spun and wove wool into cloth. She knows the difference between woolen and worsted because she made woolen and worsted yarns. This knowldge didn't arrive neatly packaged in a single class, nor in one easy to read book. The Wench read many books, took classes on spinning and weaving in diferent places and spent time working with a spinning wheel and loom.

With embroidery techniques this Wench will read books, take classes when she can and then sit down and stitch something incorporating what she just read about. Without the practical application of the learning into creation of a finished object, all that learning is slippery theory. It is easily forgotten and not fully understood, no matter how many books have been read and classes taken. It takes the hands on portion for all the information to really settle in. Each new project is an opportunity to test some theoretical information, each WIP a proving ground. Failures will provide instruction, if only in what not to do.

No learning is ever wasted and most needlework skills are interrelated. Each new skill mastered makes learning the next one that much easier. After a while, Wenches can't remember where they learned something, but they know that it is true. Lazy Wenches have drawers containing half finished projects, shelves loaded with reference books and heads full of trivia about fibers, grounds, needles and the like. If you ask this Wench how much her heat pump cost her, she'll go look it up. If you ask her about cartridge pleating, she can demonstrate it on the spot.

Home
Home
Travel
Travel
Essays
Essays
Instruction
Instruction
SCA
SCA
Wheels
Wheels