Contest Results

Thank you all so much for all the excellent suggestions for names for my spinning wheel. Ideas poured into the comments and into my inbox. I'll share a few especially interesting ones and then the winning suggestions:

Sarah, knowing that my wheel is a Kromski, felt it deserved a name linked to his country of birth. She wrote, "I really like the traditional Polish names for this one." Angeluna suggested the names of Polish saints.

Many of you shared Angeluna's sense of the mystical and metaphoric but suggested non-Polish examples. Katherine suggested Zihna, "which is Native American and means 'spins'." Carole offered Samsara, the Tibetan Buddhist concept of the endless wheel of rebirth. Bluerose suggested Saule, saying that "In Baltic religion Saule is the sun goddess who determines the well-being of all life on earth. As the full light of the sun, she is also represented by a daisy, a wheel, or a rosette." Uncomformed gives Moirae, the name of the greek goddesses who spun the threads of fate.

Others of you played on the model name Symphony and suggested names based on musical terms or composers. My favorite of these was the suggestion first offered in an email from Donna: Chopin. Chopin was one of Poland's most famous composers. Ironically, as she pointed out, Chopin never composed a symphony. (He composed pretty much exclusively for the piano, my instrument of choice.)

FemiKnitMafia suggested Seamus, a name I love partly because it is the first name of one of my favorite poets and teachers. But Kate said, "I don't know why I'm convinced she's a girl, but I am.” On that front, Lolly's Beatrix and Patricia's Gertie sounded really good.

But then there were a couple of names that resonated very deeply, although the writers had no idea this would be true. Elena offered Alma, the name of one of Son's four grandmothers. And Spinmama suggested Anka or Anechka, Polish for "grace". Although she was thinking of my graceful Polish wheel, I have another connection: my name is from the same roots.

Despite all these terrific suggestions full of humor and meaning and thought, two people came up with what was clearly meant to be. One posted it in the comments just as the other sent me an email. And the winning name is:

ANNABEL LEE from Rebecca and Diana!

"Annabel Lee" is a poem by Edgar Allan Poe, author of "The Purloined Letter." Written to his late wife, it contains some of my favorite love lyrics:

We loved with a love that was more than love
...
And so, all the nighttide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling! my darling, my life, my bride.

(In the name of disclosure, I should tell you that, in good Poe fashion, he is talking about a dead woman.)

Go here for a truly creepy musical setting of the poem. And there is this. And then there has to be the Esperanto translation....

Thanks to all of you for playing. Congratulations to Rebecca and Diana! A wee little gift will be coming your way.

Contest!

In honor of my 100th post, I thought I would hold a little contest:
NAME THAT SPINNING WHEEL!



My spinning wheel is a Kromski Symphony.

Send suggestions to ThePurloinedLetter1 AT yahoo DOT com, or leave them in the comments.

There will be a little prize for the winner suitable for spinners, knitters, or weavers. The deadline is midnight on Sunday, August 13th.

After the contest, I'll post a few of my favorite suggestions!

Sunday Go-to-Meeting Shawl

Last night we rented Lantern Hill, a sappy video version of the book by Lucy Maud Montgomery, the author of Anne of Green Gables. The movie is pretty lame, although it does have a couple of my favorite actors (Sam Waterston and Colleen Dewhurst). Also, both knitting and spinning make their appearances, as does a beautiful spinning wheel that I covet.

Thinking I would be too engrossed in the movie to cross my cables the right way, I picked up a more straightforward project, my “Go-to-Meeting” shawl. (The project acquired that name because it can be knit while I’m at a co-op board meeting or an academic conference, not because I plan to wear it to a religious service). It it knit with a linen yarn that I thought would be great to work with when it gets warm. Since it is freezing right now, I seem to have gotten ahead of myself...

I think I need to cast on something that is not green.

Extreme Coincidence

My father, now home from the hospital, called up and sounds terrific. We compared notes on the facial nerve deficits we each have due to our surgeries. Then he told me what PBS documentaries he has been watching during his recovery.

After a few minutes, he changed the topic and asked how my book is going. When Dad started talking academic history, I knew he was back to his old self. After we chatted about my project, there was a pause in the conversation.

“Hey, you know what I just bought with my book advance? A spinning wheel!” said I.

“Wow! That sounds like something you will love. I’ve only met one other American--or basically American--spinner. When I was collecting folk music in Scotland, one of the women who performed for me introduced me to another American folklorist. He was quite famous in the field, but left it eventually.

“Anyway, he was wearing a beautiful fair isle sweater. Your mother, knitting at that moment herself, realized it was handmade and asked him if his wife had knitted it for him. He looked a little embarrassed and said no, he had knitted it himself and that his mother taught him how when he was a young boy.

“The woman who introduced us interrupted and said, ‘Aye, what he’ll not tell ye is that he not only knit it but he sheared the sheep and spun it up! He's a weaver, too!’" My father paused for a moment. "Goodness, what was that man’s name? Ah, yes—Norman Kennedy.”

I spluttered, “Norman Kennedy? THE Norman Kennedy, the textile guy from Williamsburg?! the master teacher?!”

My father sounded pleased: “You’ve heard of him?”

I was flabbergasted. “I can’t believe you brought him up right now. I started knitting a shawl during your surgery. The shawl is modeled in the pattern book by Norman Kennedy’s mother, the one who taught him to knit!”

What an incredible coincidence, more for it to have come up so randomly in conversation than the fact that he knew the model’s son.

This shawl has been about love and connection since the moment I cast on. Clearly, this particular project was meant to be, and the fates are reminding me of that again and again.




Other lace posts:
1, 2, 3, 4