Poem: "Hot Water on Wool"
Apr. 10th, 2024 05:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithThis poem came out of the March 19, 2024 Bonus Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from wyld_dandelyon. It also fills the "Wool" square in my 3-1-24 card for the National Crafting Month Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by Anthony Barrette. It belongs to the series Beneath the Family Tree.
"Hot Water on Wool"
Spring had come, making
all of the hairy animals
shed their woolly coats.
It was at this time when
Busy Fingers discovered
a new magic in wool, and
she did not even need
a spirit wind to do it.
She noticed that some
of the wool people brought
to her for cord-making was
already stuck to itself and not
interested in becoming a cord.
She had no idea why this
would happen, though, so she
set it aside to think about later.
Then one day Busy Fingers
was skinning a mountain sheep
that some hunters had brought home,
when she noticed little thumb-sized bits
of wool clotted together on its belly,
especially close to the legs.
So the shaman took a handful
of wool and crammed it into
her armpit, wrapping it in place
with a rabbit hide and some cord.
At the end of the day, she took
it out and pulled at the edges.
It had not bound itself together
but it was definitely getting clingy.
Busy Fingers put the wool back
in her armpit and went to bed.
It took several days of wearing
the stuff before it matted as tightly
as the bits she'd found on the sheep.
"What are you doing, Busy Fingers?"
asked Cobble. "Are you trying
to grow a sheep in your armpit?"
The shaman laughed. "No, no,
I'm trying to figure out how sheep
make these little wads of wool
stick together. Wouldn't it be
handy to have something bigger
than just a narrow piece of cord?"
Cobble hummed a little, then
wrapped the piece of stuck wool
around the blunt end of a flint knife.
It didn't cover quite all of the rough spots.
"Bigger would be better," he said. "If
you can make more of this, I would
gladly trade you a new knife for it."
"Agreed," said Busy Fingers, who
had dulled her last knife skinning
that sheep and wasn't very good at
the fussy process of resharpening.
She sat by the fire and thought
about the wool, why it would
stick together sometimes
but not all of the time.
She felt pretty sure that
it had something to do with
squeezing and rubbing, since
the tightest pieces came from
where the sheep's body
brushed against itself.
Then she wondered if
heat and moisture might
play a role, since armpits
were warm damp places.
Busy Fingers tried out
all kinds of rubbing, and
soon learned that you
had to be kind of careful
with wool or it fell apart.
She also experimented
with different kinds of liquid,
since sweat was even smellier
than the already stinky sheep.
Then one day Gullwing
knocked over a cookbasket,
spilling hot water all over
the wool that Busy Fingers
had been mashing together.
"Oh, I'm so sorry! Did you
get burned?" said Gullwing.
"No, I'm fine, I jumped away
from it in time -- but look at this,"
said Busy Finger. "The hot water
is making this wool stick so tight!"
"That is interesting," said Gullwing.
She picked up a piece of wool and
squeezed it so the water ran out.
"You know what this would be
good for? Packing baby butts."
"Definitely," said Busy Fingers.
"Here, feel my armpit. Something
in the wool made my skin all soft."
Gullwing stuck a hand underneath
the shaman's wrap and stroked
under her arm. "Huh. It is soft."
"If I could figure out how to put that
in a bowl, I wouldn't need anything
else to trade," said Busy Fingers.
"True, but I would love to trade
for some pieces of stuck wool,"
said Gullwing. She spread
her hands to measure. "About
the size of a rabbit skin, to wrap
Speckle's messy little butt."
"What will you trade for that?"
Busy Fingers asked her.
"I will give you a basket
of eggs for each piece,
as soon as the shorebirds
start laying," said Gullwing.
"Agreed," said Busy Fingers.
So she worked through
her piles of wool, which
went much faster now that
she knew the hot water trick.
She gave Cobble some pieces
the size of her hand to trade
for a new knife as well as
resharpening the old one.
"I call it Felt," said the shaman.
"It's kind of like leather, but
softer, and it can soak up
water without falling apart."
"This is interesting stuff,"
Cobble said, and set about
wrapping his tools with it.
Busy Fingers gave Gullwing
a stack of pieces big enough
to wrap Speckle's butt, and
didn't have to scramble over
cliffs herself to get some eggs.
That evening, Busy Fingers
was staring at the coals of
the hearth fire, mulling over
why wool made skin feel soft.
"You should be working,
woman, even if you are
a shaman," said Snarl.
"Leave her alone,"
Cobble snapped. "She
probably is working."
"Well, I haven't quite
worked it out yet, but I
have a few tufts of ideas."
Busy Fingers admitted.
"Wool is complicated."
"You still know more
about it than anyone else
knows," Gullwing pointed out.
"What good is knowledge if it
leads to sitting by the fire instead
of doing chores?" said Snarl.
"Knowledge is like hot water
on wool," said Busy Fingers.
"It shrinks time and space. It
makes fuzzy little ideas stick
together into something useful."
"Quit being such a baby's butt,"
Gullwing said to Snarl. "We
want the shaman to keep
working with her head. She
can work with her hands later."
Busy Fingers didn't discover
anything more that night,
but she delighted in having
people stand up for her.
It was nice to have friends.
* * *
Notes:
"Knowledge is hot water on wool. It shrinks time and space."
-- Mark Z. Danielewski
This poem comes after:
"Gifts from the Spirit Wind" 1-26-14
"A Stranger's Way" 1-1-14
Wool is a type of animal fiber that has catch, which means it sticks to itself. This happens because of tiny scales on the fibers, hence why wool tends to shrink and felt. Thigh spinning is the earliest form of cordmaking, which works quite well with wool. Working closely with wool like encourages thinking about its traits. There are various techniques for making felt, which is considered the oldest fabric.
Lanolin is a waxy substance produced by sheep, famous for softening skin. Learn how to extract lanolin from sheep wool.
One historic cooking method uses baskets in which water is heated with hot rocks. Various materials may be used including birch bark, spruce roots, willow, pine needles, or sweetgrass. People use whatever they can find nearby. This page explains how many rocks you typically need for this type of cooking -- useful survival skill if you don't have a fireproof vessel of glass or metal.
wyld_dandelyon. It also fills the "Wool" square in my 3-1-24 card for the National Crafting Month Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by Anthony Barrette. It belongs to the series Beneath the Family Tree."Hot Water on Wool"
Spring had come, making
all of the hairy animals
shed their woolly coats.
It was at this time when
Busy Fingers discovered
a new magic in wool, and
she did not even need
a spirit wind to do it.
She noticed that some
of the wool people brought
to her for cord-making was
already stuck to itself and not
interested in becoming a cord.
She had no idea why this
would happen, though, so she
set it aside to think about later.
Then one day Busy Fingers
was skinning a mountain sheep
that some hunters had brought home,
when she noticed little thumb-sized bits
of wool clotted together on its belly,
especially close to the legs.
So the shaman took a handful
of wool and crammed it into
her armpit, wrapping it in place
with a rabbit hide and some cord.
At the end of the day, she took
it out and pulled at the edges.
It had not bound itself together
but it was definitely getting clingy.
Busy Fingers put the wool back
in her armpit and went to bed.
It took several days of wearing
the stuff before it matted as tightly
as the bits she'd found on the sheep.
"What are you doing, Busy Fingers?"
asked Cobble. "Are you trying
to grow a sheep in your armpit?"
The shaman laughed. "No, no,
I'm trying to figure out how sheep
make these little wads of wool
stick together. Wouldn't it be
handy to have something bigger
than just a narrow piece of cord?"
Cobble hummed a little, then
wrapped the piece of stuck wool
around the blunt end of a flint knife.
It didn't cover quite all of the rough spots.
"Bigger would be better," he said. "If
you can make more of this, I would
gladly trade you a new knife for it."
"Agreed," said Busy Fingers, who
had dulled her last knife skinning
that sheep and wasn't very good at
the fussy process of resharpening.
She sat by the fire and thought
about the wool, why it would
stick together sometimes
but not all of the time.
She felt pretty sure that
it had something to do with
squeezing and rubbing, since
the tightest pieces came from
where the sheep's body
brushed against itself.
Then she wondered if
heat and moisture might
play a role, since armpits
were warm damp places.
Busy Fingers tried out
all kinds of rubbing, and
soon learned that you
had to be kind of careful
with wool or it fell apart.
She also experimented
with different kinds of liquid,
since sweat was even smellier
than the already stinky sheep.
Then one day Gullwing
knocked over a cookbasket,
spilling hot water all over
the wool that Busy Fingers
had been mashing together.
"Oh, I'm so sorry! Did you
get burned?" said Gullwing.
"No, I'm fine, I jumped away
from it in time -- but look at this,"
said Busy Finger. "The hot water
is making this wool stick so tight!"
"That is interesting," said Gullwing.
She picked up a piece of wool and
squeezed it so the water ran out.
"You know what this would be
good for? Packing baby butts."
"Definitely," said Busy Fingers.
"Here, feel my armpit. Something
in the wool made my skin all soft."
Gullwing stuck a hand underneath
the shaman's wrap and stroked
under her arm. "Huh. It is soft."
"If I could figure out how to put that
in a bowl, I wouldn't need anything
else to trade," said Busy Fingers.
"True, but I would love to trade
for some pieces of stuck wool,"
said Gullwing. She spread
her hands to measure. "About
the size of a rabbit skin, to wrap
Speckle's messy little butt."
"What will you trade for that?"
Busy Fingers asked her.
"I will give you a basket
of eggs for each piece,
as soon as the shorebirds
start laying," said Gullwing.
"Agreed," said Busy Fingers.
So she worked through
her piles of wool, which
went much faster now that
she knew the hot water trick.
She gave Cobble some pieces
the size of her hand to trade
for a new knife as well as
resharpening the old one.
"I call it Felt," said the shaman.
"It's kind of like leather, but
softer, and it can soak up
water without falling apart."
"This is interesting stuff,"
Cobble said, and set about
wrapping his tools with it.
Busy Fingers gave Gullwing
a stack of pieces big enough
to wrap Speckle's butt, and
didn't have to scramble over
cliffs herself to get some eggs.
That evening, Busy Fingers
was staring at the coals of
the hearth fire, mulling over
why wool made skin feel soft.
"You should be working,
woman, even if you are
a shaman," said Snarl.
"Leave her alone,"
Cobble snapped. "She
probably is working."
"Well, I haven't quite
worked it out yet, but I
have a few tufts of ideas."
Busy Fingers admitted.
"Wool is complicated."
"You still know more
about it than anyone else
knows," Gullwing pointed out.
"What good is knowledge if it
leads to sitting by the fire instead
of doing chores?" said Snarl.
"Knowledge is like hot water
on wool," said Busy Fingers.
"It shrinks time and space. It
makes fuzzy little ideas stick
together into something useful."
"Quit being such a baby's butt,"
Gullwing said to Snarl. "We
want the shaman to keep
working with her head. She
can work with her hands later."
Busy Fingers didn't discover
anything more that night,
but she delighted in having
people stand up for her.
It was nice to have friends.
* * *
Notes:
"Knowledge is hot water on wool. It shrinks time and space."
-- Mark Z. Danielewski
This poem comes after:
"Gifts from the Spirit Wind" 1-26-14
"A Stranger's Way" 1-1-14
Wool is a type of animal fiber that has catch, which means it sticks to itself. This happens because of tiny scales on the fibers, hence why wool tends to shrink and felt. Thigh spinning is the earliest form of cordmaking, which works quite well with wool. Working closely with wool like encourages thinking about its traits. There are various techniques for making felt, which is considered the oldest fabric.
Lanolin is a waxy substance produced by sheep, famous for softening skin. Learn how to extract lanolin from sheep wool.
One historic cooking method uses baskets in which water is heated with hot rocks. Various materials may be used including birch bark, spruce roots, willow, pine needles, or sweetgrass. People use whatever they can find nearby. This page explains how many rocks you typically need for this type of cooking -- useful survival skill if you don't have a fireproof vessel of glass or metal.
