Mary Jo Putney

Mary Jo Putney

Patricia Rice

Patricia Rice

Susan Fraser King

Susan Fraser King

Anne Gracie

Anne Gracie

Nicola Cornick

Nicola Cornick

Andrea Penrose

Andrea Penrose

Christina Courtenay

Christina Courtenay

wool

Drop Spindle Spinning

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Christina here. As we’ve mentioned many times before on this blog, authors love to do hands-on research as it really helps us to visualise and describe what our characters from the past were doing. So when I saw a quick introductory course in how to use a drop spindle advertised by my local craft centre, I booked it straight away. It was something I’d wanted to learn (or at least try) for a long time, but hadn’t got round to finding anyone to teach me.

First, a little bit of background. Drop spindles are suspended handheld spindles that are used to twist wool and other fibres into thread or yarn. They have been around for millennia – at least as far back as Neolithic times – and no one knows when they originated. But spindle whorls are very common finds in archaeological digs as they are often made from a more lasting material than the rest of the drop spindle.

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Country Living and Natural Colours

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Christina here. With life in the 21st century increasingly hectic, there are quite a few people who decide they want to escape from the rat race and live a simpler way. Buying a smallholding or croft can be the start of a new way of life, and that is exactly what the heroine in my recent novel HIDDEN IN THE MISTS did. She wanted to live in tune with nature, be healthier and happier by spending more time outdoors, and growing/producing as much of her own food as possible. It’s something I think a lot of us dream about and after being cooped up in cities during the pandemic, many people went on to follow that dream.

RoosterClearly it is not for the faint-hearted though – there is no doubt it is hard work. Keeping chickens for eggs, having a cow or two for milk (and/or goats), a flock of sheep for wool, and perhaps other animals for slaughter is probably a must. (Not to mention having to learn how to look after them and doing things like milking.) As is growing copious amounts of vegetables and having fruit trees and berry bushes, as well as foraging in any nearby forests. My heroine is lucky in that she lives on the west coast of Scotland so she is also able to go fishing, which is an added bonus.

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