Old Photograph Crofter Carding Wool Isle Of Skye Scotland

Old photograph of a crofter Carding wool outside a cottage on the Isle Of Skye, Scotland. The purpose of carding is to separate and straighten the wool fibres. The result is wool that makes hand spinning easier. For carding, the wool was put between two flat boards with wire teeth which were scraped together. It was tiring work and the women’s wrists and arms would often ache. In the days before the spinning wheel was introduced, a spindle and whorl were used; merely a rod thrust into a disc of wood. The task was laborious, but being repetitive was often combined with other chores, like the herding of cattle or sheep.



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