Teasels

We had a lovely meet-up of some of the old Redhall crew today at Errington's Barn, just north of Biggar. M, who lives in Biggar, was the reason for meeting there. I gave him a lift home afterwards and these teasels were in his garden. 

He also showed us the shed where A, his wife, does weaving on a warp-weighted loom where the warp hangs vertically and is kept taught with weights. This kind of loom dates back to Neolithic times in Central Europe, which is a fair way back. It's depicted in artefacts of Bronze Age Greece and was common throughout Europe. Apparently it remained in use in Scandinavia until modern times among Sami people. It seems that it's possible to calculate the density and other properties of the fabric made on the loom from the loom weights. Fascinating! 

It was a splendid day with lots of sunshine and autumn colours and the drive to Biggar and back was lovely. Sadly it's likely that all the leaves will blow off tomorrow with Storm Ashley due to strike.