Trying out fabric art? Check out Prickett's Fort
Aug. 6—FAIRMONT — For artisans that work with any type of thread, Fort Prickett might be an unexpected place to pick up some extra skills. The state park offers several different sorts of classes, but of particular interest to crochet or knitting enthusiasts might be the spinning classes that take place inside the fort.
"She has mostly my undivided attention for an hour, so that's why it's called an introduction," Judy Wilson, the spinning teacher, said. "It's often easier to sit across from each other and pretty soon she's going to give it a try to get it started."
Wilson taught two students back to back on Saturday, clad in her period clothes while sitting opposite to her student. They began by carding fiber, which refers to using two large paddles with embedded bristles to disentangle, clean and intermix the fiber into a web that can then be processed into thread on a large spinning wheel. The class is a hands-on experience where students can take the product of their work home at the end. To throw in a closer for the class's sales pitch, Olive the cat also presides over the lessons, granting those who come with her expertise when it comes to napping.
At the same time, the class served as a history lesson. Several different types of wheels were on display, from small handwheels, a medium sized treadle to the giant, great wheel, which Wilson used to spin the fiber into thread. The log walls of the meeting house, 18th century tools and furniture, as well as a loom dating back to around 1774 created the perfect ambiance to learn in.
Spinning was an important skill back in those frontier days.
"They'd be important, because the nearest place for these folks to buy anything in the early days out here was 100 miles that way, Winchester, Virginia or 100 miles that way, Fort Pitt, so they had to know how to keep themselves supplied," Wilson said.
Pamela Carico, from Morgantown, was Wilson's second student of the day. Weaving and fiber arts has been one of her interests since high school. Although she isn't currently weaving or practicing any form of fiber art at home, she does have all the tools. The class was a way for her to ease back into the skill, which she has had exposure to over the years.
"It was fun to just be in a place learning an old craft that we take for granted," Carico said. "And so learning with those tools and then eventually to get to a loom, it was enjoyable to get my hands on it. It wasn't easy. I got a couple of little nicks on my finger, but I'll learn.
Carico said learning the skill is important because it's similar to learning where food comes from, such as a garden. It teaches the basics which can be laid as a foundation to something more complex and much more powerful. She studied engineering in college and compared it to computer technology. Learning older methods of accomplishing certain tasks allows the past to remain relevant and find new application in the present, or even the future.
"If you're learning computer technology, if you're studying dot level, to learn Fortran and learn how to do that kind of loading into computer basics, teaches you how the thought process works to get to where you want to be to get to the finished product," Carico said.
Prickett's Fort is one of Laura and Wayne Carney's favorite destinations. They've already been out to the fort three or four times throughout the summer. Laura Carney is an antiques and craft enthusiast, while Wayne Carney is a history buff. While the spinning speaks to Laura Carney's fondness for antiques, which springs from a childhood spent in a home full of them, Wayne Carney was awed by the ingenuity that pioneers showed when it came to living.
"Like the loom, before they were using sticks and string to do it and then somebody comes along and creates a machine to make their job that much easier," he said. "And that same machine is still working today. On a mechanical level it's different but the process is the same. That kind of ingenuity for humans is just amazing."
Reach Esteban at efernandez@timeswv.com
