I learned to spin when I first moved to Caldrithig 37 years ago. Dame Enid Aurelia of the Tin Isles, our baroness, taught a class on drop spinning at our first Practicum (I think it was that winter). I didn’t love it, but I did putter away at it from time to time.
My best friend from university (Etaoin o’Fearghal) eventually became Enid’s apprentice and then a Laurel for her textile skills (notably spinning and dyeing). After she died, I found myself drawn back to spinning and even took up dyeing.
Dame Enid died suddenly on Sunday. This isn’t the best picture of her, but it is one that captures her joy while being in the kitchen at an event – a place she loved.
There were many conversations about it, and other string arts, with Enid. The wool I am working with was a gift from Etaoin, some time before she died 15 years ago.
One of my fondest memories of Enid is the time when she trusted me to cook a huge feast. It was the barony’s 10th anniversary, the King and Queen were coming (- vanishingly rare occasion at that time), and I had never cooked a feast before.
At the last minute, I found out I had to write a six-hour exam for a job competition – something that was only run every 2-3 years. Enid (along with Etaoin) bailed me out and never gave me grief about it. In fact, she encouraged me to keep cooking, and shared many of her primary sources as I learned.
I miss both these women something fierce.
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