wool
Chapter 69: Wool
Since ancient times, New Year has always been the time when the table has the most abundant food in a year, and of course the royal palace is no exception.
After eating mutton for three consecutive days, Chu Huaibei suddenly asked at the dinner table: "Mother, we have killed so many sheep in the mansion, what are you doing with the wool?"
The concubine was rarely asked, "Maybe it was thrown away?"
"Hmm? Then it's not a waste?"
Chu Huaibei thought that, at worst, washing and tidying it up and stuffing it into the quilt would keep it warm. The wool quilts in his previous life were very warm. Of course, the craftsmanship was definitely different, but it should at least be of some use.
His gaze turned to Aunt Wen, who also shook her head.
"This time when I went to Fengjing, I also saw a large piece of felt with patterns. It was also made of wool. It seems that aristocratic families like to use it."
"Yes, that's right. Some of the felt in Fengjing was exchanged between the caravan and several tribes in the northwest."
The concubine knew about the felt, which was a unique craft of the small tribe and sold well in Fengjing.
"Yes, I understand, Mother. Please ask Zhuangzi to send some wool."
Chu Huaibei planned to try making it herself while she still had some free time during the New Year. She still remembered the sweater her mother had knitted for her when she was a child in her previous life, which was also very warm.
Zhuangzi acted quickly and sent a bucket of wool the next day. It turned out that the servants were lazy in the cold and snowy weather and did not clean up the wool in time, so this time they got lucky.
Chu Huaibei took a look and it was...very dirty...
Chu Huaibei was a little hesitant to do it himself, so he found two off-duty soldiers, one to boil water and the other to clean it. It took eight washes before it was completely clean.
Washing with hot water can remove the grease on the wool, and in this freezing weather, she couldn't let people wash things with cold water. Of course, you can also soak the wool in wood ash water to remove the grease.
It takes too long to dry the wool in the middle of winter, and there are not many pounds of wool to begin with. Chu Huaibei asked someone to light a few charcoal stoves in the house to speed up the drying of the wool.
The dried wool shrank together, looking like it couldn't be spun into thread. Chu Huaibei held his chin and thought for a minute, then asked the palace soldiers to go to the carpenter in the city and buy a slingshot for cotton.
The palace soldier didn't understand, but he went to the carpenter's house as quickly as possible to buy it back. It was only the third day of the first lunar month, and the carpenter's family had invited many relatives and friends to a banquet. He insisted that the palace soldier pull the jade out and bought it for twice the usual price.
Chu Huaibei spread the wool on the mat and flicked it a few times. It worked, but it seemed that he was not good at it.
Seeing this, the palace soldier turned around and ran to the kitchen, dragging Mother Wang to the door of the room specially used for processing wool.
Mother Wang was originally out of breath after being dragged by the palace soldiers. She was about to scold him, but when she looked up and saw the prince playing with wool in an extremely awkward posture, she didn't bother to call the palace soldiers bastards and walked forward in three or two steps.
"My Lord, why don't you let me do it? I can do it quickly."
Chu Huaibei didn't want to do everything by himself, it would be best if someone could help him.
"Okay, then you come, Mother Wang."
He reached out and handed her the slingshot.
Mother Wang put the slingshot on her body and quickly and deftly slingshotted the wool. At a speed visible to the naked eye, the wool became fluffy.
It only takes a few cups of tea to make all the wool fluffy.
"Mother Wang is really amazing! Mother Wang, you can spin yarn, right? Why don't you try spinning this wool into yarn?"
"Okay, my lord, I'll try."
Chu Huaibei prepared a spindle and spinning wheel in advance, and originally wanted to try it himself.
Although Mother Wang was unable to grasp the right degree at the beginning because of the different fiber textures of wool and cotton, and the yarn she spun was a little thicker, but in just a cup of tea, she had become familiar with the feel, and the yarn she spun was of uniform thickness and at a very fast speed.
Chu Huaibei took a look. The five kilograms of wool seemed quite heavy after being fluffed up. Mother Wang definitely couldn't finish spinning it all by herself today.
He went to invite Aunt Wen in person and explained the situation. Aunt Wen then asked Mother Liu and the two mothers from Lancao Courtyard to come and help.
Chu Huaibei only realized today that in ancient times, every woman knew how to spin yarn and weave cloth, and tailor clothes to measure the body. Although their skills may be good or bad, they could definitely do it.
Five people spun the yarn at the same time, and their speed was very fast. In just two hours, they spun five kilograms of wool into yarn.
The thin thread in your hand is not suitable for knitting sweaters, but is more suitable for weaving cloth. However, wool shrinks, and if this little thread shrinks again after knitting, you may not be able to make a piece of clothing.
Chu Huaibei asked Aunt Wen for help to twist the three strands of yarn together to make a thicker yarn. The final product had five spindles. This amount should be enough to weave a piece of clothing.
When washing wool, the soldiers were asked to go to the farm to cut a bamboo, split it into thin bamboo strips one foot long, and polish the bamboo strips until they were round and smooth, with slightly pointed ends.
Chu Huaibei called the palace soldiers and asked them to check the progress of the bamboo strips being polished. After a while, the palace soldiers brought back six bamboo strips.
Aunt Wen didn't know what the bamboo sticks were for and was staring at Chu Huaibei.
"Aunt Wen, this is called a knitting needle. I'll show you how to knit. This is the simplest one. Once you become proficient, you can study various patterns on your own."
Chu Huaibei started with a knitting needle. She had never knitted a complete piece of clothing before, so she cast on thirty stitches at a time, with a total of three needles forming a circle.
This is the main body of the sweater, and then add flat stitches on top. This is all she knows how to do.
When Aunt Wen saw her knitting two needles, she understood what was going on. She took the needle and thread from Chu Huaibei and worked very quickly. In a short while, she was knitting more skillfully than Chu Huaibei.
As the hem of the sweater grew longer, Chu Huaibei tugged at it. It looked like this first sweater could only be given to Hengheng to try on, as it was too small...
While Aunt Wen was knitting, Chu Huaibei told her the theoretical knowledge, such as how to add stitches, how to reduce stitches, how to connect sleeves, etc. These were the simplest sweater knitting methods he had learned in his previous life.
In her previous life, people had made amazing creations out of yarn, creating stunning works of art. She just watched, feasting her eyes, and never tried making them herself.
Besides not having the skills, her 996 work schedule also left her with no time to do it.
Aunt Wen was very interested in knitting sweaters and didn't put the needle and thread back into the basket until dinner.
After dinner and taking care of daily affairs, she continued to pick up her needle and thread to knit clothes. The concubine looked at Aunt Wen's hands for a few times, probably with some idea in mind, and told Aunt Wen to rest early and not to rush, and went to bed first.
Aunt Wen kept working with her hands. When she heard her master's instructions, she responded casually twice and immersed herself in her weaving business.
She stayed up until the fifth watch, and Aunt Wen looked at the clothes in her hands with satisfaction before returning to bed to rest.
At breakfast the next day, everyone noticed bloodshot eyes in Aunt Wen, but she was in good spirits. It wasn't until after breakfast, when Aunt Wen pulled a completed sweater from her work basket, that Chu Huaibei realized she'd worked all night to make it!
"Thank you for your hard work, Aunt Wen. Actually, there is no rush for this matter."
Chu Huaibei felt a little guilty.
"Don't worry, Your Majesty. I did this because I like it."
"Hengheng, come quickly. Mammy has made some new clothes. Try them on."
The remaining few people who had never seen wool yarn saw that the clothes in her hands were unusual and not made of cloth, so they stared at them curiously.
Hengheng was also very curious when he saw the new clothes. The clothes were made of undyed wool and were off-white in color. There was not a single button on the whole clothes. When he was still wondering how to put them on, his father had already pulled him off his outer cotton coat...
"Dad, there are so many people here, I can't just undress..."
"You old-fashioned boy, when you get to the barracks, you might be seen by dozens or even hundreds of people when you undress. Stand still, don't be shy, be a man, and stand tall."
Chu Huaibei rolled up the clothes that Aunt Wen handed to him twice, and then put the collar against Hengheng's head. Sweaters are elastic, and it was the first time for Hengheng to wear clothes like this, so he was not used to putting them on his forehead.
He put his son's hands into the sleeves and then straightened the clothes, revealing a very close-fitting sweater.
Hengheng moved his arms and made a few big movements, and he didn't feel restrained at all. It was more comfortable than wearing a cotton coat.
Chu Huaibei was worried that the child would get cold, so she put him in a cotton coat, but she didn't let him wear the outer vest. Children are active, and if they wear too much, they will sweat all over, which makes them more likely to catch a cold in winter. She was very confident in the warmth of sweaters.
The people in the dining hall were not stupid. Seeing the prince do this, they thought that the clothes must be very warm. They all started to think divergently.
The first thing Du Jiping thought of was that his other two disciples would be preparing for the autumn imperial examination in two years. This piece of clothing was warm and light, making it very suitable for people taking the imperial examination.
"By the way, mother, do we shear the sheep on our farm in the summer?"
This question immediately drew the attention of everyone in the dining hall to Chu Huaibei.
Isn’t the prince inhumane that he doesn’t even spare the wool from a living sheep?
"Shenzhi, if you want more wool, I'll send someone to collect it. No one wants it yet. It's very cheap and doesn't require any work from live sheep."
The concubine spoke with great sincerity, and Du Jiping couldn't help nodding.
Chu Huaibei noticed that everyone was looking at her with something strange in their eyes. She thought about the reason and quickly explained it to herself.
"Mother, shearing sheep in the summer will help them grow faster and fatter. Besides, their wool will grow back quickly, so they won't be bald."
"Is that so? Then I'll have all the sheep on the farm sheared this year."
The toffee didn't plan to let the sheep grow more meat. Shenzhi liked the wool, so he sheared it.
"Mother, why don't you send people to collect all the wool in the North? I want to do something that will benefit the people."
"Okay, I'll arrange it right away."
The concubine did not ask any further questions. Just by looking at Hengheng's clothes, she knew that wool was a good thing.
Soon a group of wool collectors appeared in the north, and the butchers were especially happy. One day, even wool would be collected by someone. A pound of dry wool cost one cent, and if they saved it up at home, they could sell it for forty or fifty cents.
Isn’t this money falling from the sky? Think about how much you have lost in the past. It’s probably several taels of silver when added up!
The fifth day of the first lunar month had already passed, and Chu Huaibei was preparing to recruit workers in the military settlement. He would only recruit women, with priority given to the widows of fallen soldiers and the female family members of disabled soldiers. Only girls over ten years old were accepted.
Don't accuse her of exploiting children. Ten-year-old girls from poor families do no less work than adults. They can do laundry, cook, feed chickens and ducks, and raise sheep and pigs.
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