Karin Altmann and Nana Opoku
Since it was so difficult to find women in the Mühlviertel who were still able to spin flax and do an interview with us, my flax partner Christiane Seufferlein, who lives in Upper Mühlviertel, had the wonderful idea of placing an advertisement in the local newspaper Tips…the best medium to reach out to elderly people in that region.
After the first week, there was no response. In the second week, Franz contacted me. He called and introduced himself as follows: “Hello, I’m Franz from the Mühlviertel region, and I’m 88 years old. Have you found a spinner? I saw your ad, and since it’s in the newspaper for the second time, I thought I should call you. I know you are looking for a female spinner, but I used to spin with my sister back then, and I think I still remember how it’s done.”
For our visit, Franz was looking for his old spinning wheel. It was badly broken, but he had repaired it two days before our visit and had also practiced a little spinning. It’s like riding a bike… once you’ve done it, you’ll never forget it. Thank you, Franz!
