Restless Knitter

I didn’t want to go out today but I had two things that were must-do’s, so out I went. After I got out, I decided to at least do something that might be fun so I went to a large antique consignment store. I was hoping that I’d find a table loom in one of the booths very underpriced because someone didn’t know what it was or what it was worth. See, I still don’t know jack-squat about looms but I did decide that I want a 4 harness table loom instead of a rigid heddle. I struck out at two stores. I decided to hit one last store then go home. I don’t like this particular store. It’s layed out so crazy that you don’t know where you’ve been or where to go next. Regardless, I’m zipping through pretty quick, knowing I’m not going to find a table loom. A man asked if he could help me find anything, and I told him what I was looking for. He doesn’t think there are any in the booths in his store, but he saw a big one, like it sits on the floor, not a table, next door the other day. Next door? As in, the junky thrift shop next door? “Yes” he says, “but they’ve probably sold it by now.” I can barely contain myself. Out of courtesy, I did finish looking through all their booths but what I really wanted to do was bolt out that door. The loom was still there! It’s very dirty and has a bit of rust. The price is $80. It was $130 and they’d just marked it down on Saturday. If I wait until next Saturday, they’ll mark it down to $50 but they won’t take $50 for it today. I took a few pictures of it, and I left it there.

I rushed home and frantically shot off an email to Janice for advice. Please Janice, please be at your computer. Please answer me before 7:30. If she doesn’t answer by then, I’m going to go get it anyway because now that I want it, someone else is going to come along and buy it. I’d like to wait until Saturday when they knock another 30 bucks off, but that’s probably pushing my luck. And besides, I have the patience of a 3 year old. I got a reply from Janice that said GO BUY IT RIGHT NOW. Okay, that’s not what she said but that’s what I saw! So that’s what I did.

I figure that even if I find that I don’t like it, or like it so much that I want a bigger one, I can sell this one and make a few bucks.

It’s a Harrisville Design 4 harness 4 treadle loom, and came with that nice big comb for the mornings that I’m having a bad hair day. That’s all that came with it, except for the dirt and rust.

I found a few numbers on it. The top piece says A75 467, and the bottom piece has the number 30

I’m a little embarrassed to show you this pic because there’s a full bag of shredded paper and the shredder that needs to be emptied (again)(and may die on me before I’m done) but here she is in all her glory.

I don’t want to do any more packing, I just want to start cleaning this. Nevermind that I have no clue how to use it, or have any of the necessary tools. I just want to play with it! Speaking of packing..

It’s amazing the treasures you can find in your own home. When I started peeling wallpaper, patching, and painting, I needed sandpaper to smooth said patching. So I bought some. After I was done using it and putting things away, I found we already had sandpaper. Several packages, in fact. In going through boxes that we haven’t opened in the 4 years we’ve been here, I have found no less than 4 more packages of sandpaper. If I keep going through boxes, I’m afraid I’ll find I have more sandpaper than yarn. That’s not all I found, either. Can you say Stirrup Pants? Yeah, those have found a new home in the garbage. Yesterday, I found this huge lock, a large version of what you’d use on a school locker. I wondered why in the world we had this. We haven’t used it since we moved here, so I tossed it. When calling around for prices on storage units this morning, I realized why we had that lock. And now I can NOT find it anywhere! I have no idea what I did with it. I thought I put it in the trash, but I dug through that (yuck!) and didn’t find it. It’s not in any of the boxes that I filled up yesterday. It up and freaking walked off! See, this is what happens when you throw things away. I threw the homemade loom I made in the recycle bin, then I wanted one again. I threw the lock … somewhere… and now I want it. I don’t regret the stirrup pants though.

If you’re interested, there are more loom pictures

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 5th, 2006 at 8:45 pm and is filed under Weaving. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.