Restless Knitter

I got an email from the Loom Guy saying they still had the bench if I wanted to come back for it. Heck yeah! Then he emailed again and said they’d found the tension box and another weaving thing that I probably already had one of but I was welcome to take it if I wanted to. I didn’t take a picture of the bench, which is too tall to be a bench but it looks and acts like a weaving bench (it has a drawer the full width of it) so I’ll use it for a table. Or I’ll cut it’s legs off a little and make it a bench. But I did take pictures of a few of the other things I brought back with me.

The blue thing is an adjustable loom (which was in the trash, makes me sad because I wonder what other goodies have been tossed), think one of those old potholder or weave-it type looms. The light colored wood thing is the tension box. The thing on the left

is a 2 harness loom. There’s no name on it, I’m guessing it’s handmade. It’s so cute! The reed is all wood, the heddles are all handmade string heddles, and the tie-ups feel like shoelaces. They also left a stick shuttle for me, and another thing that I have no clue what it is but I don’t think it goes with anything. Imagine 2 dowels rods, forming a T. At this rate, we may have to build a room onto the house.

Thanks to everyone who helped one of my babies hatch! I’ve picked up more eggs too. The good thing about these little things is that they don’t take up space in the house, unlike some of the other things I’ve picked up lately Now head over to La’s, she’s picked up some eggs too. Keep clicking, my babies will love you for it! And if you’ve picked up your own eggs, let me know and I’ll click yours too.

Just for my record, I got my hair cut yesterday. It’s the shortest I’ve had it in… I don’t know how long, maybe when I was a teen. It feels a lot better. Instead of feeling like I’m running my fingers through straw, it feels like actual hair. Poor lady, I was a wreck. I’m scared. I don’t know if I want to cut it that short (and it’s still not real short by most standards). It will grow back, right? RIGHT?? I’m glad I did it, though.

The loom is in very good shape. There are a few minor scratches on the castle and it looks like maybe a green marker or kids waterpaint came in contact with a small spot of the wood. There is some rust but it’s on pieces that aren’t going to come in contact with any yarn. Such as the eyes on the treadles

This is going to be a new thing for me, I’ve only worked with one tie up per treadle.

Something else that’s new, look at this sectional warp beam

OMG that thing is huge compared to my simple little Harrisville. It alone probably weighs more than the Harrisville. Unfortunately, I don’t have a spool rack or tensioning device soooo… (By the way, the warp already on there - looks like sewing thread! It’s not, but I swear it’s not much bigger.)

Extra goodies were found before we arrived

The long piece in front is what’s called a temple

There’s a room in our garage, no heat no air, just a room out there that’s carpeted, has walls, and a door. Previous owners used it for a bedroom (so we were told), we use it for all the junk that doesn’t fit anywhere else. Except for my first loom, which is not junk. That’s where the big loom is now. There’s barely enough room for me to walk on each side of it.

Like that roll of t.p. on the floor? I used that to make headers in my previous weaving. Oh look, there’s my other floor loom in the background, that now seems so little.

The loom is a 45 inch, 4 harness loom, made in 1959

Total width is 53 inches.

This is one of the pictures the guy sent to me when I first emailed him, which is better than any picture I’ve been able to take so far.

You all name your spinning wheels so I think I should start naming my looms. Thoughts for the new one?

How can time stand still and fly right by at the same time? There are certain things that you look back on and say Wow, it sure doesn’t seem like it’s been that long but yet Wow, that was so long ago. For instance, The Man and I celebrated our 10th anniversary on August 1. Ten years sounds like a long time, but it doesn’t seem like it’s been that long. That’s not the point.

On a different subject, yet the same issue, I had to look back through the archives to recall exactly when it was that I got my first loom. I was SO freaking excited when I found that loom. She was dirty and rusty and missing a crank but I was so proud of her. I cleaned her up as best I could, which I think was pretty darn good, and she gave me much pleasure. Even when her leathers broke and I had to rig her with nylon cord, even though I didn’t use her that much, she still made me happy. And, as we know, 10 months later I gave her a baby brother, an 8 shaft table loom. He’s pretty nifty too. I can move him around a lot easier, I can sit on the floor to use him, and he has 4 extra shafts to play with. Sadly, I haven’t played with those extra shafts.

Miss Harrisville (floor loom Dec 2006) and Mr Montana (table loom Oct 2007), 10 months apart. It’s Aug 2008. Ten months since a new-to-me loom has come to live here. Do you see a pattern? Any guess as to what is coming to my house on Tuesday? If you guessed a loom, you’d be right. Who cares that we really don’t have room for a 45″ Leclerc Nilus 4 shaft/6 treadle loom. But you know, if something is FREE, you don’t just say no. Yes, that’s right. FREE! You can’t say no. The other looms are special and I don’t want to think of getting rid of them, but something will have to go. I’ve only seen pictures of the Nilus so far but it looks to be in good condition.

But that’s not all folks. Behind door number 2 (well, really door number 1 because this was a done deal before the Nilus but I’m mentioning it 2nd so it’s door number 2. Got that?!), I’m also getting a Schacht inkle loom in exchange for some yarn. I’m going to use it for tablet weaving but I might do some inkle weaving on it too. If I find I like it and I want to weave longer lengths than the Schacht will handle, The Man will build a larger one for me. By the way, all you people out there that think your Peter Collingwood - The Techniques of Tablet Weaving is worth gold, it’s not. It’s also not out of print. You can get a brand spanking new copy from Village Spinning & Weaving for a lot less than the $100 for a used copy. And you know, you can’t just order a book without also purchasing some perle cotton in anticipation of tablet weaving. Or so I’ve, uh, been told.

Hmm, it just occurred to me. After the first 10 months, I added 1 loom. At the second 10 months, I’m adding 2 looms. What’s going to happen in June 2009???

P.S. Don’t hate me. I’ve been watching for another floor loom for months and months, though I was looking for something closer to 30 - 36″, not 45″. I actually thought I had one 2 months ago on ebay. It was listed as a no reserve auction, about 10-15 miles from my house. The seller had a friend bid it up, then relisted it for $100 more than the ending bid. So much for no reserve. But he got no bids on it when he relisted so ha!

I was sitting on the sofa, watching something I’d recorded on the dvr, when the dog bumped against the back of where I was sitting.  Then she bumped it again, much harder.  What the hell is she doing back there?  I stood up to see just what she was doing and saw she wasn’t anywhere near.  That was when I realized I was experiencing my first California earthquake.  Only lasted a few seconds and nothing was broken, though I did hear the glasses rattle in the cabinet.  MIL called 6 minutes later to make sure I was okay.  I think those people are glued to the news 24/7.

Despite not actually doing any knitting or weaving, I’m still buying magazines and making plans for future things.  Because we don’t have enough crap around here, I’m considering building an inkle loom or something similar to do card weaving on.  I don’t like the belt method, or at least I don’t think I would.  I want something I can warp and walk away from if I need to.  I’ve been using pegs clamped to furniture but I don’t like doing that either.   If anyone has any experience on card weaving on an inkle or something similar, I’m all ears.  Off to research…