Looms at New Years

I'm a bit behind on this, but I swear the pictures were current on January 1. Meg encourages weavers to document the state of their looms as the new year dawns.



"Kit" is a 4-shaft, 6-treadle 32" Purrington workshop loom, and an old one. She had at least a few owners before she came to me (not sure which one is responsible for the green stains (from a marker, I believe) on the aprons and the castle, but they only add character. She spent the holiday season folded up in a corner of the studio because it had to be converted into a guest bedroom while my parents were here. This is probably a good thing, because (while I would love to just throw another towel warp on her, or a baby blanket -- shhhh -- or some yardage I'm imagining) what I really need to do is clean her and give her some TLC. She's full of dust; lams are in need of some lubrication; frames could stand some cleaning and sanding; two of her treadles were damaged when we moved (a friend kindly made me some new treadles, but I need to do some adjusting before I can install them); heddle bars are in need of cleaning and oiling. It's just time for a tune-up. I hope to get to it before the end of the month.



"Sammy", on the other hand, is newer and fairly clean and rarely naked these days. She's a 12-shaft 15 3/4" Voyageur table loom. This is a great loom for just about anything I weave ("treadling" on a table loom is a bit slower than a loom with treadles, but I find I can get into a pretty good rhythm and move right along, even on fairly complex patterns). She spent the holidays in the living room because Mom wanted to weave. I put on a warp of #10 black crochet cotton (18epi sett, 3 yards, 8" wide) and gave her a collection of cotton, rayon and blend yarns about the grist of 3/2 cotton to play with for weft. Most of her weaving was clasped weft -- changing colors as the spirit moved. Before they left, I sewed the strip she wove (she did weave the whole warp) into a Don's Delis bag for her. She'll line and finish it when she gets back to her fabric stash in Florida.

I really liked the fabric she made and the simplicity of the bag, so after they left and I got the room cleaned up and the looms back where they "belong" I put on a 6 yard warp of #10 black crochet cotton to make two for myself. Here is the first one started.