All Kinds Of Stuff

Wednesday was my 2nd meeting as a member of the Hand Weavers of Bucks County. I'm so happy to find such a wonderfully talented as well as welcoming and receptive group. I must remember to take pictures after "show & share" as there are always amazing goodies to be seen. 

At the meeting, I received my draft for our upcoming workshop with Norma Smayda focusing on the overshot patterns of Bertha Gray Hayes. I received Trelis Pattern #55. 

Frankly, I wish I had gotten a more interesting draft, but I know I have a lot to learn and I hope that the simplicity of the draft will allow me to better understand the weave structure itself. 

I finally got the new parts for my Macomber! I've never had any new parts so I'm dazzled by the shininess of the new heddles. 

I ordered 30 treadle hooks. I had 8, so I figure that will keep me busy for a while. I'm trying to get one piece off my 1st 8 shaft warp that I am happy with.  I keep finding mistakes too late when I've gone too far to unweave. The pattern detail on 8 shaft overshot is amazing, but I probably should have warped the loom for the 1st time in a twill. 

For all of you who have enjoyed the Rigid Heddle tutorials, I am working on some Rigid Heddle Overshot using 2 heddles, a heddle bar and pick up sticks. I've got a TON going on now, but I hope to have some more time to work on this in early summer. 

Finally, I thought I'd introduce my other new acquisition... A 4 harness Dorset loom on loan from the guild for the workshop. 

Ok, so I now have 3 floor looms in one room in my house! Yikes! I am amazed that my husband is still talking to me 😉

Happy Weaving!

From Four to Eight Shafts

Well, I've done it. 8 months after getting my 1st floor loom; a 4 shaft 36" Leclerc Nilus, I am now the owner of an 8 shaft 40" Macomber loom. I think it dates from the late 50's or early 60's. It's in great shape for its age. I don't think it's been used in a few years, so it needed some TLC. Thank you very much to my husband who drove me 5 hours, round trip, to go pick up my loom. He thinks I'm crazy, but I think he's amused by my new obsession with "looming", as he calls it. According to him, I don't weave; I loom. 

The heddles are not in great shape. I sanded about 500 of them with super fine sandpaper to remove the rust. The rest I'll leave off to the sides for added weight. I'll get around to sanding the rest, but for now, I think 500 should do it ;)

I don't have a bench for this loom, which sits much higher than the LeClerc, so I'll be using one of my end tables temporarily. 

I struggled to decide what to weave 1st. I drafted twills, summer & winter and overshot.  I ended up going with an overshot draft, "Whig Rose on 8 Shafts" from Madelyn van der Hoogt. Her draft has two large center motifs and uses 361 ends of 10/2 cotton, 24 epi. I reduced the draft to one center motif and sleyed 218 ends of 3/2 cotton, 10 epi. 

Let's the threading commence!

Happy Weaving!