The light box, which is not Shadow’s bed despite his constant attempts to claim it as such, now lives on my desk.
The loom now has its own custom table and lives upstairs in the spare room I often forget about. I’m very much a see-it to remember-it person! I’m much happier with the loom up there. We lowered the height of the table, E kept saying, are you sure? But I definitely now find use of the loom easier and more enjoyable. When it was on my desk I often found myself standing while weaving. While standing desks are cool, I didn’t want to have to stand to weave!
I’m enjoying it so much that I wove for a half hour last night with the not-kitten purring on my lap.
If I post this now I might be able to catch the last few moments of afternoon sun and enjoy this beautiful view.
Sometimes they are lucky and don’t have any deadlines associated with them.
At first I was frustrated and wanted to finish this first weaving project on my new loom quickly. Now I am enjoying the meditation of slowly working on this project and taking the time to enjoy its simplicity and beautiful imperfections.
The loom is finally complete enough that I can weave on it. E helped me warp it yesterday afternoon (and evening). Is it perfect? No. Is it everything I hoped for and more? Yes. Am I excited? Definitely.
Book reviews next week. E had to tear the shuttle out of my eager hand and force me up to bed…
Please welcome Teabird‘s new Inklette. She lent her to me to glue together, give some tlc, and play with for a bit. While I like my inkle, beanstalk is big and makes playing with different warps a bit less frequent than I’d like at this stage of my growth. I hope that the shorter warp length allows me to try different warps and techniques and remain inspired instead of frustrated with what’s on the simple loom. Who knows, once the workshop warms up I might build a smaller sized inkle for myself.
I’ve had her over a month and she’s patiently waited for me to get my threads out for some warping. I finally did so on Monday and warped with a plan to practice a certain pickup technique, or at least I thought I was. Two pages of my wonderful reference book, Inkle Weaving by Helene Bress stuck together when I was researching technique and appropriate warp. I inadvertently warped for a different type of pickup than I intended and it took a night’s sleep to sort out my befuddlement. It’s ok. I want to try that kind too and, in any case, I need lots of practice on my selvedges. I just hope something useful for Miss Teabird comes of this warping, since it is a lot of pink. ;)
While I don’t yet own a loom that by most modern readers would be considered a real loom, I am fascinated by the process of weaving fabric. I am most fascinated by the simple elegance and style that can be woven by primitive looms. I believe, today, that my first big loom will be a rigid heddle of one brand or the other. I’ve heard debates on all sides of the aisle and I hope next Sunday at Rhinebeck to look critically at offerings and potentially make the best decision for me.
Piroch’s book helps to capture the magic of handweaving and shape it into understanding for the reader to grow and comprehend basics not just of the real looms of various shaft configuration but also the small ones that hold very powerful magic in their own right.
The many photos, detailed drawings, and small snippets of text on weaving around the world help this book be an informative reference for all, even those who are not yet handweaving.
Weaver’s Companion Edited by Linda Ligon and Madelyn van der Hoogt Interweave Press, 2001 112 Pages, Dual Ring soft cover binding Reference material
For reasons unknown I had never interacted with any of Interweave‘s Companion books before checking this out from the library on a whim to learn more about the lingo as I immerse myself in loom education.
Wow. It is compact, double ringed, and chock full of information that is helpful for a newbie (or non) weaver to follow the conversation and begin to understand what is similar and different to lingo in other fibre arts. Despite a concise 110 pages (2 additional pages for index) one can find everything from how to estimate sett, to assistance with calculating warp length, to a gentle nudge on the beauty of the golden ratio.
A must for any weaver, but especially helpful for the newbie.
It isn’t often that a library book is in my possession for minutes when I’m running off to the book store to acquire a copy of my own. This book holds the record. I don’t think I had even made it out of the library before I knew I needed to have this for keeps.
What makes Patrick’s Weaver’s Idea Book so very awesome?
Reason the first: Rigid Heddle Looms can produce much more than just plain weave. I knew this, but I did not know how much variation existed before adding a second heddle.
Reason the second: Clear photographs and technical drawings
Reason the third: Instructions for how many of the ideas may be applied to Inkles or shaft looms
Reason the fourth: 5 chapters, 240 pages, 10 projects
Reason the fifth: I bought the book and I don’t even own a rigid heddle loom yet!
If you are looking for ideas, inspiration, and lots of education I greatly recommend Patrick’s awesome idea book.
In an effort to get the shop up sooner than later and to maybe weave a little more, we recently moved a few things around.
