I have started another rug on the loom down at the barn. Even though it is an 8 shaft loom it is currently set up with only 4 shafts with a straight draw. So I went looking for some ideas and in the Rug book by Peter Collingwood, where I found a section on 2 to 3 color 2/2 advancing twills which make several patterns just by changing the order of the colors thrown for each pick.  I have selected one to start and using a medium weight wool which there is lots of (Red, Brown, and a Beige tweed). I was inspired by the colors of the Sock Monkey and below is a picture of the rug I am now working on.  I figure there are 2-3 more rug warps on the back beam including the one I just started thus I will be at this set-up until after the new year. 

Since I have a new theme, and Fall is coming I had the wonderful idea that maybe I should tweak my new theme by changing the banner image depending on the time of the year.  The current image was sent to me by Elisa of Scotland though I can’t remember if she actually snapped the image or she found it in an image collection. 

Despite all of that, when she and Mike (a.ka. Gnomy Man) are  “oot and aboot” doing their errands, she does take some really good images. Via several emails today, I have cajoled her into sending me an occasional “new” image to post as my banner.

We are working together in an attempt to change the colors of the leaves to coordinate with the seasons. Actually she is doing the work, I just sit around looking cute.

Stay tuned.

These are pictures of the loom with the shafts being removed for cleaning. Click on the pictures to see a larger image and a description

Yesterday I picked up my (new to me) Pioneer Loom in Los Angeles.
Sorry, no pictures YET… maybe later in the week.

Eric and I got out of the house at around 11:15 am and some glitch in the GPS resulted in the destination not being set. Luckily I knew how to get to LA and we pulled off the highway and set the GPS correct before we got too close and we arrived at our destination just before 1pm (I had estimated 12:30 as it should only take an hour and a half.).

Ralph, who was the seller was an older gentleman who has lived in this house since the ’60 – it is nestled up in the Hollywood hills not far from the Hollywood Bowl (musical amphitheater).  There was stained glass windows everywhere – in the widows and on the walls, and he said he made most of it.  We were escorted into the study where everything for me was laid out on a table. The loom, the warping peg/board attachments, 2 boat shuttles, lease sticks, 2 reeds, extra heddles, extra temporary insert heddles, a repair kit of lift springs and a cable, the instruction book, his original letters of inquiry and the purchase invoice. The loom was warped with black thread and an incomplete project had been started and Ralph showed me: how to raise and lower the shafts and weave on the loom; how to warp the loom and use the warping peg attachments by extending  the front and back beams; then I was shown how to change the threading in the open top heddles and how to change the threading in the reed as it has a removable cap as well. 

Ralph showed me his other loom which is an AVL folding DOBBY with 24 shafts!  Which is a computer controlled  loom – the computer is programmed which shafts to lift in what order and you just have to press a peddle and throw the shuttles and beater. Setting it all up is the hard part.

We put all of the accessories in a bag including the yarn for the weft of the project that was on the loom. And put it in my car. Because of afternoon traffic, it took about 2.5 hours to get home.  I was beat so I did not play with the loom but watched some DVD’s and went to bed early.

The heddles are not sliding easily on the bar which is inserted through a square opening at the bottom of the heddle, the bar is what  lifts the heddles, and they also slide from left to right across on it . This may be due to the slight amount of rust and because the square opening in the heddle and the bar have tight tolerances, the extra rust is the issue. I would like to clean off the rust and put a coating of WD-40 on it. First I will have to loosen warp and remove the threads from the heddles and take the reed out of the beater; and set the warp to one side without having to cut the warp. Then I will take all 16 bars out of the loom and take over a hundred heddles off the bars; clean with steel wool, wipe down with the WD-40 and put it all back and re-slay the heddles.  

Another reason the heddle might not slight so easy right now is that with a thread through an eye slot, the bottom of the heddle, on the bar, has shifted and the heddle is not perpendicular to the shaft so the heddle is off kilter – this probably happened when we lifted the loom up and put it on its side in the car.

Either way, it could use the cleaning.  I figure I will have the loom up and running in two weeks – the Vista Fiber Fest is next weekend so no work will be done then.

After I returned from Haystack, I blogged about how I had taken a scarf I had woven, to the silent auction.

Three people I had become friends with – Myra, Carl, and Fanny had been bidding on the scarf but none of them won it.

As a result I promised that I would make some scarves and this past week I mailed the first one to Myra.

It is made from Rayon Chenille and it ended up being 80” long and about 5” wide. These dimensions are required for warmth factor. It will wrap around the neck at least twice and still have a good drop to cover the chest and the extra layer help cover the neck and face when a very cold wind is blowing.