Thursday, 20 June 2013

Rehoming

A few months ago I decided after much soul searching that I needed to find a new home for my floor loom. This was indeed a difficult thing for me as I had bought the loom from my spinning/weaving teacher sometime ago, so the loom came with a lot of "baggage" you might say. But after the purchase of my lovely 8 shaft Louet Spring loom at the end of last year I had come to the conclusion that I couldn't see myself using the floor loom much at all and there was still a scarf warp on it that had been there for over a year unfinished. So it was time to move it on and make way for other things as my workroom was getting a bit crowded and I could do with the large chunk of floor space that this loom occupied. I have successfully sold a couple of looms on The Loom Exchange website so I thought I would give it another go despite there being a lot of old 4 shaft floor looms that had been advertised for some considerable time. Ah well if I didn't sell in six months I would have to sell it on Ebay cheaply and try not to worry about it's future.

 
But within the first week I had three enquiries and, joy of joys, I sold the loom!!! What is even more amazing is that the new owner - another Helen, I seem to collect friends called Helen! - only lives about 5 miles away. How about that! And the other great thing is that she wants me to show her how to weave on it as she is a beginner weaver and needs a bit of help. So I shall still be seeing the loom on a regular basis and I'm sure Elizabeth would be thrilled to think that her loom is going to be used to introduce somebody else to this wonderful thing called weaving. On Tuesday I went to see Helen and we managed to get the loom back together in her new loom room and next week we will be getting the heddles back on the shafts, tying up the treadles and making yarn choices for a sample warp. I'm really looking forward to helping Helen. We need to get more people weaving and I want to pass on some of the ideas and encouragement I got from Elizabeth all those years ago attending her classes. What a great way to do it with her loom.

2 comments:

  1. I would love to learn how to weave, and spin.
    Such a traditional old craft, I am envious !
    Love your blog Rachel !
    ~Jo

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    1. Thanks for your compliment Jo! Do you know of the weavers at Norris, Tennessee? A.K.A Loomy Tunes. They have an amazing group of weavers that meet there. I don't know how far from you they are but it may be worth a trip. I would certainly go there if they were near to me, they look a great bunch of people.
      Take care,
      Rachel

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