Monday, September 30, 2013

First project on the New Nilus

I have the first project on this new loom. It's rag placemats. Not fancy, quite basic, a good project to use for troubleshooting and.....sorely needed. My son's family has one set of placemats and napkins which I blogged about, but amazingly enough those placemats and napkins get dirty pretty darned quick. Small kids + food = messy. Just the way it is.

I started this post and took this photo a few days ago. Then the new OS for iPad got really hinky with my blog app. So here's a photo in progress:




They're not really this blue - more gray in there.

Today I wove off the last of the planned placemats. Not exactly sure how much warp is left, but not much. I may do something with that, or not. We'll have to see.

Good news is the little loom is performing well, especially for a jack loom and rag weaving. Pretty tight warp and still room for the rag shuttle. Good true beat - no variance left to right on take-up, and I have 9 rag placemats on the cloth beam and not out of room. So, all is good.

My crystal ball says I will be winding warp for napkins very soon!

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Old friends and new

Becky, an old friend, emailed me that her sister-in-law had a loom in her basement (near Seattle) that she would like to get rid of. Would I like to have it? My friend would be visiting said sister-in-law and would get it shipped to me if I wanted it. The only sane answer to a question like that is "yes!" and hope it's small enough to fit into the space my daughter-in-law has for such an item.

Yippee!

Well, yesterday, this was delivered to the house:





Yippee!

Leclerc Nilus, 23" weaving width, 8 shaft, 12 treadle, foldable loom. My (our) new friend! I have it mostly cleaned up. The reed is not the regulation and doesn't fit terribly well, but good enough. I will have to make a couple cotter-pin-type hooks that you use to tie the lams to the treadles, and probably will have to buy another couple hundred heddles. No big deal. Perfect size for the space.

Yippee!

It was warped with a very old chenille scarf, which I cut off, but it looks completely functional. The brake stick has the end broken off, but there's still enough to use. If I had my saw, etc., I could make a replacement, but will probably just make do with this.

Yippee!

My daughter-in-law is excited to have a loom to learn weaving on, and I am excited to have one to work and teach on. We're picking out yarns. First planned project: more rag placemats, and some matching napkins.

Thank you, Becky, and welcome, little loom.

Yippee! (Jumps in air, clicks heels together).









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