A Looming Crisis

Seriously

Where the hell am I going to find room for a loom?

For those just joining us - I've been holding up the crucifix and garlic for several years now when it comes to the thought of weaving. I've been spinning for two years now and while spinning does require equipment - it's still somewhat portable which is why I like knitting.

Last September, I won a prize at the Five Counties Guild competition. It was a weaving shuttle. A beautiful rosewood hand carved shuttle by a wood worker in the Kitchener-Waterloo area named David Bell. Now I'm a sucker for beautiful wood so I started to think about weaving. As a member of the local weavers and spinners guild, I had access to alot of "bench strength" (all puns intended).

I signed up for an intro lesson last Monday. My teacher is a retired high school teacher so I'm in good hands. She let me wind some bobbins and then using her Gilmore loom I made 3 samplers just to see what it was like. My teacher had warped the loom already so it was easy. Here are some shots of my weaving attempts. You can see on the first section how my ends weren't very tight so it flares out a bit. Of course, now I'm hooked and beginning to ponder which loom would be best for me. I usually get tools that grow with me from the get-go. Since I've no extra space in this house, a loom that folds is a must. I'm thinking about 26" is the way to go. If I do anything wider, the guild looms are available.

I've been scoping out the Schacht Baby Wolf and the Louet Jane. I'm not familiar with the terminology enough to read the specs and understand them. If anyone has any bias one way or the other - I'm all ears.

Here are some shuttle glamour shots taken by my husband who's playing with his Nikon D80 I gave him for Christmas.

Here are some great night shots he took down by Niagara Falls. I love the one that shows the colours lights on the horseshoe falls.

Lastly - here's a shot of Phoebe. Yes, Flatcoats are a goofy breed - that's why they fit in well with our family.