My sister said those words to me two weeks ago. And I could have given her a lot of reasons, but she wouldn't have understood most of them, being a non-weaver. I needed her help bringing the loom home, so I tried my best to explain.
1. It's an 8-shaft, and my only other 8-shaft is a pain in my ass. The old one's a Tools of the Trade, and I'm tired of making excuses for its inadequacies and quirks. The tie-up is clumsy, with chains, the slope of the treadles is so acute, it's difficult to match up the correct chain to the treadle, using varying lengths of chains. So keeping a decent shed is a constant challenge.
2. It's a very good price.
3. It was closer than most looms for sale are.4. if not now, when?
So, being the kind and generous sister that she is, she drove her truck clear over the Eastern Shore of Virginia to get the loom
It's a Gilmore Loom, something I've never seen but knew existed, if only from ads in Handwoven magazine. It's mostly maple, with the lamms and harnesses made from poplar.
I got it put back together, what we had to take apart to get down a flight of stairs, and to be able to lift. I wound a warp with one of the cones of 8/4 cotton the seller gave me, th enchose a pattern from handwaving.net, a twill that is Tromp as Writ, something easy to remember while I get used to the way it weaves.
I threaded and sleyed, and started to get excited. Oh, wait. The tie-up. There are an awful lot of cords hanging down, aren't there?I pulled up a YouTube video entitled "Tying up a loom," featuring a Gilmore Loom. After she waxes poetic about the loom, she shows that she has it tilted up onto a chair so she can reach the tie up. Then, she talks about the warp, the heddles, the project, and then says thanks for watching.
Wait a minute!!! Not a single word about how to tie up the loom. What the Dickens???
So I went to Gilmore sight and tried to make sense of the photos they had to show how to do it. Every post of the Facebook group for Gilmore looms says to ditch the cotton tie ups and switch to Texsolve, order them from Bob at Gilmore, and ask him how to install them.
I ain't got time for that. I want this loom to work now! At 5:00 am, when I feel like weaving!
So, I put down my yoga mat and got down to look at the tie up. I figured out what the pictures of the Gilmore website meant by looking at them face to face. I could see that about half had been replaced by nylon cord, but they hadn't been too precise about measuring them to make sure they were all the same length. I had a ream of the cotton cord and made some new ones. Right now, I have about half the loom tied up, and am seeing some issues, mostly with the lamps sticking to their neighbors. Also, all the cushions on the bottom of the shafts have sort of melted away. They were some kind of black gummy stuff.
I'll replace the cushions with wooly patches I always have for chairs, and think about spending the extra $50 or so for the tie ups, but I'm going to forge ahead with what I have for now.
The tie up I was going to start with makes some cute squarish daisies, and I had a second tie up for the second half of the warp, but I might reconsider. Since I haven't written since April, I'll catch you up on the progress on the Self-Imposed Sock of the Month Challenge. Here we have the first one I started for April. But the yarn made me so angry! Look how completely different the two socks are! If you're going to dye yarn for socks, can you please make sure the two socks are going to at least look a little like they belong together? This is the second pair I've made that have done this, and I find it very irritating. I finished them in May, and I love the beading on the lace. And I have worn them, but c'mon! They should match!So I started another pair in April, from the sock yarn I dyed at John C. Campbell last year in the natural dye class. The yarn must have felted in the dye process, and they're very thick. They'll be fine for house socks. I also thought the ball of yarn was much prettier than the socks.
The next socks for May were Blooming Lavender from Charlotte Stone's amazing book of color work socks. I loved everything about these socks: the yarn (mostly Malabrigo Sock), was gorgeous, the pattern was fun, and they look adorable! So I gave them to my daughter in law.💕
June's socks were more Malabrigo Sock, this time the new Ultra Sock, soft, squishy and lovely to work with. The pattern is Whistledown, by Twinset & Purl. Simple and done early!
July's socks were a simple broken rib in a Christmas yarn I bought on clearance this January at Haus of Yarn in Nashville. I finished them on July 19! and was so excited, I started knitting sweaters fast and hard.
And I committed to finishing three sweaters in Dances with Wool's WIP it up, to finish them by the end of August. Yeah, and the August socks. Yeah... we'll see.
Well, I'll keep you posted, about the sweaters and the loom. Stay tuned...
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