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Monday, August 22, 2016

Temporarily Loomless


I’m currently loomless. I sold my SAORI WX60 and with the funds I’ve purchased a SAORI CH60 to replace it. There are some much desired ergonomic features to the new loom that will become even more important to me as I age. Hopefully I’ll have the new loom by next week and then be able to find the time to build a loom and get it dressed with this very mixed warp before the end of August.

Mixed warp inspired by a skein of handspun


I pulled a thick and thin handspun skein from my stash as the colour inspiration for this one. I didn’t actually use the handspun in the warp, that will be saved for inclusion as weft as it is too loosely spun, and too thick in places, to stand up to the tension and abrasion of use as warp. I felt the skein had a nice mix of colours though so I pulled 10 threads from my stash and wound them as one with the intent to sley them randomly in the reed.

Mixed warp inspired by a skein of handspun


The skein I used as inspiration is the one at about ‘3-o-clock’ in this picture. As I chained the warp off the warping board I could see that I had my mix emphasizing blue a little heavily and neglecting brown, but m’eh, I can adjust that with weft choices if I feel like it come weaving time. Some of the yarns seen in the picture will only be included as weft. I’ve bagged them all together with the chained warp and now they await the arrival of the new loom. I may decide to wind as many as 5 more varied  warp chains while I’m loomless and therefor have a bit more room to move around in my tiny bedroom of a ‘studio’.

2 comments:

Gene Black said...

I have an SX60 and I don't think I could ever sell it. I love the portability of it and that I can fold it when not in use. However, I don't have the room for a CH60 at this point. I just pull the SX into the middle of the living room and weave. I think I need to get rid of some things I don't really use.

Marlene said...

After months of deliberation, Gene, I decided I'd take the hit and sell the WX60 and get a CH60 instead. In the time that I've had the first loom I've only moved it twice, and one of those times was only as far as my back deck. I really don't need the folding feature and I much prefer some of the features that the CH60 has and the WX60 does not.

The CH60 has a higher warp beam (not so much getting up and down from the floor when beaming a warp), the cloth beam is tucked farther away under the loom, the warp release brake is a hand lever rather than foot operated, there is a handy little knob if you release too much warp and need to wind it back (which happened to me all the time on the WX60) and you can reach it while remaining seated, and the cloth beam is moved forward using an x shaped crank rather than by handling the cloth beam itself.

I hear you on the need to get rid of a few things. I have too much crammed into too small of a space myself. I've done an deep thinking about priorities and where I most want to spend my time. I'm gradually purging some of the excess from other hobbies.