Last week I posted a picture of two looms in pieces in one of my Studio rooms. This week I will tell you why I took them apart. A couple of weeks ago, I posted about my plans for all of that Jacobs fleece I have been washing, I plan to spin the fleeces into yarn and weave wooly blankets. A day or 2 later, Carol emailed me and said that I should consider taking Big Bertha home to help me with the blankets, because she has the extra width that would really come in handy. The two looms that were here on loan had to go back, in order to make room for Big Bertha.
I search my pictures for one of Big Bertha, and this is the best one I have come up with....
......She is smack dab in the middle of this picture, and you really cannot get an idea of just how big she is. She has a 60 inch weaving width, 12 shafts and a really big footprint. She has not been getting used at the Center very much. Over the last couple of years we have done several coverlets and throws on her, but she is not easy to use. The treadles are heavy and the width is really wide, but I thought I might see if I could stand up to weave on her, that would take care of both of those problems. If that doesn't work out, I think I will at least take advantage of the 12 shafts for some narrower projects.
It is going to take a bit of work to get her upstairs into the Studio, but I am getting ready to send out an SOS email to do some recruiting among the weavers for this next Tuesday. I am sure that you will be seeing pictures of at least the take down and removal of Big Bertha on Tuesday's blog. This one thing will spark a rearrangement of the looms at the Center, once the big girl is gone, other looms will slide in to take her place. Hopefully, the looms and weavers will have room to breath again.
My upstairs studio is 2 bedrooms that measure 15x17ft each. Right now I have 4 looms of various sizes in one of the rooms with shelves filled with weaving yarn along one wall. The other room, where Bertha will go has all of the spinning fiber and fabric and t-shirts for weaving rugs. Each of these rooms has only 1 narrow window that faces the north side of the house. I am debating about where I want to put Bertha in relation to the window and the door of the room, which are along the same wall. Do I want to face the window or have it come from one side of the loom to shine across the web of the cloth. Or possible do I want the window behind me? I don't know, there is a lot of rearranging that is going to have to happen in that room no matter where I put her, but my main goal is to get a lot of my stash woven into rugs and blankets over the next couple of years. Rug warps will be on Bertha as I spin for the blankets, and Blankets will be on Bertha when I have enough yarn ready for blankets.
The 4 other looms will have projects on them as well, my counter balance loom will eventually have a linen warp for something like tea towels or even bath towels. Then the 6 harness Hearthside and the 8 harness Binder loom will be taking care of some of the 100yd warps of 12/3 white cotton. The little 4 harness Nilus Leclerc will be doing some sampling for the blankets and once I get to the lamb fleeces I could do some really soft scarves on it..
Until next time, Happy Spinning, Tina
I search my pictures for one of Big Bertha, and this is the best one I have come up with....
......She is smack dab in the middle of this picture, and you really cannot get an idea of just how big she is. She has a 60 inch weaving width, 12 shafts and a really big footprint. She has not been getting used at the Center very much. Over the last couple of years we have done several coverlets and throws on her, but she is not easy to use. The treadles are heavy and the width is really wide, but I thought I might see if I could stand up to weave on her, that would take care of both of those problems. If that doesn't work out, I think I will at least take advantage of the 12 shafts for some narrower projects.
It is going to take a bit of work to get her upstairs into the Studio, but I am getting ready to send out an SOS email to do some recruiting among the weavers for this next Tuesday. I am sure that you will be seeing pictures of at least the take down and removal of Big Bertha on Tuesday's blog. This one thing will spark a rearrangement of the looms at the Center, once the big girl is gone, other looms will slide in to take her place. Hopefully, the looms and weavers will have room to breath again.
My upstairs studio is 2 bedrooms that measure 15x17ft each. Right now I have 4 looms of various sizes in one of the rooms with shelves filled with weaving yarn along one wall. The other room, where Bertha will go has all of the spinning fiber and fabric and t-shirts for weaving rugs. Each of these rooms has only 1 narrow window that faces the north side of the house. I am debating about where I want to put Bertha in relation to the window and the door of the room, which are along the same wall. Do I want to face the window or have it come from one side of the loom to shine across the web of the cloth. Or possible do I want the window behind me? I don't know, there is a lot of rearranging that is going to have to happen in that room no matter where I put her, but my main goal is to get a lot of my stash woven into rugs and blankets over the next couple of years. Rug warps will be on Bertha as I spin for the blankets, and Blankets will be on Bertha when I have enough yarn ready for blankets.
The 4 other looms will have projects on them as well, my counter balance loom will eventually have a linen warp for something like tea towels or even bath towels. Then the 6 harness Hearthside and the 8 harness Binder loom will be taking care of some of the 100yd warps of 12/3 white cotton. The little 4 harness Nilus Leclerc will be doing some sampling for the blankets and once I get to the lamb fleeces I could do some really soft scarves on it..
Until next time, Happy Spinning, Tina
2 comments:
I'd like to think that Bertha will have found a happy home...she deserves some TLC. Besides, to begin with, you'll only be using 4 shafts! You'll be able to build up your strength!
Do you plan on weaving blankets with singles? If so both warp and weft? I am a pretty new weaver but a long time spinner and plan on spinning up my fleeces to use for blankets as well. I'd love your advice. Thanks! Nancy
Post a Comment