Crazy as a LOOM

Ah, Saturday.  

Acupuncture yesterday.
Doable day today.
Maybe I should just do acupuncture three times a week, every week.

I spent the day at the studio, just me and the cats.   I had a lot to do.
Yesterday,  we moved the Toika.  Yes, we did.  It took four of us......me, Lois, Tammy, and Claire.
We just had to be smarter than the loom, and we decided that we were.

“There is nothing, nothing, nothing, that two women cannot do before noon.”

Which means, basically, that moving a 7 foot wide loom was pretty much cake for us.

It just had to be taken apart in a certain order, and put back together the same way.  And it is big, and very heavy.

Syd Supervisor is sneaking up on the left.

I call this the 'rose room'.  It's plenty big enough.

The Toika is fine in its new home.  More than fine......it's perfect.

We do have to put the harnesses on and tie everything back up.  I thought that we could keep them all straight while moving them, but that proved to be a mistake.
But all in all, I am very pleased.
This bedroom is on the front of the house, has lots of lovely light, and is a perfect place for the Toika.

In the old dining room, where the Toika USED to live, we now have room for the Reed Ideal that we just rescued.
Here it is, in pieces.

Claire has the incredible talent of being able to implement my schemes.   I can dream up some pretty wild stuff, but I am not always capable of making these ideas come to life, especially if it involves carpentry.
But Claire can.
Here is the Reed Ideal with its brand new production wheel, made by Claire.  This beam will hold 750 yards of warp, which is going on SOON.

Oh, heart be still, isn't she a beauty??

Yes, you too, Syd.

So today,  I cleaned the loom.  It was dry and soaked up  a LOT of my Feed-n-Wax.  It also needed nuts put on the bottom bolts, which required me to put something under the loom to raise it up enough for me to get my fingers under it.  I also made new cords for the treadles.

Strangely enough, I had these strips of canvas with grommets in them, lying in a drawer, perfect for tying onto the warp beam.

This big wheel spins so freely, you would never know how heavy it is.

I lashed a new rod onto the front.

The wood gleams.  I swear I heard this old loom sigh.

Brand new shiny heddles.

And the part that made me the happiest........suggested to me by the cute little clerk at the hardware store who is young enough to be my son.......(when did THAT happen?)

A lawn mower pull, cord and all, for the brake release, which was missing. Total cost: $3.99

Here she is.......ready to get to work.  There are 252 rolls of off white poly cotton rug warp waiting.

I told you I was crazy.
NOW do you believe me???
No????
Well, for all you weavers out there....I threaded this for pinwheels, but when I started weaving it, I realized that I had last done M's and O's on this loom, so the treadles were tied up for that, and not pinwheels.
So I don't know what you call it, but I kind of like it, so I'm going to let it fly.