This was a good week for finishing projects. My package finally came from Macomber with the things I needed to finish the restoration of Mother Mary’s loom. We put the new cloth (canvas) aprons on the front beam and the plain warp beam in the back. Then I re-strung the cords on the sectional warp beam using the materials they sent, and their instructions:
Then we wrapped it up and put it in the cargo trailer and took it on up to its new home at the Methow Valley Spinners & Weavers guild room. I also got 2 more reeds, a raddle and a bunch of the pedal hooks – there were only 8 pedal hooks when I got it, should be more like 64 for a loom with 16 pedals.
Now of course everyone in the guild wants to know what I am going to weave on it and if I will jump in with both feet and use all 12 harnesses on the first project… yikes! no pressure, none at all.
I also finished 3 rugs and that was the end of the rug warp. 31 rugs since the beginning of May, and I have sold about half of them already..
blue jeans denim rug, 28" x 41"
9 shades of blue cotton corduroy, 28" x 27" and 28" x 38"
Yesterday I took 7 more rugs up to the Ashford Gallery in Winthrop, as they were running a little low.
I did some maintenance on my 48″ Macomber – replaced the flat steel heddles with new inserted-eye heddles I ordered a while back. Then I gave it a thorough cleaning and lubricated the jacks. I am planning to start another series of shawls, as they have sold all of the ones I had up at Ashford Gallery, and we have holiday sales coming up soon!
Twisp of Fate 
those rugs are so pretty!
and that loom!.. wow..
Don’t know if you recall, but I’m a friend of Barbie and Mary’s and had dinner with you all at the mexican place last Feb during Madrona. I hope to see you there again next year!
I love looking at what’s happening in your part of the world 😉
Of course I remember you, Teyani! You are probably the one who dyed the Corriedale pencil roving I used for my blue-ribbon skein, too, since I bought the roving several years back.
Hi Katie:
I’m so very impressed with the restoration of the Mother Mary’s loom. It’s so beautiful now. In the picture at the top of the page, I’m wondering what the clamps are holding, and how close you were at that point to being done.
Watching your progress as a weaver is so inspiring ;}
Peggy
Hi Peggy! The clamps were holding a board with tacks spaced every 2 inches, i.e. the spacing between the pegs on the sectional beam, and positioned so these tacks were 32″ away from the beam and in between the pegs on the beam (clear so far?). Starting from the left end, and using a continuous waxed string from the spool, I used heavy staples to attach the string to the wood about an inch below a peg. The staples had to be driven in with a tack hammer, which was the hardest part – slippery little buggers. Then I would run it up to one of the tacks on the temporary board (32″ away) then back down to the wood below the next peg, and staple it to the wood. I also tied a knot around each staple. So in the picture I was about halfway across, following this process. The 32″ distance had to do with the size of this beam, which is 3/4 yard around. For a larger sectional beam, i.e. 1-yard circumference, the distance would be greater. This was all in an instruction sheet I got from Macomber.
Clear as mud! Glad I asked…
Thank goodness Macomber is still operational. I can’t imagine anyone doing a restoration like this without the source being available. One of these days, I hope we’ll be able to visit your looms in person – just to see up close and personal.
We are off to OFFF tomorrow. Instead of our usual 6am-to-6pm-in-one-day marathon (5 hours down, 2 hours to shop, and 5 hours back home), Rebecca and I are ‘camping’ on Friday and Saturday night. Yes, I said camping…. tent, sleeping bags, port-a-potty, etc.
We will take pictures and detailed notes, because I wager it will never happen again, and Rebecca will want to report the experience on Yarn Girls TDGW. Eventually. Once she’s recovered.