NOBO Handweavers

With Betsy’s permission, here’s a copy of a loom request that she recently received. What a fine cause and a fine young woman :

Hi Betsy,
I came in and talked to you last winter, I am a MassArt fibers major and you
helped me understand all the different types if looms and showed me the
weaver in California who makes the cardboard looms! Well, I was teaching at
Los Patojos, a community center in Guatemala this year and made rigid heddle
looms out of popsicle sticks, and the kids all had a great time! Now I am
back in Boston, with a few more weeks before my next trip to Guatemala, and
I was wondering if you could point me in the right direction- I am looking
for a small loom to bring to Los Patojos. This is something I would need to
have donated, since they clearly don’t have a budget- all supplies are
donated. However, if we got a loom down there we would make weavings and
sell them fair trade in the states in order to get the funding to keep Los
Patojos running. Los Patojos is very important in this town as it keeps kids
off the streets, where there are a lot of problems with gangs, violence,
drugs, etc. I am planning on going back around the 16th of August, and if I
have a loom with me I will teach the teachers how to set up the looms, and
how to weave, so that they can keep weaving with the kids after I leave. I
just thought I’d ask if you have any ideas of where to get a small loom
donated- preferably something in the 75 lb or less range that could be
packaged up easily to take in checked baggage. I’m asking all the people I
know in the weaving community in New England, so don’t worry about it if you
can’t think of anything.
Thanks so much!

Allison

Should anyone have a loom to donate, please contact Betsy @ Loom With A View in Newburyport, MA.
Thanks!

This link was recently posted by qcknitter over on Ravelery and I thought you’d all enjoy it:

http://www.rienneseperd.com/produits.htm

It’s en francais but the pictures tell the story. I especially liked the bandeaus, purses and stuffed animals.

Now, I have some technical questions for Dave.

1) How do we go about changing our wordpress created passwords to our own? It  sure would make life easier.

2) Can we get to the posting page without logging out? I can only get there now by logging in.

3) Could you create a library tab? We only have a few books now but hopefully that’s about to change!

Thanks in advance Dave

There are so many things I like about weaving and one of them is discovering new things.
I always knew that you could get different looks with the same warp but it was fun to finally experiment with that.
I’m weaving fabric for a weaver’s swap and thought I’d weave off the last 6″ or so with a different weft and pattern.

It’s the same multi colored warp in both pieces but what a difference!
So now I’m going to start sampling in earnest, just to see the different variations I can weave on a particular warp.

I made the sample piece into a purse for my niece who’s turning 25 next Saturday. I kind of gave it an “iPod” look so she could stow her iPod in there. I wove the strap on my tape loom with the same fiber. I really like having that tape loom. I even wove jazzy shoelaces on it.
There’s so much to weave and so much to learn about weaving.

And that would be Tools of the Trade! It is a floor loom, 32 inches wide, 4 shafts, and 6 treadles. I got it at the end of my lessons with Margaret! She had heard of someone who was selling, she went to look at it, and she very calmly said that it was a good deal! Of course, I believed her.

I write about it in my blog here

And here is a picture:

I also have a table loom which I haven’t used as yet.

Many of you know that I’ve been lusting after a Glimakra Standard loom from the first time I saw one. Of course, I had to test drive one and did that at Vav Stuga during their Open House week. My instinct’s were correct.

Next- how to get one?
New was too expensive. Used was almost too expensive as well.
I decided that if I bought other “good deal” used looms that perhaps I could parlay them and sell them to fund the elusive Glimarka.
Because I’d mentioned this particular loom as being my ultimate goal, cairncrew over on Ravelery remembered that fact and emailed me one day saying “Isn’t this your dream loom?” along with the Craigslist ad.
Bingo!
I contacted the woman on Craiglist/Albany NY offering her loom and lucked out- it was mine! She even said it was a steal, which I already knew, but she wanted it to go to a good home. It did.
Her son was an engineer and labeled every single part right down to the bolts and it went together in no time.

As I mentioned at the July meeting that her name is Viv or Vivi, short for Vivian. Vav is the Swedish word for weaving so I do indeed Vav on my Viv!
Vivian also means “life” in Latin and I celebrate my life whenever I’m near this loom, my dream loom.

In order to prevent sibling rivalry, I need to mention that Vivi has two sisters, Bebe and Cheri. This seems to be a French inspired loom family. More about them later…

This is my current favorite loom. It’s a Schact Wolf Pup Loom in cherry wood. I got it last October, and I’ve been enjoying using it. It’s a 4 harness, 4 treadle, direct tie up. I’ve done some minor modifications to it like replacing all the maple dowels with cherry wood so that everything would match.

The details:
Weaving width is 18″
Actual loom width is 26″, and a height of 35″ to the top of the castle
When it’s in the folded position, as the top photo of this post, it’s right at 42″
Front to back is only 33″
This makes it about the size of my small dining table, perfect for small apartment living.

If you’re considering a Wolf Pup and have any questions, let me know.

What’s your favorite loom?

I’m starting this thread so we can start adding in links. In the comments, please list the name of the website or blog or whatever, the URL, and the category and I’ll take care of the rest. If there’s a category missing, let me know and I’ll add that in, too.
It’s time to populate the site with stuff. Much like unpacking the boxes. And then we’ll have a housewarming party!