Three looms full

Just for a few days I have an embarrassment of weaving riches.

Nearing completion is my colour and weave sample started in weaving class last term. I’m playing around with other colours to finish up the warp. This is on a 16 inch 8 shaft Robinson table loom that I hired from the guild after the unfortunate Monk’s Belt experience. Once the colour and weave is done I’ll return the loom to the guild – I hired it because I was using my own table loom on home projects, but now those will go onto the big loom.
Yesterday I dressed my table loom ready for our next class sampler – a series of finger manipulation techniques – leno, spanish lace, soumak, clasped weft and more. I used grey cottolin for the warp. The loom is a 24 inch 4 shaft Robinson, a bit heavy for carrying to class (which involves stairs) but manageable.
Finally, progress continues slowly on the big loom. I went to a 2/2 twill for a while, working on selvedges and beat. As that improved I noticed that the shafts were lifting erratically – some sticking and repeating, some missed lifting. Geoff and I tried some trouble shooting and decided the major issue was inconsistent tension in the wire cables that run past the control box, with some contribution from weaver inexperience treadling and maybe the carpeted room (Kaz’s floor is wooden). I emailed Kaz for advice and received a gentle comment about her “crisp” treadling. Hmm… “crisp”… let’s try a bit more trouble shooting… yes, that would be 99% user error causing the problem. I found I was resting my right foot on the pedal all the time. Lifting it off cleaning solved the problem. Progress!!!