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Sunday, November 1, 2009

Kelly is a Weaver!!

I thought it would be appropriate to do a blog post about Kelly's efforts on our loom. We bought the loom in a very round-about way from a blog friend in Colorado. She hasn't blogged lately, but she is the voice behind Yellow Jacket Ridge Angora Ranch. She had a Rasmussen table loom with a stand that she'd been storing for a while and hadn't used. I bought it from her, and she took it from Steamboat Springs up to Denver. A friend of mine in Denver, who works for my employer, and who travels back and forth to Des Moines, brought it to me in his mini-van.

Soooo, it sat, and it sat, and it sat. In the basement. Gathering a little dust. Not because I didn't want to be using it, but with full time work, part time school, and the farm, I simply didn't have time to learn how to use it. Kelly likes to watch TV in the basement (I don't watch much TV) so he would sit down there learning how to use the loom while watching TV.
One day, I heard the loom making noises, and ventured downstairs to find he was well underway. He still has a lot to learn (so he says) but the book that we bought at the Wisconsin Sheep & Wool Festival really helped him figure out the workings of our loom. He has already made this lovely table runner!! I am so excited by the possibilities of our loom. I'm hoping that Kelly can use my handspun yarn to make new and different mats and other items, and eventually perhaps he will make me an evening shawl.
These colours aren't necessarily our favourites. The loom was already threaded with the warp threads, so Kelly decided that he might as well use them for learning purposes. He wants to learn how to re-thread the loom with colours that are more to our choice.

A couple of odd spots happened on the back of his first project. Can anyone with some experience in weaving say what happened here?
It's as if some threads were missed, but the top side looks completely normal. We can't figure it out. Any suggestions would be welcome!!

9 comments:

Yellow Jacket Ridge Angoras said...

Oh My God it's gorgeous!!!! I can't believe your husband was the first to make something!!!! Wonderful! What a relaxing hobby it can be. I think spinning and such are like meditation and so good for the soul. I never touched the loom. It came the same way I sent it.....he did a fantastic job!!!!! Please tell him how happy that made me.

I haven't posted for a long time. My life is far from normal but things are improving. Clayton came home from the hospital with his left side paralyzed. He moved in with his girlfriend which sent me in a tizzy. It was a miserable 3 months. She was a snotty, lazy little bitch and I'm being nice. Because of his condition Mical gave them my room which was a poor decision on his part. They finally moved out on Thursday but the aftermath of their stay lingers.

I have spent the entire day cleaning as well as energy clearing. I still have much work to do on the energy side. Negative energy sticks.....not just to us but our spaces as well.

Thank you so much for thinking of me. I will try to catch up with everyone's blogs.

Blessings!!!!!!

I'll try to blog sometime in the near future.

Holly said...

Good for you!! I have a four harness loom that has sat in my basement for years and I've yet to get around to weaving on it. I keep saying someday I'll make rag rugs on it but someday hasn't arrived. I'm impressed with the first project.

Mare said...

Oh Claire! Your husband did a wonderful job! I have been looking at small table and lap looms (like i have time and energy to start something else!) and LOVE the progress he has made. It encourages me to maybe try it myself...

Gail said...

Looks perfect to me!

Anonymous said...

Claire, Iowa? OMG. I lived there as a child way back in the late 50's. My grandfather owned 80 acres there and my dad farmed the land. I'm not sure who owns the land now. Such a memories.

Di
The Blue Ridge Gal

Mom L said...

Way to go, Kelly!!! By the time I manage to visit your farm you'll have a store all set up!

Nancy, down in Onawa

Gail V said...

Oh, tell Kelly I am so impressed! I have taken a few weaving classes, but the loom sits in the corner while I hustle around doing other things-- so I am very rusty, and can't say what happened. Treadling it wrong on a step? So that the wrong warp threads were lifted when the shuttle took the weft threads through?
Small problem. Great project!

Michelle said...

Maybe not "my" colors, either, but that is a very handsome bit of work there! Kudos to the weaving king in Iowa!

Becky Utecht said...

Wow, Kelly did a beautiful job! Makes me want to get out the loom I bought at a garage sale 18 months ago. It sits in the spare bedroom, waiting for someone to warp it and actually use it. I hope someday to get my life in order and see what it can do. Hmmmm... maybe I should warp it and put it down in the basement where MY husband watches TV, and I'll leave a weaving book out too...