CLEANING AND COUNTING

The piece with the notches does fit into the bar with the cutouts = foot rest. Thank you for letting me know it's suppose to be tight.


I've been cleaning heddles, bars and frames. The heddle still are white-ish, not shiny aluminum. but I guess I can live with that, it doesn't effect the yarn that I strung through to test them out.

So far I've clean three harnesses with 590 heddles some of the harness have more heddles than others, but I want to get through them all and then even out the numbers on each harness. I'm keeping and individual count on each harness and writing it on the bar with a white grease pencil so that I don't get confused or lose my notes.
This is as clean as I got the 15 reed, I strung some yarn through it and did a dental floss type of cleaning, I think that's about as clean as I can hope for.

I've placed my other looms on ebay and hope to sell them, once that happens I will order the missing pieces for the Macomber and she will be permanently placed inside the house. Then my friends we'll have our maiden warping session.

Some Mystery Parts and Answers

I called Macomber yesterday and spoke with a really great gentleman, he informed me the my loom was built July 1967, it's actually only two years younger than I am. I will need regular lamm hooks because the super hooks will not work. I have a list of items I need and when I get ready he told me to just give him a call.

This controls the lamms which are connected to these side bar which lift the harness with the levers at the top of the high castle. I took this pic from the back of the loom to get a good shot of the assembly. It's been cleaned up and oiled, I'm posting for Kimberly who had a question.

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This is the crank that when I depress a corner foot pedal releases the back beam and a pic of the controls from the side of the loom. That rusty bolt, I'm assuming it's missing a piece so that I can manually turn the back beam to warp.

This is one of my mystery pieces this thing is on both sides of the front legs it goes back and has the little stoppers to keep it in position, I'm at a lost as to what this is for.

This other piece of wood is the same length of the interior of the loom and has notches on each side. I have no clue on this one either.

This is the back beam you can see were the strings were at one point and were cut off.

My rusty heddle bar that got a good wipe and rub with steel wool.

A close up of the heddles which are in great condition just a wipe and they clean up real nice.

And the final pics of of yarn because I'm also trying to figure out how I can clean it before using.

This is a cone of wool/mohair, and as you can see it's really dusty, How do I clean this or should I just skein off the first few layers and start there?

This is the true color without flash it's really a great looking deep blue.

Thanks for all the comments and help.

I wanted to thank you all for being so supportive with my mini-meltdown on the loom. I was a bit nervous on how to attack the cleaning and restoration of it. I plan on blogging about refurbishment of the loom and hope that doesn't bore anyone to death :), but it will be a good record for me or anyone else that may need it, I just have to remember to take before and after shots.


Judy - I love to know that you have looms that have been built to last, 30 years is a lot for equipment but worth it's weight in gold if it still does the job. I don't know how old the loom is but will find out once I get to talking with Macomber.
Geodyn - It's great to hear from you, I did start to breathe and I guess it will be on day at a time, I'll take you up on the web pages once I get it to that point.
Delighted - I can't believe your keep up with my saga while your in GA, I hope your having a great time saw the pics of the kids they look like they're loving grandma and grandpa's visit.
Leigh - There seems to be some controversy on what the loom is, I've gotten Jack and CM. I can't say I don't have a clue, but I know I'm gonna find out. I loved your garden shots made me hungry for fresh veggies in a bit of butter and garlic.
Acorn - All I can say is Amen to that!

Theresa - I agree with you on the heddles, I will save the ones that look good and just order new ones if the rusted ones are beyond help. I just have so many heddles on just as many harnesses it boggles the mind. I've visited Sarah's blog but haven't started pestering her yet since I can't even ask to many questions right now, but she's bookmarked, I appreciate it.
Restless - Thanks for the the recommendation, I didn't think I would have a problem with Sarah, her blog is really informative and I've been looking through it from the point she started. Loads of great info and pics that explain some things. Your right I am missing the strings, there are some attached with staples that were cut off. The reeds are rusty but I plan to get the wire brush to clean them up with some WD40 and then I'll take yarn and pass through each one to get it all cleaned up, sort of like dental flossing them. As for the super hooks I haven't come across them yet, but once I get the milk can empty I might find them there. You are right the heddles are in good shape they are mostly coated with some white dust, once I started cleaning them, they look fantastic and it's one less thing on my to order list.

The Clean up Begins!

I went home yesterday and took a 2 hour nap, I felt really exhausted and had a headache that wouldn't stop even though I popped Advils. After that power nap I woke up and was ready to roll .

This is the before and after shots of the cleaning, these are the harness levers, I can tell that the loom was mostly used as a four harness because the front notches are nicely worn in, compared the the other six. Mr Deepend has a blower with a hose for mechanic work on the cars and it's been a God send, love that thing.

I took the front beam off that was really cool since this is my first big loom, I'm finding that it's going to teach me so much just by cleaning, disassembling and re-assembling. I love that since everything you learn you get to keep with you. This portion are the bars that control the harnesses with the lamms and foot pedals. (please excuse me with the terminology I'll get it all down as I get this loom cleaned up and do my research).

Now this little piece of dowel is notched at the end and attached to where the lamms are this is a mystery, I don't know what it's for. I looked on Sarah's blog but didn't see that she made any reference to it either. There is also a longer piece of wood that has notches at the ends that I don't know where it goes (wasn't attached to the loom when I went to see it just in the corner), I have to get a pic of that too. The wood is really starting to look good, I'm using Old English Polish/Cleaner and I love the richness its bring out.

I'm officially FREAKED OUT!!

Yeah, I was exhausted, nose clogged up with dust, mind reeling with ideas and well generally overwhelmed. I knew this would happen but no matter how I mentally prepared, it didn't work. I AM REALLY FREAKED OUT!! I don't know what to do first, but I like a challenge and well the loom is in the garage so there is no turning back now. You know that feeling that you get when you really want something, then it happens and you think OH LORD what have I done or gotten myself into?? I'm there, I haven't slept since 3:00 am and that's not really good I need my 8 -9 hours.


40 boxes of extremely dusty dirty yarn, a lot of it wool, some linen, some cotton and some I won't know until I burn it. Also hidden in one of the boxes was Macrame yarn, I hadn't seen this type of yarn since the early 80's. I did discard a lot of the wool that was too dirty and tangled up to deal with, plus it had some kind of bug debris whatever was in it has been dead a long time. there was also some very thick almost roving like wool unfortunately it was in with the bug yarn.

Loom Bench that is also sturdy and adjustable, swweeeeeeet.

A bunch of slat sticks and two sets of these sticks that are tied on both sides with leather? I need to look in my weaving book for these. I have not emptied the milk can and don't know if by chance there are any shuttles in there but I don't think so.

The milk can that it housing these right now is suppose to be hunter green this did my nose and allergies in for the night.

The Stats: Macomber Ad A Harness Model B-5 Serial 4719

10 harness 12 pedals, no tie up from pedals to harnesses.

5 reeds, #5, #8, #10, #12 & #15 all Macomber, #15 is the only one without any rust.

I can't even begin to tell you how many heddles there are most are in great shape some have light rust. But counting them will be more tedious than cleaning the up. LOL..

There's a ton of cleaning that needs to be done and some de-rusting. I guess there will a mountain of dirty rags, wire brushes, steel wool and latex gloves in my near future.

A Macomber Tale

I've spoken to Mr Levy, Bill and Peggy, really sweet older couple with the 40" Macomber from my previous post. Bill called me late Thursday to inform me that "if I like the loom I couldn't take it because the condo commandos would be on the look out". As it turns out, Bill and Peggy live in a condo on the Penthouse floor (20 stories) in Pompano Beach, big issue. I then told Bill, that " regretfully if I fell in love and I couldn't take the loom Saturday, it would be very difficult during the workweek, since the condo only allows moving anything even garbage to M-F 9-2" and I can't get anymore time off since I'd taken some time with my mom, so I declined to keep our appointment on Saturday. He then told me if I came out to see it and I really wanted it and could use it he would give it to me for FREE, I almost died. He asked me to please reconsider because he really wanted to get rid of it and if I didn't take it he would hire some movers to SAW it to pieces and DUMP IT!! My weaver instinct was in full rage OMG they're going to KILL it and DUMP IT, aaaaacccccckkkkkkk what can I do!!! My hubby saw the terror in my eyes and he said "let just go and see it".

We went, met with Bill and Peggy, I fell in love with the loom as I knew I would, turns out she is a 10 harness, 4 that were installed and 6 that Peggy found while shifting some things in a closet, with 5+ reeds, a warping board, a bunch of sticks what I think is a raddle and rods in a milk can , a bench and a basket of yarn. When we were about to leave Bill says to my husband "oh you know we have MORE YARN in this little storage closet. Yeah, I got that too, my son had the morning off and my hubby took a personal day, they went to get my loom and yarn, according to my son I should consider renting an apartment just to store this "stuff", I didn't answer him but I thought well if you moved out.......... that's another post.

The loom and yarn are at my house in my garage, I plan to start weeding through it all when I get home, is it 4:30 yet?

I'm nervous and excited and will take photos for you to see.

Another Ad, Another Hope

I found this ad and am going to see her on Saturday. The husband of the weaver doesn't know anything, his wife the weaver is suffering from Alzheimer's and a few other ailments and could not answer even the simplest of questions. I'm excited and hopeful that it's a loom I can use. My questions to you all what should I be looking for to make sure I can actually weave on this one? Thanks I appreciate it.

Cardweaving and other tidbits

There is this ad on Craigslist, which I almost fainted over, I mean wow the price is insane, I emailed and got an error or undeliverable message. REALLY are the weaving gods just not in my celestial house?? I was just drooling over the whole mess of looms planned projects and everything in a matter of nano seconds, oh well, tomorrow is another day.. or so I've been told.

These are my pitiful card woven strips, Oye!!! The edges are very scary and I made some errors here and there but the exercise was good for the mind and creative mojo, I will have to make the bookmarks for my son on the inkle since that is one project that I'd like to finish. All the looms in the house are once again nekkid, but that will be resolved this weekend. I'm planning something for each one.

The RH needs to get warped for some kitchen towels, the troops are complaining that everyone has gotten great kitchen towel gifts, but in the weaver's house the kitchen is bare not so, since Meg at Megweaves sent me a great towel that is in constant use, but since they are by default Cuban they exaggerate with grand hand gestures and extreme expressions (it really does look like Ricky Ricardo when he gets annoyed at Lucy). That reminds me of an old Spanish quote "En casa del herrero, cuchillo de palo". Literally, in the house of the blacksmith there are wooden knives (that would really be annoying).

The Structo is going to be getting some warp for Baja Bags, I've finally decided that I will need to create these on something more than my poor inkle speaking of which, needs to get warped for the straps for the bags, I need a hat band, and my son's bookmarks maybe not in that order but you get the idea.

My mom's results were fantastic!! She doesn't have cancer in her lymph nodes and will need some radiation treatment and maybe medication for the next 5 years, Thank GOD. I AM SO RELIEVED. I want to thank you all for keeping us in your prayer and good karma thoughts.

I took knitting with me to the hospital and my mom's while she recuperated, I finished my Marinella Shawl it was a really easy knit with only a stitch legend mishap. The author of the shawl pattern wrote ssk and meant s1,k1 psso for the lace portion. I started the skk and found out on the fifth repeat it was wrong, I didn't rip it out just couldn't bring myself to do so and just continued knitting I used Knitpicks 100% Alpaca lace in Dill, love the results and know I will use this lightweight shawl often.


I took this pic outside this morning funny how the color changes outdoors
and yet another color change and close up of the lace sections.

I'm planning on rewriting the pattern for a wrap, I have some wonderful 100% Cashmere that I used for my Wisp last year, which I snagged an broke. I unravelled it with much heartbreak and will use it for the wrap.

Quick Update

Hi everyone, just wanted to say thank you for the prayers and well wishes. Mom is doing fine, she's recovering well and in very high spirits. She does have cancer and the lymphnodes under her arm were removed. We will not have any results until Wednesday when we go for post op and instruction on which Oncologist she will need to see for treatment.

I'll keep you guys posted on the results and what will be going on.

Some Card Weaving

After reading a few chapters of Card Weaving by Candace Crocket, I started warping to do some card weaving. I wanted to make a few strips for my son's bible cover as page markers. Organizing the cards and placing the right thread in each was not as confusing as I thought it would be (that was a relieve). I secured the cards as suggested by the book with a rubber band and shook the warp out, once that happened the yarn took it's place. It's very different warping for this type of weaving than what I'm use to, since with the RH and Structo evenly spread out neat yarn wraps are a necessity, not so much with this. Initially your suppose to tie it all together in a big knot and then thread the cards, I warped directly to the loom with my peg and kept my yarn evenly spaced, now that I've done this I know that it doesn't matter and I can wrap one yarn on top of the other without much damage to the placement of my thread, this point is really interesting and in a small way very liberating. After a few experiments and some failure in the set up of one of the cards (bright me forgot to put the letters on the holes I have since sharpie penned all the cards) I started weaving experimenting with the turns and what it would look like if I made mistakes and so on.

After that it was time to get serious and do some real weaving. I really like the way it looks and understand how it works now not perfectly but the concept is really not that difficult. It's a different weaving experience and the results are really fascinating. I'm finding that the shifting of the cards is very rough on the yarn, the end yarn is linen and the centers are 3 ply cotton, I'm using the same materials as the cover. The yarn is getting really fuzzy although I haven't had any warp thread break. The selvages are the same as when I first attempted inkle weaving, bumpy and uneven, but as with all weaving, practice usually takes care of that bit.

Kinda cool huh?

This will probably be my last post for this week, Mom is having surgery on Tuesday 6/29, and I will be spending the week at her house, without cable or internet connection (yikes) but I don't think I'll have much time for either. Thank you for sending us your prayers and healing vibes our way, we really appreciate it.

Finished Fabric

It's finished and washed, I need to press it with the adhesive backing I plan to use. This is the reverse side of the Soumak I really like the braided look of this

I put the fabric over the book, and I've notice that I don't have much of a seam allowance, my mistake, but I think I can get away with what I have with some creative sewing. I'll play with it all this weekend and come up with some solution.

Comment Questions

PattyAnne said...
I would love to see how you construct the Bible cover! Will you be showing us?

I didn't think anyone was really interested in how I would get the end product but sure
I'll to try to do a tutorial and take photos along the way to post for you to see.

bspinner said...
Your weaving is wonderful. Don't judge what you weave until its off the loom and washed.

Thank you, and your right I should not make any decisions until I wash and press, I always forget that fabric changes as it goes through that process.

Benita said...
That's going to be a lovely Bible cover - I think the twining areas will really add to it. And I think every weaver has a good selvage and a bad one. From what I can tell, if you are right-handed, that will be your good one, and the opposite for lefties. At least that is from my own observations from the classes I have taught. Does this fit you as well?

Yes, your right in your observation, I'm right handed and so always get my selvages on that side the way I want them and have to work harder on the left. Only when I inkle weave does that not make a difference and I think it's because it's weft faced fabric and both sides are always tight.

Theresa said...
Looks great and I bet practice will even up those selvage edges. On the spinners & weavers housecleaning pages someone is selling a lot of shuttles, some boat.

Thanks, your right once I got moving along with the shuttle both sides got really consistent. I also noticed that the twining kept the fabric nicely stretch out across and help with that.

Judy said...
I've struggled with twining myself and I don't know why? From the photos that I've seen, it seems like it should be easy, but, my fingers/brain don't seem to connect on that one! Nice fabric!

I'm glad I'm not the only one! As the lone weaver down here, I'm always second guessing what I do.

Julie said...
It looks wonderful! I have started working on my scarf but its slow going right now with summer here!

I get like that with the knitting I hate to work on heavy items in the summer.

In Between Soumak and Twining

I like this twining better, it's very decorative and for me was easier to do than the first. This is my attempt at Soumak, I think I did it right but by the end of the night I needed a break and was seeing double.

Why blogger posted this sideways I dunno, but these are both techniques within the weaving. I'm in love with the teal yarn. I have to plan some really nice hand towels with it.

I hope to finish the weaving tonight and get it in the wash, after a good press and backing, I will start designing this cover, hopefully, successfully. I had a few questions in the comments I'll answer for you guys in the next post.

New Weaving

I started on my son's bible cover this Sunday and can I tell you, I'm in love with the shuttle! I love the way it moves through the shed, the fact that I don't need to un-weave to get more yarn out of the stick shuttle and it's ease of use. I am though discovering that my selvages on the left side are really loose while the right has a good tension. This is a close up of the fabric it's really the color of the first pic, but I needed to turn the flash off for this pic or it would washout completely. I love the look of the basket weave, although it's not true basket weave but, it's dense and I think will produce a nice sturdy fabric.

I tried the twining from the book, I can't say I love it, I like it but I'm still not sure. It was very easy for me to go from left to right on the teal strip, but going on the brown from right to left was a challenge, I don't know why it was but it just seemed that my brain didn't get the concept of doing it as easily. It was a very interesting exercise.

I need more bobbins, since I want to work in different colors on this, I ordered some from Harrisville and they should arrive sometime this week, as for temp bobbins I took some card stock cut to size, wrapped it around a dowel and taped the open ends to form a tube, wrapped yarn around those and kept working. Not that it's news to any veteran weavers, but some newbies might not know that's a temporary option.

My New Shuttle!! new to me ;)

I've been hunting on ebay for a boat shuttle for what seems to be evvvvvveeeeeerrrr! And of course I won't pay absurd shipping costs or pay new prices for a used item for that I'll just buy from the supplier direct IMHO (yeah, I'm cheap that way, but I have a budget I can't go over and I'm disciplining myself to be frugal and get a good deal for my money). My persistence and constant checking on line finally paid off. When I came back from lunch this was waiting for me at my desk, ain't she a beauty. It's a Harrisville Design 11" boat shuttle closed bottom with a 4" wooden bobbin. She has a strong odor, but the guys in production said it's not chemical, I'll air her out and see. I'm so excited, she needs a bit of sanding to smooth some wear, some oil and guess what; her maiden voyage will be on my new project hopefully the smell will be gone by then.