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Crazy as a Loom

Thursday, May 18, 2017

Happy day.


Sometimes a couple of days away gives me perspective.......
it always makes me grateful for my big, old house.   Home.

There is really nothing like it, is there??

If I lived near the ocean, I would walk there every day.  It is the most peaceful experience.

The sun, the sound of the waves, the wind.  Everything about it.   I center on the beach.   I think most of us do.


I spent a couple of hours sitting here watching the waves crashing in.  Doing nothing.


Then there is always the food in Maine.


Nothing like a draft beer......

With some clam chowda.


Roy is getting older, and while he is still the best traveling dog EVAH..........it takes its toll on him.



As soon as I got home, I finished this up.
It was waiting on my loom.
I took it off, serged the ends, washed and dried it, measured and hemmed, attached label and middle marker, then pressed it.
Packed it up, ready to go in today's mail.


I love this draft still.........watching the shells appear while I weave is magical.


The jury is out on my AVL home loom with compudobby.  I find it very hard to treadle.  Lois says I am spoiled by my E-LIFT on the AVL folding dobby.
That may be true.
But since both of us have had HIP ISSUES....damn this getting older sometimes.........I am being watchful.
She has woven on it for several days in a stretch, and after a week off it, she is going to give it another GO......but if it bothers her at all, unfortunately, it's going.



VERY SAD, because I love the loom in every other way......easy to warp, easy to thread, perfect size, 8 harness, and I love the compudobby.  I was very intimidated by it, only to find that it is no big deal, but how much easier it is to do complicated patterns!!!

I have called AVL......but they say they cannot make an e-lift for it.   I think the truth is, they don't want to, since they don't make this loom anymore.

We'll see...........

Apparently, summer is here.  Yesterday was brutally hot.  Time to make the ice tea.  And once the sun got low in the sky, and it cooled off some, it was porch time.
I spend a lot of quiet time out here with a good book.


Today I have a list of things.....silk to dye, bamboo that I just dyed to be dried in the sun, and bread to make for my youngest daughter.
She requested raisin/walnut bread.

For months now, I have been using this awesome organic flour.  I have to drive a bit to get it, but it's so worth it.
No chemicals, no crap.  The minute you start to knead it, you can tell the difference.

Funny what things make you happy when you get to this stage in your life.
Ha!



I'd better get to it.

8 comments:

Liz aka Fibergeek said...

I have an AVL loom that was hard to treadle when I got it. It had been stored a while and there was some corrosion on the metal bars that hold the upper and lower cams. So I used steel wool on the corrosion and it helped. But the loom was still stiff.

I got out the silicone spray - garage door lube - and sprayed and wiped all the metal bars I could find on the loom. It made a huge difference in the treadling.

May not help you, but thought I'd share anyway.

LA said...

I always think of beach time as a time to blow the cobwebs out of my mind. (Plus, those walks on the beach are just the best for my feet!!!) Your "shell" cloth reminds me of the tail feathers of a peacock...just beautiful!!!

Peg Cherre said...

I remain in love with the shells. Can't get over how gorgeous they look, in a huge range of color combinations.

I'm sorry that the compu-dobby isn't working out as well as you'd hoped, and hope that Liz's suggestions help you.

Serena Rachels said...

I wouldove to weave those shells. I have an 8 shaft loom. Could you please send me the draft or tell me where to find it?

Threadbare Designs said...

Glad to see that you escaped and restored and refreshed!! It looks to me that you were in southern Maine, as our "beaches" up here in the midcoast are quite rocky. I'm not much of a beach person in the traditional sense, but the ocean itself So centers me. My folks had a cottage on the water when I was growing up, and the realization that I couldn't afford to live on the water full-time as an adult was quite a spiritual blow to me. We do live not far from the ocean, but have to drive to get there. One of our favorite things is to go to the lighthouse at Marshall's Point (yes, the Forrest Gump one) and sit on the rocks and just watch the water. When the boys were little, there were tidal pools that would occupy them for hours. I just can't imagine living anywhere but here!

Angela Tucker said...

I remember as a young adult, saving my money for gas so I could take a drive to the beach. Only 30 miles, but when every penny counts...LOL I would just sit in my old truck listening to the waves, calming my soul. Now, it seems there is no quiet left in my life. It's go, go, go, and go some more. I walked on the beach last weekend, but even that was a fundraiser walk, so I am still trying to multi-task. LOL

All I can do is take it one day at a time. Do the things I love, cut out whatever causes drama and sadness. I know that I can do this.

Karen thisoldhouse2.com said...

Glad you took some time for yourself! And truly.. it is the little things in life that often bring the most joy. When we are young we are too hung up on other things to really appreciate them. There are some real benefits to being older.

Daryl said...

love those shells, made me think of mermaids

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