What a year this has been! We are all reeling from the drastic changes to everyday life and have begun to embrace some very basic practices that we'd forgotten. Things like bread baking, bicycling, raising chickens, home improvement, family time and faith. Our journals reflect that we are forever changed. Even though 2020 has gotten a bad reputation, we have to stop for a minute and give thanks that we may just be better for having been through all this.
Fall is here. Its time for pumpkin spice drinks and autumn leaves. This is pretty much my favorite time of year & I find more inspiration in these months than any other time. This week I've cleaned out my planner and decided to brush off my old blog. We'll see how long I stick with it. The last post was in 2018. Since then I've added 2 more grandchildren, lost my father in law who lived with us for nearly 10 years and started weaving.
Knitting has long been my favorite pastime, and it ranks first every time, but spinning is a close second. I hardly ever sew anymore and rarely cook or bake. So when a friend of mine from my spinning guild introduced me to a woman back in January who wanted to give away a floor loom, I couldn't resist. Why not? Weaving was never something I was very good at, but this floor loom has been a game changer.
Picking up the loom and meeting my new friend and benefactor made for a perfect birthday present. We loaded the thing into Jamie's (my husband) truck and brought it to the house on January 20, 2020. I brought each box into the house, and hour by hour, day by day cleaned it and put it together. It had been stored in my friend's garage since she moved here 20 years ago. Life just didn't allow for her to use it anymore and since she was downsizing, she needed to find a new home for her beloved loom.
Assembling the pieces without guidance was so hard, and if it weren't for a set of Youtube videos, I could never have done it. This is a Union Loom from 1930 and was used by housewives to make money from scraps of fabric. I ordered string for the warp and started scouring the house for any bits of fabric, which were mostly vintage aprons and table cloths from an old trunk. While waiting for my warp to come in the mail, I set up the loom with some old string in one of the boxes. It seemed likely that the warp would break but at least I would be learning. Surprise, surprise! It made a lovely rag rug! Who knew?