Beginnings

Late August 2018 and my neighbour Alain is clearing out his attic and has an old loom in pieces that has been there for decades. I decide to "have a go" at weaving, so save it from the tip.  After looking at a glimrakra website I figure out how the loom is assembled and make up a few missing pieces. The loom isn't a glimakra, but has a similar design. It's a counterbalance four shaft loom with 6 treadles a 90cm weaving width....and some woodworm!

I buy a couple of "learn to weave" books, read them and try to work out how to do it. It's pretty difficult to understand until you actually do it, so I launch into a project in "The big book of weaving" by Laila Lundell, called Large checked rep rug.

I realise that there are a number of missing components - a lot of yarn, a bobbin rack, a warping frame and lots more heddles. I purchase the yarn and make everything else. Fortunately a bag of wooden spools came with the loom.

Home made warping frame

Bobbin rack

4 nails and string suffice to make hundreds of heddles

I know nothing of weaving and with hindsight, perhaps a rep weave with 2760 ends of 16/2 cotton in four colours might not have been the best choice for a first project! I sucessfully wind the warp in two chains then after using the reed as a raddle, attempt to wind the warp onto the back beam. 

Unsure of how much warp waste there would be, I think my warp was about 4m long. This was fortunate as almost immediately the warp tangled into a birds nest! It took about a day to slowly wind the warp, untangling as I went and about the last meter was eventually abandoned. The sett was 36 epcm (91epi) and with only a 40/10 reed, some tangling was inevitable with zero experience.

Tackling threading the heddles is next and this proves to be rather back breaking and a very long process. The loom is not well designed to allow this. I do a little at a time.

It's now June...nearly a year since acquiring the loom and finally I'm tied on and ready to weave.

With a thick mop yarn alternating with a doubles thread of 16/2 the weaving goes very fast. the heavy overhead beater makes tight packing of the weft easy and all the weaving is over in a few evenings.

the selvedges might be the neatest or straightest but I'm pleased with my first home weave.