I just bought this loom, like I weave so I much I need yet another one. About three weeks ago I received an email from a man named Ken, asking me to put an ad in our guild newsletter. His wife had recently passed away and he wanted to locate a buyer for her weaving things and would offer them for a best-offer price. I told him to look on the Internet and assess a value so he wasn't stuck negotiating an untenable price. He came back with $600 and I decided that, in fact, I was his buyer. I now have a 36" LeClerc Artisat loom that folds up and can go to workshops.
We arranged to have my son Josh pick everything up since Ken lives in Minden and Josh and family were going to be camping there for a company picnic. He said I would be getting a loom, bench, warping board and books, so I was surprised to see that I now also have an inkle loom - will be looking to Amy for help with that, and I don't know what the other thing is. Josh says it's a torture rack for leprechans.
This is my wall of shame - fleeces yet to be spun. Ken has requested that I weave something on his wife's loom for him as a form of closure. He explained in a phone conversation that they had sold their home in Santa Clara, California, and purchased a new one in Minden, Nevada, positioning themselves to retire. It was time. They had lived in their new home just three months when she was t-boned in an intersection and never regained consciousness.The story breaks my heart and speaks volumes of plans and failed expectations. He told me how they had acquired the loom from a small studio in upstate New Year, from a woman who had the studio in her home. As an engineer, he'd involved himself in planning her weave structures but found the actual weaving tedious. They had raised dogs together in the more than 20 years that spanned their relationship, and were to be cheated of the plum. So what will I weave for him? We agreed that there's no hurry - the furniture she ordered for their home just arrived last week. The one thing I have decided is that I would like it to include some handspun yarn from my "wall of shame."
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7 comments:
Wow, that is heartbreaking... just when you think you have it licked.
I have a Nilus, it is currently sitting here beside my computer desk, whispering to me. Eventually I will listen I suppose. It was in the extra bedroom until my daughters friend moved in, she needed the space more than I did :)
Such a sad story, but it sounds like Ken is moving forward. You never know.... In prayer group on Thursday we found ourselves confounded about praying for a man who requires a lung transplant...how do you pray for that when you know it means that someone else's life be taken? So, of course you pray for God's will..and healing..and maybe a miracle. (the man needing the transplant wasn't present and is the son of someone's friend.)
My "big" loom is an Artistat, so portability may not be what you think. The thing beside the inkle loom are the treadles for the Artistat. If you have trouble putting it together let me know and I can send you pictures of mine as it sits in the dining room.
And I think one of your lap-blankets in natural colors would be great to remember his wife when he wraps up in it on a cold night!
The "torture instrument" is actually an extra set of treadles... I know you'll enjoy weaving on this loom - I sure did during the fiber to shawl on Amy's.
Now to just get the clean laundry off of my loom so I can weave on it!!
What a heartbreaking story. It must be a relief for Ken to know that the loom went to someone who will cherish it.
Sara Lamb has some very good tutorials on inkle weaving on her blog -- her warping tutorial was especially helpful to me (I should have looked it again before warping this last time).
Hi Sharon,
I followed your comment from Wooly Daisy and just wanted to tell you I love your photos! I'll be returning to check up on your books as well.
From one worm to another-
Namaste
Oh, my. I have a "Wall of Shame" too. I wonder whose is bigger. :p
Yes, that is sad, but your willingness to weave something in his wife's memory for him is such a wonderful thing. Someone else might not have been so inclined. We'll have to pray comfort into that weaving, in hopes it imparts some to him.
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