Louet David!

I brought home a new (to me) loom this weekend, a Louet David 90. I had a smaller David several years ago and really loved using it. It's a great loom with extremely light treadling. It also folds up so it doesn't take up much room when not being used. By looking at how much the color of the wood has darkened, I would say that the loom is possibly 20 years old.

It did need quite a bit of cleanup. I removed all of the texsolv heddles and tieups and washed them, which removed the dinginess from them. I also wiped down the entire loom with a damp cloth and made some adjustments to the texsolv and the harnesses which are hanging perfectly now. The springs had lost a little of their resistence, so I tightened all of the spring connections - I hooked them one loop over in the Texsolv. The reed that came with it is rusty and I haven't started on that yet to see if it can be cleaned, or if it will be beyond hope. The rod for locking the harnesses was missing, but I had another rod that fit perfectly. I had to replace a few screws that were rusty, and I need to replace the 2 little eye hooks in the back that hold the lease sticks, but that is easily done.

As soon as I wind the warp for my Vikings scarf, I'll use the David instead of the Toika Norjaana for this project and see how it's working. I'm using a snowflake twill for the scarf and Jaggerspun Zephyr wool/silk for the yarn.

We have another snowstorm on the way, but since I work at home, I can't get a "snow" day to play with my new loom! Unless we lose electricity, which almost never happens, because then I can't work on the computer. I will probably have to wait until next weekend to warp the loom! Darn.

Weaving my way through life . . .

It occurred to me this morning that my byline, "Weaving my way through life" had more meaning than I realized when I first wrote it.
When weaving, the weft is sometimes up, sometimes down, but still works its way across the warp, back and forth, over and under, like my journey through life. And the more ups and downs as I go, the stronger the fabric (life) that I weave. If there is a break in the warp, it gets repaired and if there is a little loop on the edge of the warp, the fabric is still strong and true. Maybe not perfect, but wonderfully strong nonetheless and full of the uniqueness that is me.

Finished scarf

I finished the wool scarf for my husband. I really like the Harrisville yarn that I used and will use more in upcoming projects.