I’m working hard on the shop. There is SO much to learn in the website admin world. I feel like I’m crawling, but I’ll get there. I’ve given myself a deadline of October 1st to have the shop up. Knowing my competitive spirit, I may just get it done early now that I’ve announced it to the world….
I thought I’d share some of my equipment. Weaving is a big hobby. Big on funds and big on space, but also really big on it’s rewards. If you’d have told me five years ago that I would have three floor looms one day, I’d never have believed it. It gives me the freedom to do different types of projects at once and to weave on something while I’m planning the next project. It took me a while to find my perfect looms. I’ve had several others that I’ve sold off, but I finally found my perfect three. The little cherry loom was a gift from Dan for my 50th. It is the easiest to set up and the cherry wood has deepened beautifully with age. The idea was to have a loom for workshops, but I’m so fearful of messing up the wood that it never leaves the house. I fell in love with the Glimåkra looms from Sweden at Homestead Heritage and never thought I’d be able to have one until I found one for a steal. We had to drive 12 hours each way to Omaha to pick her up, but she was worth every mile. And the newest girl to the herd is the 1987 era Toika Liisa from Finland (via Ohio). I’ve had her for a couple of years now and she might be my favorite.
Schacht Baby Wolf in cherry from Boulder, CO 
Glimakra Standard from Sweden 
c.1987 Toika Liisa from Finland
I also have a little travel loom that I can do scarves on when we’re camping or on a road trip. I have a stand for her as well and it all fits easily in an Ikea bag, even with a project on it.
Louet Ericka from Holland 
With the stand
Then there’s all the various sized band and inkle looms for band weaving. And when I really want to get rustic, there’s the backstrap loom. I have one I built myself and one I bought in Guatemala a couple of years ago.
Glimakra Band Loom from Sweden 
Hand built inkle loom from Etsy 
Easy Travel Weaving 
Camping 
Backstrap Loom in Guatemala 
Mini Inkle on the road
My Glimåkra warping mill lives in a corner of our bedroom. It’s HUGE. It’s about six and a half feet tall by two and a half feet across (10 feet around). This was a giant splurge, but the difference it makes in winding a warp is huge. I generally wind at least 14 yard warps and it’s so much faster and easier on my body with the mill. It’s the tall one in the photo.
Then there’s the threads and yarn, books and small tools…. Like an artist who paints, you can’t expect a weaver to only have one color, texture or size of medium on hand to create. All of those boxes and baskets are filled with yarn and tools. I’ll be honest, it’s rarely this tidy, but this isn’t even all of it. There are bags of warps waiting to be dyed and bags of warps that I’ve dyed waiting to get on the looms. Most of my cottons are in the living room in the workstation near the big loom. This little cart moves from loom to loom as I need it. It’s rarely this tidy either. 🙂
