Category Archives: drawloom

The Great Studio Swap, Part 1

The past few days have been spent finishing up sock orders, now only one order left. I’ve also been going through books, filing fiber magazines into holders, going through seemingly endless amounts of papers, and setting up more files, trying to get control of the paper blizzard, and keep it in check.

Yesterday evening, the great Studio Swap began when we took the Glimakra CM loom apart and moved it down to the living room. The drawloom will be down here in a few days, along with one other loom, shelving, and equipment. I wanted to make my studio space accessible to visitors. The living room furniture will be going upstairs to my (almost) former weaving room.

Lamms will be put back onto the CM this afternoon, cords put back in place, then treadles will be tied up for a ten shaft twill. Tomorrow a cottolin warp for towels and runners will be made.

The drawloom, when I reach that point, will be warped with cotton in satin weave. The Glimakra 8 shaft Victoria table loom will have fine cotton or linen warp for bookmarks. The 22″ 8 shaft Harrisville will be warped for cards and/or sachets. The Gallinger rug loom (still on the main floor, but moved to the laundry room) sectional beam has perhaps 45 yards on it ready to go, only needing the new apron to be lashed on, then tie on and tension the warp. I’m getting the studio and looms ready for a long northwoods winter of weaving.

There were two “interruptions” last week in the form of phone calls from the Northwoods Wildlife Center. As a rescue driver for them, I never know when they might call. Last Saturday came a request to drive to the U.P. to look for an eagle that was down. After searching for two hours, and not finding the eagle, we returned home. It may have gorged earlier and could not fly, but was gone by the time we arrived, or may have been stunned by a mishap with a car, but recovered enough to fly. We’ll never know.

The second call was Wednesday, could I meet up with someone from MI DNR and transport an eagle over to NWC in Minocqua, which I did. I stayed to watch Mark (rehabber) remove the eagle from the carrier, a quick refresher for me on how to grasp the legs and keep clear of those talons. I just called NWC, talked to Mark, and found out the eagle had severe internal injuries and only survived 1 1/2 days. Sometimes this volunteer work is heartbreaking, and other times it is very rewarding.

Welcome to Shuttle Works Studio

My interest in weaving began in May 1979, during a visit to “The Looms” in Mineral Point, WI, owned and run by the late Ken Colwell. The museum had a wonderful old Norwegian counter-balance barn-type loom, a Jacquard loom and a working table-size Jacquard loom. In addition, there was a large collection of spinning wheels, and an outstanding coverlet collection.

In the classroom area were several Glimakra countermarche looms, and upstairs was a loom with an opphampta attachment, a single unit drawloom, and an AVL computer-driven dobby loom. I knew I would return.

Being newly married, it took a couple years before I expressed my desire to spend a week at The Looms to attend a Beginning Weaving class, and did so in Summer 1981, followed by an Intermediate Weaving class in 1982. Before returning home, I ordered a 10 shaft Glimakra countermarche loom, which I still weave on today. Each summer for about ten years I would travel to Mineral Point and attend a weaving class, or Colloquy, an annual gathering of members of Complex Weavers. Around 1986, I brought home a used, 10 shaft Glimakra single unit drawloom. I had just started weaving on that loom, when we moved to the northwoods of WI. With three moves in five years, the drawloom has been disassembled for the past thirteen years. I am now looking forward to learning about damask and drawloom weaving.

Marriage, three children, and homeschooling were priorities over the past 21 years. While I continued to do some weaving and spinning, the strong desire to pursue my interests in fibers never left. Now that my oldest daughter is attending college, and my two teens attend high school, I am now able to pursue my weaving and other fiber interests.

In order to make my studio space accessible to visitors, we are about to move everything from a large upstairs room to the main floor of our home. This is going to be interesting.

The photo above is of a quiet moment in Shuttle Works Studio.