Waiting to Weave

Lily Louet sits there all warped and ready and I’m not starting! I still have a warp on my little Leclerc Minerva and for some reason unclear to me, I’m driven to finish the shadow weave I have on it before I will allow myself to start on the Louet. I really, really want to start the beautiful tea towels, but I fear it will be like ice cream. You know you buy vanilla and when it’s only half consumed you crave chocolate, so you get it and find you really want strawberry. In the end what you have is a freezer full of half used ice cream. My fear is that I’ll do that with weaving and end up going in a vicious circle and never accomplish or really enjoy any project.

Don’t get me wrong, the Minerva is a sweet little loom, 24 inches wide with 8 shafts and 2 sectional warp beams. My friend Susan told me that this loom was for sale about a year ago and when I called the owner I found that it had been bought new in 1979 and never used. Needless to say I snapped it up and it is like all Leclerc products a wee workhorse that does everything she promises. The only disadvantage that I have found so far is that it’s a bit squeaky on the beater movement and the metal heddles clack. That’s both a good and bad thing; good because I have a bit of an audible beat to work with and bad because so does everyone else!

Last night while I was weaving on the Minerava with the burgundy and grey shadow weave ‘flowers’. I was thinking about the tools I was using. My Glimakra temple and 2 Schacht end feed shuttles. The temple is a love hate relationship, I love the fact that my draw in is minimized when I use the temple. But, I dislike the fact that I can’t see the fell of my cloth as well as I’d like when I’m weaving. The other little foible I’ve found is that on the first one or two picks closest to the temple there is a tendency to catch your yarn on the teeth and not realize it; and of course the fact that the tenterhooks can be a bit hard on very fine yarn. I still feel that there are more benefits than not and whenever I can I use the temple. The Schacht end feed shuttle are just plain wonderful. I’m still not winding the perfect pirn yet, but that too shall come. I do love the smooth release of the weft.