The Loom

So this story starts sometime in the early- or mid-1970's, when Tom and his family were living in Europe. While they were there, his folks bought a weaving loom--a four-foot wide floor model made by Glimakra. They learned to use it, made a few projects, and then their interests moved on. The loom came back to the United States with them, and has been set up for the last 40 years in an out-of-the-way corner of their house, gathering dust and ignored by everyone except visiting grandchildren who liked to turn the wheels and pretend they were driving ships.

The loom has been offered to me several times, since I've been a knitter and occasional crocheter for years. Now that I've started spinning, the offer was repeated. I have consistently responded by acknowledging that the loom is beautiful, well-made, and a fabulous piece of equipment, but I do not weave, and I have enough neglected hobbies already and don't really want to add another. Furthermore, I don't want to give up the space it requires.

Well, Tom and the kids went to visit his parents last week, and they brought the loom home with them. It had to be completely disassembled to fit in the car, so when it made it in the house, it was a jumble of slats and beams, with a few bags of miscellaneous hardware.

We put it together, guided by Tom's memory of how it fit together and a few 40+-year-old catalog pictures. The rest of the materials we had weren't very useful, since they were written in Swedish.

I think we've figured out the basic assembly now. In addition to the loom and bench, we also have a spool stand and a swift with a table. I don't know how all pieces work--yet. There are also lots of auxiliary pieces that seem to be used for different weaving patterns or something. I haven't gotten that far. I do have access to resources: videos, books, and people who know how it works. Most importantly, the excitement of putting the thing together has made me curious to learn more about it.

The next time I post a picture of the loom, there should be a piece of weaving-in-progress on it.