Another slippery slope...

Well, today was the day... you gotta love the Skully Gaffa tape !!!

... took me about 1/2 an hour to unpack it all and reassemble it. 
The previous owner had left it all warped up for me, which was very kind!

It didn't look quite right though, so I unwound and undid things. 

Seemed like a very good idea at the time :P

By the time I got to this point, my manshapes were home from school, so Thing 1 helped me tension it all up. 

(I knew the thick brown paper that wrapped Beasts new cymbal would come in useful :p)

I'd also found a *brilliant* video on warping so I undid the 4 knots that were attatched to the cloth beam and retied the warp directly onto the front beam :) 

I was rather pleased with my progress, and so watched another fab video ... 

At this point, I thought that the heddle was too fine for the chunky yarn, as when I was trying to weave, the warp threads were sticking together and I was unable to put the shuttle through without a lot of grrrrr-ing :P

I thought I was going to have to rewarp the whole thing (insert more grrrrr-ing) which I didn't want to do, I wanted to reuse the warp already in place.

But, thanks to a lot of wonderful advice from my friends, I had a break, cooked some tea and went back to it after.

Cranked up the tension a lot more, with the heddle in the *up* position (thanks Laura) and voila....

...and an hour and a few more stripes later...

There is no way in the world it is a perfect piece of fabric, but it's a start, and I am so happy that I understand the process. I knew it would be a steep learning curve, but it wasn't so steep I felt out of my depth at all.

And I wouldn't have got this far without the help of all my friends, as always :)

BLooming Marvellous!

So...... *blushes*

I have been jonesin' for a Loom for quite a while now, but also heavily resisting the urge to just go and buy one from new, because I am a firm believer in the fact that things happen when they are meant to.

For example, a month or so ago, I found a buyer for my Louet S51, and the buyer was someone I have known online for years, so I was able to catch up with her through it. At pretty much the same time, a Kromski Sonata (folding travelling wheel) came up for sale, and I was looking to replace my Louet with a travelling wheel anyway, so I could take her to Spinning meetings. 

So you see, things happen when they are meant to.

I have been half-heartedly searching for a loom for sale of late, but they always seem to sell fast, or they're not the right kind for me.
I wanted a foldable/portable one, so it will travel, and also pack away when I am not using it.
I put 'weaving loom for sale' into a popular search engine the other night, and found this lovely loom, about 5 pages in, over on Gumtree, in St Helens, for an insanely good price.

I messaged the seller about it, and then messaged a good friend on the FaceBook, who lives in St.Helens, as the seller was not able to post.

She is a 16" Kromski Harp Folding loom and she's hardly been used and comes with a stand and quite a few books. 
So, perfect for learning on :)

But the BEST part about it, is that I have reconnected with a good friend that I haven't spoken to for a few years, and it was like I only spoke to her yesterday.

So yeah, this is why I always try to wait for the 'right' time.
Just having something you want is all well and good, but when it comes alongside other more awesome things, it's like it was meant to happen, and this feels infinitely more fulfilling :)