Wednesday WIP – Giving an Old Loom New Life

On Monday I was super lucky to be given this loom from the lovely Jeni at Fyberspates.

Harris 4 Shaft Table Loom

After meeting Divaweaver at the Southbank Arts Trail back in May, I’d been inspired to give weaving a go.  So when I saw Jeni’s tweet that she had a loom requiring a new home I knew I had to go and rescue it.

Harris 4 Shaft Table Loom

Now I know nothing about weaving, nor which parts of the loom I need to fix up.  I’m going to start with a bit of dusting and go from there.  I’m not even sure what any of the parts are called, so I joined this Ravelry group in the hope that some of the experts there might be able to give me a nudge in the right direction.

Harris 4 Shaft Table Loom

I think these wires are called the heddles.  They appear to be ok, maybe a little rusty, but I’m hoping they’ll clean up ok.  I also know I need to get a new reed as the one for this machine is missing.  Any advice would be gratefully accepted!

Harris 4 Shaft Table Loom

As luck would have it, this morning I met with another lovely lady called Claire, from Bristol Sewing School, which opened in March about 10 minutes from my house.   I learned that not only will they be running weaving workshops, but knitting machine courses too, hurrah!  So there is hope yet to get even more creative hobbies than I already have.

Harris 4 Shaft Table Loom

I’m not sure if it’s possible to take a trip out to the Fyberspates workshop and not come back with yarn – I know I didn’t manage it.  There are so many pretty colours! I had to restrain myself and just buy the one skein, which I think was pretty good going considering I haven’t bought anything new in at least 6 months.  Unless you include yarn for gifts.

I don’t.

Fyberspates Yarn

I’m not sure what to make with it yet – a lovely pair of yellow socks or a nice lacy fingering weight hat.. I’m not letting myself play until I’ve finished my bolero though!

After the drive back I found there was a street party in full swing near our road, so went down to take some snaps.  I love living somewhere with such a lovely community feel to it!

fraser street street party bristol

Fraser Street Street Party Bristol

Street Party Bristol Balloons