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Saturday, December 3, 2011

Heavy Handed!

 A couple of months ago I was answering questions on the Beginner Weaver forum at Ravelry.com. There are a number of weaving related groups there and we form a little enclave in the midst of knitters / crocheters galore!

A newbie weaver, Jennifer was asking about using an end delivery shuttle on her table loom. Well, why not?  Anything that gets the weft across, though a EDS is sort of wasted on a table loom. It would be more of a pass through than a throw!

It was a beautiful shuttle she had found at an antique store in North Carolina... or it came from a textile mill in the Carolina's. I'm a bit fuzzy on the details right now.  It was lovely and I was coveting it!  I collect shuttles and ones like this don't usually cross my path on Vancouver Island too often. I wrote to her and said that if she came across another, to keep me in mind. Well, imagine my surprise when she said she had two of them! She was willing to sell one to me.  The pictures here were taken by Jennifer.










The tightly wound yarn on the wooden pirn is polyester and its wound *perfectly*! The inside of the shuttle has these synthetic filaments that hugs the end of the pirn and tames the yarn as it flies off in the shed. Great idea for very fine yarns. Its the ultimate in yarn control!

 I can't find any identifying marks on it at all so if you recognize this shuttle or know something about them, please email me at the address shown on the right hand side of the blog.

There is one small  detail about this shuttle that took me completely by surprise.....the size and weight!

Here are pictures taken by me....and you might want to click on these to get a feel for the dimensions!


So its roughly 17 inches long and while I haven't weighed it (yet) its really heavy!


Here it is against my other Schacht end delivery shuttles. The 12 inch and 15 inch  which are real light weights next to this behemoth!  It arrived in a very long box and I thought Jennifer had reused a mailing box and it was a bit over kill but apparently not.  I did have plans of hanging it on the wall with my other antique shuttles but now I'm wondering how to do this?!  I love it....


Changing subjects entirely...
My husband was readmitted to hospital and is fighting one of those nasty MRSA super bugs. He had a second operation today and this time it was on his hand by a plastic surgeon. We are hoping that this now means he can start to heal and the antibiotics can do their job. I must wear a lovely yellow gauzy gown (yellow is NOT my colour) but they do coordinate nicely with the blue non latex gloves that every one entering the room must wear.  Its been a long month as we have been dealing with this since November 1st.

We decided it was unfair for Calli to be cooped up in a kennel so I took her to the doggy resort and when I last saw her, she had a huge grin and was being chased by a little Yorkie! I'm happy that she is playing with other dogs  but it means the house is rather empty. This would be a supreme weaving time but I have no heart to throw a shuttle and, to be honest, I'm too tired to play with my toys.
I am chipping away at Christmas tasks and  I have even placed a yarn order! Webs web site said it was all in stock and no sooner than I hit 'confirm' for the order, half of it was immediately back ordered!
There will be show and tell when it does arrive....this year or next!   :)

PS  I have created a sales page (see top bar) for some of my handwovens that came home from the Christmas sales.  More will be added as time allows so please check back!

16 comments:

Laura Fry said...

Hi Susan, the shuttle looks like a newer version of my industrial fly shuttles. I have a Whitin winder to wind them, and yes, the machine does wind them perfectly. :)

Best wishes to your dh - hope that he heals quickly now.

cheers,
Laura

barbara said...

Hi Susan,
Sorry to hear that Bruce is in the hospital and fighting one of the super bugs ..... hopefully, it won't take long to get the "bug" out of his system, and he will be home enjoying the Holiday Season. You have a lot on your plate, so you take care of yourself. Wishing you both all the best. Weaverly yours ... Barbara

Theresa said...

Susan,
Lots of both prayers and hugs to you and Bruce that this latest hospital stay and surgery does the trick.
The shuttle looks amazing, what a beauty. Someday I would love to see a picture of your collection en mass.
Lucky Callie, staying at a dog resort is good medicine for a young dog. I know a lot of people who take their onsie dogs to the dog park or a day care at least once a week for play dates. Maybe something Bruce would like to do in the future too. You meet some wonderful dog lovers that way, and who doesn't like to see a bunch of dogs playing?
I totally understand about lack of interest in the toys when someone is sick.

Delighted Hands said...

Hope the DH is on the mend this time-hard road he has been traveling.

The shuttle is very pleasing-I have some old ones but they seem too heavy to use!

Linda Carta said...

Susan, I'm so sorry to hear that Bruce is still fighting for health. I can imagine how something this serious throws every semblance of routine and normalcy for a loop. I send my best healing wishes to him, and hope he can be settled back in by Christmas for you.

When the dust does settle, what a joy it will be to throw that beautiful !!! shuttle! I'm sure I've not seen one like it. Just beautiful and too sweet to hang on the wall!.

Take care; I'll be thinking of you!

dorothylochmaben said...

Hi - the pictures of the shuttle are lovely. It looks in very good condition and as you say the pirn is wound very well. A nice addition to your collection.
Hope Bruce is on the mend now, fingers crossed.
Dorothy

Cindie said...

I'll be thinking good thoughts from here for your husband's speedy (well, with mrsa as speedy as it goes) recovery. I had a friend that ended up in the hospital with it last year too.

That shuttle is beautiful, I've never seen an old one where the wood was that beautiful.

Anonymous said...

Susan, First things first...I am sending lots of positive energy to you and Bruce. Hope he heals quickly!

Your new end feed shuttle looks like a bit like a Crosley shuttle to me. With the end caps and weight of the shuttle I agree with Laura it does look like a new fly shuttle.

Best wishes to both you and to Miss Callie.

hugs,
Martha

ladyoftheloom said...

Hi Susan, so sorry to hear about Bruce's health challenge. As a former nurse who also looks positively hideous in yellow I am glad for your sake and his that you are wearing it! Yellow and blue are the color of Sweden I think...just think of the weaving history there!

Lucky Callie dog at the spa and lucky you on your shuttle!...Alice

Susan said...

Thank you all so much for your kind words of support...I will pass them onto my hubby when I see him today.

Theresa... if you look on the right hand side bar under popular posts, there is a link to an older post called Tools of the Trade and some of my shuttles are shown there.
I also have some old antique shuttles and also 'real reed' reeds that are hung as art in my studio. They were shown in an even older post but I can't recall just when right now...

Thank you everyone...
Susan

Susan B. said...

Hi Susan,
Just wanted to say I hope your husband has a very speedy recovery and that the worst is over. I can relate to being distracted when there is ill health in the household!
Have no idea about the shuttle but it looks like it means business!

Acorn to Oak said...

Cool shuttle!

Sounds like it's been a very long month for you and your husband. I hope he feels better very soon so that you both can get back to normal.

Too bad we don't live close. Your Calli and my Airedale, Salsa, could have a play date! :-)

Sandra Rude said...

Sorry your hubby is ill - I hope he'll be well again by the holidays.

Re the shuttle, I agree with Laura, it looks very like the industrial shuttles. In particular, the ones with metal points are usually used as a fly-shuttle; you wouldn't want to catch that point on your pinkie like you would a hand-shuttle!

Louisa said...

So sorry to hear that Bruce has been so ill, Susan. Thinking good thoughts for his recovery! Big hugs, L.

bspinner said...

I'm so sorry to hear about Bruce's health problems. I understand those can be very nasty and wish him the best.

As for the shuttle. It's beautiful! At some point some one made some thing both nice to look at and would last for a very long time. I'm sure you'll put it to very good use.

Alettesiriane said...

I hope your days get better soon.The winter is a time to slow down and heal.Take care of yourself too in all that is.