Emmatrude part 2: The Loom Faeries!

I spent two days under the loom pulling off cords and all the while I was thinking that they had to go back on in a much more deliberate, slower fashion with a designated spot for each. That was going to a much slower, longer job than the random pulling off of the cords!

After getting up and stretching, and getting blood flow back into some body parts,  I checked my phone for messages and there was the most amazing email there from my friend Lynnette. She and her daughter Ngaire were offering to come and give me a day of help with my loom! No arguments would do, none at all.

 I was gobsmacked!
What a wonderful offer!

Well,  I went straight into oiling the loom's wood right away. Fortunately, we had a few fine days with a light breeze and so I had all doors and windows open while I worked. It took two or three days from start to finish. Some sections of the loom 'drank' up the oil and soon it all glowed. It sat for well over 24 hours and then I buffed the excess off.

I had left the lower lamms in place so I started by re-hanging the shaft and heddles. The heddles took a bit of time to straighten out being somewhat tangled. Then I re-hung the first upper lamm and then measured six inches from the bottom of the shaft stick to the top of the first lamm. Then measured six inches from the bottom of the upper lamm to the top of the lower lamm. Now all other lamms will be hung to mirror this one!

I had everything ready and all the new cords handy. Time to call in the girls!  Lynnette and Ngaire had an early start to their day as they had a two hour drive to my house and they arrived at 9:30 am!  A cup of coffee and they went to work....

Ngaire attached the cords to the eye rings under the lamms in sequence and Lynnette threaded the cords through the large eye ring at the foot of each treadle and then pulled the cords through their individual spots on the peg board.

Slow work and very fiddly but two of them made much shorter work of it than I could on hands and knees going back and forth by myself.

We chatted, laughed, listened to music and talked about the memories that music can bring back to you from past days. It was fun and  so great to have so much energy in my studio!

My husband made us all a great lunch of salad and mini lasagna's and I had baked some goodies. A rhubarb coffee cake, with the rhubarb from our garden of course  :)

After lunch, they got back to work! What was I doing? Talking, laughing.... and I even finished weaving a runner.

Here you can see they are very close to being done.... and then, suddenly....

It was all finished! Understandably, they were happy and proud of their big job! What a pair of good friends... its enough to bring a tear to the eye.    Then they were on their way home. It sure was quiet here after they had gone.  We are sure lucky to have friends like this.

So is it done? No, there will be a Part Three as there are tasks to be done to set the cords for use but I can manage that by sitting on a stool at the back.

Time for an Ethan update!
He's two months old as of today. Sorry for the less than clear picture but its here because of the smile! The lovely blanket underneath him was from his other grandmother and she had cross stitched all those Winnie the Pooh characters on by hand.  Being Italian by birth, she is his Nona and I'm English, so his Nana.