Time is Ticking Away

 I was looking out a window down our driveway and saw  the back of a large gray cat sitting on the driveway.   It was a very big cat and I could clearly see the ears...... when all of a sudden its entire head turned around "exorcist style" and I found myself looking into a pair of very stern yellow eyes!

It was a very large owl.... a very large Great Horned Owl sitting in my driveway!

Later on, Bruce found him (or her?) sitting in a tree along the driveway and his presence didn't faze the bird at all. He managed to snap a few pictures.  They are also known as the cat owl as they are a sufficiently large enough bird to bring one home for dinner!  The neighbour's cats are on their own but I'm more concerned about our little resident rabbit!

The markings on its feather blend with the tree bark very well!

We have a week of rain ahead of us and that's okay by me. I have a lot to do to get ready in the studio ahead of my "adventure" at Victoria Royal Jubilee Hospital.....

.......but I just couldn't leave the tapestry loom in a pile of nice lumber on the floor!   

I cleaned each piece and buffed out some marks with a magic eraser  and only found one wood bruise. For a loom that's 48 years old, that's pretty darn good!   Then using a couple of clear, detailed pictures I found on line, Bruce and I worked hard all afternoon to basically get all the main parts assembled while it lay flat on the floor.  

 By days end we turned around and found two big parts we had missed!    We decided to call it a day and try again the next day...

So,  a fresh start again the next day.  We were able to loosen off some bolts and squeak in the parts and then tighten it all up again.  It would seem that 95% of the parts need to be set between the two main sides and then all tightened up together.  Its a two person job provided they have six pairs of hands to hold everything in place and tighten things up at the same time!

Bruce got the treadles and brake release into place....

It had been a tough two days fighting with parts!

Two full afternoons of  intense togetherness and no fighting or barking at each other.... cool huh?

There she is!   All done and a light polish applied and cords secured.  Bruce says that if we ever move, it can be well wrapped and go out the door as one large object!    Now the loom can sit and wait a while for me.... and for the  yarn to arrive.

Which  two days later,  a large and heavy box arrived on my doorstep!  I had placed an order with Brassards in Quebec for some wools, cotton seine cord and some 2/8 cottons.

It was a satisfying box load!

Two different gauges of cotton seine cord for warps on the Tissart.

These are the Blue Mountain wools.... 2100 yards per pound, in twenty eight colours. I need to get a storage bin for them right away. Its a finer wool that I will use doubled.  Replacements will be bought as two pound cones as I see what colours I tend to favour. 

These are the 2/8 cottons. I have a hodge podge of other colours so hopefully this will help expand the selection for project planning. I hope to do some more plaids and tartans eventually.

So I'll be  reading up on tapestry techniques and planning on a beginners sampler.   Ah, all that and reading up on how to beam a warp on the Tissart too. Fortunately there is a good post on line to  refer to.  I'll even check You Tube just in case.... they seem to have everything there!

Bruce helped me with beaming eleven and a half yards on 2/8 natural cotton onto the Megado.  (He's a real keeper huh?) I got 554 ends all threaded and sleyed.   Then, I fired up the computer and Fiberworks today and hope to make a start on my sixteen shaft draft and this happened:

 So today I will have to make some adjustments to the cords and, with luck, I'll be happily weaving soon.  The draft is from Handweaving.net

I'm working on the set up of this loom first as its the one that will be easiest for me to use at some point in my recovery. There is just the one treadle and its very light to move. I also bought some springs to attach to the loom to reduce the inertia required to treadle. They are for weavers with joint issues. A smart idea!  

See the black springs between the cup hooks? That the extra lift and you can set the tension by moving to another hook.

The computer program does all the decision making so I can focus on just throwing the shuttle and watching the pattern grow.    Also, at this point the new fly shuttle might just have to wait for its working debut. I'm running out of time and I still have another loom to get sorted out!

Weaving on the Spring loom has been slow as my knee dictates what I can do and for how long. I've been using my (soon to be replaced) left knee and leg as much as possible to treadle the huck lace by way of 'exercise' but by the end of a session, its tired and very sore.  I finished weaving my planned  towel number twelve yesterday and yet I can still see warp enough for another.  So I will get busy with my bonus towel with its five rows of hemstitching!  I would like to get this warp done and off and then prep the towels ready for hemming. I thought I could hand sew the hems while recovering.

I have a tencel scarf warp to beam on next (see the last post)  and it shouldn't take long to thread.  I won't be able to  maneuver too well so I'd like to get the loom up on her crates and get the tie up done ahead of time.

I have two weeks to go but there are several days where I'll be visiting Doctors and pre-admission clinics and doing personal errands to get ready.   In between I'll be in the studio!

Tick-tock, tick-tock!