Getting Things Sorted

Last Thursday, the Fedex guy arrived on our doorstep with a plain brown paper wrapped box and inside was this box.   Isn't it beautiful?   😁

It has my new baby... my new interface or brain for the Megado loom.  I watched it travel across Canada for a week and arrive a day late. Thankfully I didn't have to wait out the long weekend and quite honestly, my hat is off to the delivery guy as the address was wrong!  He decided to go with the postal code.    Smart man!














We got it open and wiped it down and found there was no manual or instruction sheet inside.    The manual I have on hand was for the old dobby technology.... and the online instructions are for the new wifi enabled dobby 2.0 but I managed to get it set up okay and running within 30 minutes.   Yes, we're back in business again!

Lets take a minute to say our good byes to the old dobby.   I gave it to Bruce and he took it out the garage and promptly took it apart.  I walked by the box and saw this sad sight:

It really does look like old technology compared to new computers today. (Not that I open them up or anything like that!)  The outer box was beautiful solid beech wood which he might reassemble and do something with.  A bird house?     The 'okay' sticker  in the photo is from 2013-2014 when it was sent out for some repairs and a tune up.   A $700.00 'tune -up'   😳.   Back in 2000-2002 when this was new and just starting its weaving career, this jumble of parts was worth $2500.00 to buy complete and running.   Looks rather sad now doesn't it?

Meanwhile, here are some pictures of the new dobby interface installed and working:

It has a black metal box which does the job..... but I do miss the wooden one. It blended in nicely and didn't look so 'borg' like.  (Trekkies will understand this reference)

The solenoids fire with some punch to them and are louder as a result. I might wear ear plugs; I'll have to see how I feel about that. I might just get used to it.....  or play my music louder!

The black seat cushion is something new I ordered on line and received just before our isolation period began. Its a gel cushion and quite comfy.   Its not shaped for the bench (not many would be!) but the over hang does help with the edge of the bench cutting into the back of my legs and my 'bum bones' don't hurt now.

So now that we're weaving again, I'm using an 8/2 bamboo in white and weaving a runner which will be as long as what ever warp is left on the back beam.  I'm going to fringe it.   I reckon there's at least one or two towels worth of warp so that's 68 inches +/-    It will be a surprise!

On a more personal note.....

My husband Bruce is having emergency surgery this afternoon. He has a large obstructing kidney stone and he is in danger of his kidney function being so reduced that the organ will fail.  He's in the hospital now and in good hands. He's in a hospital in another community so there's a long drive.  The hard part is not being able to be with him during this pandemic time.

I'm missing my best friend.

Edit:  as of April 19th:  Bruce spent 5 days in hospital and was released to come home on oral antibiotics. In 2 weeks time they will go in and get the big stone, and so we anticipate another hospital stay.  Even in strange times as these, life situations continue.

Please stay home and stay safe.... we had a first hand look at what is going on inside our hospitals and the staff need us all to hold the line.

 🌎  🌍  🌏