A Golden Circle Finish

 

When I beamed this warp, I had no idea that this would be the last warp on this loom.     With two looms in the studio I knew that this larger one would be sold eventually, but perhaps next Spring 2026?   My weaving has slowed down due to Life, a postal strike here in Canada and American tariffs so right now my Etsy shop is on an extended  break.

Eventually the strike will be resolved and then I can reopen and then resume selling to Canadians only for the time being or another 3 years.    We'll see where that goes....

Life has been keeping me (us) busy again as it  seems my husband has yet another health battle and this time it's leukemia.   We don't know too much right now as we're in that nasty waiting period where you know, but don't know much until the referral to a specialist kicks in.  

So it seemed appropriate to sell the loom now, rather than next year and it sold in less than 48 hours and is going back to the Okanagan Valley on Thanksgiving weekend. The poor loom is now 3/4 dismantled and awaiting its fate. 

The last project is a 12 shaft turned satin weave draft I received from a Scottish friend many years ago.  I did weave some table runners back then, also gold and they all sold as fast as I listed them, all to one customer.   I thought to try them again as they were just lovely.

So 10/2 mercerized cotton, sett 28 epi and first up was 10/2 gold tencel.  Second runner I used a 10/2 pale gold called "Straw" and for the final runner, I used an ivory bamboo that was like a skinny 2/8.   It elongated the circles but it still looked nice.

I'm very pleased with my edges and the smooth silky touch to the cloth.  They have a nice weight to them and lay flat nicely.  The ladder hemstitching really adds to the cloth. I was careful with my hand sewing so they could be used revered if  that side was preferred.   One side is more warp dominant, the other weft.

First up.... the pale gold.     All three runners are 19 inches wide, and this one is 56 inches in finished length

Here's the draft for those of you with 12 shafts to play with.  I've left the numbers down the treadling so you can match it up. 

Then this is the dark gold runner: 19 inches by 51 inches finished.

.

Here you can see the back side of the runner. 

The hem on the reverse side.

Then, lastly, the ivory bamboo weft runner which is difficult to photograph as the colours aren't too far apart. You have to use the play of light, but I love the subtle pattern play.

This runner was 19 inches by 66 inches finished.

I will be sad to see this special loom go onto another adventure with a new weaver, but Margaret would have loved that her loom is being returned home to Lake Country.  

 Coming full circle. 

Both our names and dates of ownership are under the bench seat.   There's room for many more owners to come. 

Making Hard Choices

 

I have been dreading writing this post and been avoiding it as a result.  So here is what I wrote and told a friend this morning:

"I haven’t done any weaving since early September but will be starting once again later today or more likely tomorrow.

I’m very sad to tell you that we made the hard decision to return Rhaea to the breeder and we drove down island this past Sunday to take her home. 

So what happened? Well, she started displaying behaviour that seemed much more than mere ‘puppy playfulness’. Leaping at the back of my legs and biting me hard. Hubby has bite marks  all over his hands.  If you tried to untangle a leash, she’d bite, and barking endlessly, plus endless 'zoomies'….. and a once dry and housetrained dog went back to doing it in the house, and eating it.  

We had been going to puppy classes and faithfully doing training at home. Everything was a teaching moment. She would sit, even do a lie down but when the treat reward didn’t come fast enough, she’d leap up and bite hard. She was spending more time in the 'time out' crate than out and our nerves were seriously frazzled. We were feeling ill  from the continual stress of it all and not knowing what more to do about it.

This was quite unlike any previous puppy experience we have ever had ….. and we’ve had more than a few and always had dogs (terriers) until Calli died. We talked to the dog trainer about ‘board and train’ but after spending a LOT of money, there was no guarantee it would work once she returned home.

I talked with the breeder honestly and she said to return her now and it was better to do that sooner for both the pup and for us. So the reports coming in now is that she’s settled back into the breeders home where there are a large number of other dogs and she’s now at the bottom of the pack order and no one puts up with her shenanigans. Even her mother has straightened her out a few times. So, apparently we weren’t effective enough at being the Alpha dogs here."

We are dealing with many emotions regarding this decision, but sadness is the main one. It became clear we couldn’t carry on with things the way they were and it wasn’t a good situation especially for the pup.

I have heard from her owner now and it seems she’s doing very well in a group setting with other dogs. So we are happy its working well for her there.

As for us, well our home is very quiet now and one ‘side effect’ is that I wake much earlier now. I have caught up on everything that was set aside for some weeks and will be resuming weaving this afternoon.