February 11, 2010

What’s in the magical mystery package?

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The door went at 7am this morning, and I dashed downstairs to find the poor Royal Mail parcel woman struggling under the weight of said mystery package, trying with all her might not to drop the parcel that was, rather inventively, marked “very fragile, handle like eggs, do not drop”.

It was my new-to-me antique Dryad 4-shaft loom!





It was very cheap, and so it’s in a bit of a state at the moment; it is at once both dusty and dry (the wood), rusty and greasy (the metal).

All the heddle wires have rusted through, and the reed will need a thorough scrub and de-rust. The wood has split and been repaired in several places, and some peices have been replaced with mis-matching wood.

I did investigate buying new heddles, but they are so expensive – I estimate it would be about £50 to kit out this loom – I will try making my own cotton ones over the weekend.

In other news, I have made little progress with my gansey – I have just completed the welt and a few rows of stocking stitch, as gift-knits have taken priority. Watch this space!

Catherine at 2:49 pm

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2 Comments?

  1. In my experience homemade cotton heddles work just as well as any other type and you can make them just the right size to fit your loom.

    Have fun!

    Commentby Dot February 16, 2010 @ 1:16 pm


  2. By the way, I don’t know if you have found Artemis’ jUnkaholic blog? http://simetra-junkaholic.blogspot.com/ she restored a similar little loom and if you look under the weaving tag on her blog she’s written lots about it and the lovely scarves she’s woven.

    Commentby Dot February 16, 2010 @ 1:23 pm


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