Power Weaving

By Wednesday morning, I had accepted that the Port Townsend/Keystone ferry route was not going to be a viable option if I wanted to get to class before lunch, so I substituted the two ferry crossing route in its place. This meant I had to leave the house one hour earlier each day....but wonder of wonders, I pulled into Madelyn's driveway right on time.

Because of my hip replacement effects my ability to treadle for any length of time, particularly when I have to lift multiple shafts, Madelyn assigned me to a 32 shaft Louet Megado (pronounced "Me-gah-do). However, if one prices the loom (they run more than $10,000), the more correct pronunciation is "Mega-dough". Price aside, the loom was exciting to use. A computer controls the pattern and lifts the shafts in the order that has been inputted into the program. The treadle is a large, power assisted pedal that can be pushed down with ease. This allowed me to weave without having to take a break every ten minutes to give my hip a rest. Without this assistance, I would not have the ability to use a large floor loom for very long.

Suzie Liles was an invaluable teacher as I learned the program. She explained the computer program, helped me set up a pattern, and let me weave. Madelyn uses temples which help slow the breaking of the floating selvages ----although I managed to break, not one, but BOTH edges within 15 minutes.

Temples do their job very effectively but must be treated with respect. You see, temples have tines which are wicked sharp! In fact, the tines are nearly as sharp as felting needles.
I chose a twill pattern. The loom was pre-warped with black 10/2 cotton warp. I had fun choosing different weft colors and seeing how they inter played with the warp. I also realized that my obsessive nature demanded straight selvage edges.
The rest of the class was also having a great time with their weaving samples.

This is Margaret.......

....and Torrey. She is explaining the method to weave a color block pattern to Mary.......

........Shirley is working on a color gamp sample......

......while Audra works on a houndstooth pattern .......

.....and Madelyn discusses how to weave a black and white double weave pattern to Marilyn.....

.....while Huck continues to supervise it all.

Once again, the time went by quickly and it was time to head for the ferry. I headed out and decided to check and see if the Keystone/Port Townsend ferry was running. I was delighted to see it pull into port on schedule. A quick crossing and I headed home for the day.