Folly

We interrupt this blog for some breaking news.

That, my dears, is a loom.

A, uh, Harrisville Designs A6, 4 harness, 6 treadle loom, to be precise. Don't worry if not of that means anything to you, although I'm typing the words I don't understand them either.

Now you might be wondering what a nice knitter and crocheter like me is doing with a loom and I would responds, um, seize the day?

Left Field, Not the Bleacher
I can't say I've had a burning desire to learn how to weave, but it's been out there.

I passed on a couple opportunities to take a class when I was working at Knitting Central and I'm on the wait list for classes at The Elegant Ewe. So the interest has been there.

Then last Monday I was fooling around on Ravelry and saw down in the tools forum (which I never read) a post titled "Free to good home (in Maine)" and I thought, "I'm not in Maine, but I'm awfully close." And saw the information about the loom.

Well, it seized my imagination and I was not dissuaded by the fact that it was on the coast of Maine, which is a 5 hour drive from me.

I figured when Hubby got home he would talk sense into me. However, he didn't bat an eye but proceeded to ask practical questions like "Does it work?" and "Why is she giving it away?" He was also hopeful that they could meet us somewhere to shorten the trip. They couldn't, but I pointed out that it's an expensive piece of equipment that they were giving away for free, so that was a reasonable stance.

Road Trip!
With satisfactory answers received to all the questions we hopped in the car last Thursday afternoon and headed out. (The delay gave me a few days to start second guessing myself and worry about it not fitting in the SUV, but I persevered!)

Of course, we left later than we intended and the drive took longer than we expected, so we didn't get there until 7 pm.

But it was lovely countryside.

When we arrived we found a very nice couple, confirmed by them immediately asking if we needed to use the bathroom.

Can I pause here to tell you that she had a fabulous knitting room? Well, the whole house was nice, a mix of modern and comfortable. They live on a island off the coast of Maine and have grand views of the water. Well, they would have if it hadn't been foggy. Anyway, her knitting room was on the second floor, steps from the bedroom, and one entire wall was picture windows looking out over the fog-obscured water. She had a kitchen island type table stuffed with yarn and a comfy couch.

Really, it looked like a very pleasant place to plan and work on a project.

Human Fuel
The loom and accouterments fit in the SUV with room to spare.

Our plan had been to got back to Augusta for dinner, but we had to scrap that since we were behind schedule. They suggested we eat at the Whale's Rib Tavern and called and made us a reservation.

Since we were at just about the last seating, we got to sit in the owner's favorite table in the bar. This allowed Hubby to have a grand time discussing wine and beer with the owner and the bartender.

We also enjoyed a lovely meal. For appetizers Hubby had the pate and I had a cold asparagus salad. For entrees Hubby had the lamb and I had pan roasted chicken. Hubby also got a bottle of wine and said their wine list prices were very good.

By the time we finished eating it was kissing 10 pm and we had a five hour drive ahead of us. (We couldn't stay over because the pups were unattended. As it was we were pushing the limits of their ability to be alone.)

Getting to Know You
The drive home was, happily, uneventful. I did most of it. I suppose I was hyped up from excitement because I was very alert despite the late hour. Still, we didn't get home until 3 am!

This, of course, meant that we were rather useless on Friday. I managed to get a little work done. But really, I wanted to play with the loom.

She had given me the assembly instructions and I read through them touching all the various parts as I went along. I rehung the harnesses and retied the treadles so everything would hang straight.

Then we moved it into the front foyer, where it fits quite nicely. I'll have to pull it out when I want to use it, but that shouldn't be a problem.

She also gave me some learning to weave books and I got a couple books from the library. It's starting to make just a wee bit of sense, but I won't really know until I try.

Monday night I decided to plunge in and got out the warping board she gave me and wrapped some old Peaches and Cream yarn I have on it before bedtime.

That's as far as I've gotten so far. I actually had to do laundry last night and decided to spend my time between loads finishing the socks I started on the way home from California.

Hopefully this weekend will see some free time to play around some more.

Wish me luck!