Wool fibre naturally sheds everyday dirt and odours. Simply shaking out and airing a woollen item will freshen it right up, ready for more use. For heavier soil or stains, a cool soak to loosen then a couple of rinses will flush the fibres clean.
Crafts are learned by doing, by demonstration and practice, the learning never stops. My spinning friend Kay Anderson said “I like to have a very good teacher when I start, and then I don’t have to unlearn mistakes”
Weaving is mostly learned by ‘doing’, and that needs time, access to equipment and a good teacher. Going beyond the basics tends to be expensive, and often involves a road-trip.
Ashford equipment has a great reputation and tends to fly off the second-hand market so this loom was a lucky find. Quite a rare beast with 16-shafts and a second back-beam, it’s ideal for small pieces and trying out weaves before they go onto the production loom.
AVL hand-looms straddle the high-end domestic – low-end industrial market, this one is their Technical Dobby Loom, built sometime around the mid-1990’s. Very versatile but quite a room-full.
The Mighty Wolf is a wider version of Schacht’s hugely popular Baby Wolf. It’s a 36-inch 8-shaft jack loom that can make quite advanced pieces, without taking too much room
Officially “the Dryad Foot Power Rug Loom”, this is an upright design that looks a bit like a tapestry frame but is actually a 2-shaft floor loom stood on end. Great for making rugs!
4 shafts and 6 treadles is a probably the most common spec for a domestic floor loom, and 36″ is about as wide as you’d want to weave with hand shuttles. This one’s particularly good for tweed.