Lace Workshop - Part 3

The next two days of the workshop went much better. I was able to move on to weave on someone else’s loom and try some other lace patterns. I had already decided that I wasn’t going to kill myself trying to get all nine lace samples of the workshop done. I wasn’t really interested in doing the Danish Medallion, Spanish Lace, Brooks Bouquet, and Leno Lace patterns. I had taught those patterns in my beginning weaving classes and instead I wanted to weave lace patterns on 8 and 4 shaft looms that I had no experience weaving. The above photo illustrates some of the afore mentioned lace patterns that could have been done in the workshop on two shafts.



One of the side benefits of the round robin weaving was that I was able to weave on several different types of looms. One that I especially enjoyed was the Baby Wolf when I wove the Window Pane Lace in white. Not only did I like the lace pattern, I could see using it in a pantry door window, or as a room divider, or covering storage shelves in our new home.

It was the first time I had woven on a Baby Wolf loom. About two weeks earlier I had purchased a used 8 shaft Baby Wolf from a LV guild member and still had it folded up in our garage. I had wanted to buy one when we moved to the new house and would have room in my basement weaving room. But I started thinking that perhaps instead of buying a new loom maybe I could find a used one and spend less money. As long as it was an 8 shaft loom I could deal with the rest of the items on my wish list later. So when I put out an email about some looms for sale I added a request about looking for a Baby Wolf loom. I was quite surprised to get a reply back from a guild member who was considering selling her Baby Wolf which was an 8H and had most of the bells and whistles I was interested in. When she got back from a long weekend vacation we could connect. I was ecstatic.

Upon her return we agreed upon a price and a pick up date for the following Monday. My big concern was where to store the loom once I picked it up. My present weaving room was maxed out, my tiny storage room was full, that left the third stall of the garage which was a disaster area. I still hadn’t told my husband I’d bought “another” loom, a statement sure to get a rise out of the non-hobbyist hubby. But if I cleaned the third stall of the garage there would be room to store the Baby Wolf. So with a burst of energy on Sunday I did a massive clean up and straightening of the third stall.

I must be honest and admit all of the mess was mine to begin with, guild door prizes, weaving class looms, yarn, and wood working materials. It’s surprising what a shop vac and throwing some things out can do to improve the looks of things. I also collected fame looms for storage, and repacked yarn in storage bins. The end result was a vast improvement, Bob was so proud of my efforts, little did he know…

The other hang up was the method of payment. I wanted to pay in cash and it didn’t dawn on me until after the banks closed on Friday that Monday was Columbus Day and the banks would be closed, even though it wasn’t really observed locally as a holiday. So all I could access would be an ATM, which meant $20 bills and dealing with a daily withdrawal limit. I also found after trying our branch bank ATM on Monday that ATMs run out of money on long weekends. Thank heavens for grocery stores and their ATMs. I was able to get the rest of the needed cash from their ATM, for a slight fee--but who was quibbling at this point, and then go to Customer Service and trade the fist full of twenties for less hundred dollar bills. And I was still able to pick up the loom on time.


The lady’s husband loaded the loom in the back of my CR-V and off I drove. When I got home I didn’t want to leave the loom in the car, so I slowly rocked it back and forth to edge it out of the car. It was heavy! Once it was out and upright, it was easy to handle as it was on wheels (strollers). I pushed it back into the third stall area and waited for Bob to come home from teaching his Monday evening class.




When he came into the house in his normal manner I knew he hadn’t noticed the loom. So I figured I couldn’t put this off any longer, and told him to go back into the garage and notice what he missed the first time he walked through. When he came back into the house he was very quiet, not saying anything. He now knew why I had cleaned the garage so thoroughly the day before.