Monday, August 17, 2015

Oh What A Tangled Web We Weave

No progress on the waffle weave towels to show.  Why?  Well, you see that thing in the photo below?  That's the ratchet on the back bar of my loom.  It's plastic.  The teeth bent.


See that bird shaped thing below the ratchet?  It's the pawl for the back bar of my loom.  It is supposed to be above the ratchet, not below.  The beak shaped part fits into the ratchet to hold the bar in place and keep tension on my warp.  I was merrily weaving along and POP. The pawl must have been in the ratchet at a spot where the teeth were bent, the ratchet gave way, and the pawl was forced under when the tension was released.  My warp quickly unwound and was on the floor.  The cat was watching the warp with huge black eyes.  The dog came running to see if he could "help".  Chaos ensued.


This particular loom is now sold with metal parts, and there is an upgrade kit available.  Wish I had known that before beginning this.  I would have ordered a kit, and waited to get started.  My warp now looks like this.  A bit of a tangled mess on the front bar.  I'm hoping to get an upgrade kit soon, have Paul help me get it installed on the back bar, spend many hours fussing to get the warp wound back onto the back bar, hold it in place with its pretty new metal parts, install the new metal ratchet and pawl on the front bar, and try again.  Whew!  I'm tired just thinking about it.


In happier news, the random number generator has chosen the convertible mittens I was making for Paul.  They were lost in the shuffle when I only had 2" of the first cuff done.  This is what happens when you cast on 17 projects folks.  I do not recommend it!  We watched two movies last night, during which I finished the first cuff, completed the thumb gusset, and worked within 3 rounds of separating for the fingers.  If I keep up at that rate, I'll get these done within a week!




2 comments:

  1. 'O' my goodness! At least you can do his gloves:)

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  2. That whole explanation sounded like Greek to me! The gloves are cool, though!

    ReplyDelete