Once upon a time, I said, “Oh, I’ll never want a floor loom”, and the Universe At Large laughed and laughed, and took it as a challenge.

Let me back up a second. So I started seeing where people had rigid heddle looms,
And were finishing projects a lot faster than I can do with crochet. Which was highly tempting, you know?

So I started looking around and did what I do, which is exhaustive research on how it worked, and decided I wanted one. Well, like every other hobby, just about, they are expensive. You will see posts about “Oh it’s so accessible and inexpensive!” No. No, it is not, not if you want anything other than a kid’s size loom. Chris to the rescue with the 3D printer and a video tutorial on how to build one. Which was super, super cool! So he got it built, we grabbed some other DIY pieces I’d need and I got started. Only to find out that, well, my research was not thorough enough.

The rigid heddle loom that Chris built whetted my appetite for weaving on something that didn’t hate me, and that I wouldn’t kill myself warping. Also something that I didn’t have to hold, or go to extremes to get to stay where I wanted it. In other words, I fell in love with weaving, but did not fall in love with the rigid heddle loom. (To be fair, it’s probably not all rigid heddle looms. The 3D print one we made had a few pretty major design flaws, and our DIY approach might not have helped.)

Anyway, while surfing Facebook Marketplace, I ran into a listing for a used Harrisville 36 inch, 4 shaft, 6 treadle floor loom, over in Rock Island, for what turns out to have been a once-in-a-lifetime deal. And that got the wheels turning. And I was still in love with the idea of learning to weave. When I took my frustrations about rigid heddle weaving, and what to do next (I was about to give up on it entirely) to a very special group of friends, and mentioned this, they “crowdfunded” me the price of the used Harrisville.

After somewhat recovering from the shock of their kindness, I contacted the seller, made arrangements, and we went over and picked up the loom. She is beautiful. I went over her with wood soap, and made sure all her pulley cords and treadle tie ups were where they were supposed to be after quite a bit of bumping around. It took a little while, but she has two new reeds, more heddles if she needs them, and I’ve figured out how to dress her and have now actually woven fabric on her. Chris made a couple of modifications and she is now perfect. She’s home, and I am looking forward to many years of creating beautiful things with her.

I do indeed, have the BEST friends.