I’ve been thinking about getting a floor loom for a while (I’d been using a few rigid heddle looms, and my mom taught me on her Schacht floor loom), but when I was visiting weavers in Ireland, I finally crossed the line and decided it was time to get one. Also I had done a massive clean-up job in my basement and finally had room for one! I did my research toward the end of my trip (on the Spinners’, Weavers’, and Knitters’ Housecleaning pages, amongst other places) and communicated with a weaver who was retiring and was within a reasonable driving range from my home.

So, a few days after I returned from Boston, a friend of mine who has a pickup truck (tip: a key piece of equipment for transporting a floor loom!) drove me to upstate New York to retrieve the loom. We got plenty of practice tying knots and arranging tarps in the borderline-harrowing drive home, but the loom arrived in one piece and is now living in my basement, below a ceiling festooned with Christmas lights!

It’s a LeClerc Nilus 4-shaft loom, and is an absolute workhorse. I’ve been working steadily on building my technique now that I have a loom that knows more than I do! It’s so nice to be able to do twill without using a pickup stick. I’ve done a bunch of projects in a row, including several sets of towels, some scarves/shawls for Christmas presents for neighbors and family (including me), and recently some scarves using multi-colored warps made out of “remainder” yarn from previous weaving and knitting projects. I’m feeling both decently proficient and also overwhelmed by how much there is to learn. I won’t get bored of this loom any time soon!

My newest adopted cat, Whitey, has become my weaving inspector.