Christmas-Present-To-Self

Day 359: Every year since I have lived alone, I have celebrated the holidays with what I refer to as a "Christmas-present-to-self." Sometimes, it's purchased out of season (a kayak, for example), but usually, I try to have it arrive as close to December 25th as is reasonable. This year, I rather expected that it would have to be shipped from Sweden to a US supplier and then to me, so when I placed my order, I was anticipating an arrival date some time in late November. It showed up on my doorstep four days later! It took an hour and a half to assemble and an equal amount of time to sort out the warping system, but by evening, I was weaving my first ribbon tape on a Glimakra treadle band loom. By the end of the next day, the two-yard warp was fully consumed, and I pulled it off the loom. That first band was no thing of great beauty. Far from it! The selvedges were rough, it widened and narrowed where I hadn't kept even tension on the weft, but I could see a decided improvement from the start of the band to its terminus. A bit braver, I tried a second warping method which required some engineering and a few innovations in order to put a longer warp on the reels, and in short order, I was again weaving, this time on a wider tape. The piece still has a few foibles which reveal my inexperience with this type of loom, although they are levelling out (literally) as my work progresses. The unusual thing about this style loom is that the warp runs crossways to the weaver's position rather than lengthwise. The shuttle/quill/bobbin is controlled by the left hand while the right runs a beater. Since my band knife (the beater) is taking a little longer to get here, I am for the moment using a table knife, beating the weft into place with the blunt side of the blade. The treadles are on a pulley, raising and lowering the sheds as they are depressed by the weaver's feet. The whole process is much faster than band-weaving on an inkle loom, and the reels can hold a much longer warp. Plus, it's just plain fun to do!