Weaver's Box

Day 153: "I'm gonna go weave. Are you comin' with me? Go get in your little weaver's box!" He leaps out of his cushy-bed and runs for the Loom Room door. Okay, we've had to graduate to a large priority mail box because 14.5 pounds of cat no longer fits in a medium size, but he prefers the box to his hammock. But what is it about weaving which makes him want to be in the Loom Room? Certainly, he likes to be with mama, whatever she's doing, but he generally gets in his weaver's box and immediately curls up and goes to sleep. Is it the sound of the loom? A countermarch loom doesn't clank and rattle like other looms, largely because it (Max, anyway) uses string heddles. Even so, the raising and lowering of the shafts is noisier than I'd think a sleepy kitty would like. Is it the rhythmic cadence of treadling, passing the shuttle, beating? I find the loom's voice almost hypnotic, definitely meditative (and of course there is no other sound in the room except for the occasional wheezy snore coming from the Box). It's not the Box itself. The same box in the living room holds no particular appeal. Whatever magic the loom casts, Merry has fallen under its spell, a true weaver's cat.

Making Accommodations

Day 79: I have had the table loom set up on a card table in the living room for the last seven or eight months. It was not the most satisfactory arrangement since I often have other uses for a card table, but there was not enough space for this desk in the Loom Room, and it had migrated out to the garage. I wasn't really happy about that either, so I decided to solve two problems at once: move the desk inside and put the loom on top of it. I had already cut a piece of plywood for an extension to keep the legs from walking off the edge and in fact, had been using it on the card table (ugly, but functional). Repurposing the desk as a loom table also gave me storage space for weaving tools in seven of the drawers. The eighth drawer...the double-deep one...had a claim staked on it before I'd completed the set-up. Certain accommodations need to be made if you are going to have a Weaver's Cat supervising your work.

Weaver's Cat

Day 10: There is much to be learned on the way to becoming a journeyman Weaver's Cat: that you cannot sharpen your claws on the rollers, that you cannot walk on the cloth trampoline, that threads and heddles are not for chewing/eating, that "shed" and "bed" are not synonymous, that jacks rise and fall, that treadles move in response to the draw of active, biteable stockinged feet. Some behaviours can be exciting, a way to redirect the mama's attention. Others result in loss of privileges and banishment from the Loom Room. Sometimes these strictures require a more studied and calm analysis from a safe remove, and to that end, Merry curled up in an empty box, the better to observe and monitor the weaving process. One factor works in my favour, beyond any temptation into mischief. He does not want to let me out of his sight, and if that means having to abide by odd human rules, that's how it will have to be.