Harrisville Designs Loom - Weaving fun...

My Aunt has always been an "estate sale" queen. She runs them, attends them, roams the state looking for deals... It is not unusual to get a frantic call about a "must have" item she has found in somebody's lifelong collection. Usually these "must haves" turn out to be false alarms, but once in a while she hits gold.

A few months ago I got a call from my aunt about a loom at an estate sale. My aunt knows that I started weaving a few years ago, but the extent of her knowledge of weaving is that weavers use looms. Through some very pointed questions and interpretations of answers to said questions, I figured out that she found an Harrisville Designs 36" 4 harness loom. The price was such that even if it needed most moving parts replaced I couldn't pass it up, so I told her to get it.

As it turned out, the loom was in phenomenal condition and only a few leather cords needed to be replaced. We have been wildly weaving in order to prepare for an upcoming art show we were invited to set up at with our fiber arts goods. Finally this weekend I have had time to warp the HD and weave on it. What a fun loom to use! I wove two scarves for the show... they are in black and white wool/acrylic blend yarn.

I REALLY don't have room for this loom (we have 5 others) and had thought about selling it, but after weaving on it this weekend, it will be hard to let go of...

Here are a couple of pictures of the scarves - they are pretty simple, but are soft and drapey and I think would be nice fall scarves - I see that scarves seem to be "in" right now so hopefully someone will fall in love with them.

Hope the rest of you are finding time to get your "fiber arts fix" this weekend!!!

Hi uglydogsfarm.
Your username is hilarious.
Do you actually have 'ugly' dogs on your place?

I dont do any weaving (I know better than to say I never will! )
but your auction-going aunt reminds me of my mom.
So far she has had mostly false alarms, but she always calls me about fiber stuff at these estate auctions.
Mostly broken spinning-wheel-shaped-objects.
Since she is not a fiber artist herself, it has been a long series of lessons (complicated by her computer illiteracy), but she does know that I only want natural fibers at this point.
(read as "no more bags of Red Heart yarn").
Your post here gives me hoipes that one day she will find me the wheel of my dreams in all her rooting around.


Your scarves look very nice.

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Cows may not be smarter than People, but some cows are smarter than some people.

I honestly thought the same thing before I started weaving... I was overwhelmed at the thought of setting up to weave let alone weaving! The good news is that we found a weaving friend who was a GREAT teacher. She broke it down and took all of the fear out of the process.

Finishing the first project and being on awe of what can be done only sparked ideas for more projects... The scarves are pretty simple but sometimes you need some fast projects to get your creative energies flowing again. I am about halfway on a throw blanket I am working on and needed the break.

Ugly Dog's Farm is named for one of our dogs - a BEAUTIFUL Belgian Malinois named "Coyote Ugly". Have you seen that movie with the beautiful girls dancing on the bar? She is affectionately referred to as "the ugly dog" and we named the farm after her. It is one of those names that people chuckle at and don't forget.

What a beautiful dog, UDF!

I was able to get a Harrisville Designs T/6 loom quite a few years ago for a song. It still isn't set up yet though :sigh: Too many other projects have a higher priority.

I know one of these years that I will have to give up my tiny needles & hooks and either start knitting with broom sticks or take up weaving. I'm leaning towards weaving so I have a number of looms that I was able to procure at rock bottom prices. When I figure out which one(s) I need to keep, I'll let the other ones go to aspiring weavers at rock bottom prices.

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Our spinners group just got into weaving and so help me there I went too. Since I don't go to auctions I probably never will get a loom at a bargain price, but one can hope, hugh? Weaving has been a challenge, but not too bad once you get past the warping.

There are GREAT deals to be had on used (but not abused) looms. So many people inherit them from family or purchase them with intent to weave that never comes to fruition.

Check craigslist in your area... sometimes people don't know what they have or what it is worth, other times they just want it gone... And sometimes if someone has had it listed for a while with no interest, they are ready to take an offer... ESPECIALLY if the loom is going to a "good home" where it will be used.

Right place + right time = GREAT deal on a GREAT loom!!! ;-)