I am a blogging slacker. It's not for lack of thinking about blogging, but somehow my days are evaporating like crazy. I recently started a new job working for Syne Mitchell of WeaveZine and WeaveCast fame. I'll be helping her develop a base of advertisers for the site so that she can keep offering up wonderful weaving content for us each week. She'll be launching a new site on March 1st, so keep your eyes peeled for an update.
 
I have also been working on my monthly articles for Schacht Spindle Co. My latest project should be posted this coming week, and I'm really excited about it. You should be too if you invite me over for dinner...
 
I also acquired a new loom. Well, new to me. It's actually an old loom - 1976. And it was in a lot of parts. But it didn't cost much, and being that I am both on a budget and was looking to add a loom to my collection that would enable me to weave wider yardage, I jumped at the chance. 

 
So in the midst of a snow storm last month, Kevin and I braved the elements and picked it up. The woman from whom I purchased it said she'd break it down into manageable pieces for transport. As you can see, she wasn't joking. The front legs, beater and castle/harnesses were still together, but the rest of it wasn't. I got three rusty reeds out of the deal (boo), but also acquired a box of yarn, several books and a few small accessories. 
 
There was a rather long cotton carpet warp attached to the warp beam, but the aprons had accumulated a bit of dust and cat hair. I decided that they needed to be cleaned. I removed the apron from the cloth beam first, gave it a wash and ultimately decided to replace it. Fresh aprons would be just the thing to make my loom feel dapper.
 
I spent a good deal of time cleaning and polishing the wood. There are a few areas that still need a bit of work, but it's looking much better. My father helped by repairing a couple of chips too.
 
Thankfully Leclerc has loom manuals available online. I downloaded my assembly instructions, ignored the part where it said you'd need two to three people to put the loom together, and set to work. They have a new brake system, and so I reached out to some fellow weavers on ravelry, and I found a woman with the same loom who was kind enough to send me a photo of her brake set-up. I also made a few simple modifications.
 
And here she is. Warped and woven on just a bit.