Meanwhile, Back in the Pegging Parlor...

There isn't a hobby that doesn't come with its own set of accoutrement's, and that certainly is true of individual pieces of equipment also. Each loom I've owned came with its own set of goodies, be it extra heddles, nuts and bolts, pre-cut texsolv, lease sticks, etc. Much of it only works with that specific loom. The exception has been the lease sticks that came with the Murphy loom. A fine set that I have kept and used with all my other looms.

The AVL production loom is no exception and has probably broken the record for loom specific extras. The fly shuttles (I received two with this loom and after looking prices up, realize what a deal it was!), have their own special bobbins,



 the dobby bars and pegging system complete with a special pegging wrench, heddles for the tension box along with its own little reeds. Big Sal does not travel light!

 Christmas eve day, after the dobby box had been adjusted



and the loom jacked up and the bench removed, I was standing in my now very messy studio. I can't concentrate on ANYTHING when a space is a mess, so it was organize time for the loom room.



 The clean-up didn't take too long.



 A drawer needed to be cleaned out for dobby bars,



 a jar or two for pegs and other small parts. Heck, I even got the last bits of Big Sal on her in the form of this tension arm track and a wonderful homemade back shelf. Both attach easily with no bolts or screws needed. Whew, that's easy.



 She dwarfs the Murphy loom even though there is a scant 6" difference in weaving width.



 When I came down the stairs Christmas morning, a nice neat and clean loom room was the first to greet me. Oh the possibilities!

After the bounty had been shared, (and there was an excess of bounty this year which I'll share next post.), I made my escape up to the sewing room and the long extra table I added up there. A perfect place to pick and perfect my dobby pegging plan!




 There are over 100 bars with this loom and most, pegged from long ago patterns. I needed 31 bars and sat down and cleared all the pegs out,



 wrote my pegging plan in both a graph and with just numbers for ease of pegging, attached all the bars into a chain and set to work.



I got 1-10 done before I realized, dogs needed to be fed, horses and goats too and I hadn't even started in on our own dinner prep. YIKES, where did the day go? Learning anything new just takes time. I noticed when I looked at the pics I took there is a mistake in my graph which I will fix today and carry the corrections through to the written plan.



I also want to find a better way to attach the bars into a chain. Those wire oval links are a PITA. I know I've seen a discussion on one or two boards somewhere using other methods, maybe zip ties?

I didn't spend the day completely alone. Gene was downstairs fooling with his follies, he and the dogs all wandered in from time to time, bringing cheer and new chew toys and I had my ever faithful twins, Jack and Charlotte. Jack on his own bed in the bedroom and Charlotte at my feet, my best little shadow for many a year now.

I hope you all had just the holiday you wished for, filled with a little magic and a lot of laughter. We certainly did.

Parting shot: Sweet Charlotte, Christmas Day 2013.