Unburying the loom

I spent a good chunk of yesterday night unburying the loom.  In our attempts to rearrange and unpack the garage, the loom platform had gotten covered with boxes, rendering the loom unusable.  I finally got around to clearing it yesterday – there is still much work to do, but at least I can walk up to the loom now!  And I have replaced the treadle cable, so as soon as I hook up the Compudobby and the live-weight tension brake, the loom will be ready to go.

Here are a few photos of the unburied loom:

I still need to get rid of the various boxes, bicycles, etc. currently leaning against the loom – probably another day’s worth of unpacking and rearranging.  Also, if possible, I’d like to get the homemade jams and candied citrus peels on the top and bottom shelves moved elsewhere – then I can spread out my weaving stuff so it isn’t quite so crammed, making it much more accessible.

My dye equipment is also unpacked and organized.  I had no idea there was so much of it!

Actually, that is not quite all of it – the blender and the volumetric flasks had to go onto the weaving shelf.  I really hadn’t realized just how much volume dye equipment takes up – and the five-gallon dye buckets are still outdoors!  Definitely not a space-saving hobby.

(But then, it is a fully-equipped dye/surface design studio – with two kinds of acid dyes, two kinds of fiber-reactive dyes, thickeners, resists, color removers, paints, silkscreens, stencils, dye stocks, dye pots, and what have you.  If I had only one type of dye, my equipment would be far more modest.)

Sewing-wise, I have draped a second basic muslin that I find more or less satisfactory.  I’m now moving into moving the bust dart, and after that into draping princess and paneled designs.  I haven’t done the parts yet about finishing the pattern (removing the muslin and transforming it into an accurate paper pattern) as I want to understand the principles of dart movement first – then I can refine the details.

And the zucchini?  It is still cranking away, and I harvested two more zucchini yesterday, with two more coming in a day or two.  It’s already producing more than we’re likely to use, since we eat three or four zucchini a week.  In another week or two we may be on the lookout for unlocked cars in which to deposit zucchini…though we are doing OK for now.

The butternut squash is still going nuts.  I’m counting 12 baby butternut squash right now, with more on the way.  I’m guessing it won’t mature all of them, but you never know – we have an exceptionally long growing season (first frost in November-December) so it will certainly have every opportunity to ripen them!