Ashford looms

When I was at the recent Fibre East Festival in a village near here, I had a wonderful time looking at all the yarn, fibre, spinning wheels etc., but I felt a bit sorry for Larry because he wasn’t doing anything like it. He came round with me, gallantly and seemed to enjoy it. However, little did I know that he was taking it all in, especially the weaving looms. He was quiet about it while we were there, but when we got home, he went onto Amazon.co.uk and bought a book on weaving. He read the book twice and a week later a beautiful Ashford weaving loom arrived. After that there was no stopping him and already he has made some beautiful things.

Here is the loom:

He has mounted it on an old bookcase so it hangs and when he sits in the chair, he can have it on his lap and weave away comfortably. This was the first thing he made. It’s a beautiful table cloth for a small occasional table. He made it in blue and white and it’s ever so even. He said I could have it as a tea towel, but it’s much too nice so it’s on display.

On top of the cloth is my weekly project. It’s a baby blanket for my new grandchild – due next February! Strictly speaking it’s a step-grandchild because he/she will be born to Larry’s youngest son Brad and his wife Morgan, who live in North Carolina. We are both very excited about the new event to come.

I am working on the border at the moment, as you can see. I’ll show you again when it’s quite finished.

Now back to Larry’s work. The second item he finished is a beautiful scarf, which he made in an all wool ecru. Here it is, all ready for the cold winds to come:

Each item Larry makes, he tests himself to do a little more intricately. In the scarf above, he has introduced a small pattern – two vertical lines down the sides. Lovely isn’t it.

The next item was a scarf in another all wool product. This one he found a bit more troublesome because the yarn was fluffy and hard to manage, but he finished it just the same and I think it looks lovely.

and lastly, because he had quite a bit of the grey yarns left over, he made a chair back for himself, which will no doubt help to keep his neck warm.