Remember when I wrote I was thinking big again?

Well, the forces around me have united.

Here’s what happened.

One morning when I was getting ready to walk my dogs, I don’t know why, but I opened up Instagram and there it was. Lyn Hart of Desert Songs Studio was selling her 6 foot Shannock loom. I couldn’t believe my eyes, really. I’d seen Shannock looms for sale over the past few years, but they were either too small, too large, - I wanted 6 feet - too far away, or out of my price range.

From the moment I first saw mention of a Shannock loom, I felt I would some day have one. This had to be my day!

I stopped and responded to Lyn while the dogs not so patiently waited. Then we went off walking. And dreaming. Dreaming big!

I was so excited I could hardly contain myself. Could I really get it? I got back from the walk and checked my email to find Lyn’s response. Lyn had an amazingly detailed pdf written up about this loom. There had been one previous owner - who she told me only wove one weaving on it! There were several photos and one was of the stamp imprinted into the left frame. “1991 - 111”.

Lyn said she assumed it was the 111th loom John Shannock made in 1991. I would love to know if this is the case. Did you know that repetitions of 1 (11:11, 111, 11) are considered special and are thought to be a way of the universe letting us know we're going in the right direction? Again with the forces aligning!

I combed the internet for any blog or mention of the mighty Shannock looms. I knew Joan Griffin recently sold her 8 foot one. I wrote to her with a few questions. My friend, Jo Morasco has one; I knew Tommye Scanlin had one, along with Kathy Spoering. I learned of a few others. I read every post I could find on Lyn’s blog and every post I could find, period. I knew of Lyn’s work, but when I saw the post of her weaving her magnificent Condor on this very loom, it all just kind of clicked.

It was five days later before I finally mentioned it to my husband (although I had told my daughter about it the very same day). Logistics were an issue. I am in Kansas and the loom was in Arizona. It was doubtful I would be the one to make the trip. So everything hinged on his response.

I was so chicken to approach the subject that you know what I did in the end?

I sent him the photo that Lyn put on IG and I said “I really want this loom!”

His immediate response…?

“So get it!”

Then I said but it’s in Arizona… to which he replied…”logistics…”

I said earlier those forces swirling around were uniting and truthfully, it was the perfect time for him to take a road trip. He needed it. That period between Winter and Spring is his favorite time to travel and he loves driving West. He’d never been to Tucson… swirling forces.

After that, it all happened very quickly. Lyn had offered a payment plan and up to 6 months layaway and I’d fully expected to take her up on it. But he didn’t want to wait.

I spent the week planning. We talked over size. Just how much presence this loom actually has. My floor in my studio is 18” square tiles so it made it easy to visualize how much space it would take. Roughly 5 tiles across and 2 tiles deep. Check! Were the ceilings high enough? Check! Would the ceiling fan be in the way? Check!

I knew I’d need to do some re-arranging, though. Something or maybe two somethings would have to go. The somethings ended up being two tables I worked from. They were easy to give up. I still had the one large table so it seemed like a small sacrifice to make.

He started out for Tucson on March 1st - just a little over two weeks from that life-changing morning! And one week later, he brought her home to me. He made the trip count by staying with our son along the way and an extra day to explore Tucson once there. He came back wonderfully relaxed and rejuvenated. I honestly believe, though, the high point of the trip was visiting with Lyn and Dennis! Nothing but glowing words about their hospitality, their land and the nurturing of it, and their generosity. Dennis even gave him a cactus to plant! Kindred spirits, I guess!

We unpacked the truck and while he headed into town to visit his mother, I sat down with my new loom parts. Lyn had carefully wrapped every piece in plastic, supplied a very thorough parts list, and the original instructions for putting the loom together.

When he returned, I had read the instructions more than one time- had identified and arranged all the parts and we were ready to put her together. What a thrill.

I didn’t waste any time warping, but I was baffled by the header bars. There were 6 bars with home-made (instructions for this included, too) by the original owner, but I was confused by the lengths. 25” times 3 didn’t add up to 72. What was I missing? Would they overlap?

I did a lot more emailing Joan and Jo - along with posting on the Tapestry FB group. Joan and Jo both encouraged me to make new heddle bars in varying lengths. But I was anxious to get started so in the end, I warped it full width. (In case you’re wondering, the heddles work with pulleys and depend on a balanced system, so warping half a heddle was out of the question.)

I’d been working on a design that could actually benefit from being long and narrow…so again…unity of forces.

Here’s how far I am this morning as I write this. I had hoped to be starting but couldn’t put this post off any longer.

Oh, and I can’t not mention the lovely and totally unexpected gift from Lyn!

An entire box of bobbins that she’d gotten from Mary Lane when she was de-stashing. I will treasure them alongside the loom. Thank you, Lyn!

Dreaming Big