New Toy

I recently treated myself to a new toy that I'd like to show you. 

A while back, I came across a lovely double hole rigid heddle on etsy.com. I marked it on my Amazon.com universal wishlist, but when I went back ready to purchase, the one listed had been sold and no more were listed.  So I emailed the seller, finnsheep, and whohoooo, another was made and listed.

 Isn't this beautiful! It's very well-made, and is the perfect size and weight. Those holes are pretty tiny, though, and the perfect tool for threading them is a dental floss threader (made for folks with braces.)  These come in handy so often, and for this, they are absolutely perfect. Here's a slightly out of focus picture of the floss threader ...

 And here's a picture of the threader in action.

Next post (hopefully soon) will show the heddle in action. 

And in case this has started heddle envy for anyone, I'll point you to the etsy shop for the maker
Fred Hatton, Woodturner and to his antique-spinning-wheels blog, and to the wonderful Weavezine article by Grace Hatton that first brought this type of heddle to my attention.

I love weaving narrow bands, and I love beautiful tools, and this is just the thing for creating that "all's right with the world" feeling.

Mystery Tool

Yesterday was guild meeting and what a lovely day.

First, we just had a lot of rain, and to wake up to sunshine and oh-so-fresh air was divine.

Second, the program at our guild meeting was one of my favorite topics, given by one of my favorite weaving teachers. Jennifer Moore talked to us about Mathemagical Design. Here she is holding one of her fractal double-weave pickup samples. She combines an amazing design sense with a beautiful use of color that is just thrilling. 

Another fun thing happened during the business meeting - I was given the following "tool" for free. The only requirement is to report back whatever I discover about its function. It looks homemade - you can see there is one hole drilled in the far end of the board, and two in the near end.  the upright part consists of two pieces, with two holes drilled in each of them.

 In between them, there is a lower piece of wood, and the top piece can be removed. It is connected with a bolt, and secured with a washer and wing nut at the top. In the second photo, you can see that top piece removed.

So what this is for? I thought maybe for clamping the end of a warp to use for tablet weaving, or perhaps for band weaving with a small rigid heddle. Or maybe it's used for twining? What are the holes for? Anybody know?