I came by a loom sort of unexpectedly this holiday season. My sister-in-law’s stepmother wanted to clear out some space in her basement, they were already planning to drive to upstate New York from Atlanta for the holidays, and they had room in the back of their minivan for it. All I’d have to do would be to get it home from my mom’s. My mother-in-law was kind enough to bring it back to Connecticut on Christmas Day and then into Brooklyn on New Year’s Eve and now it’s living in our bedroom.

I had a small floor loom when I lived upstate 15 years ago or so and I really loved weaving, so I’m pretty excited to have a chance to play around with it again. However, this one (which seems to be this model) is more complicated than the one I had and getting it set up is drawing on some pretty weak parts of my brain (why don’t I know any mechanical engineers?). I gave the whole thing a good dusting today and figured out how the brake for the cloth beam works and what I need to do for the treadle tie-up. I also figured out that six of the 20 dividers between the harnesses are missing, which is a drag. They’re small—basically pegs—and I could probably find something that would work in their place, but I’d like to try to get actual replacement parts if possible. While I track those down, I need to relearn how to calculate and wind a warp, which shouldn’t be a huge deal, and figure out how to get the warp on the loom, which might.

I’m trying to remind myself that venturing outside my comfort zone is a very good thing, but, man, it’s hard.