Praise

Since I have been open about the challenges I have been having becoming friends with the Megado, I want to be completely clear about one thing.  The customer service I have been getting from Dave at Louet has been stellar.

Part of the challenge is changing to a loom so very different from the AVL I had been weaving on for the better part of 40 years.  There were aspects of the AVL I truly loved and having a loom that is different enough to require some quite different processes has been a challenge.  And that is on me, not the loom.

It is going to take me some time to tweak my processes and I am not expecting anything other than some time at the slippery end of the learning curve to make it work the way I want/need it to.

Some of the challenges were related to the different computer set up.  Dave spent the better part of 30 minutes one day getting the initial set up working with the built in software.  Not his fault I didn't like that software, he was kind enough to offer to help me get my desktop set up so that I could use Fiberworks, my preferred weaving software.

Between us, our schedules did not mesh for a couple of days, but on Sunday Dave spent a further 30+ minutes trying to get the desktop to connect and after trying everything he could think of we switched to the laptop, which did work.

That second session was pure customer service above and beyond the call of a company who has their very own built in computer with software. 

Yesterday I got the loom and laptop talking to each other after some further compatibility issues, and left trying to weave on the loom until today.

It didn't take very long to get everything up and running this morning and I set about weaving a further test swatch, then decided to go ahead and weave a scarf, if I could. 

I got about four inches into the scarf when shaft two stopped working.  I got Doug to come take a look because it appeared that the solenoid for shaft two had come loose from its anchor and I assumed it would be a fairly easy fix once the dobby head was off the loom.  But I wanted Doug to take a look and see what he thought.

So I shut everything down and Doug took the head off the loom to see about tightening the solenoid, but in the end it kept slipping so he emailed Dave for advice.  I remembered that Dave had said he was out of town so suggested Doug phone before the end of their business day.  With a three hour time zone change, that would be very soon.

Doug was able to reach Dave and explain the problem.  They had quite a long conversation about what to do, and while Dave said he'd never heard of another instance of this happening, he was able to give Doug suggestions about what to do.

It took a bit of finagling to get the head mounted into the loom again, but eventually it was and Doug readjusted the blade, which had gotten slightly out of alignment in the process.

And then I was able to connect the laptop again, and weave another test section. 

I am so very impressed with the service that Dave provided through all of this initial stage of getting to know the Megado.  He never once talked down to me as I fumbled my way through the computer set up.  He did not blame me or Doug for the issue with the solenoid.  He thought through the problems I was having, came up with suggestions to fix the situation and walked me through the steps in getting the loom running.

I have only owned a very few looms in my career, and this level of respectful customer service is so very much appreciated. 

There are still things I need to work on, but getting this warp into the loom has provided valuable information about what I need to do to come closer to my goals.

I am able to use Fiberworks, which means I don't have to learn new weaving software.  I can even load my files from my main desktop, where I do most of my designing, onto a thumb drive so that I can access those files from the laptop.

The loom itself is very light to treadle and while there are a few more tweaks I might get Doug to address, it feels comfortable to sit at.  I even had a tall enough stool that I didn't have to purchase another.  The loom is quiet although I may go back to using my headphones which will help filter out the sound of the solenoids activating.  But even that isn't particularly noisy.

I was able to thread the loom without too much trouble once I found out that the breast beam lifts out in order to get closer to the shafts.  Doug will mount lamp fittings so that I can add a couple of lamps to shine into the heddles.  As winter comes on, having the supplemental light will become even more important.

But more than anything, I just want to say that Dave at Louet gets 10 gold stars from me for the customer service he has provided.

Cautiously Optimistic

I spent the better part of today getting the test warp ready, then failing to get the loom to run.  Stopping for lunch, then a quick trip to the chiropractor, I thought of one tiny thing I might have forgotten to do to make the loom's built in software work, and when I got home checked.  Sure enough, while I had saved the file in .wif format?  I had not used the liftplan option.  A quick edit to the file and I was able to get the loom weaving.

But I don't much like the built in software after using Fiberworks, so I thought I would try once more to see if I could get the loom to talk to the laptop via Fiberworks.

Once again the message 'com port failed to open' appeared on the screen and then just as I was going to go back to the Louet software, a further message popped up - 'restart to finish setting up changes'.

Huh.  I was pretty sure I'd done that, but ok.

So I shut everything down on the laptop, set it up to make changes and restart and came back a few minutes later.  Watched pots never boiling and all.

Once again I opened Fiberworks, selected 'weave' and once again got the 'com port failed to open' message.  Then I figured what the heck, all the settings said the com port should be valid, and without much hope I stepped on the treadle.  And what to my wondering ears happened?  Solenoids fired.

OK, let's see if it is actually going to work.  Stepped on the treadle again and a shed opened. 

Again, and the next shed opened.  And again!  So I started weaving and amazingly enough I was able to weave for over an inch with each shed opening.

However, after fighting with it for over two hours today, I was wrung out.  It is also going to take more than an hour to weave a scarf, so I shut everything down and will try again tomorrow.  Which will be the true test - can I get this working reliably?   I know dozens of people all happily weave on their Megado Looms.  I should be able to as well.  My love/hate relationship with computers notwithstanding...

Now that I've managed to get the loom working once with Fiberworks, I am cautiously optimistic that tomorrow I will be able to complete the first test scarf.  I know I put a little extra on just for the purpose of testing, so even though I've used up about 8" of warp, there should still be plenty for two scarves.

I have also learned that I need the standard shuttle because the low profile one keeps submarining.  I am getting comfortable with the rate of weaving which the loom seems to prefer.  It's a bit slower than I'm used to, but I am trying to remind myself, daily, at times hourly, I no longer need to weave at 110% efficiency.  I will be retired from production weaving in less than three months.  It's ok if I work at a slower pace than 'usual'. 

So I end today cautiously optimistic about tomorrow.  And will go weave a rayon chenille scarf and try to find my zen mindful/mindless weaving.

Slippery

Today I worked at making friends with the Megado.

It is very different in a number of ways from the AVL and so I'm having to tweak this, try that, not entirely satisfied, but knowing that the learning curve is always very slippery at the beginning.

Not entirely sure I had enough yarn to beam a 10 yard long warp I cut back to 6 and a bit yards and it was a good thing I did because a couple of spools ran out and a couple more were getting very close to used up.  Which is A Good Thing, but still, I didn't want to run out in the middle of a longer warp.

There are a number of differences that I am going to have to figure out and the big one today was the sectional beaming.  I didn't much care for the Louet tension box, so asked Doug to retrofit the AVL tension box.

However, it happens that there were some wrinkles in doing that and I am going to have to try another test warp and see if I can't smooth things out in a way that will work for me.  Let's just say the tension isn't great, so another good reason to cut back to a much shorter warp.

When this warp comes off I will do another test scarf warp, again 6+ yards, and see if I can't get better results.

There are other quirks of the loom that are different, like not being able to lift the shafts easily.  At least not that I can see currently.  I will look more closely once the warp is off again and see if there isn't a way to move the shafts individually.  I had thought to raise the shafts to make them a little easier to thread but couldn't figure out a way to do that.  Yet.

I'm not entirely loving the TexSolv cord at the ends of the shafts, which look like they absolutely must be in the groove in order to lift the shafts properly.  They kept popping out as I threaded and finally I just left them and will put them back in before I fire up the loom to actually weave on it.

Happily I discovered that the breast beam can be lifted off easily and was then able to get close enough to the shafts to thread the warp.  And as a temporary measure I was able to direct one of the work table lamps to the back of the shafts so that I could see to thread.  This will become very important as winter comes on and we have very short, often grey dreary days.  I may get Doug to mount fittings to the loom so that I can add lamps to the front of it.

I had hoped to beam 20 yard long warps, but the back beam is quite small which means lots of cranking.  On the other hand, I no longer have to weave at production levels.

All the tweaking, trying this, trying that, meant that dressing the loom took a lot longer than I had hoped.  But it's beamed and threaded and the reed put into the beater.  Tomorrow I will sley and then fire it up and see how it goes.  I can always sacrifice the warp if the tension issues become too great.  The silk was a gift, so not much invested in it in terms of money.  My time is far more precious to me right now so if it looks like I won't get a good quality textile off this warp, I will make the sacrifice to the Megado loom goddess.  She is new here and may need some bribes to co-operate.

Tardis

Over the years I have adjusted and re-arranged the studio to suit my needs of the time.  This time is more than just a tweak but a full blown 'toss it like salad'.

Making the decision to close the studio as a business has been emotional, yes, but it has forced me to closely examine what it is I will be doing come 2020.  Because I will no longer need to weave at production levels.

Between us, we have managed to re-home some of the production equipment.  I had little expectation that anyone other than me would want it, so it was a pleasant surprise when we found someone just a day's drive away who wanted the pirn winder.  I hope that she has it installed and is now happily using it.  The AVL was broken down into pieces and some of those pieces have also found new homes.  I'm still waiting on one person to let me know if they still want what they expressed an interest in. 

As we sorted through the heaps and piles of rubble, other decisions needed to be made.  Since I will no longer be beaming warps sectionally from mill cones, the metal rack Doug had retrofitted for me for that purpose, and which had turned into a clutter collector, could also go.  That went this morning and left this gaping hole:

The large pieces of 'paper' are actually pulp 'boards' and over the years they have proven to be extremely useful for various and sundry things.  They lived behind the rack, out of sight and out of the way.  We will likely keep them and Doug will customize another shelving rack to fit in the hole the rack left.  The annex still has shelves full of boxes of...stuff...that needs to come here.  Some of the boxes are filled with acrylic yarn and their destination will most likely be one of the thrift shops.  I will keep some to use for tying warps off, but I certainly do not need all of the boxes.

The computer cabinet is now officially my music cabinet:

Moving it from where it was beside the loom, taking up a large amount of real estate and tucking it into a corner means that the wall to the right (as I look at the photo) now has room for more shelving or piling of boxes.  Doug says there are still shelves at the annex he can modify so that corner to the right can be assigned to more storage.

The thing is, as I weave down my stash, sell my inventory, things will continue to change  Right now we are working on the theory that my studio is a Tardis and we can stuff more things into it than has any physical right to go.

Today Doug should get the sectional box modification done on the Megado, and then he will work on getting a quote for crating and shipping the Woolhouse Margaret.  The loom was spoken for within 20 minutes of my posting that I wanted to sell it, plus there is one person on a waiting list in case the crating and shipping is too expensive for person 1.

So there will soon be the floor space the loom is currently taking for more storage.  Ultimately I don't have to have everything moved here until I am ready to hand in notice to the landlord, but I'm trying really hard to make decisions based on what my future holds, not on my memory and the priorities of my past.

Nitty Gritty

I try not to post more than once a day and yet....here I am...

While Doug and his helper worked at the other end of the studio, I wove on the Fanny, thinking hard about where the heck I was going to put All The Stuff.  Next to me sat the Woolhouse Margaret, a loom that I, personally, haven't used in too many years to count.

Not that it isn't a good loom, for what it is - 24 shaft lever loom.  It's just that I haven't needed to use it in ages.  When I first got it, I actually used it quite a lot.  At the time I didn't have a small loom so the Margaret was something I could use to weave quick samples for the AVL or even do things beyond what I could do on the 16 shaft AVL.  And I did use it, quite a lot in fact, for everything from 2/40 linen through to rayon chenille.

One of the things I intended was for it to be my retirement loom.  But now?  Now I have the Megado and really if I want to keep weaving, which I do, I'd rather do it on the Megado.  With my whiplash injuries using the Margaret with its levers arrayed across the front even gets to be problematical.

So, as I sat weaving on the rayon chenille which only required surface attention, ruminating about where the heck I was going to put All That Stuff and the Woolhouse kept snagging the corner of my eye.

Finally I sighed and made the inevitable decision - it was time to sell it.

So.

24 shaft Woolhouse Margaret, comes with stand, WhichOne, and one 10 dent reed.

I do not want to be shipping this loom.  It's fairly large and awkward.  My preference would be for someone to come pick it up.  However, delivery could potentially - for a price - be arranged within a 500 mile driving radius of Prince George, BC.

If it has to be shipped, there will be an additional charge for crating and shipping to be paid.

If interested, email me laura at laurafry dot com

(I did have someone contact me several years ago expressing interest.  Unfortunately I've forgotten who that was.  Still interested?  Contact me asap.)

Taking Stock

In the midst of the major overhaul of the studio it was time to take stock of where we were at and what else needs to get done.

Yesterday after getting the Megado and my laptop talking to each other, it was time to make some more decisions.

With the desktop not seemingly able to connect with the loom, that computer became surplus to requirements.  Then the cabinet it lived in was no longer needed for that purpose.  However, Doug suggested that it could be turned into a cabinet to house all my CDs (and cassettes - yes, I still play music cassettes - or did - I may give them up now) and that in turn could free up the rack most of the CDs currently live on, thereby freeing up about 6 square feet of space for more functional shelving.

We discussed placement of the cabinet where it would make more usable space for me to work and store boxes.  Because I took a look at the annex and was dismayed at how much more stuff needs to be emptied out of that before I can give the landlord notice that I will be moving out.

I have been whittling away at my stash, getting rid of dribs and drabs of yarn, doing the best I can to use up what can be used through knitting shawls.  I've made good progress but knitting is slower than weaving.  Except that some of the yarn is too little to weave with, too much to throw away.  So, I knit.  Knitting is also portable so I can bring my bag when I go to guild or my rare visits with friends.

Doug's helper is coming today and they will continue with the adjusted layout in the studio.  If Doug can also get the sectional equipment sorted as well, I expect to be tossing a test warp onto the Megado in the next day or two.

But I realized last night that there is just 3.5 weeks left until the first sale of the season.  I am woefully under prepared.  But I am officially running out of time, so all I can do is what I can do.

I did let the Studio Shop know that after the craft fairs I will be bringing more stock in, just in time for Christmas sales.  Since I am shutting down my business, but will still have inventory, one way to cope with left over stock is to sell on consignment or on line. 

So watch this space for announcements of things for sale beginning late November.

Lift Off!

Whew.

Even though I've been weaving with a computer assisted dobby for ages (early 1990s?) changing looms meant changing dobby and changing how that dobby connects with my computer.

I love the elegance of Fiberworks, have been using it since the beginning to drive the AVL and really wanted to be able to use Fiberworks to drive the Megado.

The desktop I was using?  Had other ideas.  It stubbornly refused to connect to the loom. 

Fortunately I have options, to whit a laptop which also has Fiberworks installed on it.  I use it for teaching the Olds program so having Fiberworks available on it was a must.

After much backing and forthing with Dave van S, we finally got the loom and the laptop to work together with the loom's built in computer, but my preference was to use the desktop/Fiberworks and Dave kindly offered to try and help me with that.  But he was on the road and it took a couple of days for our schedules to line up.

This morning he called and we tried and tried to get the desktop to talk to the loom and just could not make it work.  Since I have a love/hate relationship with that particular computer, I had already decided that if we could not get it functioning today I was going to just switch to the laptop.

After repeated attempts to get the desktop to behave, Dave commented that I didn't have Fiberworks on my laptop.  I assured him that I did.

So I swapped out the desktop for the laptop and within just a few minutes the laptop was connected and the loom was live! 

Now the desktop can go into storage as a back up, the computer cabinet will be turned into something else, and I can start getting the Megado set up with a test warp.  Hopefully tomorrow.

For now I am taking the rest of the day off.

Huge hat tip to Dave and Jane for all the times they stepped in to help.  I think Dave has more patience than I will ever have and I am grateful beyond words.