The Bobbin Winder Wars…

I so did not want to write another aftermath of Irene post, even though the destruction has been unimaginable on the east coast.

We left NJ and Irene’s wrath, early Tuesday morning, to take my daughter to college up to UMass. The plan was to drop her off, help her settle in, and then take off for a couple days R&R with my husband before we begin the next round of travel, continents apart.  So far so good.

I was nervous about the routes we would need to take, but with only a couple of detours for accidents, we made it in about 4 1/2 hours, longer than it should have taken but there is no complaining on this end.  That we made it up at all considering the amount of washed away roads and bridges is pretty amazing.

I have to say here that I’ve never been more proud of my daughter and how prepared she was.  She watched the U Tube videos of dorm decorating for UMass and figured out how the room could be organized before she ever set foot on the campus.  She carefully packed everything she wanted to take with her (you have no idea) and cleaned out much of her childhood room.  One large duffel was just for winter clothes, which could be stored without unpacking until the cold weather set in.  She even remembered a tool kit. She brought lots of her craft materials, including an entire under the bed box of duct tape (you have no idea)…

And of course there was the loom and all the stuff necessary for weaving, like shuttles (mom do you need all these shuttles?  I need at least three boats for the fabric I’m weaving…) Apparently my daughter is too advanced for mere stick shuttles…

Not to mention that boat shuttles need bobbins and to wind the bobbins one needs a bobbin winder.  I do have an electric one, which is upwards of $300.  She wasn’t getting that.  I also have two hand crank Swedish bobbin winders that I’ve had since the 70’s, each with a different size shank.  I wasn’t parting with those either.  We looked online and found that there were only two available on the market that had a slender enough shank for the wooden bobbins she was taking with her for the boat shuttles I could spare, one was the Swedish bobbin winder like one of mine, and the other from Louet.  The Louet was a bit cheaper so I called Halcyon Yarn and ordered one a couple of weeks ago.  It hadn’t arrived as of Tuesday morning, so I very very reluctantly let her have my Swedish winder with the thin shank which also fits my lace bobbin winding attachment.  Very very reluctantly.  It was one of the first pieces of weaving equipment I acquired and oddly enough, I acquired it for lace making, not for weaving.

So we made it up to UMass, and because my daughter was so thorough and efficient, and because I owned so many large wheeled suitcases from all my traveling, we were able to get her unloaded, and set up in record time.  (I don’t actually know the record, but it seemed to go pretty smoothly…)  I also decided not to rag on her too much for all the craft stuff she was bringing when I saw some parent struggling to carry a 6 foot ficus tree up to the third floor.  🙂

When Bri unwrapped the carefully packed winder and screwed it to the top of the hutch on her desk, I felt a pang of regret, that she was moving on to a new life, and with it my bobbin winder.

Today my husband I drove north through Massachusetts, up Rt. 91 working our way towards Greenfield where we planned to spend the night.  I remembered one of my weaving buddies telling me about some place near Shelburne Falls that was lovely and if I was ever in the area…  I spent a bit surfing last night, looking up places in northwest Massachusetts that might fit the bill.  I remembered that the word Bridge was somewhere in the title.  I knew there was a Swedish weaving school up in that area, but this get away was about my husband, not about my fiber passion.  There would be other opportunities to visit fiber sites.

I found “The Bridge of Flowers” in Shelburne Falls, and suggested we take a ride.  The drive was lovely, but included some detours, it became apparent that the destruction from Irene was not limited to NJ.  There was a section of Rt. 91 that was reported to be closed.

We found “The Bridge of Flowers” using our trusty Google Maps and were not prepared for the destruction we found.  The Salmon Falls in Shelburne Falls had overflowed it’s banks caused some major damage, undermined the bridges across which were shut down for structural evaluation.  We gazed across the river and noticed lots of activity on the other side, and a lovely building that said in large letters on the side, “Quilt Studio” at an odd angle to the road.  And precariously close to the bank of the river.  I thought it was an odd place to put a building.  Apparently Irene didn’t think so.  Apparently after talking to a couple of local gawkers out to see the damage, the building, turns out, was washed down the street by the storm.

The Bridge of Flowers was closed off, but it looked beautiful from what we could see.  Imagine my surprise when I looked up and saw I was standing next door to Vävstuga, the Swedish weaving school.  Really Kevin, I didn’t plan this…

They opened at 1pm, and we were the first customers in the door.  While waiting for the store to open, we checked out the rear of the property which sits right on the banks of the river.  The fencing showed the water line and how incredibly close the water had some to the weaving center. The proprietress, Sarah, showed us around and explained all about the school.  She asked if I was a weaver, and I said yes.  Many members of my guild had studied there and I was always immensely impressed by what they had to show.

But what caught my eye was on the shelf in the main part of the showroom.  My bobbin winder.  Virtually unchanged since the 70’s, there it was, the slender shank, and though her computers were down, we were able to find the number for Halcyon Yarn, (yea smart phones…) and cancel my back order and I bought one right then and there, and I’ll swap it out with my original one when we pass by the University on our way home tomorrow. 🙂

Apparently Sarah overheard my giving my name to Halcyon so they could check the status of my backorder.  When I got off the phone, Sarah admitted that she realized who I was and read my blog.  We chatted a bit more and then I spied, laying on a shelf, the most unusual reed hook.  It was handled like a paring knife, and Sarah explained that a local knife maker made them and they were perfectly balanced.  But alas, the local knife maker was just flooded out.  I had to buy one.  Next to it on the shelf was a tool I didn’t immediately recognize for weaving.  Turns out it is a shed sword, for opening sheds of warp face bands like on the inkle loom.  Well, add that to my tab.  My husband was extremely patient, I think he was enjoying the interaction.  Later I let him wander through Home Depot and The Tractor Supply Company.  He found lots of guy wanna haves…

We had a lovely dinner at a locally recommended restaurant in Greenfield, called Hope and Olive.  Word from home is not good, the town smells like a sewer and the governor is there assessing the damage.  We will be home tomorrow night…

With my original bobbin winder…

Stay tuned…