I’ve been weaving on a Glimakra 8 harness countermarche loom for almost 10 years now. I love it! It weaves like a dream, it’s super heavy, I get an excellent shed when all is going well, and I have a bit of an emotional attachment to it. The only thing that I don’t love about this loom is that I have to climb on the floor to tie up the treadles. Depending on the pattern, I could be under there for quite some time. I’m pretty limber and in pretty good shape but climbing under the loom is back breaking work. So much so that I’m sometimes out of commission for the remainder of the day after. Look how pretty this loom is though!
I cleaned out the area that this loom has been designating as it’s home and prepped for the replacement. I got an amazing deal on a Louet Spring and couldn’t pass it up!
I’ve been doing a lot of research on looms (well, really when am I not looking at looms!) and know that I love Louet. My Megado has served me well for many years and the reviews on the Spring have me sold! I ordered the loom and it arrived the next day! I eagerly laid out all of the pieces and had it all together in two days!
Because of where I live, there are no local guilds or shops where I can try things out before making decisions like this. Essentially, I purchased this loom strictly because I love Louet and Jane Stafford has done various reviews on their looms…..namely the Spring. I am used to weaving under a lot of tension however, my weaving techniques and style have been changing recently and I’ve really been looking forward to the nice clean shed that the Spring offers so that I can stop weaving under trampoline like tension.
Modification of technique has been one of my weaving goals for 2021. With that comes modification of warping technique. I’ve been shaving time off like nobody’s business. I wanted something simple for the first project on this loom. A plain weave towel run seemed just about right.
Louet has that famous built in raddle making the beaming process a breeze!
Simple, bright, fun, and very fruit basket like…..perfect color combination for Spring!
The Spring is a 12 harness loom with 14 treadles (did I forget to mention that?!). I wanted to utilize all of the harnesses for the first project. This is a straight draw 1-12 and each treadle tied up with all odd and then all even all the way across each of the 14 treadles.
The thought behind using all of the harnesses and treadles on this first project was that it should be super simple to change tie up since all of the cords are in place. Compared to the Glimakra, the Spring is very simple to tie up because it is a parallel countermarche. Due to the fact that it is parallel, I don’t have to adjust the length of the cords on the upper and lower lamms to compensate for the rise. I can’t believe how quickly I was able to get the pattern in. Also, considering that I’m late on writing about this, the next project was a breeze to change in the tie up.
So here we go! The header is woven in and we are all systems go!
Would you take a look at that shed! OH MY GOSH! Perfection at its finest! I have NEVER been able to obtain a shed that clean on the Glimakra!
Happy stuff for sure!
This was a 10 yard warp. It went on smooth, it wove smooth, and it came off smooth! I’m impressed with this loom in a way that I couldn’t have imagined. Though the feeling of weaving on a massive beam and post is lost, it is replaced with a delicate feeling of precision. I’m blown away! Jeremiah even sat down at the loom and wove for a while. He was super impressed with the action!
Overall, I’m not only sold on Louet, I’m sold on the Spring! The Glimakra is for sale and the ad can be found on Ravelry in the Warped Weavers Marketplace. I’m willing to negotiate on the price as well as travel a bit for delivery!
Until next time!
Comments