Deal of a Lifetime!

OH my Goddess!

One of my new friends from the Northern Neck Spinners and Weavers Group knew I was looking for a floor loom. She has a couple of looms in her studio and on Saturday a fellow came by and said he had seen a similar loom to her large Macomber in a house that was for sale. It was his understanding that the loom was available to go to a new home or would be sold with the house.

Turns out the house belongs to a couple that she knew because they were buying carpet for their new home from the current home owner's store located in Kilmarnock. I knew there was only one carpet/flooring store in Kilmarnock and also remembered that this couple used to live in my parent's old neighborhood. So I called my mom to help me remember their names and other details. Mom did remember this loom and said it was a nice one.

Since serendipity works the way it does, it just so happened that I was in Kilmarnock getting my hair cut on Saturday when my friend first called me and I called my mom. So I went by the carpet shop and spoke for a long while to the lady working there. She apparently decided I really wasn't a nut case and actually gave me the loom owner's home phone number. She suggested that I wait until Sunday to call her. (Turns out this was a very good move.)

So I called Sunday afternoon about 1 p.m. The loom owner remembered me and my mom and agreed to meet me at the house for sale. She could not remember the size of the loom but thought it was a Schacht. She agreed to meet me at 4 p.m. and said it would be okay to bring my weaving friend. She told me she was selling the loom and all the stuff that came with it (bench, bobbin winder, shuttles, warping mill, swift, ball winder, rattles, etc. for $500). She said she had had it for sale for a while and was planning to go to the Williamsburg Weaving Guild in a few weeks to see if anyone there wanted it.

I called my weaving friend who, blessing upon her, agreed on this spur of the moment late Sunday afternoon outing.

I knew as soon as I saw it I would buy it even if it didn't fit in my studio because what she was selling for $500 was a complete weaving studio including some yarns with the center piece being a pristine condition Schacht 46" 8 harness floor loom!

Well, my weaving buddy about dropped her teeth I think. I knew this was worth far more than $500 and asked the lady if she was sure. She said that she was.

Well, I wrote her out a check and we carried out most of what we could carry and transport in Ken's little pickup. We got back to my house and my weaving friend called her husband. Double and triple blessings on him, for he got up from his Sunday afternoon of relaxation and went outside and hooked up his open trailer and drove down to my house. There he picked up my weaving friend, my husband and myself and after doing a masterful job of turning that long thing and van around in a very tight driveway, helped load my new loom onto the trailer and transported it safely back to my house.

He also was a huge help in reassuring my husband that I really had made an outstanding deal and he would have bought the thing if I or his wife had not. Considering he is not a weaver, that says quite a lot.

So now I have this wonderful weaving studio! I think the guest room/fiber studio idea is shot... but perhaps I can make it up to friends by learning to weave and making wonderful, fibery gifts.