There's an Heir Loom in the Studio

I'll admit, I haven't been knitting much lately because I've been spending a lot of time with the literal heir loom that now resides in my studio.

I vividly remember two things about my grandparents' house. No matter the time of day or night, it always smelled like coffee when you walked into their kitchen and a magnificent loom lived in their basement. It wasn't until much later in life that I learned those two things were related to their Finnish heritage.

As a child and well into adulthood, I imagined grandma was the weaver, but it turns out it was grandpa. Even though I don't remember seeing him weave, I credit him for sparking my interest in weaving and fiber arts. Maybe that mysterious rug loom cast it's spell on me, or maybe being a weaver is just in my blood.

Grandpa started weaving rugs at age 58 after a trip to see family in Finland. He was mostly self-taught in a time before the internet and YouTube. That speaks a lot to his sisu (it's a Finnish thing). He started with an Amish loom which is likely the one from my memories. In the early 1980's he built two looms of his own.

I started weaving at age 45, so I had a little head start on him. I also had many more learning resources available to me, primarily the talented community of weavers (and spinners, and knitters...) at Grandma's Spinning Wheel in Tucson. And I recognize the humor in the fact my friends from Grandma's Spinning Wheel got me ready for Grandpa's loom.

I know I shared my memory of Grandpa's loom more than once around the knitting table at the shop without knowing if it was still in the family, or that one day it would come to my studio. Maybe that's why the weavers were so eager to bring me into the fold.

Fast forward a few years. I reconnect with my wonderful aunt who has one of Grandpa's looms in her basement and she offers to drive it from northern Minnesota to northern Alabama. What?! In September they arrived.

I'm pretty sure every hand built loom has something meaningful or funny written on and Grandpa's loom did not disappoint.

So not only did Grandpa make something from nothing with his weaving, he also used parts he had on hand to build the loom. Pretty industrious!

I'll save the story of cleaning and restoring the loom for another day, but I've already woven 3 rugs on the loom Grandpa built (which I've named Ukki, meaning grandpa in Finnish) and I'm looking forward to learning more about the of Finnish American rag rug weaving culture as I practice my craft. Yeah, it's a thing!