The Other Man: Bertie

Bertie, my AVL A-Series loom.

    There is another man in my life. He came into my life a little over a year ago, but our relationship is still in that tentative, "getting to know you" phase.
    Before anyone has a major freak-out, Bertie is a loom. A really big floor loom.
    About eighteen months ago, I realized I needed to replace Mongo, my much-loved 16-shaft Macomber loom. Mongo is a terrific loom, and I cranked out a lot of fabric on "him" (I anthropomorphize my big looms). However, Mongo is also completely mechanical. My Achilles tendons are mostly shot, and a lot of the joints in my ankles and feet look like pin cushions from osteoarthritis (I grow bone spurs), so treadling was really becoming a problem. I also wanted a dobby loom that could handle more complex drafts. I called AVL Looms in Chico (California), made an appointment, and went up there to "test drive" looms. I knew what I wanted: a 40-inch weaving width; computerized dobby head; assisted shaft-lifting; and 40 shafts. That describes an AVL-V-series loom to a "T," and that was what I was expecting to order.
    I spent nearly two hours talking to Bob Kruger, and trying out everything available that met my basic requirements. I couldn't try a V-Series, as the only one on the floor had just been picked up, but I tried the prototype K-Series and an A-Series that was on the floor. The K-Series was neat, but I didn't like the geometry and the Spousal Unit was concerned about it being new technology. However, the A-Series was a good fit, an established, proven design, and flexible enough to be modified to exactly what I wanted: 40-inch weaving width, 40 shafts, e-lift, two warp beams (one 1-yard; the other 1/2-yard; automated cloth advance. While I was at it, I also ordered a new tension box and the mounting track for it. I put down the deposit, then went home and sold Mongo.
    The new loom was ready in mid-August, and we went back up to Chico with the truck and picked up the loom. One of the nice things about AVL looms is that they are "flat-packed": the back of the truck was filled with fifteen boxes (the dobby head, in its box, went into the truck cab), and after we got it home, it was pretty easy to unload the boxes into the garage, then bring the loom up to the studio in small pieces. The very first box had the instructions for assembly: a 3-ring binder of about 200 pages of photos and directions. It took a while, but just like IKEA furniture, the loom went together with simple hand tools.
    A brand-new loom is not cheap, especially a big loom with a lot of bells and whistles. However, the "nearly perfect" loom is rather like a custom kitchen to a cook: you can live without it, but life is a lot easier with it. Bertie and I are still learning to work together to produce beautiful cloth, but we're making progress.