Weaving loom fills room

New AI apps appear everyday and new social media connectors. “Loom” sounds like a new app or tool in this “connected” world. Oh, it is. But it’s also a new tool dominating my office.

Best I can tell, it is mostly used for rag rugs. I picked this one up in Ashby, Minnesota, through a ‘string’ of connections.

Back when I was a young home-schooled teenager I remember that through a connection someone offered to give our family a working but old pipe organ. One with vacuum-tubes. Heavy. To a boy with no friends outside his extended family to offer perspective on how uncool it would be to play an organ — I could see no reason why we would decline this gem. Especially since our house at the time was almost made for an organ since our house was a repurposed woodworking shop with vaulted ceilings and the Spancrete floor was strong enough to support a forklift.

Long story short, my dad declined the offer which was as much a disappointment as it was a benefit to his son’s long-term ability to relate to anyone like a peer.

And there were a couple lessons packed in there: 1) Be suspicious of any gift the size of a car that isn’t a car. 2) Not every idea is a good idea. For you. Right now.

There are a thousand opportunities to be unconventional and become the homestead stereotype, unless you’re going that route on purpose. You have to resist it every time you get the catalogue, or get an offer through a friend of a friend.

So maybe accepting this loom was a bad idea. Maybe this was my “organ” moment and I wimped out and said ‘yes.’ We’ll see if it gets used; if we figure it out using the 1920s-style directions (almost all text) or through a niche group of enthusiasts on YouTube. I’m optimistic.

And once we learn how to use this loom, we’ll have to learn how to milk sheep. We’ll keep you posted.