Getting the rug stuff

That's how early in the morning it was.

I said "rug stuff." For shame.

By the dawn's early light we are off to buy weft for Linda to weave more rugs.

She weaves rugs from many different fibers: wool and cotton fabrics, heavy yarns,

and something called "shag."

"Shag" comes from upholstery mills.

It is the selvage edge of upholstery fabric.

In the modern high tech mills the warp no longer travels across the weaving surface on a shuttle.

The warp is laid in one row at a time by a stream of air.

Each row is held stable by a woven band of dummy warp or loom waste that is cut off at the end of the weaving process.

The black and white strip is a good illustration of the stabilizing strip with the shaggy ends of the single lines of warp hanging from each side.

Here are bags and bags of shag,

Waiting to be selected.

I realize I do not have one picture of Linda at a rug loom.

Here is a picture from the '90's, when I stopped by her studio in upstate New York to see her new 100" loom being assembled.

In the left corner one of her rug looms with the beam full of rugs, and the weaving surface used as a table for tools to assemble the big loom.

(Do note how very 5'6" tall I used to be!)

I went to Linda's web site and picked one rug.

You can go there and see a page full of rugs for sale.

It's a Linda