Oct 07 2008
Cosmos is Coming
This ship is bringing my loom home.
It is the MOL Cosmos and I’m naming the loom “Cosmos”.
I had a discussion recently with Amanda about how many weavers name their looms. I’d never thought to do this and was drawn to the idea. I’d always expected that the loom would be female rather than male – I don’t know why. But the name Cosmos, although genderless, seems a male name like Cosmo, which I like.
According to my dictionary Cosmos means “..refer(ing) to the universe as the cosmos, especially when considering it as having an order and pattern.” What a perfect name. Does anyone else name their looms? And does naming make a difference?
I name my looms and wheels. My Baby Wolf is Alice, because she was the first (”A”); my second is Wally, because it’s a Marie Walling loom. (Not very original, but I like it.) Favorite wheels are “Florence” after my favorite grandmother and “Eleanor” after Eleanor Roosevelt, cause the wheel is opinionated and stubborn but does wonderful work if you treat her right.
My Herald loom is Harold – totally unoriginal. My Harrisville loom is Betty – named after my first weaving teacher. My Lendrum spinning wheel is Lilly – named after a lilly shaped mark in the wood on the left treadle. I name everything. My car is Bettie Blueflame (She’s a purple PT Criuser with a blue flame package) – she’s named after Bettie Page. It’s funny how many people know my car’s name and call her by it.
I think that naming says more about the owner than the loom – how much they anthropomorphise the loom, and how close they feel to it. The name they choose says a great deal about how they think about that instrument.
Having said that: my loom doesn’t have a name as such, but is known as “The Medieval torture device” because it’s a Glimakra and has a strong resemblance to a rack. The weaving room, consequently, is “The torture chamber”.
Cosmos is a fabulous name. Complete. Do you have a delivery date yet?
I had never named any of my looms until I got Grace. The only reason I named her was because the loom had a metal plaque that read “Given in memory of Grace Hossack, Weaver”. It wasn’t until I realized that my Fireside loom was male (and named him Gary) that I was able to relate to him properly. I can already tell that Cosmos is well named. I can’t wait to see the coming out party.
“My Glimåkra” is a gentle instrument – silky to touch, soft sounds, mechanically uncomplicated and yet proficient at fulfilling the charge of the task; when I sit down to it, I imagine I am at a piano attempting the composition of a grand sonata.
Cosmos makes me think of the autumn – my dad’s favorite flowers – and as a kid, I remember being somewhat surprised that dad even looked at flowers long enough to remember names!
Anyway, can’t wait to see your new loom.
I too name everything. My loom is a Leclerc named Nila Lee. My spinning wheel is a Lendrum named “Lendra”. I thought Kendra and Lendra would make a good pair and we do, spinning along many happy hours together.
Love the name Cosmos.
I don’t name anything – in fact I go the other way, so my dear old Oscar who died aged 15 this year was simply “Cat” most of the time. Note captials – the one and only!
Similarly, my loom is the only one in the house, and is always “my loom”, or “my Toika loom”.
My favouring generic names can lead to problems, such as when I am talking about my “Favourite Spinning Wheel” because I have 3, and which one is favourite tends to vary, so it’s sadly imprecise. I just have this fear that if they had names they might own me.
I’m looking forward to the arrival of Cosmos the loom, what sort of loom is he?
I belong to a weaving group that meets every Tuesday, a bunch of lively, opinionated, talented people (two men!), and one of our group kept talking about “Lillian.” We figured out quickly that it was her loom, and over lunch, she explained that Lillian is the woman who originally owned the loom. Well, I loved that idea, and now have Jenny (Buxton) and Jennifer (Hall). Jenny is sweet and lovely, a 4-shaft LeClerc Artisat. Jennifer is a huge beast, 8 shaft 40″ LeClerc Colonial, and the original Jennifer wasn’t very nice when I bought the loom on ebay!
I frequently call my looms/wheels names when we aren’t working in harmony – but usually not very polite ones! But I will think about it, and see if giving them a personality helps with the skills!
jane
PS: My car is called Vera Foljambe, after Georgie’s maid in the Mapp and Lucia books. She is a good worker, not very flamboyant, and her registration letters are FCJ -V!
Jane