Blanket Loom

I love looms - not only because there's so much satisfaction about taking a raw fleece and processing it by hand into something useful and beautiful but also the loom's construction in itself. Every part is so simple, so easy to manufacture, the shed, the shuttles the beam and yet put together it becomes more than its parts. As a pipe organ is played, with feet and fingers, a loom is played by the weaver, but instead of weaving music it plays out cloth. 
 This huge hand loom is from Witney, where it was used to weave the world class Witney blankets up until the 19 60's, As children then we slept warm in a cold house under Witney blankets, pale peach and cherry red.  Since then the last Witney factory closed in 2002 - heavy blankets being overtaken by light duvets.

The other thing I thought about this picture was that the long warp with the heddles above mirrors the flow of the river outside. A limestone rock weir with water flowing down its slope. Or, as the cloth is wound on reversing its flow.