New old loom for weaving tartan

[Steve Ashton]

A very valid answer to my question could have been something as simple as -

"I like the look and idea of a flying shuttle. I am just fascinated by the idea, and technology of, a flying shuttle."
or
"I would like to be able to weave faster than I am able to do throwing the shuttle by hand."
or
"I would like to weave widths that are too wide to easily throw a shuttle by hand."

All of these are very valid reasons. For example - I knit on a Hand-Cranked Circular Sock Knitting Machine because I got fascinated by the machine itself. It is a piece of steam-engine era technology that peaked my curiosity at first and then challenged my mechanical mind.
A CSM just knits circular tubes of fabric. It knits faster and more consistently than by hand but nothing more than what a Hand-Knitter can do.



I'm not really a knitter. But I wanted to be able to produce kilt hose for my customers who did not fit in commercial hose or be able to produce patterns and colors in yarns that are not readily available in the commercial market.





Then, because I understood the machine from an engineering aspect I began to teach others how to adjust, fine-tune and troubleshoot their own machines.



This lead me to write the book.



Which is now to 'de-facto' bible for these machines.
All simply because I got hooked by how the machine itself worked. Learning about the history behind them came later but is no less fascinating.