Weaving progress!

I have spent the last couple of days putting some time in on the counterbalance loom, and have made some progress!  (I guess that will happen if you actually work on it, right?)

This was my first progress pic today - finally getting the first towel down to the front take-up beam!

I read something somewhere about beating to improve selvedges.  It said to throw, beat, leave the beater there (at the fell line) and change sheds, then return the beater to starting position, repeat.  I've been working on this all afternoon.  I'm finally feeling a little more coordinated with this change, finally speeding up a bit, and I can definitely see an improvement in my selvedges.

I bought some "ruler" twill tape last week and I'm using a piece of this to measure my weaving.  Today I also reached the end of the first towel, and wove a hem and a separator.  I believe the yarn for these towels is 8/2 cotton, and I used a size 20 tatting thread for the specified half-inch hem.  The instructions called for using size 16/2 for the hem, but I don't have any.  You can see the difference that the weft color makes!

I also managed to solve a problem with my shuttles and bobbins.

I have always preferred Schacht bobbins, but I have a bunch of Leclerc bobbins.  Those (Leclerc) are in the shuttles below.  They have flat ends, and those flat edges catch in my Schacht (top) and vintage (bottom) shuttles.  I figured out that I needed something to keep the bobbin away from the ends of the shaft in the shuttle.  I looked around and decided to try the cores from my bobbins of quilting thread.  Those are the little green things in the photo.  They work great!  It's just a tad bit more fiddly to change the bobbin, because you have to keep track of the little green bit and replace it after you change the bobbin, but it's worth it to NOT have the shuttle get stuck in mid-throw.

I also heard from Macomber today.  I emailed them Friday with the information I have on my loom (basically the model and serial number) and they told me the order date for that loom was 7/14/1969. They had no further information, but I'm delighted to find out that much!  I have also determined that it will need a new handle for the rear sectional beam at some point.  I was quoted $65 for the handle.  I'm hoping to make a trip up to the shop itself, in York, ME, at some point to get it.