This is how we roll

to steal the words from a currently popular song..
Despite the helper kitty, who is breaking more threads than he fixes, some weaving is getting done.  Okay, Kevin doesn't fix any threads, but he is indeed breaking them as he walks around on the warp beams, parks himself to have a gander outside or just pretends he's playing the harp with the warp threads.
  This photo is of him practicing just as I was about to start dressing the loom.  He's decided that my loom is his personal gymnastics equipment.   It has created a few minor problems with the project, but not insurmountable.  Certainly not as bad as my first few woven inches, when I realized that the tension kept releasing.   Linen thread needs to be kept under an even tension.  The brake kept slipping, releasing the tension, making weaving almost impossible.   After crawling around under the loom, changing tie ups and fiddling about, I checked the Leclerc online info about brake assembly.  

It's a really simple piece of equipment consisting of a drum with a tensioned metal band around it.   There seemed to be only 3 main problems.  The band could have stretched; it looked fine to me.  The drum could have gotten some oil on it or the band could have smoothed the drum.  Either way, my brake drum has a light layer of rust, so it's neither been lubricated in any way nor is it too smooth.   Finally I noticed the turnbuckle in the brake assembly.  It felt loose, so I twisted it around a few times until it was much tighter..  I was really careful about making sure it went the right way and I didn't unscrew it completely.   That would have been a horror story and project wreck at the same time.

However, it worked.  I ratcheted down the brake band and it tightened up perfectly.  No more slipping and my warp is lovely and tight.   I can weave properly and my fabric is nicer.     It's a much nicer experience than the frustration of the loose warp.   Now if I can only convince Kevin that he doesn't want to hang out on my loom while I'm weaving this.