Many of the materials and tools I use for tapestry weaving are made by Harrisville Designs. So it is only natural that I wanted to visit this year when I was in Vermont. We flew in and out of Manchester, N.H. so we took a little different route back to the airport after the Vermont retreat and just had time to take the detour through Harrisville after a night in Keene.
It was raining while we were there, but we drove around a bit (Emily is interested in the historic nature of the town) and stopped at the shop. We only had about 30 minutes before we had to be on the road to the airport, but it was enough time to chat up the women who run the store and to run upstairs to meet Tom Jipson who was teaching a tapestry workshop.
I use Harrisville Highland, Shetland, and the singles yarn they make for me for my tapestries. And the Harrisville Rug Loom is my absolutely favorite weaving tool. It is a wonderful countermarche loom with a warp extender. I have written about it in the past HERE. If you are thinking about a floor loom for tapestry and especially if you're also interested in weaving rugs (which also often use tapestry techniques), the Harrisville rug loom is the loom you want.
I tried to steer us by the mill on the way out of town but couldn't remember exactly which street to turn on. A return to that fascinating place will have to wait for another day.
P.S. Does this remind anyone else of a certain 1985 movie involving a clock tower and a flux capacitor? The square in Keene, N.H.