Miscellaneous: June 2004 Archives

Can you believe that I am going on two straight picture free days? I have been making a little progress on my Chai top -- hopefully after I post here, I'll be able to bind off the ruffle on the front piece, then I'll be on to a little blocking and assembly adventure before I deal with the sleeve caps.

One thing I treated myself to over the weekend was a copy of the latest SpinOff. I really should just subscribe to this magazine, because for the past year or so I've found it to be a lot more informative and interesting than the knitting focused magazines that I buy. I think I have avoided the subscription committment so far because of the title. I don't think of myself as a spinner (a wanna learn to spinner, perhaps) and thus in some odd way I don't have the creds to subscribe.

I'm not sure why I like this magazine better than some of the others I've picked up. I think because it doesn't have to feature as many projects, it can feature ones with better quality overall. And I enjoy the focus on different kinds of fibers, how they are processed and what their natural behaviors are. And generally speaking, they have good technical articles (at least good enough to teach me something).

What did I like this month?

Well, the reason that I bought the mag was the article from the woman who taught my knitted doll making class last year. She didn't say much that she didn't say in class, but I think her dolls are wonderful. I do wish they'd put some of the pictures in of her knitted fish. I was so impressed with them when I saw them in person. They were clever and fun and artistic all at the same time.

Also of significant interest to me was the short article on lucetting. I have my lovely lucet, but haven't had such a good time getting started with it. The article on lucetting, combined with the article on Bosnian crochet, went a long way towards helping me understand why I might be fighting my own thread or yarn. And now I need to go out and find out exactly what Z and S twists are....

And if you're into felting/fulling, there's a lovely little pattern for knitted containers. They had an earlier issue that featured fulled bowls created by knitting with roving.

And speaking of roving.... click this link to see the pre-cursor to roving roving in a very unusual way. (Link found by my hubster who just loves poke some humor into my fibery ways). Happy Tuedsay!

I have to admit a small felony today -- I stole the title for today's post from Emma, who, in a recent post, was remembering her father's passing. I hope she won't mind, as I do mean it in a very serious and respectful way, in spite of the main subject of this post.

I am the daugher of an engineer. In fact, I am surrounded by them -- my father, husband, brother and brother-in-law are all in different flavors of the profession (automotive, computational, chemical and mechanical). For those of you not blessed with an engineer in your family, let me just say that engineers are born, not made. It's in the DNA to want to do what they do. They grow up knowing that eventually their compulsive need to push every button, twist every knob and flip every switch will lead them to a dorm room with a large number of math and physics books in a program where there is a 5:1 ratio of guys to girls and where there is a very good chance that they will be in school for five years and still not get to take any electives. And it doesn't bother them at all. So what happens when you cross an engineer with an English/drama major? Well, you get a biologist with a penchant for computers. And mechanical toys.

My dad has his tractor (and I must admit that it is very fun to drive it around a bit) and since I have taken up knitting again, I have developed a significant curiosity about knitting machines (I also have an unnatural affection for Palm devices and expensive laptops, but that's a subject for another time). Now, I didn't want anything complicated or expensive to start out with. Just because I like hand-knitting, I figured, didn't guarantee that I would like knitting with a machine. Or that I would want to maintain a machine. So I figured I needed to acquire a machine in a manner that wouldn't cost me very much if I decided that I hated it.

Enter the 40% off coupon at JoAnn's and the Bond Universal Sweater Machine.

How Could You Not Want Something that was "Seen on TV"?

Hmmm... What could be inside this mysterious box?

Parts and Yummy Acrylic Test Yarn

Interesting metal pieces and another mysterious box of goodies.

Lots of Little Things for My Cats to Run Off With

Now, this leads me to a way for you to be able to tell that I am not a real engineer, in spite of my genetics. You'll notice that this machine comes with a handy dandy video tape with instructions you can watch. So far so good. But someone's house is just a little too high tech to actually have a VCR that is plugged in and usable. Now, I could have gone downstairs, tried to figure out where our VCR is and tried to get it plugged in and working. A real engineer, in fact, would not have been able to go to sleep at night knowing that they had been thwarted by outdated technology. Instead, I pulled out the tape, and waited for John to get home. "Do you know how I could watch this?"

My dad would tell you that this behaviour demonstrates clearly what I really am -- the antithesis of all that is engineering orientied -- management. (This is a long running joke in my family...so don't take it as an offense. Besides, in real life I actually am in management...)

Hopefully over the weekend I will convince my engineer to reinstate an ancient piece of equipment. In the meantime, I will probably go pull all the pieces out and sit behind my husband in our office and make interesting noises. Because if there is one thing an engineer can't resist it's a new machine.

(If anyone has any experience with this machine and would like to share it, I would love to hear any tips and tricks!)