Day: January 26, 2022

Snap, Crackle, Pop and the treadle sewing machine

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There were adventures to be had, and mayhem was accomplished last night. I may be paying the Piper this morning though. Okay, let’s start with my plans for world domination.

Since the office/dungeon/stitchery room is also our bedroom and living room, I couldn’t do as much as I wanted yesterday. Hubsy wasn’t feeling well, and slept through the day. My nasty habit of making noise wasn’t good, so I stitched for a bit.

I worked on 3 projects. I have 2 desk projects, things I can do while wearing a headset and either reading or watching something. Yes, I can stitch and read at the same time. I can also pat my head and rub my belly. Sighs. So, I started with the desk projects.

Once Hubsy woke, I worked on the nearest tote. It had a couple of wips in it, and I have a deadline on one of those. That’s when the rabbit hole happened. I began to stitch, on the treadle, and lost track of the universe for quite awhile. It’s bad, my shoulders are sore, and since I converted the iron lady to a hand crank, my hands are killing me, but there’s more.

Hubsy eventually got really sick and tired of the iron lady making that much noise. He interrupted the ZONE, and insisted on oiling her. First, he wanted to use WD40. I didn’t gnaw his arm off once I found a little reality from being that deep into the realms of stitchery. I found my sewing machine oil, and then it happened.

He DROWNED MY TREADLE IN OIL.

At first, I didn’t know how bad it was. I rethreaded her, and replaced the needle. I put the bobbin back in and grabbed some crap fabric to work on realigning the works. The next thing I new, the thread snapped. I went to rethread it, and there was a strange bulb at the bottom of the needle. It was oil. OH my. I wiped it, and it came back. I wiped it again.. and again.

First, I reached out to my daughter, who is a ZONE stitcher, and she calmed me down. We talked via messenger until I was no longer homicidal. I promised that I wouldn’t commit homicide, because she had to go and be a responsible adult. Okay, I also reminded her that I loved her. I had a cigarette, and then another. I still haven’t said anything out loud.

One of my bff’s who is also of the stitcherly bent was about to go live on Twitch. I kept trying to work with the machine, and said I was going to lurk when she came on. I kept snapping threads, and the machine kept dripping and oozing oil.

Eventually, I joined the chat, and explained what was going on. This was about 8:30 PM by this time. I grabbed those thick paper towels I love, and just let the machine drip, occassionally leaving the chat and monkeyed with the machine. My heart was probably going mach 80 at the point.

Fancy diabetic medications do not deal well with heart rates of mach fricking 80. Just a FYI.

My friend suggested that I use a little of this and that, and try to degrease my beloved iron lady. Which got my head to thinking. Yes, it hurt to think. However, I have some 91 proof rubbing alcohol. I also have a gun cleaning kit.

I took my sweet Lady out of her base, and laid her gently on paper toweling. I then began to strip as much oil out of her with qtips, a gun cleaning kit, and determination. By 11:30 at night, the twitch stream was done, and she was back in her base.This morning I am a little calmer.

Now for today. I have to take her out again, and recheck my work. I’m thinking of doing a major overhaul on her, in a proper manner. An emergency strip down may have done a bit of damage in the night, and I want to basically take her apart tysytube style, and get the 98 years of build up off of her inner workings. However, before I do that, I have to get some more decent supplies.

I need a fine steel wool. I need and extended gun cleaning kit. I need paint and other mods. My Iron Lady isn’t worth as much as I wish she was. Her decals have degraded from use to the point that doing a full paint on her would be okay. Her retail value is bout 25 dollars in her condition.

That said, with a much better condition iron Lady coming this spring, I am okay with removing her decals, stripping down her guts, and cleaning the crap out of her. Think of it like an abdominal surgery prep, with that horrible drink involved.

I’ve got to get her taken care of properly. I also need to seal some areas that have converted to rust. So, painting her it is. Sadly, all sewing projects are on hold. I let the one person know I am having machine problems. Her special pen case is going to have to wait.

Here’s where I stopped when the Hubs decided to interrupt the ZONE.

Hugs all, and don’t worry about the Hubsy. He still has no clue that he caused this much trauma. I didn’t yell, scream, or gut him. I promise. -L

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anonymousknitterLeave a comment

Morning all, it’s one of those days when the snow is deeper than the happy horse crap around here. That’s a good thing, I think, though my neighbors probably don’t think it is so.

I’m writing this on a new tablet. I just was falling way too behind on everything tablet related, this blog being one of them. It arrived yesterday, and I’ve been spending the last 20 hours getting it ready.

It’s the cheapest Samsung I can afford, and yet, I don’t mind the expense in this case. It means that I can get so much more done, in a much shorter time.

That said, other new to me gear are multiple cross stitch kits. I was warned that a good dumpster diving friend had several for me. I hadn’t done any cross stitch in over 30 years. So, in prep, when I was in the local sprall mart, I picked up a couple of small kits. I wanted to work without the scent of mold running through.

Bless my dumpster diving friend, but many of the things she finds are musty or moldy. I hate to say it, but much of it lands back in the dumpster. However, she does score quite a few good tools while she dives.

The best crimping shears I’ve ever gotten have come from her dumpster diving escapades. I have also received some thimbles and other sewing ephemera from her. Knitting needles, the antique ones, also rock.

That said, I’ve also figured out that I need an sd card or two, and that I also need to switch out some sewing gear.

Now for the purging. I’ve done a stash dive, and found some less than stellar yarn. Never again will I purchase yarn sight unseen. It was part of a stash enhancement from a ‘friend’ who saw yarn at a rummage sale and called.

This yarn is worse than moldy items in a dumpster. And rather than buying good new yarn, I am working hard to hook or knit up the crap yarn.

Other than that, I’ve also purged the old notebooks that don’t work well. I’m going through the journaling supplies, and purging the markers and pens that just don’t work anymore.

I’ve been trying to purge some with every stash enhancement. Sadly, some stash enhancements aren’t worth it, but getting rid of the worst of it, just makes sense.

Hope all is well with you, will see you again tomorrow. Take care.