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Sunday, January 7, 2024

Dratted batteries

You can imagine I am at very loose ends of late. Brassard et Fils won't even open for business for another three days, and even then my order is at their mercy. Small as it is, it probably goes to the end of the line. And what kind of a company comes back from vacation on Wednesday, I ask you. As my friend Ann, who went to school in a Swiss boarding school would say, "Only the Frenchies!"

Ah, well, in due time my new thread will arrive from Quebec, polar jet streams and panhandle hooks notwithstanding. Yes, the bad weather has settled in. All that stuff we did not get last winter has assembled for a new year blast. It has snowed the better part of the day and the temps are sliding to the teens by the end of the week.

All the heddles on my loom have been threaded. I've checked the threading heddle by heddle and found the missing thread. I decided to make a replacement heddle, rather than rethread the first hundred and fifty or so heddles. There are "replacement" heddles available, but I no longer own one. So, I made one.


Do you see it there? A safety pin in the middle, tied with cord to the appropriate heddle bars. I considered tying an old fashioned string heddle, but that would involve a search of YouTube on the off chance of finding such an esoteric tutorial.

Anyway, I'm ready to get on with it, and nothing left to do. After an idle morning of petty little tasks, I finally hit on the sock project. One day many months ago, Shelly brought me her knitting bag with two sock cuffs, on needles. It was an old project of hers, a UFO she no longer remembered how to finish. Why search for hours on YouTube for the mathematics of socks when you have a mother.

So, her knitting bag has hung on the corner of my sofa for the last year. In fact, I see it is visible through the harnesses, immediately left of my improvised string heddle. I would settle myself in for a lovely day of Netflix while I turned her heels. I retrieved the remote from the crevice in the chair, aimed and clicked. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing.

It's probably been at least a year since I watched the damn thing. I searched the battery basket. No triple A's. So, I ordered them, and threw in a couple of shirts and a pair of shoes for good measure. Since I am without batteries until Tuesday, I rounded up my MP3 player. At least it has a plethora of new books on it; no need to wander CleveNet for an hour.

I can report, the shorter cuff has the same number of rows as the longer cuff and has several rows of heel flap knitted. I am astounded at Shelly's gauge. I can't believe I taught her to knit, maybe thirty years ago. Her knitting is so tight!. I gave up copying it when the cuffs were an equal length. Her heel gussets will be what they will be! And between you and me, she is a much better knitter than I am.






28 comments:

  1. I get a little antsy when I have nothing for my hands to do! Thank goodnes for audio books.

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  2. That is frustrating to have what you want to do out of your control! You're making the best of it though which is all you can do. We're getting hit with a blast of winter later this week too. Snowy and cold! It's winter so I can't complain too much. Can I? ;)

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  3. I hope your thread order from Quebec reaches you quickly so you'll have lots to do again!

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  4. Weaving is so much what you do, hard to be all set up and waiting. But there are always socks as a go-to.

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  5. I hope your thread and batteries arrive. I ordered stamps and they still have not come...

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  6. Good fix on the heddle, I would never have thought of that. I no longer knit, but way back in the 70s I was knitting a cardigan for my two year old, when my in-laws came to visit. This is a woman who can knit entire layettes while sleeping I swear! Anyway she offered to do the back and sleeves for me so I handed it over and was very disappointed with the finished result, her knitting was so much looser than mine. I didn't say anyhting but Thank You and he wore it for that winter and it was too small the followng year so I unravelled it and made him a scarf.

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  7. Here's hoping your thread grows wings and flies to the head of the shipping line! That's a smart move you made creating the "replacement" heddle.

    Stay warm with all that snowy weather. We have a big winter storm moving in tomorrow and Tuesday. I think it's getting a lot of us.


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  8. I admire your way to solve problems, Joanne: you don't moan about the missing heddle - or perhaps you do, but then you help yourself - great! To knit we learned at school - but I confess that the heels of a sock were very "tarsome", as Georgie would say.

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  9. Those UFOs! But good to finish some off while waiting.
    That replacement heddle is brilliant improvising

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  10. Looks like your New Year Blast will get to us in a few days

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  11. Hari Om
    Having recently completed my first pair of socks in crochet, I am in awe of all to whom such things are second nature! A good audio book to work to and that's a wee slice of heaven...YAM xx

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  12. You are suffering cold; I'm suffering extreme heat (36 degrees C here). In both cases, its best to stay indoors. I'm knitting a bedjacket for the winter months, when I love to sit up in bed and read blogs or watch vlogs. Socks are good, too, but require more concentration than I can give whilst watching TV.

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  13. I am rather in awe of what you do. It's a beautiful piece of equipment.

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  14. That store reminds me of a local bakery that will re-open on the 17th, if you can beleive it.

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  15. I am not quite sure what returning to work on a Wednesday is curious for you.

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  16. I hope you get the thread quickly once the company is back to work!

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  17. I can't believe someone in that place can't lend you a few batteries.
    I hope your thread comes sooner rather than later.

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  18. I have to say I thought the same thing. Surely, surely there is someone nearby that has a couple extra batteries lying around. Of course then you would have missed out on a pair of shoes and a couple new shirts. Who am I to say?

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  19. what Ms Moon said. no one there could come across with a couple of batteries? I hate to be put on hold when I'm ready to start something. might get derailed.

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  20. You are so talented. I wish I had a talent like yours.

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  21. Funny that I just started trying to unwind a messy hank of beautiful gifted yarn to knit some socks. I hear you on the busy hands stuff. Always.
    XO
    WWW

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  22. Let's hope you thread wasn't booked on a Boeing 737.

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  23. How was your weather today???

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  24. I'm always amazed to see what you're doing. Weaving looks so complicated to me.

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  25. I read that there's now a kind of indoor solar panel that will make all batteries obsolete. That would certainly put paid to all the battery-changing and running out of batteries.

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  26. I hope everything comes together for you, Joanne. Best of luck.

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  27. I don't remember if you know, knew, Geo of 'Trainride of the Enignmas'...he passed last weekend, his son Adam sent me an email. He was a friend to many of us.

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