Whats Up?

Hello again. I've been so busy I haven't had time to write. My daughter and I took Biggs, our Chihuahua to his play date. He spent the day with his Chi friends, running, jumping, peeing and growling at another dog who was 10 times his size and weight. Fearless or stupid?

I also spent some time working my new NSI circular knitting machine. I gotta say, I was really excited when I got it. Now, not so much. I've managed to knit a few pieces but quickly began ripping them out again. Still, I can't get by without dropping stitches. The first try was my mistake. The yarn got tangled on the needles and I continued to crank away forcibly. The second time around (no pun intented), I was ever so careful not to get the yarn caught up, but, when I finished my piece it could have been mistaken for a chunk of green hairy swiss cheese. What a drag. I'll pick up the crank again soon...

I'm expecting a new circular machine, a vintage Mattel Knitting machine from the 70s. I won the auction on eBay, actually it was a best offer. The woman took forever to ship it and now I must wait - check FedEx - wait some more - check FedEx *ugh!*

My Scott and Williams Circular Knitting Machine

My beautiful Scott and Williams commercial circular knitting machine, circa 1940s? What a work of art.

Oh Sh-knit! A New Addiction!?!

Ok, I say, "new" because I obsess over things in series. Right now, my new obsession is knitting machines. Not just any kind, but circular. I've recently been given a commercial circular knitting machine circa 1940s, made by Scott and Williams Inc. of Laconia, N.H. I've conducted some research and found that the company had a mill in Laconia which was purchased by an organization who fought to save the mill from destruction.

I've also learned that the machine was used to make "Surgitube" medical gauze. From what I've found out about these antique circular machines so far, most of the personal machines are or were used to knit socks. This machine however, has additional parts that allow the machine to run for hours with self feeding mechanisms and the addition of an after-production motor. Ok, so will I ever need to make yards and yards of any knit fabric? Probably not. But, I do know that I can remove some of the added devices and take the machine back to its original form for knitting circular tubing without automation.

The pictures above are of the machine, as you can see, the yarn mast holds up to 6 cones of thread/yarn. Pretty cool. Instead of a crank, I have a wheel - I'm hoping to find a replacement crank online that will fit the machine.

so. this is blogging...

hello. welcome to my blog. I've finally joined the masses. I'm now providing you, the online community with a peek into my e-soul. I tried to think of a cool blog name that visitors would stumble across and say, "wow, that's some blog title, she must really be deep". but truth be told, I'm not that deep. so, I'm hoping that my bearing my e-soul to a bunch of strangers online will inspire me to greater depths. yeah, that's right.

welcome to being V. still under construction after 40 years.

HAPPY NEW YEAR! 2008

Happy New Year Everyone - 2008!
God Bless You All.