What is wrong with this news?
The airlines are going to allow pilots to have their iPods on so they don’t have to continue lugging around forty-pound manuals.
I’m sorry. If my pilot needs a manual, could he please announce it and save me the trouble of FLYING IN THE FIRST PLACE!!
I recently placed an order with zappos.com. You have to love this confirmation email I received from them:
“We’ve successfully received your VIP.Zappos.com order, and our elves are working double-time to get it ready to ship. Did you know that elves work at twice the speed of humans and only require sugar for nourishment? It’s a fact.”
I love reading stuff like that. So much online information is stuffy, stuffy, stuffy. So I replied via email, “I will be sure to put sugar in my payment envelope. I hope your Receiving Dept shares it with fellow workers.” I fully expected to get a reply stating that they’d received my email and someone would get back to me within 24 hours.
But no! They replied, “I’m sure they will share, after all, elves are excellent sharers.”
You have to love a company with personality.
It’s time. I have this Studio 328 knitting machine that I got off freecycle. I’ve been using it for years. Everything on it works except the knit contour, and that really hasn’t been a problem–until I learned that knit contours are freakin’ fantastic. This is my only punchcard machine, and sometimes I just want to do simple punchcard stuff, not electronic patterning. It’s my baby. My first. And like all knitting machines, it came with an addiction to having more knitting machines. No joke. But that’s another story. Now that I’m using Garment Designer by Cochenille (excellent software) to make paper patterns that will work in any machine with a knit contour (a.k.a. knit radar), I want to use one of those patterns in this machine. Now.
Months ago I bought a repair manual for the 328 and 560, from Great Britain, on CD. You know, just in case. 
I plug that baby into my computer and search through it on how to fix my knit contour. The row scale dial is frozen up on number 40; that’s the leftmost dial of the three dials on top. If all my patterns require 40 rows per 4″, I’m set, but I already know that’s not the case. I need that unfrozen. A quick test reveals that, even if I get it moving, I will have to recalibrate the whole thing. Suddenly it’s not sounding so fun. But I have already begun, so I keep going because there is one more option.
In my search for a perfect Singer 560 (electronic) a couple years ago, I acquired an extra 560 machine bed. With–ta da!–a built-in knit contour that isn’t getting used. Hmmm. Being the curious, inventive, adaptable person that I am, I wonder if I can swap the knit contour from the 560 into the 328.
The short answer is … yes! The long answer is, yes, but it isn’t a straight out swap. The 560 knit contour fits into the 328 body just fine, until I try to put on the cover panel. Hm, I see the row counter is mounted differently. A little experimentation, and I swap the original 328 row counter back into the 328, screwing it onto the knit contour without any difficulty. Now the cover panel fits, but the leftmost dial won’t turn easily, and it worked easily in the other machine. A little more experimentation and I discover a plastic pin on the underside of the panel cover that is fitting into the gears on the inside and preventing movement. I’m about to snap it off with pliers, when my husband wisely suggests sawing it off. Huh. That wouldn’t have occured to me in, oh, a million years. Thankfully he takes it, finds a tiny saw blade, and does the deed. Good thing, too, because this old plastic can be brittle. So I screw on the cover panel (minus one plastic pin), put everything back together, and voila!–my original machine with a frozen knit contour is now my baby with everything working.
I still have a leftover 560 machine bed for parts. Am I ever throwing it away? Hell no. I have, in the past, offered it online to people looking for parts. They never took me up on it. Thank you, whoever you are.
Dec 2011 Update: Hem roll? Not anymore! Part 2 ~~~~~
I took pictures this time of a knitted swatch, lace, standard gauge. It doesn’t take but a minute more to knit the beginning edge in this manner, and it’s easier to demonstrate, to measure for gauge later, and to block it so the lace opens up real nice. I figured a picture is worth a thousand words. Mm, somebody else said that once, I think. So here you go. This swatch is right out of the washer and dryer:
Right out of the dryer.
You’re thinking, Hem roll! Right? Yes, but it’s in the waste yarn, so follow me to the second picture, where I am removing the waste yarn:
The "roll" falls away with the waste yarn.
Look how that hem roll disappeared. It’s so much easier to measure for gauge, and when I go to block it, I won’t have to fight hem roll at the same time. This yarn sample is Millor Tepeyac, an acrylic / nylon blend.
Nov. 2011 ~~~~~~
Months ago, I machine knit some sleeves on a sweater from the shoulder down. I made them extra long, as I wasn’t quite sure what length I wanted. My yarn was 75% acrylic, 25% nylon. So I assembled the sweater, washed and dried it, tried it on, and discovered I needed to ravel about an inch. When I did that, the edge roll disappeared with the discarded yarn and did not come back!
Yesterday, my goal was to duplicate this wonderful, flat, no-roll edge. But I wanted it on the bottom of my sweater this time, and I didn’t want to knit it from the top down. Time to experiment, trying the waste yarn trick on the beginning edge. This yarn was 65% acrylic, 35% rayon. Standard gauge machine, lace pattern.
Here is what I did, step by step:
1. CO w/ CO rag.
2. K1R w/ ravel cord.
These first two steps can be skipped if you don’t have a CO rag; I do it to make the job go faster.
3. Ewrap ndls w/ waste yarn and K 15 Rs. This is a case of “more is better.”
4. K1R w/ crochet thread (using it like ravel cord, but this one will be cut before washing, and I didn’t want to cut my ravel cord).
5. Ewrap ndls w/ MY. This is the actual hemline.
6. Begin bottom edge of garment or swatch. I was doing a lace swatch.
7. K number of Rs desired and finish as normal.
8. Remove ravel cord and CO rag.
9. Cut crochet thread so it doesn’t tangle in the washer, but do not remove it or the WY.
10. Wash and dry as desired.
11. At this point, when I removed it from the dryer, the waste yarn rolled, but not all the way up to the beginning of the swatch. I probably could have removed it and had a flat edge right then, but the swatch was so wrinkled anyway, that I’d want to steam the final garment, so I pinned it to a board, steamed it, then let it dry.
12. As usual, steaming did not completely flatten the bind off edge; it left a hint of a roll. But when I removed the crochet thread and WY, the cast on edge was wonderfully, beautifully flat. No roll. Not even a hint of a rolled edge.
Success!
I won’t always use this edge, but for my next lace sweater, I didn’t want ribbing or a folded hem. This is the answer. I thought I’d share it here in case anyone else wants to try it on his or her next gauge swatch–I mean, what a perfect time to try it, right? Just a few extra waste yarn rows BEFORE your first CC row, so you don’t have to do a separate swatch to test it.
12.14.2011: Holy crap, they just don’t learn!! Hughesnet billed my credit card again. The credit card company handled this really efficiently by phone this time, as they had all documented information from me already. Now there is a block on Hughesnet making more charges on my card. Oh, and they had to give back the other money they took out of my account. I already have it. BUYER BEWARE
10.28.2011: Hughesnet update… They tried to bill my credit card again. Ha! Good thing I filed a dispute on their last charge since I discontinued service. Seems they don’t respect “Cancel my service.” BUYER BEWARE
10.16.2011: The Hughesnet rep called late in the evening, offering me a year of service for a savings of $240. I declined because, as you know from reading this, they’re already charging my credit card for the account I closed. He offered again, saying that IF I sign up again, THEN they will look into my “billing issue.” Um, can we say EXTORTION??
If you have your cc on file with Hughesnet for automatic billing, beware.
10.15.2011: I cancelled Hughesnet internet service recently. They offered me a couple months free, all I had to do was call back and tell them I was done. They suggested I keep them, for free, in case Verizon wireless didn’t work out as well as I hoped. So I did exactly as they said and called back on the day I was told to call. Again they offered me a couple months free. So I did the same thing, called back on the day I was told to call. No more free offers this time. No problem . . . or so I thought. Then I receive a suspicious email from Hughesnet about checking my statement. Excuse me? I shouldn’t have a statement. I went, checked, and found out they’ve been charging my cc for the “free” time. I call them. They “can’t do anything” and tell me to “dispute it with your credit card company.” Believe me, I had that letter begun before the phone call was finished! I not only disputed the charge, I instructed my cc company to refuse any future charges from Hughesnet.
I’ll post any updates here.
This is a big birthday month for my family.
Gift bags: Pull out tissue paper, extract gift, throw away tissue.
Boxes: Tear off paper, open box, extract gift, throw away tissue.
See anything wrong here? This same routine will be repeated at Christmas, so let’s be clear. I was so glad to see the trend toward gift bags years ago because we REUSE them. I’ve even been known to reuse tissue paper. Did you know you can iron the wrinkles out very quickly. Yup! But I’m past that. When the gifts went to my granddaughters this month, I used tissue paper in the younger one’s gift bag. The older girl offered it back to me. Now, I’ve been thinking about this a long time. It’s not as if I’m buying tissue paper; I’m using up an old stash. But still. So when my gift went to the elder girl, I skipped the tissue paper and briefly explained why to her. She’s seven. She’s been environmentally educated since she was old enough to get it. She turns off the water when she brushes her teeth to conserve water. She gets it!–and enjoyed her gift just as much. She was even so cute as to close her eyes while she extracted it from its bag. What a doll.
Christmas is coming faster than we know it. Now I don’t want to put the greeting card industry out of business overnight. Our family has discontinued card giving, but I won’t preach that everyone should. But can’t we all at least discontinue (ab)using tissue paper?? Worldwide, that’s a lot of trees. Save a few.
Pom-poms Made with Yarn Winder
~ Something innovative by Beaded Pony Designs and Ginny Schweiss ~
You will need:
• yarn (skein, cone, or ball)
• 4-foot length of the same yarn, doubled
• ball winder
• several pencils, dowels, or hand-knitting needles as place holders – an even number
• long, sharp scissors for initial cut
Thread yarn on yarn winder according to its instructions. I use a Silver Reed SHW-3, but any ball winder should work.
Each turn of my yarn winder is 3 rotations, so 60 turns equals 180 wraps. Saves a lot of hand wrapping compared to the old “wrap yarn around cardboard” method.
Wrap the number of rotations you want, then cut the yarn. When I slide the yarn off the winder, I slide it straight off onto a bundle of four, fat hand-knitting needles. This keeps the ball open and gives me a way to tie the yarn into two equal halves. Take the doubled piece of yarn, slip it around the yarn ball, keeping half the needles (or dowels, or whatever) on one side, and half on the other. It’s important to tighten it very tightly. When I get it lined up in the middle, I remove a HK ndl from each side, giving me more room to tighten the yarn. Tie it off.
Open scissors and slip into one of the two halves of the pom-pom-to-be. If you can, slide the blade along the HK ndl to guide it. Get it all the way through so you can cut the whole side at once without the center closing up on you. Repeat on other side. Shake pom out. It will appear loose and limp. Don’t worry! As you shape it with scissors (I use the long ones but you might prefer a shorter pair for shaping), the shorter you go, the pom loses its limpness and firms up nicely.
This might take some trial and error to get the size pom you want. I use 70 wraps of Trenzado yarn (fingering weight, lighter than Bernat Baby yarns) to make a pom-pom for a teen/adult stocking hat. Do fewer wraps w/ thicker yarn.
You, too, can contribute to the World Wide Web!
At first, it might sound like a good idea. Do you know something about something?–share your knowledge! Put it out there! People will want to know what you know!
But in the shortsighted manner of idiots everywhere, the information highway has become the MISinformation highway.
Did you know that anyone can edit a wikipedia page? Anyone! This includes your know-it-all brother, your senile grandfather, your websurfing nine-year-old, your daughter’s stoner boyfriend, the neighborhood drunk, your (fill in the blank).
I’ve always been selective about what sites I use for research, and it’s getting tougher. It used to be that I could do a search and get some top university and professional sites in the upper regions of my search results. Now the first three returned sites are almost always wikipedia sites.
Case in point: Months ago, I did a search on daylight savings time. Page after page of wikipedia sites popped up, claiming that there were three states in the U.S. that do not change over to DST. 1) AZ 2) no one could agree on this one, and 3) Missouri. Excuse me!? Missouri!? Now, since anyone can edit a wikipedia page and since I have lived in MO almost six decades, I did so. But it wasn’t just one page. People were quoting the misinformation on OTHER wikipedia pages! Holy crap!
Lesson in point: do not click on wikipedia sites. Do not use wikipedia sites. Tell everyone you know that you will not pay any attention to what they are saying if they are quoting what they read on a wikipedia page.
And the next time you do a search . . . think twice about which results you click on.
I received the following snail-mail letter from Fifth Third Mortgage. Verbatim, it states:
By now you’ve heard about President Obama’s Stimulus Plan and the benefits for homeowners. Fifth Third Mortgage is pleased to play a key role in supporting homeownership by offering refinancing opportunities under the federal Making Home Affordable Program*. Your current loan may be eligible for a refinance under this program.
This new plan will make refinancing easier for many homeowners. Some benefits to refinancing under this plan now include:
Refinance up to 125% loan-to-value ratio…for instance, if your home is worth $200,000 and your current mortgage exceeds that amount, under this program, you may be able to refinance your mortgage up to $250,000.
No appraisal required on some single-family homes.
With the relaxed qualifying requirements available through the Making Home Affordable Program, it makes sense to review your current situation now. To find out more about your eligibility, please call us at 1-877-833-9979 during
our extended hours: (lists hours). You can also visit your neighborhood Banking Center or visit www.53.com/mortgagedream.
R. Wayne Blinn
Vice President
National Sales Leader
Excuse me!? Have they learned NOTHING? I can apply for a loan that is worth more than my collateral?? No appraisal required!? Well, shit, why spend the money on an appraisal when you don’t care that you’re practicing bad economics
in the first place!
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