Auto Knitter Made in Canada

Meet the Auto Knitter, a circular sock knitting machine from 1924.

An early Holiday gift from my father, and one that will put to great use, once I get it up and running.

Machines like this were very popular during and just after the first world war.  A person could buy a machine and a contract to produce socks.  Some companies even gave the machine on condition that the person would produce so many socks for free.  Sadly, many of these did not survive over time, often being melted for ammunition during the second world war.

This machine came with some excellent documentation, including the original contract and bill of sale.  In the year 1924, a Mrs. M. C. Russell of Malrose Ave. South, Hamilton, Ontario paid the sum of $60.85 for 1 duplex machine.  (if you are a descendent of Mrs Russell, feel free to get in touch, I can scan you a copy of the materials that reference her.  There are more details than what I'm posting here.  There is also material referencing a Mrs. W. Wilson of Emerald St. North, Hamilton who was a "successful worker in Hamilton" of the Auto Knitter Hosiery (Canada) Co. LTD.).

A worker, would be required to buy the yarn from the company, 2 and 1/2 lb of yarn making a dozen pairs of socks.  Then the company would buy the finished socks back from the 'knitter'.  Pretty cool cottage industry eh?

the spring holds the needles in place,
and this little bar thing holds the spring out of the way
when you need to work on several needles at once.

This machine is in fair condition.  There is some definite wear marks, but everything is here, including extra cylinders and ribbers.  It had been stored somewhere where it got saw dust on and in it.  Sawdust sticks to machinery like a red wine stain to a white shirt.  Things like sawdust and lint, then attract moisture, and moisture when combined with metal over time causes rust.  Lucky for me it wasn't too bad, but did need everything taken apart  cleaned and re-oiled.  A tedious and time consuming, but the kind of finicky repetitive work I love.

With everything cleaned and reassembled, it's time to cast on some knitting.

weird looking tool for casting on work

The amount of difficulty I've had trying to get the knitting started has helped me to understand why people didn't stop their work very often.  What they did was knit one sock, then a few rounds of waste yarn, then another sock, then some waste yarn... separating the socks at the waste yarn and finishing them by hand.  That way, if done correctly, they would be able to knit for years and never need to cast on.

from the auto knitter manual

from the auto knitter manual

I'm not the only one who has had trouble casting on.  Included in the documentation is a letter from the company providing extra advice.  But even following that advice, I can't get it to work.

I'm either all tangles or braking yarn.

Eventually I'll make it work, or perhaps find a mentor at the local machine knitting guild.  There don't seem to be many tutorials online, so now I have a good idea for a future post.

You are wonderful! This blog goes on.

Wow, you actually like me.

Thank you.

To be completely honest, I stayed away from the internet yesterday, after I posted my request.  I was nervous to see what sort of response I would get, if any.  It's my fault for not knowing you guys better.

Thank you so much for your kind words and donations.  I have enough to now to keep going with my blogs for a little over a year, which is WONDERFUL.  Almost as wonderful as you are.  Thank you, you know who you are.

I wish I had better words to express how much this means to me and how much motivation you've given me.      The best I can think of is that you people have been a source of light in the dark.  It's no where near poetic enough.

Due to the fact that most of this month has been November, and it looks like the rest of the month is going to do the same, I haven't kept up with my internet.  The next few days are dedicated to catching up on my emails, etsy, ravelry, and all the rest while I think about the future of this blog.

Oh, I also have to take care of my ailing chicken, Henny Penny (she's the bestest chicken ever!) who has something weird going on with her toe.

What shall my goals be with this blog?

First and foremost  I need  to remind myself of my mission statement (see top of page) and focus on positive things that inspire me.  

Next, I think I would like to focus more on tutorials and educational goodies.  I feel that a lot of my posts are more along the lines of 'hey, look at this neat thing I found'.  That's not a bad thing, and there is no way I can keep those kinds of posts from creping up, but I think it would be nice to add some more useful information to the internet.

Also, I'm really keen to document the restoration of the vintage travel trailer.  Well, I say restoration, but it's technically a rebuilding.  Many of the surface elements will be like original, with hidden elements (like awesome insulation and fridge) quietly sitting in the background.

I wonder about this kind of post, where I basically think out loud.  I don't know if they are inspirational or if they add anything to the verbal diarrhoea that is the internet.

Another thing I don't like, but isn't going to change unless I brought in an editor from outside, is the terrible spelling.  And, the fact that I only do one or two revisions on a post before it goes live.  Terribly dyslexic combined with terribly impatient means that I would have to try a whole later harder before my blog could be as awesome as Just Bento or Food 52 (both take the most amazing photos - how do they do that?  I want to be just like them if I ever grow up).  As much as I would like to, I don't imagine I could ever be in the same league as them.  But at least it gives me something to aspire towards.

Most of my food, cooking, recipes, and even food related farming will probably move over to my Whole Wheat FSM blog.  I know it doesn't get very high rankings on the search engine yet, but it's a lovely, clean blog, where you don't have years of self indulgence to wade through to get at the good stuff (yes, that's probably no the healthiest way to think about myself.).

Speaking about lovely, clean blogs... this blog is a mess.  It is my goal to change the formatting slightly, update the links, find a working form of advertisement so that the blog can fund itself.



You told me that you like me, and that means a lot to me.  Please tell me your thoughts. What brought you here?  What is it that made you stick around?  What would you like to see more of?

Do you like this blog? Seeking help, please read.

After the goodbye post I wrote the other day, I've been kind of bummed out

Looking back at my blog, I'm really amazed at all the things I've done.  In some ways it's hard to imagine that it was really me who wrote those words and took those photos.  Given how much my illness changed me (emotionally, physically and also to some extent, brain chemistry), it is like I was a different person then.

This started out as a knitting blog and release for my hypergraphic tendencies (I have a compulsion to write things down).  It was a chance to focus on things that inspire me and to share the positive aspects of my life.

Over the years, it grew into something so much more than that.   There are tutorials, recipes, farming stuff, restoration of antique and vintage textile tools, spinning, weaving, sewing, and many other topics.

There are periods of silence, when I'm struggling to find positive things in my life to write about, but I have always come back to you in the past.

I like to imagine that sharing my experiences have been useful, or at least entertaining to others.  That, more than anything, is why I would like to keep on blogging.

The problem is, I've run out of space on my blog hosting site.  To keep writing on this blog I will need to buy a subscription.  The subscription costs about $2.50 per month, which should give me enough space to keep me happily blogging for a year or two.

It may not seem like a lot of money, but to me it is.  I don't talk about it much here, but I'm on a very small disability pension and need to be very careful with my cash.  Maybe you can read between the lines a little and realize when half the price of a cup of coffee is too much, things aren't going so well.

Priorities could be changed and I could find the money somewhere, but I don't know if it is worth it.  Do people actually find my ramblings useful, entertaining, enlightening?

I could always switch blog hosts and start a new blog elsewhere, but unless this stays active, the content will slowly dwindle away and be lost.  Besides, this blog has been around so long, it very high on the search engine list, which makes it really awesome.




That's why I'm asking you for help.

(why is asking this so difficult for me? it seems like everyone else on the internet doesn't have this problem, so why do I?)

Can you show me that it's worth keeping on with this bog?  

If you like anything about this blog, please donate $2.50.  More is okay too.

If I can get enough for a year's subscription ($30) to expand the storage space on this blog, then I'll keep on writing with great enthusiasm.  Not just here on Trampled by Geese, but also on my somewhat secret food blog, Adventures of a Whole Wheat Pastafarian.  It will also help to keep my Lyme blog up as a reference for anyone struggling with the illness (although I don't blog there much any more as it makes me sad).

If we get to $30, then I'll know that it's actually worth while sharing my time and adventures with you all.  Otherwise, well... what's the point?

Thank you for reading.

ps. If I keep on with this blog, I'm thinking of selling advertising space but not really sure how to go about it.  Google adds aren't all that super for me as they don't seem to target the right demographic   Please get in touch if you can think of anything.

inspiration

Mostly I'm just writing this post to see if I can upload photos to my blog any more.  But if it works, it's a really inspiring photo of a cup I found somewhere on the internet.  Sorry, I lost the link, but if it's yours, please tell me so I can give it a proper linkback.

SALE at my Etsy shop - possible last chance

It looks like I'll be taking my etsy inventory down to the local yarn shop for sale over Christmas. So this is going to be your last chance to buy my yarn on etsy for quite a while. It's also your last chance to take advantage of my destash sale and get 35% off your purchase. You just need to type DESTASHTIME in the coupon slot at check out.



The sale is almost over, so take advantage of it while you can.

A Varpapuu Loom from Finland

She said, "Varpapuu"

I replied, "bless you" and reached over to hand her a tissue.

But she wasn't sneezing.  Varpapuu is, instead, the maker of a loom.  This loom.  This loom, that somehow came home with me.

The loom is Finnish and, as you can see from the label has lots of words that I can't pronounce.

It's a cute little table loom that's had a few modifications.  It looks like someone decided they needed a two treadle floor loom and converted it to accommodate their needs.  I'm kind of sad about this, but the structure of the loom is sound and I think I can have it back to near-original condition with very little effort.

The levers that rise and lower the shed have been taken away, and some rollers put in the top of the castle.

The big problem with this roller set up is that you cannot make the sheds properly.  For those weavers out there, you can probably tell right away why it won't work.  But it took me a while to see the problem.

When you lower shed 1, shed 2 goes up.  When you lower shed 2, shed 1 goes up.  It is impossible to lower both shed 1 and shed 2 at the same time, and likewise, it is not possible to rise shed 1 and shed 2 at the same time.  This makes weaving twills a bit difficult.

So I took the rollers out and returned it to the original style which is basically a jack loom.  Each set of heddles can be raised independently to make the shed.

I need to make a few parts and create a beater bar (hmm, over head or regular beater, which shall I choose?). But it needs very little work otherwise, and hardly any spit and polish.




Couldn't find much information on google about this loom, but I did come across one gem. Big thankyou to The Sweaty Knitter, Weaver and Devotee of Other Fiber Arts blog for posting a link to this pdf file: Dressing the Varpapuu loom.

So, if anyone out there knows more about this loom, please let me know.  It's an awesome little fellow and I exactly what I want in a loom.  36", table loom, with levers on the castle!  Once I get this up and working, I can get rid of all my other looms, and I won't miss them, they are all either too big or too small.  This one is perfect and I might even be able to make it fold down with the warp on (see the pdf I linked to above).

1950s Traveleze camper trailer - ideas about the electrical system

Sigh.  How do I say to someone that I'm not actually some impractical dreamer.  I've already taken all that into considerations (and more) and all the 'You-Can't-Cha do this and Youcantcha do that' that they are telling me is based on outdated information.

Sighs

Right now I'm feeling really frustrated because I have a wonderful vision of what the camper trailer is going to become.  When I share that vision and ask for advice, most of the time I get a bunch of non-related Youcantchas that are basically unrelated to the subject at hand.  People like to tell you how much they know about what you cannot do that they can't hear over their own negativity, what my question actually was.

sigh

What I'm working on right now is planning the electrical system.  For health reasons, propane is not an option.  And you know what, I don't want to be dependent on buying fuel and tethering myself to an electrical outlet every single night.  I want this to be a low impact, eco-thoughtful, (mostly) self sufficient system.

It's going to be an almost exclusively electric system.  Although finding a way to cook with 12 volts might not be possible, I'm going to try darn it!  Well, experiment with different options then probably give in and try something more traditional.

But everything but the cooker can easily be done.  Systems are so efficient now that the main limiting factor is expense.

The biggest expense I see are getting good batteries.  Batteries are also pretty heavy, so any way I can find that means fewer batteries, is something to consider.  What I'm thinking is to generate electrical current from things around me. That way, if I am generating some electricity as well as using it, then the batteries will last longer between charges.

Solar power is lighter weight and more affordable every year.  The flexible solar panel film they have now could easily go on the roof of the camper and provided a good potion of my electrical needs.

I have some other great ideas that I am working on, but I'm tired of being shot down and bullied so I'm not going to tell you about them just yet.  Needless to say (or at least I use to think so) I am keeping a close eye on weight and fuel efficiently and all that stuff.


The other thing I need to think about when it comes to the electrical system is how much power do I really need?

• The goal is to be able to go 3 days between charging on moderate to high electrical use.
• I sure would love to go a week, but we'll see.
• A fridge/freezer is a must for me.  The one I found works on 2.8 amps at 12 volts which is quite reasonable, although, the price isn't reasonable at just under a grand.
• Lights.  I very seldom have more than one small light on at a time, even at home, except when I'm cooking or cleaning dishes.
• Water pump
• Charging my laptop, ereader, and mp3 player
• Electric rice cooker (but that's only for 40 min a day at about 450 to 500 watts) - really is a luxury that I'm not willing to go without!
• Water filter (which may not be electric)
• Optional small heater.
• Possibly a fan but more likely I will use something that is self powered.
• Possible stove ventilation fan, but see above fan for reasons why not.
• Toying with the idea of adding an on demand water heater for washing the dishes as I feel this might be more efficient than boiling water on the stove or kettle.  Needs research.
• (just between you and me I'm very tempted to have the bed heated like a Chinese sleeping platform (kang).  That's the only time I feel cold, like really bone shatteringly cold, is when I lye down.  Even in the hottest day in the summer, I'm smothered in blankets at night.  There is nothing worse than getting chilled while travelling.  It might be better to heat the bed than to surround myself with hot water bottles - but Shhhh.... don't tell anyone)

Notice, there is no air-conditioner. No secondary air conditioning system.   No microwave.  No TV.  No game station.  No tertiary air-conditioning system (honestly people, have you heard of insulation?) No huge tank for heating water.  No vacuum.  Non of the usual camper kind of things that the Youcantcha people tell me are absolutely necessary.  

Sadly, there is no room for a toilet, shower or the like in my camper.  But good news is that means I have less to lug around.  No huge water storage tank.  No huge grey water storage tank.  No huge black water storage tank.  That saves a lot of weight and gives me a lot more room to work with than your usual camper.

So relatively low electrical usage couple with efficient electrical equipment and a few ways of generating power from natural sources and capturing waste energy seems possible.  When I lay it out like this, I beginning to feel that maybe the Youcantcha people might have a very different mindset than I do.  Maybe I can accomplish something close to my dream of the perfect home away from home.

A solar panel may only be able to generate 60% of my daily power needs (less than 10% of a Youcantcha's power needs).  But that means that I can go that much longer between charging the batteries at a power station.  And imagine coupling that with other ways of generating power, that would mean even longer independence from the power grid.  Sure, some of these may only create a tiny amount of power, but think of it like walking, every step seems insignificant on it's own, but it all adds up to a destination in the end.  Even trickle charges add up over time.

1955 Travleze trailer - goals and random thoughts

It's been a week since I first discovered this travel trailer project.  Now that it's safely home in our workshop, I need to start making decisions.

But what a huge amount of information to take in and consider.  My mind is out of practice when it comes to analysing all the variables.  So this post is basically musings about things to come.  Goals I have.  Considerations that need to be met.  Stuff like that.

There is so much I don't know about all this, and every time I think I know something, ten more monsters raise their heads and stick out their tongs and say, 'Na na, you don't know this!'  It's very annoying of them.  But I figure, plod along, take small steps, make small goals so that it feels like I'm getting somewhere constantly, and suddenly it will be done.

Just like knitting, a seemingly infinite amount of stitches to make a sweater, and yet break it down to one row, then another, then suddenly the body is finished and you are ready to knit the arms.  I figure this project is like a really complicated sweater, with colour work and integrate cables and stuff.  One of those two year sweaters.

• I would an all electric trailer.  Most fuel gives off fumes which trigger my health problems, so a gas stove inside is not an option.  So all electric everything!  That's going to take a lot of batteries.  But it's okay, because...
• I would like the trailer to generate most of it's own electricity   Am I insane?  Probably no, but maybe a bit too much wine.
• Thinking about the self sufficient house, one that generates it's own electrical energy.  Maybe this could be a prototype or R&D kind of system.  So what I need for that is to create a three part system, energy out, energy storage, and energy in.  All three parts are customizable at any time, so some sort of universal plug would make for easy wiring   I wonder if this kind of plug and play energy system already exists or if I need to create my own for this project.
• The electrical system is going to be my biggest challenge and largest expense  so I need to save up and do my research!  However, by creating a plug and play kind of energy system I can try different options and see what is most efficient.  For example...
• ...one can charge a battery off the engine of the car while it's driving along.  Or one could put a hub generator in the wheel of the trailer like a bicycle has, but this might produce too much drag and reduce fuel efficiency   Or one could put a light weight solar film on the roof of the trailer, or one could create a vintage looking mini wind generator to put on the roof when it's parked.   Or, one can use generators that takes the up and down motion of the trailer as it is moving along and converts it to electrical energy.  Or one can take the difference in temperature from inside and outside the trailer and convert that to electrical energy via a Stirling engine or the system that uses different metals and temperatures and works somehow I have no idea but is way more efficient than a mechanical system.
• I am very, very, very keen on capturing waste energy and using it as a way to trickle charge the batteries on the camper.  This may not be - probably will not be - enough to provide all my electrical needs, but it would GREATLY extend the time between charging the batteries by plunging them into a wall socket.  
• This is where my steampunk background comes in handy.
• I would like it to be nicely insulated.
• My limited experience with campers is that they are either way too cold or worse, too hot!  
• A combination of insulation and airflow would help with this, I think.  At least, I imagine it would.
• Since making the outside walls as ridged as possible greatly improves fuel efficiency  it's a good idea to take this into consideration while I'm deciding on insulation.  
• So the traditional version of this trailer has an aluminium shell, a wood frame with some fibreglass insulation, and a wood panelling interior wall.
• What I'm thinking of doing (and costs seem to be reasonable at this point) is going from outside to inside: aluminium shell, layer of something like Prodex (which is something like R15), the wood frame and cheep Styrofoam insulation which is more for rigidity than anything else, and then the interior wall.  This should be about the same weight as the original as the fibreglass is quite heavy.  It should also be far more efficient than the original which was usually less than R7, and since the fibreglass use to sink to the bottom of the walls quickly, I think this will work marvellously well and is well worth the expense.
• This Prodex stuff would also add some water resistance and is good at preventing condensation.
• The only problem I can foresee is the the fumes from the insulation might permeate the interior of the camper.  These fumes are ones that tiger symptoms for me. So, I need to ensure that everything is well aired out prior to installation AND that the interior panelling is well sealed with something like Tried and True, a beeswax, linseed oil finish.
• How much original and how much me do I want to put into this?
• Please don't hate me too much for saying this, but I really do not like (most of) the 1950s style. There is something so 'America is the Best Place On Earth' to that style of décor  and although it's very nice when you don't take history into account, it has for me, a feeling of foreshadowing all the bad things to come in the world.  The beginning of the cold war, the dependence on oil, American meddling in the affairs of other nations with the believe that they are doing the right thing, but usually make a mess of it all.  To me, the 1950s is the beginning of our plastic age.  For me, if you take the 1950s style and isolate it from history to come, then it's quite lovely, but in context, I really don't like it.  Something changed circa 1948, I don't know enough history to know why, but the difference in décor and style and function happened then.  It's like the sewing machines, before then, not a drop of plastic, and ANY sewing machine made before that year will last a couple of hundred years at least,but after then, something is different.  Plastic starts to seep in.  The design ... trying to find the word, but the only think I can think of is Lines, the lines of the outside of the object seem to change drastically at that time.  It becomes as smooth as a crooked cars sales man.  But like I said, that's just my opinion.
• One of the things I like best about the original design is the focus on the kitchen.  Cooking food yourself was still quite important in the 1950s, and there wasn't much reliance on fast food.  The kitchen and being able to cook inside the trailer is very important to me (yet another reason why I would like an electric system, so I don't need to worry about gas in a small space).
• There is a lot of value if I restore it to the original condition.  It should take about 4k to restore to original from what I have, maybe a bit more, but it would quadrupedal the investment.  So, pretend I put $4k into it, then I could easily get $12 to $24 thousand for it.  But then I would have to sell it, and find another project trailer, and start again at making myself a home away from home.  I'm not sure I have it in me to make a second one, plus the hassle of selling it and finding a new one to start with.  This way seems like too much stress just for a bit of extra spending money (okay, a lot of extra spending money).  Basically the stress to profit ratio is not sufficient and I really do think this can ham of a camper is as close to my style as I'll ever get.
• So, basically not restoring to original condition.
• The basic floor plan of the original canned ham trailers is very efficient, so I think I'll stick with that.
• Making it all electric (see above) is going to add a lot of extra expense and time, but I feel it's going to be really worth it.
• I would like to make it lighter in colour on the inside due to the occasional bouts of claustrophobia.  This might be as simple as using lighter wood for the panelling and darker wood for the lathes.
• I think some sort of unifying theme would be useful for the interior decoration.  I'm thinking some steampunk, meats some traditional Japanese interior design, with a nod back to the 1950s vintage of the trailer. The more I think about it, the more that Ume Blossom inspires me.  Here's an ever increasing collection of pictures that I'm using as an idea book of sorts.    

1955 Traveleze comes home - evaluation of the shell and some thoughts on reconstruction

We rented a U-Haul cube van to bring the Traveleze trailer home on Wednesday.  It was quite the undertaking, but everything went smoothly.  I even made an extra special bento lunch just for the occasion:

mmm, sukiyaki beef on a bed of rice,
with boiled veg and fresh fruit for dessert.

The first thing I wanted to do was to see what I have to work with.  So we lay each piece of aluminium skin out on the driveway and did a cursory evaluation.

Left Side 

Right Side - with home built cat door at no extra charge :p

The two sides are in fair to good condition.  The last fellow obviously had trouble getting the nails out, so some of the edges are slightly torn, but that can be covered with extra wide trim.  No serious dents or rips in it.

The Right side has a 'cat door' cut into it near the front.  This could be transformed to an 'extra storage' compartment with minimum trouble.  

The only serious problem with the skin is at the front and back bottom where the aluminium has corroded.

See the old repair?  This is the front panel.  As the tong on the trailer is so short, and in the 1950s they had fins on the back of cars (because apparently it looked cool), it was quite common to impale the trailer with your car if you took a corner too tight.  

I am thinking I might be able to incorporate the repair of the corroded parts with my idea for the floor.

I would like to put something under the floor to protect it.  I was thinking an aluminium layer, followed by your standard trailer subfloor, a light weight bubblewrap like substance that helps insulate and encourage  the floor to breath (thus avoiding mould - leftover from doing the hardwood floors in the house), and then the inside floor.  That way the metal layer would protect the wood from moisture, splash back from the road and mice.  

This aluminium layer could extend up the front and back of the skin, covering the nasty corrosion.  

It's just an idea at the moment, and depends on availability of materials and cost.  

For reassembling the skin, I was thinking of doing something like this: Aluminium outside, a layer of something like milar (or space blankets) for insulation  the wood frame with all the gaps filled with a light weight foam insulation  then the interior pannaling.  

The original trailer had all wood inside but given how small it is, I fear I would be claustrophobic if the interior was too dark.  Because of my allergies, I'm not keen on painting the inside, so maybe I can find a light colour wood or keep my eyes out for some other option.

All in all, I think I'll keep it fairly close to the original, with a few changes to accommodate my health and ... well... I'll talk with you about that soon, with a post about what I hope to achieve. 

What I really wish is that I could find an active community with people who can help advise me as to how to do all these things I would like to do.  There are lots of repair vintage trailer groups - too many - but very few of them are active, and those that are seem to be for just one kind of trailer.  So if you know of any that would help me, please leave a comment and let me know.

1955 Traveleze Trailer

The advert called it Canned Ham!  Or, more specifically, disassembled canned ham.

photo is from the add for the trailer

It looks a bit like a can of SPAM don't you think?  I love it!

This is the photo from the add and what it use to look like!  'Every kind of animal save humans' lived in the trailer as it sat in the farmer's field for 30plus years.

Here's what the add had to say:

THIS IS A GREAT PROJECT FOR ANYONE INTERESTED IN A VINTAGE CANNED HAM. THIS 1955 CALIFORNIA TRAVELEZE TRAILER HAS BEEN DISASSEMBLED AND IS READY TO REBUILD. THE PHOTOS SHOW THE SHAPE AND PROFILE OF THE TRAILER "BEFORE" IT WAS SLOWLY DISMANTLED. DOWN TO THE STEEL CHASSIS. THE CHASSIS HAS BEEN REINFORCED WITH EXTRA GUSSETS, SANDBLASTED AND SEALED WITH A DURABLE EPOXY FINISH . THE SPRINGS HAVE ALSO BEEN PROFESSIONALLY REBUILT. THE ORIGINAL ALUMINUM SKIN HAS BEEN SAVED AS HAVE THE RIMS, TIRES, WINDOWS, MISC ELECTRICAL PARTS. THE INTERIOR WAS TOO FAR GONE SO NEW WALLS WERE FRAMED UP TO IDENTICALLY MATCH THE ORIGINALS. THIS IS A PROJECT BUT NOT ONE I'LL BE FINISHING. I HAVE A HUGE NUMBER OF PHOTOS TO ASSIST YOU IN THE RECONSTRUCTION AS WELL AS ALL THE REMAINING PARTS THAT WERE STILL USEFUL.

It May seem challenging  but it is exactly what I need.  Due to my allergies (both food and environmental) travelling is virtually impossible. I'm allergic to the cleaning chemicals used in hotels and have to cook everything myself.  Finding a place to sleep that has few chemicals, good airflow and a kitchen is impossible with my budget.

Likewise, most RVs and Travel Trailers are either new and full of manufacturing chemicals or used and full of cleaners, mould, &c.  What I really need is a shell that can be stripped down and reassembled.  Thank I can rebuild it and make it mine!

The add said it was in pieces... well, um... 

The chassi has been reinforced, sand blasted and sealed with the sort of stuff you use on chassis.  Everything to build (um rebuild) the trailer shell is there, but non of the innards.  He's even built an entirely new frame from pine.

Believe it or not, that's exactly the condition that I need it to be in.  Especially if one considers some of the changes I would like to make.  I have most of the skills I need to put it back together and furnish it, I've just never put them together in one project before!  How exciting!

Because of the fragile nature of the aluminium siding, I have ordered a large cube van rental for Wednesday when it comes home.  I'm so nervous waiting so long to bring it home, but there is a tone of things that need doing here before we can make room for it.  

So, full of nervous excitement.  Can't barely sleep.  Wonder if one can buy tatami mats in Canada and if so, are they light weight or heavy?

ANYONE out there know of any groups I can pester with questions about my trailer rebuild?  I would really like to find original schematics or floor plan for this trailer.  

Destash time and etsy shop sale

SALE TIME IN MY ETSY SHOP.  Special coupon just for you.

I just got butt in the hand by a goat, so I'm going to make this quicker than I wanted to.  It's still too early to really hurt, but it's developing a deep ache in the bones which makes me feel I bruised it pretty bad.  Oh well, they are cute so what are you going to do?



It's time to really clean out my life, or more specifically, clean out the stuff from  my life.  Events are starting to circle around us like wake of vultures and we really need to have less stuff for when they land.  So I'm going to be adding more and more stuff to my etsy shop and reducing the prices.


A special price just for you dedicated readers (who stick with me through the years even when I spend months at a time away from this blog) here is a coupon for my shop.

Use the code: DESTASHTIME for 35% off the price of anything in my etsy shop.  Anything at all.  Just be sure to use the code DESTASHTIME at checkout to get the discount.

The new me - sewing clothing... the plunge

Medieval English Woman's Costume - Women's Clothing in the Time of... (clipped to polyvore.com)

Probably not the best choice for a new me to wear around town, even if it looks comfortable.  Might be nice inspiration if I ever get a chance to join the SCA.

The quest is to re-vamp my entire wardrobe this winter.  I don't wear a lot of different clothing as a rule, so here is what I imagine a person like me needs:

• 2 winter skirts
• 2 light weight skirts
• 2 pairs of trousers
• 4 to 6 blouses or other tops that fasten and look good over or under things (short sleeve and long)
• 2 cardigans
• 1 pullover
• 1 semi-formal dress, not too fancy, can be worn with blouses or cardigan in the winter or by itself in the summer, probably black
• 2 to 6 under-shirts like tank tops that can be worn for warmth or as part of summer garb.
• 1 winter coat, one spring/fall coat
• unmentionables

Now, personally I really like wearing vests, however, I find it really difficult to get one that fits well and looks classic.  For me a vest should just blend in, creating a nice backdrop for the rest of the outfit.  The only time it should be the star of the show is if you knit it (and preferably spun the yarn) yourself.  But that's my opinion.  I have to feel comfortable in this new wardrobe of mine, so I might as well be honest with myself.


I look at this list and it seems very daunting.  It's not just the amount of time it would take me to sew these clothes (or buy them) or the cost of materials - a few of these things I already have - but rather the sheer difficulty in getting them all to match each other so that I can simply pull random things out of the closet, put them on and not worry about colour or style clashing.

I already feel like I'm being smothered by the weight of all these clothes.

Maybe this task is too big.  Maybe I'm just not made right to have an easy to use matching wardrobe.  Heaven knows how I could go about affording it, clothes are pricey enough here, especially if you buy ones that will stand up to wear and tear, but sewing my own is not as coast saving as it might seem.  Fabric and thread are often more expensive than pre-fab clothing.  As I don't wear synthetics, I'm doomed to paying far too much for my cloth.

Sewing is more for filing in the gaps that the main stream shops cannot fill.  If I don't have to sew, I won't.  But often there is an article of clothing that I would like to have but I cannot find it in cotton, only synthetics 

Feeling very overwhelmed and self concious about my image now.  I should stop thinking about how terrible I look and crawl back into my little ball of self denial.  Maybe this project was a bad idea.

Google Adds, you decide

Some of you might have noticed that I've put the google adverts on the blog a few weeks back.

Why?
Well, because it makes a (very) little bit of money (apparently) and it didn't seem very intrusive.  I'm not 100% sold on the idea of keeping them, so I thought I would get your opinion.

What do you think?

Does it make me a sell out?  Do they bother you?  Did you even notice them?

Shall I keep them or go for something a little less intrusive like a custom built Amazon thing?  Or should I just avoid adds all together?

Thoughts, ideas, suggestions?

Need a new me. revamping my wardrobe to avoid reverse ageism. please advise.

Oh, I am so rubbish at this.  Anyone want to tell me what I should wear?

I'm not one to notice clothing very much.  Especially when it comes to my own clothing.  The main factors that influence my cloth acquisitions are 1) it's going to last a long time,  2) it doesn't clash with what I'm wearing at the moment, 3) it would be fun to try and make that.  I know, it's not the best way to go about dressing myself, but hey, my brain isn't built right for high fashion.

Lately I've had a lot of trouble with people mistaking me for five, ten and even fifteen years younger than I am.  This can actually be a bad thing.  It's called reverse ageism and is very prevalent here.  It can be anything from undercover police officers harassing your with loads of questions when you go to buy cooking sake in the liquor store, to shop keepers refusing to acknowledged you or take your money in the store.  Heaven forbid that you should be responsible for training a woman who thinks you are the same age as her junior high school kids when in fact she is only five years my senior.  The resentment she expressed got worse when she found out how old I actually am.  I think I made her feel that she looks old.  Sigh.

So maybe it's time to care a bit more about my clothing.

Perhaps create a unified theme to my closet?

At the moment I usually wear jeans, tank top or solid colour tea shirt with a blouse over top.  In winter I usually add a cardigan or pullover.  The dressing in layers thing is very important in this climate.

As the clothing ages, it get's downgraded.  City clothing, farm clothing if I think people might show up, digging in the garden clothing, and mucking out the chickens clothing.  There is no real difference between the actual outfits except how threadbare the cloth is.

Personally I always thought this looked more like country/farm clothing than something a teen would wear, but apparently I'm wrong.

Time to revamp my wardrobe.  But what kind of clothing would I like to wear?

Well, I know I look best in jewel colours.  My clothing gets dirty quickly, so something that wears well and doesn't show the dirt (earth tones?).  So earth and jewel colours.  Do they go well together?

I like blouses, I like cardigans, and I like long skirts.  I like bottoms that don't fit too snugly, but that don't look floppy.  I have some rather female curves (and an over-ample endowment), so perhaps I could choose something that shows these off just slightly, not too fitted, but not too frumpy.  Possible?

A Neo-Victorian hint to my clothing would also be nice, but I could always just find a fob watch and put it on a chain I suppose.  But if I could achieve the same feeling by colour and cut, so much the better.

And a slightly, very slightly Asian feel would also be welcome.

Now for the hard part...

...I don't know any shop that can do all this.  Shopping is not my strong suit, so perhaps sewing could come to the rescue?

I found Simple Modern Sewing at the library (yes, I actually know where it is.  It's the place full of ink-stink with the free wi-fi) and I think this might be a good place to start revamping my wardrobe.  It's got skirts, loose fitting stylish pants, shirts, all sorts of good things to wear.

What do you think?  Anyone out there want to give advice?  Got any great sewing patterns that would fit my new style or recommend some fabric?

tdf came and went

The tour de fleece came and went, and I somehow got overwhelmed with farmstuff... again... as usual.  Oh well.

But I'm still around.  Doing farmstuff.

There are sheep in the front yard, but they aren't mine.  I'm just 'holding' them for a friend, honest.

be back with photos and yarn and stuff in a few days.

Tour de fleece 2012 - day five

Been busy like crazy but still got a bit of spinning in.  Mystery brow fibre plied with some merino Habu lace.

Tour de Fleece 2012: stage 2 and 3

(sorry all, don't know what's wrong with the formatting today)

Yesterday, Stage 2 of the Tour de Fleece, was for me what they call, off the back. Didn't do quite so well as I had planed. But I did manage a small sample skein of novelty yarn. A small skein of yarn is still a skein, right? So I'm still on target with my goals.






30 yds of wavy rick-rack yarn. I spun up some dark chocolate brown mystery fibre in a regular slub (think and thin) pattern and plied it with a lovely orange Habu merino cobweb lace. I think the brown fibre is alpaca with perhaps 20% wool, but I can't be certain.






This makes quit a stunning effect, and I think I might make some more of this yarn later on. But what do you think? Any good?




















Today, Stage 3 was a much better day for spinning. I didn't get up early enough to watch the whole race (4am is difficult at times) so I hope to watch the repeat this evening and spin some more then.






Today's spinning is 75yds of soft alpaca 2 ply worsted weight yarn from Herman's fibre. I can't get over how nice the drape of this yarn is. Even though I spun worsted style (for a denser, smoother yarn) it's no where near as heavy as alpaca usually is when done this way.






As you can see from the photos, these two yarns are already good friends. They somehow make me feel like they should be used together for something, but what, I don't know.























By the way: Special Tour de France discount at my etsy shop. Type TDF2012 at checkout for 15% off fibre, yarn, well, actually everything.

Tour de Fleece 2012 - Stage 1

Goals are a very important aspect of yarn sports.  You may be tempted to think that an event like the Tour de Fleece, is a bunch of people watching sports on TV while engaging in their favourite craft activity.  But it's much more than that.  I suspect far fewer than half the people who participate, watch or even follow the actual sporting event.  Even so, the competition is fierce.

Like the cyclists of the Tour de France, we spin our wheels.  And just like those super-human athletes, our biggest challenge is to overcome our own limitations.  Of course, they have the advantage of being in top physical shape and training all year long.  But both groups do what we love best and peruse it with the single mindedness that only great passion can impart.

For the Tour de Fleece, everyone (just about everyone) has to goal to spin each day the riders race.  That's three weeks of spinning yarn with only two rest days.  For most people, this is challenge enough.

But then there are them others.  Others like me who challenge themselves further.  

My goal is to spin 1 skein of yarn per day or to prepare 1 lb of fibre each day.  

Although not the most challenging goals I've set myself for a TdF, one has to take into account the conditions of the road.  To strive to achieve something amazing given your limitations and the conditions that surround you.  A cyclist that rides beyond their skill set is going to crash.  But one who can cycle just at that leading edge of their abilities, be consistent and always pushing themselves to expand their abilities, well that is what it takes to be amazing.  

Today's spinning, 120 yds of a very soft alpaca, worsted weight yarn.

Herman, one of our rescue alpacas, has beautiful cream fibre with a couple of brown patches.  I washed and carded the fibre earlier in the year and finally had a chance to spin some up.  I'm surprised at what a treat it is to spin, though, perhaps I shouldn't be.  Herman is the only one who doesn't roll around in the mud every chance he gets.

By the way: Special Tour de France discount at my etsy shop. Type TDF2012 at checkout for 15% off fibre, yarn, well, actually everything.

I'm in a contest!

I wonder if you've ever come across the Etsy Contest?  It's actually quite a fun little game.  They show you two photos from two different etsy shops, and you click which one you like better.  It doesn't cost you anything to play, you can just click on one choice, or you can keep playing and click a whole bunch.

Basically it's a tool to help the shop owners to learn how successful they are doing with their photos and portraying their product.  It's a fantastic learning tool for us poor shopkeeps.

Of course, there is always the small chance that someone clicking might actually see something they would like to learn more about and perhaps, occasionally, even buy.  But that is just extra.

So, if you have a few moments today, please click this link here.  It will take you directly to where you can vote for (or heaven forbid, against) my picture.  I'll be in the contest today only - it would be great if you could click for me.

Tour de Fleece 2012 - Prologue

Today is the first day of the Tour de France, which makes it the start of the Tour de Fleece.

The Tour de Fleece is a yarn-sport where we honour those heroic athletes by, um, playing with yarn.  For me, it means getting up at ungodly hours to watch the Tour live on TV while I spin yarn.  It's a fantastic motivator and comes at the time of year when I need motivating the most.

This year, I'm sticking with the Peloton.  My goal is to transform some of my fibre stash into yarn.

Today being the prologue, I basically just cleaned off my bobbins and tested my muscles.

A beautiful hand dyed Marino fibre, dyed by Ryan of Knotty by Nature.  I had spun it up durring the yurt adventures earlier this year, so today I navajo plied it and now it's 100yds of lovely, soft, sock/fingerling weight yarn.




By the way:  Special Tour de France discount at my etsy shop.  Type TDF2012 at checkout for 15% off fibre, yarn, well, actually everything.  Sorry, does not discount shipping.