I like making things: The parts to repair the lace carriage will be here tomorrow

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

The parts to repair the lace carriage will be here tomorrow

I can't say enough about this company.

Silver Reed Canada

I ordered the parts on the 14th and they will be here tomorrow, the 20th. From Canada. Some US companies take way longer than that.

I am excited to get the lace carriage working. I had given up on it before as the lever at the back was flopping around and some chunks of metal fell out of it. Also the drums were frozen. I thought it was beyond repair or would cost a fortune to fix. I was so inspired by the Diane Sullivan video about using the lace carriage I watched that I set about looking at it again. I have been lamenting over this lace carriage for a long time. I even considered buying a new one but heck, they are expensive!

What I have realized is that knitting machines are made up of lots of parts and if one breaks it can be replaced. So this carriage needed the drums freeing up, which I was able to do after watching another video put up by Kate in her blog 'Pieces of Kate'. It also needed the handle holder unit L (which is what the chunks of metal were) and a Row counter lever base which was broken and hence the floppy lever.

Pieces of Kate. How to clean the drums on a knitting machine

I know I am repeating myself but I am so impressed by the Canada company and Pieces of Kate's blog entry.

So tomorrow or the next day (as UPS usually delivers around 6pm here) I will know if the lace carriage will work with all the repairs. I really hope so. It came with all the weights and punchcards etc so it will be fully functional if it works. Fingers and toes crossed!

Will post after I have tried it with pictures if all goes well.

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I started this blog in 2011: Ever since my Mum taught me to knit at the age of about six or seven I have made things. Back then it was doll clothes. I was also inspired by Mrs Levitt an elderly lady who had a sewing room in a conservatory type room on the back of her house. I would sit and watch her in awe as she sewed.

When I was a child living in England the school system was such that you started at 5 years, did two years in Infant School, then four years in Primary School then five to seven years in Secondary School, depending on whether you chose to stay on after fifth form to get qualifications to go to University. I can't remember much of the Infant school other than making the standard square doily thingy from fabric that had holes in it so you could embroider patterns into it. A bit like the modern day cross stitch fabric but with bigger holes and spaces to make it easy for small hands to use. I also remember with great joy getting a toy sewing machine one Christmas which sewed only chain stitch but I did make doll clothes on it and that was before I started Primary school. I do have very vivid recollections of Primary school and having sewing and knitting lessons. In Primary school I knitted gloves and made a dress from scratch hand sewing it all.

Secondary school continued on with sewing by which time I had progressed to using full sized sewing machines and was making more intricate skirts and dresses. My parents bought me a proper sewing machine when I was thirteen. I used that same machine right up until I emigrated to Canada at age forty six years.

I have always had a fascination for sewing machines and knitting machines. I bought my first knitting machine at around age twenty one from an ad in a newspaper for twelve pounds. I had absolutely no idea what one was just that I wanted one. I trundled on the bus to the address in the advert and handed over my twelve pounds having absolutely no idea what I had really bought. Fortunately it came with a manual. It was an aged Knitmaster, very basic and I loved it. I wore it out. Next was a Brother push button one which I didn't keep because it was at a time in my life when things were difficult. Later on in my life, around forty, when things were better I bought a brand new Brother punchard machine with a ribber attachment. I loved it and made many things. Life took a different turn, I moved countries twice and along the way, regrettably I sold it.

Now, through the universe's blessing I now have another machine. It is a vintage one because they stopped making them early 90's but works perfectly and I love it. So I decided to make this blog to document my knitting progress and include sewing projects.

In 2013: we embarked on a new hobby, leather-work. My husband got started with it and it drew me in. It is something we can do together. We have a workshop so have plenty of room to work. We added another workbench for me to work on in 2013. We already had one but we were tripping over each other both trying to work at it. We only make things we want to make. It is strictly a hobby. We made some things for our good neighbours who help us out a lot. I am also working on Christmas presents. So this blog now incorporates the leather-work. Knitting and sewing will always be my first love though.

Fast forward to 2023 and now age almost 75 years. I have seven sewing machines, four knitting machines, several ribber attachments and a garter carriage for one of the machines. I am blessed beyond words, but I know that I have more than enough machines to keep me going in my lifetime so I don’t think I will be adding to my collection any time soon……….unless a nice embroidery machine manifests itself very cheaply.

I am a Brit living in the USA, sometimes I spell like a Brit and sometimes like an American. Sometimes I use slang and even make grammatical errors. I blog for the pleasure of it and to record my endeavours in the event that my memory fades, as I am sure it will with more age. I will be able to look back and remind myself of the things I have made along the way. So please forgive my mistakes when reading about my life making things here in the hinterlands and I hope you get as much enjoyment from my blog as I do from reading the blogs I follow.

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Tuesday, November 19, 2013

The parts to repair the lace carriage will be here tomorrow

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