The sweater is done

I finished the little hand knit sweater for our newest grandson Matthew.

I wasn't sure how it would look finished as it seemed to be a tad wide but it looks OK and I am happy with it.

I chose an opening neckline as I knitted one before and the baby didn't like it being pulled over it's head.  Should be no problems with this one.

Still busy on workshop projects, really, really hoping to get back to my knitting machines this winter.

Knitting and leatherwork update

We have been working on taking down our salt water fish tank.  This is no easy task.  It is a 135 gallon tank on a stand and had a multitude of apparatus connected to it to keep it going plus a sump tank.  The tanks are both emptied and mostly cleaned up.  The equipment has all been disconnected, re-tested, cleaned up and stored.  The base and stand are in the process of being refinished where necessary and restained and revarnished.  The top cabinet as almost done. No easy process for us two oldies!

Meantime I am working on a hand knit sweater for the latest grandchild who is now 3 months old.  I am using a pattern I used for our first grandson.  This one seems to be much bigger for some obscure reason and wider.  I thought I was using the same type of yarn but maybe this one is a bit thicker.  I have the back and front done so far.

The neckband and the strips for the right shoulder opening are done too.

The front pattern close up

The back

I also had a brainwave about my leatherwork.  I am still very much a beginner with this hobby.  I love to do the stamping and make patterns etc.  It isn't as easy as it sounds though and I always have to practice before I start on an item.  Plus I like to try out different patterns first. This uses up valuable leather.  I do buy scraps for practice but it is still not that cheap plus the nearest leather store in 75 miles away so can't just pop around the corner to buy some.

The brainwave is to use some modelling clay.  I had a spare 1 lb brick of it we bought last year.  It is very versatile stuff.  It had been in our shop all winter and summer and was still nice and supple.  I put it in a big ziplock bag and rolled it out.

New brick of modelling clay rolled out in ziplock bag

Border pattern tried out

Background effect tried out

Done for the day, too darned hot in the workshop this afternoon! So in readiness for next time I folded it all in and re shaped it ready to roll out next time. (see below)

                                

This will be a lifesaver for me.  No more wasted leather!

The cardigan fits perfectly

We spent a long weekend with some of the family at the lake so got chance to give out the gifts we made for them.

For some obscure reason I only took photos of the cardigan.

Sparkly glitter buttons and McVitie's Milk Chocolate biscuits (cookies)

Friday was hospital day.  My husband is undergoing chemo therapy to help abate the auto immune disease that attacks his muscles and nerves and we were in Columbia at the VA hospital for him to have his infusion.  So far so good.  He has been having this treatment since mid December last year and the signs are all good.

But, I digress.  I went to do some of our weekly shopping and to find some buttons for the cardigan I knitted for our grand daughter.

I had pondered for a while on what colour buttons to put on this cardi because it is multi coloured.  Was I going to pick just one colour button or try a variety of colurs that are in the cardigan?  I was still unsure when I went on my search.  The Wal*mart in Columbia is bigger than our nearest one and has more options.  They had packets of multi coloured buttons, single coloured ones and different shaped ones.  Then I spotted them!.  Sparkly glitter buttons.  Perfect.  They would pick up all the colours.

Then as I wandered through the food aisles I found another treat.  English McVitie's Chocolate digestive biscuits.

Wow, double bonus.

So a good shopping day for me.

Here is the cardigan with the sparkly buttons.  The photos do not show how sparkly they really are but they give an idea.

                                               The treat of the day

Finished wristband/bracelets

Here are the finished wristbands/bracelets for the upcoming family visit.

The cardigan is finished....well almost!

I have knitted the cardigan for our grand daughte and sewn it all together.  I still need to get some buttons and sew them on but our closest store is 35 miles away so it will have to wait until our next shopping trip.

I tooled our grandson's belt.  We have to get a buckle for it, that's a different trip or an online purchase.  My husband stained it and I finished the sides and the back.  Will post another photo when it is finished.

 

 

I have tooled a couple of bracelets.  One for our daughter in law and one for the son. My husband will stain them and I will put in the snaps.  We will be seeing them in a couple of weeks so we need to get on and finish all these things.

 

This is just a plain bracelet we made, our son might prefer a plain one.

 

 

So that's it for now.  Doing this on our laptop to give it a try.  I am a bit old fashioned and like my desktop but the World Cup is on so I can watch it and do this if I use the laptop.

Another Knitting and leatherwork update

Well, the knitting project is now in it's third phase.  As I blogged previously the first attempt at a cardigan for our granddaughter failed as it was a top down pattern and I misunderstood the pattern and made a huge mistake......so I undid it.  I did all the knitting for the second attempt but when I sewed it together it was not what I wanted, so yep, it got unraveled too.  So I dug through all my patterns and found a traditional style children's cardigan so now I have knitted the back and the two fronts and am working on the sleeves for it.  We are meeting up with them at the end of the month so I am on track to get it done by then.  I knit at night when we sit down to watch the TV.

As for the leatherwork we finally finished the quiver.  This was our biggest project to date and the most challenging.  We had no pattern or quiver to copy from so we had to start from scratch with just an idea.  My husband knew what he wanted so we just improvised at every stage.  He is very happy with the finished product.

I also made a couple of bracelets for the grandkids for when we see them at the end of the month.

Now we just have a belt to make for the grandson.

Weather has been hot and wet these past couple of weeks so the mowing has ground to a halt.  We tried a couple of days ago and managed to get close to the house done but we both got our tractors stuck so we have given up trying to do anymore until it dries up a bit.


Maybe, one day, I'll get back to my knitting machines.

Knitting and leatherwork update and $50 well spent!

Since my last post I have hand knitted the top.  It's a new concept.  A square and a rectangle then stitched together in such a way that they make a vest (waistcoat for my English friends)  I have yet to stitch them together but the knitting is all done.

Nothing done on the machines lately but feeling good that I got some hand knitting done.

With the improvement in the weather we can now get out and work in the workshop.  It is quite big and way too costly to heat in the winter.

My husband has an autoimmune disease which attacks his muscles and nerves.  Just before Christmas they started him on a regimen of a chemo drug that they use to treat blood cancers.  They found it helps with his type of disease.  He is doing much better and has improved so much that he is doing projects again.  He is delighted as am I.

We have been working on better organizing the workshop and getting rid of excess 'stuff' and building an L shaped work bench with shelving for a new project he is looking to undertake. We also did some rewiring in the house and put in a water softener and a new toilet.

In between all that and trying to get one of our riding mowers working we have done a few leather projects.

We made a belt for our neighbour last year who helps us out a lot. He really likes it and wears it all the time.  This year he came up with a brass buckle that had sentimental value to him and asked if we could make a belt for it too.  We were happy to oblige as it was a way to say Thank You again to him.

It was a combined effort.  My husband cut the leather for the strap.  I did the patterning , he did the coloring and I did the finishing.

Then I made a couple of keyrings for my two brothers.  As ususal I forgot to take pictures when they were totally finished but here a couple of their work in progress.

Then we ventured onto our latest project and work in progress.  A quiver for my husband's crossbow arrows.

This has been quite a lengthy project which still has quite a bit to do to complete it.  Pictures at the stage we're at with final pictures to follow.

It is lined with shearling.  Again, a joint effort.  His design, my stitching and patterning  but his logo design based on his McTavish roots.

And now to the $50 well spent part.

Doing the patterning requires metal stamps and a mallet.  This process can be very iffy.  If the stamp moves you get a double imprint and it is difficult to get an even and good embedded imprint.  Sometimes, your fingers get pinched holding the stamp.  All in all not a satisfactory process not to mention the noise when you thump a stamp 20 or so times to get the imprint.

I had drooled over a stamp press in the Tandy catalogue but it is $600.  We don't have that sort of money to spend on a tool for our hobby so we just soldiered on with the mallets.  One day I was looking on ebay and looking through the leather tools, something I do quite often to get ideas for our leatherwork.  Someone was selling a metal plate and a rubber pad together with a press for $150.  Now it wasn't the Tandy press but the person had put together a video on how to use the press with the plate and rubber pad.  It was amazing to see how much easier it is to do the patterning with a press.

Then I did more research on presses and found that Harbor Freight sold the very same press for a lot less money and it was on sale for $50.

The guy on ebay also sold the metal plate and rubber pad without the press for $15 so I bought those from him and the press from Harbor Freight.

Here is my new press and my re-arranged work area.

My husband bolted it down for me which was very hard on him as he had to get underneath the bench to strengthen it but he is such a sweetheart, I just love him to bits.

Didn't go quite as I planned but I found a gem of a pattern to use instead

Well, my attempt to make the cardigan I blogged about in my last post was not successful.  I misread the pattern and started the ribbing down the front at the wrong place so I had to unwind it all about a quarter of the way down.  So the hunt for another pattern was on.  I wanted something simple.  I knit without looking if its ribbing or plain knitting but when increasing/decreasing or patterns come into play then I need to concentrate and look and that pattern involved a lot of that.  I knit at night when watching TV so I wanted easy.

After a lot of searching both in stores and online I finally found a simple pattern.

One that can be made any size and use a variety of pattern stitches or just plain old knitting.  It's a novel idea and I am so happy I found it.  I decided to knit it in moss (seed) stitch. I started it two nights ago and I am already a third of the way through the first rectangle.

Here is the link to it: 

http://www.laylock.org/blog/2012/10/coze-easy-knit-vest-pattern/

Picking up the knitting needles again

Because of time restraints to machine knit I have decided to do some hand knitting.  We usually sit down for an hour or so at night to watch TV so I thought I could knit by hand again.  This is what I used to do before getting my machines.  I have wrestled with going back to hand knitting when I have three knitting machines which knit so much faster but when you consider that I haven't completed anything on them in over a year then that argument seem a tad futile.  So I found a pattern to knit for my 6 yr old grand daughter.  I owe her an item as I made the two grandsons the vests I blogged about earlier.

I love the pattern I have found but it will be a challenge as it is knitted all in one from the neck down.  Usually I knit the back and fronts separately from the bottom up.  So something a bit different.  I bought the yarn and found the pattern online.  I had all the listed needles except one set of double pointed needles size 6 but I can pick them up on my next trip into town.  They are not needed straight away.  Also the main body is knitted on those weird needles attached by wire.  I have never used those before either so it will be interesting!  Fortunately, I inherited a supply of those type of needles from my mum in law along with some sets of double pointed ones.

My grand daughter is 6 and a half and it will probably take me a few months to knit so I am making it in size 8.  They usually come to visit at the end of June when she will be almost 7 so the size 6 would be too small.  Also they live in California so the short sleeves are perfect for her.

I am excited to start this project but also sad that I won't be making it on the machine.

Also the weather is beginning to warm up so we will be able to get out to the workshop again to make some leather things. It has been a long winter and our workshop is too big to heat so we don't get out there to work.  Working on leather is something my husband can do sitting down.  On the upside, the chemo treatment seems to be working and he is regaining some of his strength.  We have managed over the winter to do some much needed plumbing jobs and some rewiring.  This fulfills his need to be doing things but not so much mine.  He suffers greatly after working a couple of hours but his self esteem is bolstered.

I like my knitting, sewing and leather work.  That's where I get my satisfaction.  As my blog title says.....'I like making things'

This is how it has to be.

I have just read a post on Suzy's blog.  A great and detailed post about her Bond machine.  She is a very talented lady who owns several knitting machines and uses them all.  She has made many garments and other things on her machines.  I envy her.  I don't have the time I would like to spend with my machines.

I think about knitting all the time, I research a lot and read blogs etc about knitting.  That is easy for me to do, my computer is in my kitchen in a custom made computer hutch.  I can take five minutes here and there to do that and if I have to stop it's no big deal.  I blog too because I can do that in bits and pieces.

My knitting room is upstairs and I have two machines set up in the spare bedroom.  When I am up there I am in a world of my own, oblivious to anything else.  Unfortunately, I don't have the luxury of the time to spend in there.

My husband is sick.  He has a chronic auto immune disease which is very debilitating.  He is currently having chemo treatment in a bid to slow it down.  This takes up a lot of our time going back and forth to the hospital 150 miles away.  Then on days he feels a bit better we try and catch up with the many jobs around the place that need doing.

My knitting is on a back burner. I do what I can when I can.  I just have time to try things right now but not complete anything.

This is how it has to be.  I am not going to grieve any more over not being able to machine knit as much as I'd like. Might have to go back to the knitting needles lol.

A life without machine knitting is much better than the alternative.

I know, I know, a lot of excuses and not much knitting!

Things have been busy here.  My husband is undergoing a regimen of chemo treatment in a bid to try and slow down the auto immune disease that is attacking him.  That has meant a lot of trips to the hospital 150 miles away.  Also in between those trips we have been dealing with plumbing and electrical problems and some days we are just too plain tuckered to do anything.

I did do a little on the machines yesterday.  I tried ribbing on standard using every fourth stitch with thicker yarn.  It was not too successful although not a total failure either, so more work needed to perfect that.  I also tried mock rib on the bulky machine and that turned out well.  I need to try tuck stitch on it with the thicker yarn to see how that goes, that's a job for another day.

I think that worsted weight (double knitting) will be the best to use on it overall but I do want to make a bulky cardigan for my husband as that is what he wants.  Haven't found the yarn for that yet. It will knit '5' yarn OK but not the super bulky '6'.

I need to revisit Suzy's video on Cricketer's cable.  I tried some cable on the bulky yesterday but it was pulling on the needles too much.  I think her cable will be better to do on it.

Changing the subject, here are a few photos of leather stuff I did for Christmas gifts.  I forgot to take pictures of a lot of the things I made though.

New handy dandy hole puncher made life a lot simpler

The last keyring was one I had rejected as I made a mistake on it but I salvaged it for myself and managed to disguise the error.  I really like it.    

That's all for now.  Another hospital trip tomorrow and then hopefully a little warmer weather coming in.

The LC2 is working!

Thanks to Suzy whose blog is I follow, the LC2 is working.  She put up a video for me on how to use the LC2 on her blog.  From that I was able to ascertain where I might have gone wrong.  After replacing all the 70 needles that I had bent the latches on, I tried again.  This time I only used 50 needles. Unfortunately though, I still had problems.  At least this time I knew it wasn't down to user error.  This time I only bent the latches on about 20 needles as I could tell pretty quickly it wasn't knitting correctly and stopped. When I slowly ran the carriage over the knitting I could see that it was the sinker plate that was bending the latches.

So, I examined the sinker plate and spotted that the left and right underside of it were not symmetrical.  I asked Suzy if she would post pictures of the underside of her LC2 sinker plate, which she most graciously did.

From the pictures I could identify which side of mine was incorrect.

Where the arrow is pointing is where it had gone wrong on mine.  The large metal plate below and to the left of the arrow has a piece that bends downward at the arrow and it had somehow hooked itself over the metal plate that is just to the right of it.  I was able to unhook it quite easily.

So, after replacing those 20 needles, gingerly, I tried it again.

This time I used even less, just 40 needles.  I had just paid $55 for 100 needles and wasn't wanting to shell out another $55. I had at this point replaced 90 needles!

I also used a different lace punch card just in case the first one was somehow compromised.

So, I followed all the steps as per Suzy's video and joy oh joy, it worked this time.  I did a full round of the punch card and then some stockinette then casted off.  And NO bent latches.

I was flying high.  I was so excited.


I did notice one place where the hole didn't form properly but overall it did just fine.

I am sure with practice I will get better at it.

When I showed my husband the knitted piece he burst out laughing.  He thought it was hilarious that I had spent all this time, effort and money to make knitting with holes in.  He was very happy for me but totally bemused.

I have actually had the lace carriage for over a year.  It came with a knitting machine I had purchased in August 2012.  I have been pondering since then on whether or not it was repairable, looking at it from time to time to see if I could get the top off to look underneath  and had just about given up on it when I found the website on how to strip it down and free the drums and also found the supplier that I can get parts from.

It was this past November that I actually started the repairs on it. It was not without it's moments (see previous posts).  But now, two months later I have it working.

I became a bit obsessed with getting it to work.  It became a challenge! Suzy aptly said that us women won't let these machines beat us and she is right.

I don't have anything that I need in a hurry to make using it so I am going to get back onto the SK155 and make my poor husband the sweater or cardigan I have been promising him forever.  When I have done that I will make something for my youngest grand daughter using the lace carriage.

With respect to the SK155, the insurance cheque went through OK and I have decided just to repair the lid by buying the two plastic ends for it.  The needle bed is attached to the bottom, not quite as it should be but it is functional and I have to glue on the end plastic thing which is just cosmetic.  The machine knits just fine.  I also bought the missing left RC lever and holder and can put that in now I know how to take off the cover.

This has been quite a learning period for me.  I feel better knowing that I can make simple repairs and obtain parts.

My thanks go out again to Suzy whose help was invaluable to me.

Her blog is listed down the right hand side of my home page.  It is called 'My knitting machines and me"  Check it out, she has an amazing set of videos she has made and lots of patterns posted.  Also she has photos of garments and other things she has knitted.  She is a very talented lady.

Also thank you to 'Pieces of Kate' blog who has a post on how to strip down the carriage to clean the drums.  There is a link to her post in previous posts of mine.

Good news and bad news!

I finally got the LC2 lace carriage re-assembled on Christmas Eve.  That is the good news.

Yesterday, the 28th, I sat down to try it. Detailed below is the bad news!

I started off knitting 70 stitches using the main carriage, I did about 20 rows.  Then I changed over to the lace carriage.  Something distracted me and when I came back I started to knit with it thinking I still had the main carriage on.  I knitted about 4 rows and it was really tight.  Then I remembered I had changed the carriage over.  The tension setting was at 0.  Well OK then!  I changed it up to 7, put in the punchcard LC1.  I did my first row to remember the changed the settings accordingly and gingerly started to knit.  It seemed to be going ok but after a few rows I could see some holes weren't appearing where they should, then it got worse and the stitches were getting caught on gate pegs and all sorts of things were happening.  I stopped!

I took the knitting off and noticed that it had bent all the latches on the needles in use.  Yes, all 70 of them.  aarrgghh!!!!!

So that was my first LC2 experience.  I was so disappointed as I had waited a long time to get it operational. (see previous posts for all the gory details)

I have ordered 100 new needles at a cost of $55 so a costly experience.

I think knitting on the '0' tension at the beginning didn't help.  Also, I think I should have done more plain rows after I changed it up to '7' before I started to use the punchcard.

I had put in a brand new sponge bar yesterday as I had read that for lace it needs to be a good one.

I am going to take out the needles with the bent latches and move some from the outer edges in and give it another go.  But this time I will only use 40 max needles in case it happens again.  I have 30 spare needles on hand so with the 100 I ordered I should be covered if I bend any more.

Any tips anyone??????????

An update on the SK 155 and the LC2 lace carriage

Writing this while my husband is getting his second chemo treatment. Thankfully he doesn't have cancer but he does have a nasty autoimmune disease and this treatment has had some good results in slowing this type of disease down.

The other parts for the lace carriage arrived but I just haven't had the time to resume the repairs. After Christmas I am hoping for some respite to get on and do it. It has been a very busy month or so with a lot of time spent at the hospital.

The insurance claim for the damaged Sk155 was settled but I still haven't received a cheque yet. But I am sure I will get it eventually. I can get the ends of the top cover and try and get some of the bumps out of it. I will not buy a new cover as it is not my intent to sell it anytime soon. At least the cover will be functional.

I also got the left RC lever base and lever for it that was missing. It is the left one used to operate a knit radar. As yet I do not have one for it but at least the carriage will be complete.

I have a question. Does anyone know if you can use double knitting yarn on a standard machine with a ribber to do ribbing by using fewer needles?

I would like to get a ribber for the SK155 but they are hard to come by. I got the brainwave that I might be able to do the rib on the standard and transfer it to the SK155 but not sure if it would work. Any input would be much appreciated. I do have a garter bar so I could transfer the stitches from one to the other.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and a happy New Year.

Another technical hitch.

The parts arrived as scheduled and were perfectly correct.  I set about doing the last repairs and had two problems.  First, I couldn't get one of the screws out to take off the broken handle bracket.  Secondly, when I pried off the snap clip on the RC lever so I could replace the RC lever base it flew off into oblivion.  And it is tiny!  And I can't find it.

So another order into Siver Reed Canada for snap clips and screws.  So another delay on getting the lace carriage functional.

But I am still very happy that I can get all the parts I need and it will get fixed eventually.

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.

A better week all round

I decided to list the Singer 700 machine again last Saturday.  I reduced the Buy it now price and the opening bid price.  Someone bought it on Sunday at the Buy it now price.

I think I broke even on it because although I didn't pay as much as I sold it for I did spend a lot of money on it. I replaced most of the needles, I bought paper patterns, the missing latch guide and a brand new sponge bar for it and punched up the missing punchcards and replaced some missing tools.

I spent probably $10 on extra packing materials and spent 5 hours packaging it up so that the buyer wouldn't experience the same trauma I did a month ago when the SK155 I bought got damaged in transit.  They confirmed this evening that it arrived safe and sound and it looked like a new machine so that made both them and me very happy.

With regard to the SK155 the insurance claim still hasn't been settled but after many phone calls and sending in lots of photos, receipts etc. I think it may get settled soon.  Then I will be able to get rid of the packaging that is occupying a sofa in our sun room and set up the machine properly and try and fix some of the damage.

I found a wonderful business in Canada that sell parts for knitting machines.  It is where I bought the missing items for the machine I just sold.

Silver Reed Canada

I was checking out their site and found they sold parts for the lace carriage too.  Now all I had to do was find out how to dismantle it and find out exactly what was broken in it.

Well I found another blog that had details on how to take a carriage apart to clean the drums so I was able to dismantle the lace carriage and ascertain the damaged parts and free up the drums.  I ordered the parts from the above company today and they should get here in about a week.  I am so excited and happy about that.

This is a link to that blog. It is the post made November 2012, just scroll down to it, it is a very detailed post with some great tips. Well worth a look.

'Pieces of Kate' blog with post of how to dismantle a machine carriage

So maybe soon I'll have a functioning lace carriage and a usable bulky machine.  The bulky does actually knit but I couldn't set it up properly incase they wanted to come and inspect it.  Whether I replace the lid for $200 or just try and repair it is dependant on how much I get from the claim.  I know I can replace the ends of the lid which sustained all the breaks and cracks and maybe I can knock out some of the dents and replace the clasp.

I found out I could replace the base too for $149 but even though I was feeling pretty good about stripping down the lace carriage I don't think I'm up to a full blown dismantle of a machine to replace the base so I will likely just leave that with the fix I was able to do.  Like I said in a previous post the machine doesn't really have any value now with the damage but it is functional so I will just use it and enjoy knitting on it.  And maybe my husband will finally get his much yearned after bulky sweater lol. (if I had a pound or dollar for every time I have said that I'd be pretty well off by now).

So a much better week all round.

Dealing with knitting machines/selling/looking up parts/stripping down/cleaning/packaging/mailing has taken a lot of time this past couple of weeks.  I am so ready to just start knitting again and not have to deal with all the other stuff.

But wait!!!! What is looming in the not so distant future?  Oh yes, Christmas.....so that has to be dealt with too over the next few weeks..... so, maybe, in the New year I can get down to some serious knitting.

How fast this year has flown!

My Singer 700 didn't sell and no news yet on the insurance claim for the SK155 damage

Well, the title just about sums it all up.

My Singer 700 didn't sell on ebay......no big deal as far as I'm concerned although I was hoping to get something to offset the cost of the bulky machine.

With regard to the bulky I am kind of in limbo.  I can't try and make any repairs until they decide the claim.  They may want to come and inspect it so it is just sitting on my desk not doing anything.  I have knitted on it to test the punchcard operations and they seem to work just fine.

We updated our internet to satelite this past weekend so I was able to watch a Youtube video all the way through today.  It was a Diane Sullivan one on doing lace with the lace carriage so now I am all eager to get mine fixed or get another one.

So a lot of thinking about but not doing much knitting lately.

Still have leather things to make before Christmas and there just doesn't seem to be enough time.  Always something to do!

I have listed the Singer 700 Memomatic on ebay

I have listed the Singer 700 on ebay.  Listing isn't as stressful as buying lol.  In this case, I really do not care if it sells or not.  Does that make me a hoarder?.............maybe.

here is the link to it if anyone wants to have a look.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/181248628444?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

Would appreciate any feedback on the presentation and price.  I only have it listed for sale in the USA  as I wasn't sure what was involved with Customs etc. to sell overseas.

Thanks.

With regard to the bulky machine, there is a claim in for damage.  I haven't heard anything yet.   

Will let you know the outcome of the sale and the claim when I know more.

Pictures of the damage

Here are the photos of the damage to the machine.  I have lot's more than I am posting but don't want to bore the pants off of anyone.