So, yesterday I was sewing away, working on a slipper bottom, easing the bias tape around a curve, leaving no puckers or wrinkles at all, very proud of myself, when I realized that I'd run out of bobbin thread a good 8" back. After I said a few bad words, I got to thinking: Why doesn't someone invent a sewing machine that uses whole spools as bobbins? I would buy it in a flash. And I'd buy whatever specially designed/sized spools it needed for the bobbins, no matter what they cost. Inventors out there: have at it! I don't even want any royalties (the way people who offer to tell me their life stories so I can write the book, expect me to give them 50% of the money... HAH! Like there's any money in writing...), I just want bobbins that hold more thread. And maybe a beeper when they run out, so I don't waste time poking holes in the fabric for no good reason.
I finished making 5 sets of slippers and zipper bags for The Grands, and I'd like to sew a set for myself next, though I have to wait for more bias tape and Jiffy Grip to arrive for the slippers. At least I can show you those projects when I get around to them. I really like the zipper bag pattern, and have made a couple of tweaks to the assembly process (not on purpose- I realized I was doing it differently after I'd made a few).
In the meantime, I started a pair of socks just for mindless knitting.
The sock on the left isn't the first one of the new pair. It's the remaining sock from the very first pair of self-patterning socks that I ever knitted (back when I had to think long and hard before spending $13 on yarn for a single pair of socks. Ah, those were the days). The other sock disappeared- it's the only one of my hand knit socks ever to vanish into the ether, and I have sorely lamented its passing (those socks go with everything, lemee tellya). I hung on to the mate, just in case the other magically reappeared, but so far, and it's been at least 5 years, nada.
Many years ago, I bought a full bag of Fortissima Socka Colori yarns, all of them exactly like the Opal Mexiko line (which is what I used for my first pair) just with a different name (seriously- they're exactly the same. I've never figured out how two brands could be so identical without one suing the other). I finally decided that the missing sock isn't going to show up, so I'd best knit myself another pair while I still had some of the Socka yarn left (it's out of production too). I would go with just a single sock to match, but the first one has a few construction techniques that I no longer use, except under duress: a flap and gusset heel, and a wedge toe.
So a whole new pair it is. And maybe that will prompt the Sock Gnomes to bring back the missing one.
4 comments:
I always wondered about that too -- Opal did it first, and then Socka/Fortissima came out with the exact same thing a little less than a year later. Seemed very strange to me. I still have a ball of the Opal with main color red -- maybe that'll be my dead of winter knitting. It will definitely brighten things up!
I would love a way to fill a bobbin such that it doesn't jam up halfway through sewing with it, owing to bad tension or whatever. Speaking from yesterday's experience (though this has probably been invented in the 70 years since my machine came out...)
Those very socks were the first pair I ever knitted, and are still my favorite.
My Beloved husband has been wondering the same thing about bobbins. Has for many years. I agree, and wish they would do something. After all, if they can make sergers use a thread coming from a full spool, they should be able to figure out a way.
But I am really glad that my husband didn't really make me wait to buy an embroidery/sewing machine until they had figured it out [he did threaten to]
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