Saturday, March 01, 2008

Skeinwinder

Skeining awayLife as a small-potatoes indy dyer is nothing if not challenging. I'm preparing for my first stint as a vendor at a knitting show next month, and the rigors of reskeining were starting to get to me. I have been reskeining from a swift to a niddy-noddy (none other than the B.U.B.P.U. niddy that Mike made for me a couple years ago,) but this method was both time-consuming and hard on the shoulder. Wanting to avoid a) another whole month of sleep deprivation from staying up way too late skeining, and b) a repetitive-motion injury to my rotator cuff, I begged Mike for a skeinwinder. I showed him a couple fiber catalogs that were lying around, with $400 motorized skeinwinders, and told him I didn't need anything fancy, but could he pleeeeeze make something with a hand crank.

Then he went out in the garage & built one for me. Just like the niddy, it is butt-ugly but perfectly utilitarian -- it's PVC and wood, which clamps to a kitchen chair. It's got a, shall we say, trailer-trash vibe, but I can skein from the swift to the skeinwinder in about a quarter of the time that it was taking me on the niddy. Hurray for That Guy.

2 comments:

ChelleC said...

Oh my gosh, he is SO NICE - and smart . . . and handy. Next time we come to visit your way, I hope to meet him. Or feel free to come see me and bring him with.

I loved seeing the Dome today. That place is really amazing. It is a lifetime masterpiece building that house.

Carol said...

What a clever guy? I think you gotta keep him. Boy, you have been busy. I had to give up the idea of going to the Knitting Weekend in Lenexa. I really need to cut back on spending and while the event would be fun there is really not a class that I am that interested in.