Well, what a lot has happened since I last blogged. Our Peugeot which we've had for a year had yet more problems (it's had nothing but problems), the turbo went. Phil could have fixed it quite cheaply, but apparently with turbo diesels you have to flush out all the oil pipes other wise you're throwing your money away. As we couldn't do that with the engine running, it meant taking out every oil pipe and cleaning them out manually, virtually taking the whole engine apart. It also needed at least 2 new tyres at £80 each. Phil had had enough and I agreed. We had looked for used turbos online, and one of the scrap yards rung us to say they had one for £150. We said we were scrapping it. He said why as it was a good car, we said we'd had enough. He said they would buy it from us for £500 and come down from Rochdale to collect it, we said we'de think about it and checked the local scrapyards who only offered us £130. We agreed to sell it to the yard in Rochdale and they came to collect it 2 days later. We had to wait for the cheque to clear, but it gave us time to look for another car. We went at looked at several and found one in our local free magazine for £450. It was older than the Peugeot, but was a Renault Lagune which Phil likes. Slightly smaller engine, but a smaller car and a hatchback. It had only a mont's tax and MOT, but it was a clean car and had hardly been used since it's last MOT. We offered them £450 and they accepted it. We duly paid the car tax and put it in for it's MOT on Wednesday just gone, wondering what it would fail on as it is 14 years old. Miracle!! it passed. Several advisories, mostly to do with corrosion underneath which needed wire brushing and repainting. So this time, we got a bargain. No more stupid computer error messages, what a relief.
I fell up the steps at the local tip, landing on both knees and one elbow on a metal grid. on examination, one bruised knee, one cut knee and an arm with the lines of the grid just below the elbow. It was so sore the next day I went to the Doctors and she sent me down to have it x-rayed. Fortunaely, after a 3 hour wait, it wasn't broken. Two days later all the bruises came out and my elbow was black and purple. That was 3 weeks ago, the bruises have faded but the elbow is still tender and the scab is still on my knee as it was quite deep. Phil has been knocking himself about, he walked into the apple tree outside his workshop and got a cut and a big bump. The next week while fishing a match, he speared his finger with a fine float, in one knuckle and out the next. then 3 days ago he walked into a kitchen wall cupboard door and knocked it right off its hinges and another bump. I also had terrible hay fever last week which I don't normally suffer from. One of my friends said all the grass and flowers had dropped their pollen at the same time because the weather had been so cold the Spring was delayed and absolutely rushed in with a vengeance. I was incapacitated for 4 days as I had to take extra strong anti-histamines which knocked me right out.
I am recovered now but have had a very busy week. 4 sewing machines to pack up and send off. One to Scotland, one to Wales, one to Surrey and one to Italy. After packing a machine every day, which takes about 2 hours of cutting bubble wrap, polystyrene and heavy duty cardboard, I'm worn out. Two have been delivered, one should be delivered on Monday and the last went off to Italy at lunchtime.
Aside from all this, I have been crocheting an Aran jacket in mid blue, with lattice work on the yoke. I am getting to the boring bit, the bands but I must get it done this week as I need new jumpers. All mine are wearing out. I am going to make an Aran sweater on the chunky Singer knitting machine, that is pale blue, I seem to have a lot of blue yarn at the moment.
I haven't done any spinning since the last Guild meeting, I have had so much to do on eBay and getting machines on Sarah's website that I just haven't had the time. Maybe next week. I also need to do some sewing, I need some new trousers for the Summer.
Friday, 10 May 2013
Saturday, 9 March 2013
Spring update
Well, I have been very lax in posting to my blog. We have been very busy since January. Went to Diseworth on the Derby/Leicester border to watch pedigree Jacob lambs being shorn, and born. We selected which lamb we wanted, I chose one called Evoke because she had a lot of brown on her. The fleece is beautifullhy soft, shearling fleeces are the best that particular sheep will ever have. Terrific amount of lanolin in the fleece. I haven't been very particular preparing fleeces for spinning up until now, but it is a learning curve. This time I laid the fleece on a tarpaulin on the lawn to prepare it. I took off the 'skirts', the dirty bits all round the edges of the fleece.
Then I started splitting the fleece into sections of brown and white as I had plans! I used a dog brush to brush off the second cuts on the side nearest the skin (second cuts are where the clippers have gone through the fleece twice, and cause lumps in the yarn when you spin it.), then went on to brush the outside to remove hay and straw, etc. Where the two colours joined, I took the mixed brown and white and put that in a separate bag from the brown and white. I ended up with 4 bags, brown, white, mixed and dirty. I have never fancied spinning in the grease before, but I am tempted with this fleece as I was brushing separate locks out at times. We shall see.
What I plan to do with this fleece is to spin the two colours (I have more brown than white), use the brown as the base colour of a sweater and work Fair Isle bands round the bottom above the ribbing on the back, front and sleeves. I might work the ribbing in white as well, although I'm not sure about that yet. I could work in brown up to where I want the Fair Isle, then change to white and work the Fair Isle in brown, then more white before reverting to brown for the rest of that piece.
I was planning on using a white shetlan/Texel fleece to spin some yarn and dye it, but I had already washed it last year, and when I spun with it, there were so many second cuts it was a very lumpy yarn. I persevered to no avail, so gave up and started spinning it thick. I will ply it and end up with a rug yarn thickness, then dye it red with Madder and crochet a rug for the front room. I'm getting to the stage where the fleece tells me what it is suitable for.
At the beginning of February, Jenni Stewart and I went to the Guild of Long Draw Spinners at Stoke Albany. They had commissioned a great wheel from David Bryant and wanted to mark the first use of the wheel with a small event. They sent an invitation to our Guild at Botcheston in Leicestershire. Erica who is the Treasurer of our Guild is a member of GOLDS, so she was there as well. It was very odd, the hall was similar, the food was similar, the atmosphere was the same, just different faces. We settled down, with the usual chatting. There were some differences, like no looms as it is just a Spinners Guild, and a lot of members knitting their hand spun yarn. We admired the lovely great wheel in the corner. A table was set up in the middle of the hall, and Magge Stearn was there with lots of gorgeous rovings in different colour and fibre combinations. I succumbed to tempation and bought one in midnight blue, black, white and angelina, this was Merino, silk and angelina. The other one I bought was in caramel colours and white, botany wool and Tussah silk (I have started spinning the blue). There were also knitted items on display on the table, made by the members. We spun for a while, and looked at what the other ladies were doing.
Then the great wheel was set up and we went up in groups of 3 to learn to make the perfect rolag. Once we had our rolag which was made from some quite ropey white wool, we went and spun it on the great wheel while Janet the chairlady instructed us. It wasn't easy to walk backward while spinning, and there was a problem with keeping momentum up on the wheel. Janet thought this was because the belt was slightly too tight. The belt was crocheted from fine cotton crochet type thread. We each got a badge when we'd finished our turn on the wheel. I wanted to try it out as Sarah has a great wheel on loan and we want to get it up and running. We had lunch which was very nice, but no chocolate cake. At the end of an enjoyable day, we packed up and promised to return as we had a good time. Some of the members there go to 5 or 6 different Guilds!
We have both had bad Conjunctivitis in both eyes. I was on my way to Devon on the coach when mine started. Phil had had his a week before me. We caught this from our friends' little boy, and then his Mum. It was very nasty anyway. When I got to Sarah's we looked up natural remedies as my eyes were streaming. Unpasteurised honey came up, and Sarah had some from students who attended a business soap making course in order to use their bee honey and wax. It worked astoundingly well. Within 2 hours the weeping had virtually stopped. I had my own towels, and a towel over my pillow, lots of hand washing during the week, but it was nearly gone within 2 days, whereas Phil's lasted 10 days.
While down at Sarah's, we went to Bude to deliver soap, went to the beach at Bude with Rowan so she could run around, went to Bideford to get rosebuds from the 'Apothecary', then on to the Soap Kitchen at Torrington as they didn't have any. We went to Saunton Sands with Rowan and Holly who both ran around like loonies. I took lots down to do while I was there, but did very little as I couldn't see very well due to the conjunctivitis. I spun a little of the midnight blue roving and did a little crocheting on a blue jacket I was making in a blue marl Aran yarn.
Since coming back from Devon, I have been catching up on everything and trying deperately to get some sewing machines on eBay and Rowan Tree Studio's website. We haven't had a lot of machines come in since Christmas, they are just starting to trickle through.
Then I started splitting the fleece into sections of brown and white as I had plans! I used a dog brush to brush off the second cuts on the side nearest the skin (second cuts are where the clippers have gone through the fleece twice, and cause lumps in the yarn when you spin it.), then went on to brush the outside to remove hay and straw, etc. Where the two colours joined, I took the mixed brown and white and put that in a separate bag from the brown and white. I ended up with 4 bags, brown, white, mixed and dirty. I have never fancied spinning in the grease before, but I am tempted with this fleece as I was brushing separate locks out at times. We shall see.
What I plan to do with this fleece is to spin the two colours (I have more brown than white), use the brown as the base colour of a sweater and work Fair Isle bands round the bottom above the ribbing on the back, front and sleeves. I might work the ribbing in white as well, although I'm not sure about that yet. I could work in brown up to where I want the Fair Isle, then change to white and work the Fair Isle in brown, then more white before reverting to brown for the rest of that piece.
I was planning on using a white shetlan/Texel fleece to spin some yarn and dye it, but I had already washed it last year, and when I spun with it, there were so many second cuts it was a very lumpy yarn. I persevered to no avail, so gave up and started spinning it thick. I will ply it and end up with a rug yarn thickness, then dye it red with Madder and crochet a rug for the front room. I'm getting to the stage where the fleece tells me what it is suitable for.
At the beginning of February, Jenni Stewart and I went to the Guild of Long Draw Spinners at Stoke Albany. They had commissioned a great wheel from David Bryant and wanted to mark the first use of the wheel with a small event. They sent an invitation to our Guild at Botcheston in Leicestershire. Erica who is the Treasurer of our Guild is a member of GOLDS, so she was there as well. It was very odd, the hall was similar, the food was similar, the atmosphere was the same, just different faces. We settled down, with the usual chatting. There were some differences, like no looms as it is just a Spinners Guild, and a lot of members knitting their hand spun yarn. We admired the lovely great wheel in the corner. A table was set up in the middle of the hall, and Magge Stearn was there with lots of gorgeous rovings in different colour and fibre combinations. I succumbed to tempation and bought one in midnight blue, black, white and angelina, this was Merino, silk and angelina. The other one I bought was in caramel colours and white, botany wool and Tussah silk (I have started spinning the blue). There were also knitted items on display on the table, made by the members. We spun for a while, and looked at what the other ladies were doing.
Then the great wheel was set up and we went up in groups of 3 to learn to make the perfect rolag. Once we had our rolag which was made from some quite ropey white wool, we went and spun it on the great wheel while Janet the chairlady instructed us. It wasn't easy to walk backward while spinning, and there was a problem with keeping momentum up on the wheel. Janet thought this was because the belt was slightly too tight. The belt was crocheted from fine cotton crochet type thread. We each got a badge when we'd finished our turn on the wheel. I wanted to try it out as Sarah has a great wheel on loan and we want to get it up and running. We had lunch which was very nice, but no chocolate cake. At the end of an enjoyable day, we packed up and promised to return as we had a good time. Some of the members there go to 5 or 6 different Guilds!
We have both had bad Conjunctivitis in both eyes. I was on my way to Devon on the coach when mine started. Phil had had his a week before me. We caught this from our friends' little boy, and then his Mum. It was very nasty anyway. When I got to Sarah's we looked up natural remedies as my eyes were streaming. Unpasteurised honey came up, and Sarah had some from students who attended a business soap making course in order to use their bee honey and wax. It worked astoundingly well. Within 2 hours the weeping had virtually stopped. I had my own towels, and a towel over my pillow, lots of hand washing during the week, but it was nearly gone within 2 days, whereas Phil's lasted 10 days.
While down at Sarah's, we went to Bude to deliver soap, went to the beach at Bude with Rowan so she could run around, went to Bideford to get rosebuds from the 'Apothecary', then on to the Soap Kitchen at Torrington as they didn't have any. We went to Saunton Sands with Rowan and Holly who both ran around like loonies. I took lots down to do while I was there, but did very little as I couldn't see very well due to the conjunctivitis. I spun a little of the midnight blue roving and did a little crocheting on a blue jacket I was making in a blue marl Aran yarn.
Since coming back from Devon, I have been catching up on everything and trying deperately to get some sewing machines on eBay and Rowan Tree Studio's website. We haven't had a lot of machines come in since Christmas, they are just starting to trickle through.
Saturday, 19 January 2013
New Year
Sitting here with thick snow outside, the first of the Winter. We did our grocery shopping yesterday so we didn't have to go out today. No snow last night so the roads are clear. Spinners Guild was cancelled, craft group yesterday was cancelled.
New Year Resolution - brush my bunnies more often, good for them as they won't get knotty and for me as not so much wool will be wasted. I have been spinning with Thistle angora (pale chinchilla grey), mixed with dark grey and black alpaca. The resulting Aran weight yarn I have used to knit 2 cable hats, one for Phil when he's fishing, the other went down to Devon. Sarah said it kept sliding off and Casie thought it was too girly as it was fluffy. Rowan likes it though and Sarah's friend Nicola who crochets, also likes it. I will be sending Nicola some of that yarn when I have spun some more. Also some odds and ends of Jacobs left over from my jacket.
New Year Resolution - Do more spinning/knitting/crochet, I have plans to spin some Leicester Longwool (Sue Bailey's Duke) to make Sarah a jacket as I have used all the Jacobs and I can't find anymore, although I should be getting a new shearling Jacob at the end of January. Rowan wants some new multicolour jumpers, just waiting for measurements to start those. Also making her a poncho in multicolour DK and blue eyelash yarn.
New Year Resolution - restore all my old sewing machines which have been sitting there for years. These are the ones which need a lot of work to either machine or case/base, mostly the woodwork, although I am running out of hand cranks now. I don't intend to buy any more electric machines as hand cranks are expensive to buy on eBay. I will be looking to import some from the US, from Cindy Peters. I did buy a machine in a table, Singer 15 electric with Sphinx decals. I actually only wanted the table to put my Singer 306 in so I can have access to it anytime. I need to sell 3 Singer 201 treadles, starting with one this week. That will make room in the big sewing room, the knitting room and the dining room. The extra room in the sewing room will be taken by the table I bought this week.
The Alpacas are in the field directly opposite which is nice. I love to watch them when I'm working up in the sewing room.
New Year Resolution - brush my bunnies more often, good for them as they won't get knotty and for me as not so much wool will be wasted. I have been spinning with Thistle angora (pale chinchilla grey), mixed with dark grey and black alpaca. The resulting Aran weight yarn I have used to knit 2 cable hats, one for Phil when he's fishing, the other went down to Devon. Sarah said it kept sliding off and Casie thought it was too girly as it was fluffy. Rowan likes it though and Sarah's friend Nicola who crochets, also likes it. I will be sending Nicola some of that yarn when I have spun some more. Also some odds and ends of Jacobs left over from my jacket.
New Year Resolution - Do more spinning/knitting/crochet, I have plans to spin some Leicester Longwool (Sue Bailey's Duke) to make Sarah a jacket as I have used all the Jacobs and I can't find anymore, although I should be getting a new shearling Jacob at the end of January. Rowan wants some new multicolour jumpers, just waiting for measurements to start those. Also making her a poncho in multicolour DK and blue eyelash yarn.
New Year Resolution - restore all my old sewing machines which have been sitting there for years. These are the ones which need a lot of work to either machine or case/base, mostly the woodwork, although I am running out of hand cranks now. I don't intend to buy any more electric machines as hand cranks are expensive to buy on eBay. I will be looking to import some from the US, from Cindy Peters. I did buy a machine in a table, Singer 15 electric with Sphinx decals. I actually only wanted the table to put my Singer 306 in so I can have access to it anytime. I need to sell 3 Singer 201 treadles, starting with one this week. That will make room in the big sewing room, the knitting room and the dining room. The extra room in the sewing room will be taken by the table I bought this week.
The Alpacas are in the field directly opposite which is nice. I love to watch them when I'm working up in the sewing room.
Friday, 9 November 2012
Alpacas
About 4 weeks ago, we had Alpacas move in in the field opposite our house. we know the owner quite well after 15 years of chatting when he works on the land, so we went over to have a look. They have 20 Alpacas, male, female and 3 x 3 month old Crias (babies). Mostly white, but about 3 of varying brown shades, including a male called Cadbury. They will be breeding them, in fact several of the females are pregnant again and should produce next June. They will also be keeping pigs, chickens and opening up the lakes for fishing. Nice little enterprise.
Toft Alpacas will be taking their fleeces, I have been wanting to go over there for ages, so this gave me an extra incentive now we have the car back on the road (such a relief). We went Tuesday, it was raining when we got there so we browsed round the shop looking at all the lovely yarns, carded fleece and sample garments, They mainly deal in kits, supplying the yarn and pattern, also needles if you need those. Very expensive, but beautiful. They also supply raw fleece, although the majority is sent to Banbury to be spun. Harriet, the young lady who has just started working there, was on her own, so as she had to get some orders labelled for the courier, we went for a walk and looked at all the Alpacas, taking some photos. They have 250 animals. Harriet then took us over to the barn so I could look at the fleece. Uncarded it is £15 for 500 gms, so I had 500 of black and grey respectively. As it is so light, there is a surprising amount of fleece there. I plan to blend these and spin singles to ply with the North Ronaldsay wool which I am spinning at the moment. This should make a lovely soft, warm grey/black yarn. Not sure what I'll be doing with it, sweater maybe.
Toft also run workshops, they have one on dyeing in February which I might treat myself to.
Toft Alpacas will be taking their fleeces, I have been wanting to go over there for ages, so this gave me an extra incentive now we have the car back on the road (such a relief). We went Tuesday, it was raining when we got there so we browsed round the shop looking at all the lovely yarns, carded fleece and sample garments, They mainly deal in kits, supplying the yarn and pattern, also needles if you need those. Very expensive, but beautiful. They also supply raw fleece, although the majority is sent to Banbury to be spun. Harriet, the young lady who has just started working there, was on her own, so as she had to get some orders labelled for the courier, we went for a walk and looked at all the Alpacas, taking some photos. They have 250 animals. Harriet then took us over to the barn so I could look at the fleece. Uncarded it is £15 for 500 gms, so I had 500 of black and grey respectively. As it is so light, there is a surprising amount of fleece there. I plan to blend these and spin singles to ply with the North Ronaldsay wool which I am spinning at the moment. This should make a lovely soft, warm grey/black yarn. Not sure what I'll be doing with it, sweater maybe.
Toft also run workshops, they have one on dyeing in February which I might treat myself to.
Saturday, 20 October 2012
Spinning Guild
Todau was Spinning Guild day, I didn't think I would be able to go as we are still waiting for a part for the car, but lovely Sue Bailey gave me a lift.
A great day as usual, we had a lady demonstrating silk painting which was very interesting and I would love to be able to do the fantastic work she does on silk scarves, but I have far too many other things to do.
I hadn't got much Portland carded, so I grabbed the North Ronaldsay carded batts which I hadn't for some reason been able to spin up until now. Today it worked straightaway and I was spinning a lovely two tone cream and black yarn. The North Ronaldsay fibre had black guard hairs which aren't really noticable in the batts, but spun it comes up quite a bit darker. I will take some pictures and post later.
I bought Sarah some embroidery thread from Sue. She had several bags with what looked like samples threaded onto cards, along with some embroidery fabric. They should be suitable for Sarah to make embroidered cards or embroidery on pictures, Advent Calendars, etc.
I have decided I need to spend more time spinning so need to sort out the little bedroom and make room for spinning wheels again. I also need to sort out some of the knitting machines, repair a couple so I can use them. I sold my Brother KH260 as I haven't used it in 4 years. I tried to use it the other day and after spending several hours doing tension squares and not getting very far as I couldn't match it up to the pattern I wanted to use, I decided to sell it. I still have a Singer chunky and a Knitmaster Zippy 90 which needs the carriage repaired. My spinning is getting sufficiently thin and non lumpy that I might be able to use handspun on those machines as long as I wax the wool first.
We got a planning application letter from Harborough District Council last week, apparently we have Alpacas coming to live in the fields opposite as they want to put up a hay barn, an agricultural storage shed and a temporary agricultural workers dwelling. This is very exciting, I wonder if they will need any help in exchange for fleeces.
A great day as usual, we had a lady demonstrating silk painting which was very interesting and I would love to be able to do the fantastic work she does on silk scarves, but I have far too many other things to do.
I hadn't got much Portland carded, so I grabbed the North Ronaldsay carded batts which I hadn't for some reason been able to spin up until now. Today it worked straightaway and I was spinning a lovely two tone cream and black yarn. The North Ronaldsay fibre had black guard hairs which aren't really noticable in the batts, but spun it comes up quite a bit darker. I will take some pictures and post later.
I bought Sarah some embroidery thread from Sue. She had several bags with what looked like samples threaded onto cards, along with some embroidery fabric. They should be suitable for Sarah to make embroidered cards or embroidery on pictures, Advent Calendars, etc.
I have decided I need to spend more time spinning so need to sort out the little bedroom and make room for spinning wheels again. I also need to sort out some of the knitting machines, repair a couple so I can use them. I sold my Brother KH260 as I haven't used it in 4 years. I tried to use it the other day and after spending several hours doing tension squares and not getting very far as I couldn't match it up to the pattern I wanted to use, I decided to sell it. I still have a Singer chunky and a Knitmaster Zippy 90 which needs the carriage repaired. My spinning is getting sufficiently thin and non lumpy that I might be able to use handspun on those machines as long as I wax the wool first.
We got a planning application letter from Harborough District Council last week, apparently we have Alpacas coming to live in the fields opposite as they want to put up a hay barn, an agricultural storage shed and a temporary agricultural workers dwelling. This is very exciting, I wonder if they will need any help in exchange for fleeces.
Thursday, 11 October 2012
New washing machine and car starting
Good day today, the new washing machine arrived. I haven't had a brand new washing machine for over 15 years, so it is a real treat to have a shiny new one which is really quiet and has a time delay on it, no more timers. I have put the first load of hot wash stuff in to see how it comes out.
Better still, today we got the car started. It wouldn't start after Phil replaced the clutch so I posted a message on the Peugeot Forum asking for ideas. We got one, saying to check the engine speed sensor on the gearbox in case it was damaged or we forgot to put it back. We found the hole and bolt where it was supposed to be, no sensor. So Phil crawled underneath and had a look for it. It's a sensor so had to have wires on it. He found it, he had bolted it to another bracket because he couldn't remember where it went. After he replaced it, he turned the car over and it fired straight away. Then it came off power save mode and the windows work. Only one problem, the battery needs recharging as it is flat from him keep trying to start it over the last few days. We should have a car next week, as it will take some time for Phil to put everything back together, plus we need money for the Car Tax which should come from the knitting machine.
The knitting machine and ribber I put on eBay yesterday have a lot of watchers already, and I have had people asking for 'Buy It Now' prices and shipping costs to Denmark and Singapore, also Russia.
Clovelly in North Devon, near where Sarah lives has been flooded with water pouring down the cobbled streets on its way to the harbour. The sea is stained with all the mud from the run off.
Off to feed us and bunnies now, then sit and do some knitting. Heating is on as it is really cold here. Also need to check the washing from the new machine.
Better still, today we got the car started. It wouldn't start after Phil replaced the clutch so I posted a message on the Peugeot Forum asking for ideas. We got one, saying to check the engine speed sensor on the gearbox in case it was damaged or we forgot to put it back. We found the hole and bolt where it was supposed to be, no sensor. So Phil crawled underneath and had a look for it. It's a sensor so had to have wires on it. He found it, he had bolted it to another bracket because he couldn't remember where it went. After he replaced it, he turned the car over and it fired straight away. Then it came off power save mode and the windows work. Only one problem, the battery needs recharging as it is flat from him keep trying to start it over the last few days. We should have a car next week, as it will take some time for Phil to put everything back together, plus we need money for the Car Tax which should come from the knitting machine.
The knitting machine and ribber I put on eBay yesterday have a lot of watchers already, and I have had people asking for 'Buy It Now' prices and shipping costs to Denmark and Singapore, also Russia.
Clovelly in North Devon, near where Sarah lives has been flooded with water pouring down the cobbled streets on its way to the harbour. The sea is stained with all the mud from the run off.
Off to feed us and bunnies now, then sit and do some knitting. Heating is on as it is really cold here. Also need to check the washing from the new machine.
Wednesday, 10 October 2012
Car problems, WI and more
He has been doing it for 5 weeks now, not every day, gaps in between. Lots of problems as everything underneath the car had to be removed to drop the gearbox. He managed eventually to get it all apart with lots of help from the service manual we bought online. Then, putting it back together he managed to push the steering rod through the pipes for the heating and when he filled the water up, it poured out into the foot well. To get to that, he had to remove the dashboard, another 4 day job with wiring looms everywhere. He has started putting it back together and it doesn't leak any more, but in the meantime, the car won't start and it is in power save mode (because the battery has been off). To get it out of power save mode you need to start it, vicious circle!
We have asked on the Peugeot Forum and they have suggested several things, but most of them seem to end up with 'get it diagnosed'. Problem! We can't take it anywhere to get it diagnosed. So, we have bitten the bullet and bought the hardware from eBay for £85 which has cleared out my Paypal account. That should arrive next week and we can plug it in and find out what is wrong with the car. Phil found several bodge jobs while he was taking it apart, so I don't think it was very well looked after. It is a very nice car, and hopefully with the software we can get it sorted out.
Once we know we can use the software, we can be put on the Peugeot Planet map on the forum and charge people to diagnose their cars. Most members who have these kits say they pay for themselves in a few weeks. We have several people waiting for us to ge this software so we can do their cars.
On to better things, went to the Peatling Parva WI last night for a talk by Sue Taylor on her Manx Loaghtan and Soay sheep. She lives on the edge of the village. Sue sends her fleeces and some of her friends to the mill in Launceston for spinning up. She then knits the wool into teddy bears, sheep, lap throws, jacket and all sort of lovely knitted articles. It was an interesting talk, I felt very tempted to buy a kit from her for a Louisa bear, but at £40 I can't justify that. I wish I had the time to develop my spinning and be able to make and sell things, but I need the money now and restoring sewing machines is a lot quicker.
I have decided to sell my Brother KH260 chunky knitting machine and ribber, it a lovely very expensive machine, but I have had it for about 4 years and never made anything on it. I cleaned it up, replaced the sponge bar and tested it. I found the punch card mechanism wasn't working, so dismantled the card reader, cleaned and oiled it, replaced it and it works fine now. When I have made chunky jumpers, I have used the Singer hobby chunky machine, which needs 3 of the flow combs repaired with plastic, but it makes good jumpers and I just have to fiddle round the flow comb thingy. I also have a Zippy 90 which needs the carriage repaired, also plastic to be replaced. I have the plastic repair kit, just haven't managed to get around to using it.
I have just bought a very old Knitmaster Super 4500 from our local auction for £12. I found instructions online for it, and also directions for stripping it down. It was very dirty! The bed is in sections like the Bond knitting machine, but maroon bakelite, it has that burnt smell which takes me back many years. It comes with a ribber, but the tension mast and yarn holder are missing. It seems as if they are extras as the instructions show it used like the Bond, just laying the yarn across the needles. I have stripped it right down, scrubbed the plastic sections, the metal strips which go across the bed and the retaining bar. The needles have been soaked in white spirit and washed. I'll oil them before I put them back by wiping them with an oily cloth.
This is the machine, courtesy of Susy Ranner at wordpress.com
Hopefully I should be able to re-assemble it tomorrow after I have packed a sewing machine to go to Ireland and cleaned out some of the rabbits.
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