Pack hacking

 Pack hacking, or modifying your backpack, is a thing I have stumbled across online. This week though, it was my little suitcase I was modifying. I missed the option of having a mesh pocket to corral small things so I wanted to add this to one of the inner lids of my new carry-on. As it happened, I had some mesh from ByAnnie that was exactly the right colour, that I picked up at Festival of Quilts.   I edged the mesh with foldover elastic (also ByAnnie) with a zipper along the top.  I used fabric glue to hold the new zip in place along the edge of the existing zip, then by dint of holding the suitcase upright, was able to get the unzipped lid under my presser foot and to stitch along the zip on my sewing machine. I wasn't sure how much of the rest of the lid I would be able to get under the machine, but in the end with a bit of wrestling and manipulation, I was able to stitch down both sides and along most of the bottom edge.  I only had to hand stitch one corner.  I'm quite pleased with the result, it doesn't look out of place with the rest of the case and it's going to be really useful.

While I was at it, I sewed a long narrow drawstring bag to fit into the channel between the two handle struts to make better use of this space - this will be for socks, underwear etc. as I like to corral those into one container.  I bought some packing cubes last year but I don't like them, they're never the right shape and also I don't want to be constantly unzipping pouches to get at stuff, I like to be able to see what I've got with me.

I've put in several more hours in the machine knitting room this week, as well as packaging up and taking to the post office the various carriages and colour changers that have sold.  This week I dug out my garter carriage and hunted for all the pieces that are supposed to go with it, with mixed success - I found all the plastic bits but couldn't find four out of five punchcards nor the manual.  So I had print another manual off the internet.  Consulting the new manual, I fitted the garter carriage (a motorised machine that chugs along the needlebed turning purl stitches into knit stitches) onto my remaining standard machine which already had a sample piece of knitting on it.  I plugged the carriage in and crossed my fingers as I hadn't used it for years and it's an original KG88 so probably older than my adult son.  Somewhat to my surprise, it started chugging away immediately and worked across the bed. However at that point it got stuck instead of returning automatically back across the row. And the direction switch was frozen and wouldn't move.  

It was looking like it was going to be an ugly paperweight, but I consulted the university of Youtube and found a couple of 10 year old poor quality videos on how to take the cover off of a garter carriage and a few things to look for.  None of those things were what was wrong with mine, but I took the cover off anyway and did some investigating, and eventually traced what was meant to happen when you pushed the stuck switch and found some metal joints near the row counter that were stuck together with ancient solidified grease. Once I cleaned those up, and relubricated with some new Singer sewing machine lithium lubricant, it seemed like the joint was now working smoothly. So after a bit of cleaning, and putting the cover back on, I tried the garter carriage again on the knitting machine. Success!  It was chugging back and forth quite happily. Amazing really, these gadgets were so well built in Japan that they've lasted literally for decades.  

So I got it listed online and it sold almost immediately, and has now gone off to its new owner who will hopefully be happy with it and use it.  I've counted up my proceeds so far and together with a few gifts I am two-thirds of the way towards purchasing an industrial sewing machine.  The room is about half cleared, I still have the standard machine to prepare for sale, a couple of hundred old machine knitting magazines and books to deal with, and a variety of small accessories, not too mention two six foot tall yarn stands covered in yarn cones. I will persevere.

This week I took part in a purchased online Christmas-themed cross stitch event through Caterpillar Cross Stitch, which Facebook marketed to me,  The price included a full kit for a picture of a Christmas toy shop, a stitchminder, some xmas choccies and a two hour live hosted event with a quiz and some show & tell.  It was fun and people were nice. The design is cute although a bit blocky as they purposefully don't use backstitch to outline elements because not everyone likes backstitch.  I do like back stitch so I might add some anyhow. So far I've only stitched the door, so I doubt it will be completed for this Christmas. I was half a point away from winning the christmas themed quiz but forgot one of the names of Santa's reindeer so no prize for me.

I did complete a monogram letter 'A' for my mother-in-law this week, using some christmas charts that were in the recent World of Cross Stitching magazine. 

I'm still quilting number 11 quilt on the frame, I don't know which is worse, my wobbly machine quilting or its appalling construction. I'm probably about 3/4 of the way through now.

I completed the four-way stitch border around my little sample of hardanger, and turned it into a christmas ornament with a bit of red wool coating I had in my stash. I wouldn't mind doing some more hardanger, I enjoyed it. It's just finding the time really.  I cheated on Month 16 of the Australian BOM this week to do the cross stitch monogram above.

I've had my fourth COVID injection and my flu jab now, so I'm all jabbed up for the winter.  The flu jab actually gave me more trouble, the COVID one was over in a flash and had no after effects this time thankfully. Also in preparation for the winter, we spent a few hours in the garden today retrieving the drip hoses to store them for the winter, raking leaves (I got to use the leaf blower which I always enjoy), cutting down dead things, retrieving metal plant supports etc.  So many weeds out there, I am turning a blind eye until the plants die down a bit and the weeds become more accessible.  Our worst culprit is creeping buttercup, it's everywhere and refuses to die no matter what you do. But we've also got some kind of wild garlic trying to populate the back flower bed, and the usual chick weed, dandelions etc.  Only a bit of bindweed thankfully.  This is why I prefer to look at the garden through the house windows, I can't see the weeds from there.