Let’s knit and weave for a living. Oh sure, doesn’t it sound like fun? Shelves filled with cones of yarn in a rainbow of colors. A cozy chair and someone else’s knitting project in a luxury yarn you wouldn’t maybe afford for yourself.
Well it isn’t all yarn all the time. Today I’m using these:
to fix this problem with one of my looms. The pin is coming loose and scraping the lamm behind it.
This might explain (I hope) the occasional catch I’ve been having when I release the treadle and the harness frame drops. Or in this case, drops only most of the way.
I tried a nail set but it didn’t quite do the trick. So I wrote to the nice people at Schacht Spindle (they made my loom, the Baby Wolf) who suggested a hammer and a wood block. Problem solved for now, but it will bear watching.
I seem to use pliers all the time, especially to loosen wing nuts that have to be tight to hold things together but not so tight that I can’t get them off when needed.
The screwdriver gets regular use as well. Tightening screws and bolts that work themselves loose as I weave. Taking the sock machine apart for cleaning is another regular screwdriver use.
Of course some of the tools are more immediately relevant. This yarn winder was expensive and I thought long and hard about investing in it. It has been completely worth every penny. It has saved me hours of hand-cranking and probably saved my shoulder from injury.
I was sure this bobbin winder was an indulgence too. But I can wind a good bobbin really quickly with it. These two devices save time as well as wear and tear on my body and give me more time for weaving and knitting.
And with these little gems I can easily use the bobbin winder as a cone winder.
Knitting from coned yarn vastly improves the flow of the yarn for the socks I make on the circular sock machine.
HERON POND DESIGNS 