Oiling My Machine (because sometimes the title really IS the subject matter)
I sew for a living. You knew that, though. I can tell because you're nodding in agreement, like, "oh yeah, I know, you've told me that before". You're such a good listener. That or you're groovin' to some DMB on your iPod and I just can't see the ear buds. Isn't Blogger great? I love this cool, new feature with the built-in web cam where I can watch you. Although, you might want to put on some pants. And you've got some shmutz on your face. No. no. not there.... a little to the right....just under your... there! You got it.
Sadly, I could continue with that pretend dialogue for another hour or so and still be amusing myself. You, however, look like you're losing interest. So let's get on with the daily change.
I sew for a living, making renaissance garb for my sister's website, The Very Merry Seamstress (shameless commerce plug - go buy stuff now). Anyhow, I'm sewing up like a million freakin' chemises this week and with every stitch my machine is making this awful crunchity-poppity noise. Kind of like the way my knees sound when I climb the stairs at night. At first, I got excited about it because if the machine were to go into sudden stitch-arrest, I could get a newer, better machine and that would make me happy, because I like new things.
But that little fantasy was fleeting, as eco-reality slapped me across the face. Duh. Tossing ten pounds of #7 plastic into the trash and going out to buy a new hunk of #7 plastic isn't very green, even if it is tax-deductible. And so, I did what a good earth-cookie should do - I looked in my manual to see if I'm supposed to maintain the damn thing in an attempt to lengthen its life span.
Turns out, I am. Apparently, my little Janome enjoys a good lube as much as my blog buds do. And so, armed with my manual of poorly-sketched diagrams and badly translated Chinese instructions [here to be of the oil stitch drop three], I gave the machine a good, old fashioned oiling.
And you know, she's purring like a kitten now. I tried rubbing some on my knees, but it didn't help.
2 comments:
I so understand. I used to love it when stuff would break because then I could go buy something new. Not that I'm "more aware", it's amazing how you can fix some of these things simply - of course, I couldn't swing that with the $6 mixed I bought at Target two years ago which basically exploded last night while I was frantically frosting a birthday cake. That said, I made do with the Kitchen Aid mixer that I'm afraid to use because, if I dropped it, that really would be the end of my toes.
OK. Do tell. Did you lube with 3-in-0ne, or EVOO??
...and please tell me you got your puter cord...
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