Here are my hard-earned tips and tricks to avoid and cure repetitive stress disorders, especially of the hands and arms (such as carpel tunnel and golfer’s elbow) from sewing, knitting, or sitting at a desk.
This week was I featured as a guest writer on someone else’s blog! It was pretty cool of Tasia of Sewaholic to invite me to write about my experience sewing a waterproof jacket. I was anxious to share more details and photographs about DIY waterproof outerwear because when I went hunting on the web I found only breadcrumbs of information. But what made it even better is that rather than sharing it here (a virtual Internet dead zone, ha), I got to share it with lots of interested readers on one of my very favorite sewing blogs. I love Tasia’s enthusiastic and inquisitive writing style — it is so friendly and engaging. Not only that but she sure can sew… continue reading
Ugh. So hung over. Last night was a bit crazy. I finally got to ride the Circulus. Not just ride it, but race it. Yeah, I went straight from test-riding it (crash!) to organizing a spontaneous women’s race (thanks to Stevil and Murph), to winning said race (crash!). Racers were not allowed to drink, but since I wasn’t a racer until I set up the impromptu race (6 women volunteered, I think), there was by then a lot of beer in my system. So of course I ate shit. And it was captured on video. That’s me handily catching up to my opponent and crashing as soon as the win bell is rung. Good fun. More about all that here:… continue reading
This is a machine I own and use daily. I believe what the local dealer says about this machine needing several hours on it when new to “break it in,” as I had tension issues for the first week or two. Since then it’s been dreamy. I do have a problem though, and maybe someone else will chime in with a similar issue (though I’ll probably have it professionally fixed by then). When rolling along I get a loud buzzing sound issuing from the bobbin shuttle, which vibrates intensely at anything above a medium speed (when machine is set at full speed). I may have damaged the
Just like the old hammered iron puzzles and such used to grab my attention as a child, now the impossibly stupid ways people manage to (not) lock up their bikes fascinates me. I realized other people like to take pictures of this phenomenon as well, so I started a Flickr group. Do you have any humorous or sad photos you can add?
All kinds of juicy and important information about 2140/2144 and 2170 Pfaff Creative machines.
Today we mostly rode downhill for about 40 miles, and camped on a stone ledge at Chestoa View. I suggested open air camping because the ledge was pretty and I was lazy about pitching a tent but this back-fired when something bit my lip while I slept. I woke up with Angelina Jolie lips — on ONE side of my face. But for the record, I slept like a baby. It was a super yoga spot, though, aside from the faint piss smell and all the flies in the morning. Also, we had to hang out quite a while in the evening doing nothing and pretending like we were just there to enjoy the view, not camp. We ruined the… continue reading
The other day at City Bikes I mentioned I was shipping bikes and the really affable long hair redhead guy with black goggles alerted me of Amtrak Express. I’m so glad he mentioned it! Just having gotten back from the gorgeous Portland train station (aren’t all American train stations fairly well-kept quaint relics of rail travel?) I can say: so far so good. I’m a bit nervous, but I did take out $5500 of insurance (ha). At $180 for two bikes and a 45lb. Bob Ibex manufacturer’s box packed with touring gear, with all that insurance, it’s an affordable alternative to FedEx and UPS for shipping bicycles, and having said it will take 5-7 days (days, not business days), it’s… continue reading
Download the Husqvarna Viking 6440 / 2000 manual here. You can download the Husqvarna Viking 6440 / 2000 manual here for . In November 2016 I re-scanned this manual and meticulously created a PDF version of this manual superior to anything else you will find on the internet: full-color, compressed, print-ready, and zoom-able. Also visit a great online (Yahoo!) group discussing pre-1980 Viking machines for even more information! These are great machines.
That’s what I’m talking about! I’m still coming down off the caffeine I guzzled before the race today, think: “mud” down the hatch then mud up to your shins. Epic. Painful. My feet were so cold it felt like I was running on stumps. Gross! But I felt fast, and I passed a few boys who started two minutes ahead of me in the Men’s B race. One whimpered, “You won’t laugh at me if I puke, will you?” My bike clothes have been through three rinses in the bathtub and still excrete opaque mud water. I love mud and cold, and for me that’s what cyclocross is all about. Great times!