What's on my sewing machine? A sock I am knitting toe up, a snowflake spindolyn I just finished, and a *&%$! cat, laying on some fabric I really like that I had just gotten out to sew a soft base from (think I will pair it with maple) But now, I will have to wash it first, as I try and keep everything that goes out "cat free" this means that I have to be vigilant about keeping fabric hidden in plastic drawers and boxes...but you turn you back just a minute, and there they are!!!! argh!

Trial and error, r and d

 

This is a prototype for a new plying device gone horribly awry. (you can also see part of my secret assembly table)
That is a good thing, though, because working in the physical gets you much closer than sketches and mental images, and I now have an idea that will weigh less. Portability is always a consideration.

Yes, time is money, but also time is learning, if things always went exactly like I planned in my mind,  I would begin to miss the hands on "woman handling" the sawing, poking, prodding, drill, dropping and cursing of the trial and error of learning and inventing.

Once upon a time, I was visiting a knitting group and a young new sock knitter was holding up her first sock attempt, bemoaning the fact that the heel had been knit to the side in relationship to the toe. She was actually a bit angry that she was going to have to rip it out.

A wise woman* in the group said; "Oh no, how lovely! That is a wonderfully knitted heel! misplaced perhaps, but very well executed...just think how close you are to perfection, and lucky you,  you get to handle all that beautiful yarn all over again!"

Trial and error is fun!

* Cady May's rant:     Now that I am considered an "old lady," I really am appalled at the ageism that currently plagues and degrades our society. Ageism has always existed, but our current  culture has completely lost all interest, reason and compassion when it comes to the mature scattered among all those self serving, screen addicted hot bodies.

    The well ripened people are lumped into one group, without consideration for the individuality, personality, religious or sexual preference, or even taste in music, as if they were one thing; "old". Their presence, their ideas, knowledge and experience and even humor, are all ignored and dismissed as if they were bums on the street. What a loss of respect for an entire group of diverse and knowledgeable people.